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Looking for a smart/ sports watch that fills the following criteria:
- Includes Sleep Tracking
- rugged enough to withstand bouldering, climbing and surfing... and cx..
- waterproof to at least 50m
- has a haptic alarm
and most importantly....
- allows for downloading podcasts and music (from youtube music) - dont want to be paying £400 odd for a phone remote control, want to be able to leave the phone
In the age old STW fashion of recommending what you have....
I have Fenix 6 solar pro (only because it was on offer) which i believe has the fancy alarm.
Tunes/podcasts downloadable via spotify and reasonably rugged - thus far. Though having said that Ive cracked the screen after a particularly heavy ski fall on a glacier, but still in working order.
I got mine from sports pursuit for circa £300 a while ago. That was before they brought out the fenix 7 so likely more deals around now
There's a lot of Garmin's that'll do that job. I've got a Fenix 6 which will do it and as it's an older model you may pick it up cheaply.
I was going to say Instinct/Instinct (recommend what you have) except I don't think there's a Haptic Alarm option and no Music storage...
New Garmin FR265 has music onboard by default but seems to be quite pricey for the FR2XX level, FR255 Music might be on discount soon as a result(???).
Default answer is of course Fenix, whichever suits your budget...
Garmin. There'll be one to fit your purpose.
Basically:
Forerunner 255/955 & 265/965 - lightweight, running/multisport focused. 65 is the OLED screen model
Instinct 2/crossover - more basic in terms of features, much longer battery life, more rugged
Fenix 6/7 - big and heavy, heavy is good, heavy is reliable. Much more rugged, titanium cases, sapphire versions are very tough. All of the features on the Fenix 7.
thanks forthe recomendations - Ive looked at the garmin website so many times but tbh i find it quite confusing the amount of models and then the amount of watches under one name (ie fenix), and not knowing the real world differences between them..
guess im spending the afternoon on rainmakers website...!
I've had a fenix 7 solar on test for over 12 months now and it has been ultra reliable, display is easy to see and there's so many options. Battery lasts 12 days when not in ride recording mode and just normal watch/fitness mode and that's without the solar top up
Ive looked at the garmin website so many times but tbh i find it quite confusing the amount of models and then the amount of watches under one name (ie fenix), and not knowing the real world differences between them
Yep. They have loads of models with lots of overlapping features. The Fenix range is relatively straightforward though (by garmin standards). The number is just how recent it is. 7 is the latest, 6 is still pretty recent with most of the features of the 7, The 5 is getting a bit old now. For the 6 there are two models, the standard and the pro. The pro has a few extra features like ski maps and importantly for you music. The other variations are physical. You have the sizes S for small, nothing for standard and X for big. They are quite big though, the S is more like a normal sized watch and the X is huge. There are extra features like Solar for a bit of extra battery life and Sapphire for fancy glass (the sapphire is also a pro model IIRC).
The 6 pro is a great watch with everything you'll need. Just get the size that is right for you.
Fenix 6, the only downside is that they are chunky, but you get used to it. I found that the Android / Connect set up was better as it was much easier to configure the different notifications.
Apple Watch Ultra
– waterproof to at least 50m
Really?
I don’t think any watch can be worn for bouldering and not risk damage
I bought the Fenix 6 pro solar using that John Lewis link last week. Arrived on Fri to replace my Vivoactive 3 that had a poor battery life.
Was worried about spending so much but it is really good. Prefer the buttons easier to use when actually running. It is heavier but weight is a non-issue even on my skinny wrists.
Since charging it on Friday and recording 2hrs of activities and lots of playing around with it and setting it up, it still has 43% battery left which it estimates will last me 5 days.
The Vivoactive I was having to charge up every other day.
So yes I'd highly recommend one and the stats are more in depth than the Vivoactive it replaced.
Compare the fenix6 to the fr255 as I think the 6 has the older sensor suite and GPS chipset. Happy to be proved wrong 🙂
And yeah - rainmaker ftw
Recommend what you got is another fenix 6 pro owner does all you want, have the standard size and don't find it big in or heavy on my wrist, decent battery life, don't find the older sensors that out of wack that I don't trust them.
That John Lewis price is a steal, I paid over £500 a year ago, the fenix 7 is well over £700 I reckon.
the other thing i struggle with on the garmin site and rainmakers is that looking 'higher' makes the model of watch you want and ticked all the boxes now looks totally inadequate!!
Currently looking at the epix....
– waterproof to at least 50m
Really?
50m/5atm waterproofing doesn't mean you can go scuba diving down to 50m with it. In fact 50m/5atm is the minimum I'd want for any sports watch. Under that and you can't wear it when swimming.
3 ATM
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 30 metres
splashes, rain or snow, showering, jumping into water
5 ATM, Swim
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 50 metres
Splashes, Rain or snow, Showering, Swimming, Diving into water, snorkelling
Currently looking at the epix….
It's easy to get budget creep with Garmin's, you start out looking at the £150 end and before you know it you're looking at a £1000 epix... 🤣
50m/5atm waterproofing doesn’t mean you can go scuba diving down to 50m with it. In fact 50m/5atm is the minimum I’d want for any sports watch. Under that and you can’t wear it when swimming.
How much time do you actually spend more than 2m below the surface?
I've take 3atm rated £5 Casios swimming plenty of times and they suffered no ill effects, I do think there's a bit of "watch nerd" inspired water resistance hysteria. My Instinct can apparently do 100m I have no intention of finding out if that's a true claim, I doubt 99% of Garmin's customers do TBH...
the other thing i struggle with on the garmin site and rainmakers is that looking ‘higher’ makes the model of watch you want and ticked all the boxes now looks totally inadequate!!
Scope creep is easy to get into.
Just keep your original requirements in mind.
Having mulled it more how would a Venu SQ 2 suit your needs?
''How much time do you actually spend more than 2m below the surface?''
When I go surfing, esp in winter, more time than Id ideally like to... :-))
As I understood it 5mta and over just means that ideally I can spend more time in the water with it, not necessarily 25 plus meters below it...
I did look atthe venue series but couldnt see there was any storage to download music or podcasts..
And now I have the advertising sidebar -----> telling me I need a polar Grit pro...?!?!