[Closed] Strava and smart watches etc

I’m getting on well with my Garmin 245 light weight not too big and covers all the features i was looking for. Can even play music for when I come over all funny and go for a run. Links to your phone to send a distress call If it detects a accident aswell

Don't get an android smar****ch for strava recording - battery life is woeful (1 day, max) and GPS accuracy is well, shite.

I own a Fossil 'sport' Wear OS watch. I also own a Garmin Forerunner 245 music, which is fantastic for GPS recording for running (and for riding, but has less features), brilliant battery life (nearly a week) and has enough smart stuff (notifications basically) that I want. It'll do live tracking if you have your phone with you too, as well as incident detection.

Apple Watch is meant to be decent for GPS recording but only get one if you have an iPhone.

So, a garmin watch (there's lots!) or an Apple watch if you have an iPhone.

No iPhone

Interesting you both mention Garmin and incident/distress notification. As you may know if you have read my posts of noticed the forum name this is very relevant. How does it distinguish between me riding up a hill and stopping to get my breath back as opposed to stopping to have a heart attack (heart rate monitor I assume) but what other things does it spot. I don't like the idea of false positives and being buzzed by air ambulance as I sunbathe instead of cycle.

This gives an overview - incident detection triggers when it detects a very sudden deceleration for example. Or you can manually trigger it by pressing a button for a few seconds, it'll send a message, with GPS co-ordinates etc.

Don't think there's one for heart rate, but you can set an alert if you heart rate goes below or above a certain level.

You'll always get the option to cancel the trigger if it's a false one, and it'll contact one of your emergency contacts rather than the emergency services.

And to add, I wear my 245 all day, sleep with it, only take it off when showering to clean the band and when charging. Super comfy and lightweight.

If you break hard it detects the acceleration and then contacts your partner. Well according to a mate at work. He wonders if they tweeked the app as it hasn't done it for a while

You might get a false positive if you come barrelling into a hard stop and go from 20mph to zero in 10ft, as that's basically the same as crashing. 😀 But you can always cancel it.

Garmin something if you care primarily about fitness/health stats, I reckon. I've a Fenix 5 plus, I'm pretty happy with it overall.

I reckon small enough to not know you're wearing it, and big enough to give you all the data you could want are pretty mutually exclusive, though.

The more expensive Garmin's have crash detection which sends an alert to designated contacts if it detects a sudden stop. Also does live tracking so apart from cost of device, what you pay Strava can be had on Garmin (without the social aspect of seeing where you rank against everyone else).

The Fenix range comes in a few sizes, the smallest isn't as fancy and battery not quite as good but they are good watches designed for sport tracking. Android and Apple watches aren't designed as sport tracking first (although they are good at what they do).

Maybe not a watch but a bike computer? Connects to phone via Bluetooth so can still track...

Garmin bike computer and a heart rate chest strap if you don't want a watch.

Or a chest strap that links to your phone and use the phone for gps tracking??

I use a Garmin fenix 5 though and it's great.

Re: Garmin incident detection.
I have a Garmin 530 (bike computer, not watch) and the incident detection alarm is a pain in the arse.
It seems to trigger when it detects a sudden decelaration than pauses for a few seconds to try to detect whether it (the unit) is still moving - if not, it will trigger whereas if you carry on moving, no alarm triggers.
This all sounds sensible but in reality, when I'm mountain biking, I have to cancel alarms multiple times per ride.
(I generally ride janky, technical trails so lots of impacts and if I'm riding with someone who stops in front of me to check out an obstacle, then the alarm triggers).
I've even had the alarm trigger when doing a hard-stop at traffic lights on my road bike.

Fortunately, there's a loud 30 second countdown between the alarm being triggered and the text message being sent which gives you the opportunity to cancel it, and at least on the 530, you can also send an "I'm OK" text message to follow up.

(All of this is optional so it can be switched off if you prefer...I'm getting very tempted to do so with mine but I do ride solo a lot...)

Another vote for a Garmin watch or bike computer. Assuming I've got my phone with me, mine will send an email to my wife (via the phone app) with a link to a live track of where I am. As noted this requires you to a) carry your phone; and also b) be somewhere with data coverage.

Each time.e I've tripped when running the emergency function on my 245 has kicked in, pretty impressive TBH, you can override it pretty quick

Get a Garmin instinct solar and be proud of the fact it’ll do all that while looking like your cousin bought you a g shock.

cheap alternative, look at the amazfit range
ive got a t-rex.. looks like a g shock.. pretty tough.. battery lasts literally for weeks, accuracy seems ok although every once in a while they update the software and there's a bug for a few days

SO lots of votes for Garmin 'something'.

Sounds like the auto alert is not for me. I don't want the wife to know everythme I crash as that would probably panic her more. I though it might track heart attacks which might have been useful but I guess the Strava live tracker will let them find my body if I have a spectacular or heart attack.

Anything other than Garmin before I wonder over to their site and cough several hundred quid on something I don't really need but like the idea of?

Smartywatch to measure my heart rate

If you only want to measure heart rate, why not pick up a bluetooth heart rate monitor (chest or wrist) and pair with your phone/strava app?

For recommending what you run, I picked up an edge 130 as my forerunner 735xt didnt track elevation via a barometer, I also find the (basic) mapping handy for when exploring new areas.

Do you carry a phone? As without one I don't think any of the Garmin options will work.
If you do, the low level running watches, Forerunner 45 for example, will do the job and is rather small and discrete.

yer i looked at the garmins.. and i was in the 600 GBP range and gave up... Mine was 1/4 that price

Vivoactive 3 will do everything you want. You'll need to carry a phone if you want the beacon thing; but otherwise it'll track everything you do and upload the next time it syncs with your phone.

I'd recommend a 3rd party velcro strap - makes it so much more comfortable than any plastic/rubber one it comes with.

Apparently a 'leftfield' choice given everyone's love for Garmin - but check out Suunto too. I've had an Ambit, and now have a Spartan. My version of the spartan has wrist HR (the reason I left the Ambit as it was a chest strap) and also has barometer so is in theroy more accurate for elevation and navigation, etc. That all said, I just got my other half an Amazfit Bip S for 60 or 70 quid, which does a large amount of what my Suunto does. Definitely not as well put together as a Suunto, but ridiculously cheap...

Did Garmin's recent hacking thing affect their watches? Friends with bike computers had them rendered useless for a while...

ah yes, i was set on the Suunto until my amazfit came up... i figure the Suunto is mid tier stuff

@cx_monkey - The Garmin outage meant I couldn't sync for a few days; but once it all came back online it updated normally. My watch was perfectly functional during the outage; just couldn't push new activities to Strava for a bit.

Did Garmin’s recent hacking thing affect their watches? Friends with bike computers had them rendered useless for a while…

Yeah, "useless" somewhat overstates it. It still logged rides and runs, as did the bike computer, you just had to wait until it was fixed to upload them or add them to Strava manually. No biggie in the grand scheme of things.

I think you are really looking at two things.

1) Live tracking - For any live tracking you will need either a) your phone with you (and coverage) or a b) watch/Bike computer with a SIM card - or c) something like a SPOT tracker.

2) The data Geek collection of everything about your ride - For this if it's a watch then Garmin/Suunto/Apple will all collect lot's of data - Garmin and Suunto far more data than an Apple Watch (and will both work with either Android or Apple Phones)

If you are using 1) as a driver/excuse for 2) then I would go with a Garmin Smar****ch myself, I have used a Vivoactive 3HR, a Forerunner 245 and now a Fenix - all track well, and support live tracking along with more data than you need.

If the key priority is tracking then you can't beat a SPOT tracker, as they are satellite based and work where there is no coverage - Used one of these for a while when my teenage son went through a period of feinting for no reason and still wanted to go ride by himself. That said if you have an iPhone then find my phone works well if you and your wife share locations, but does need cellular coverage.

Perhaps decide which way you want to go and then look for something second hand at first to make sure it is the way you want to go.

Having paid for a year of Strava and riding with a phone anyway they live tracker function is not as important.

I will be riding with my phone so HR monitor would suffice but probably wouldn't bother putting the chest strap on every ride whereas a watch I would have on already. Yes, i am very lazy.

The watch would also allow off bike effort to be monitored.

i think I will spend some time looking at 2nd hand or googling cheaper than Garmin options.

Thanks all for the ideas and advice