Advice on exercise watches needed

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Tanja_CHH
Tanja_CHH Posts: 216 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I do not own a smartwatch (or even a watch). Ive considered buying a watch that would allow me to track my calories burned, but the options are endless and I am unsure what choice to go with. Some seem to be very pricey (Apple watch nike), whilst others seem to be as low as £50 for a watch.

Which watch do you use, and what are the pros and cons of it? Do you wish you had bought another watch? Does it log your calories accurately for the whole day/your workout?

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  • okc0mputr
    okc0mputr Posts: 20 Member
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    I started with a galaxy watch. They're really cool looking and I was pretty happy with it for about 3 days. I had so many problems with it, I ended up switching from an android to an iphone just so I could get an apple watch. Expensive but worth it to me. Its easy to use, with a lot of built in exercise types and is supposedly one of the more accurate fitness trackers, plus it does a ton of other things (siri, shazam song recognition, streams music, weather, view photos and texts,etc). It was a pricy investment but i wear it daily and love it.
  • Siberian2590
    Siberian2590 Posts: 57 Member
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    I bought a Withings Move on Amazon warehouse for $66 (box was damaged) and it tracks steps, sleep, looks good, and tells time!
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,449 Member
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    A pedometer will track your steps and from that you can get an idea of how many calories you burn. A watch with a GPS can track your runs and from that get a decent idea of calories burned. Beyond that it is mostly just 'smoke and mirrors' and a bunch of fancy claims made up by the marketing department. If having one encourages you do move more then get it. Otherwise don't waste your money.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
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    I started training for a Sprint Tri and do a lot of kayaking and SUPing so waterproof with GPS were high on the list. I also found I prefer actual buttons over a touchscreen. I went with a Garmin Instinct for a lot of the features I can use for my personal/family activities (GPS for hikes with the kids that has a crumb trail map in case we get lost). It also has an always on watch face (no exaggerated movements to see the time, or random glowing lights at night when I roll over) and a crazy good battery life for a fitness watch (over 2 weeks depending on GPS use! My old FitBit was every couple/few days).

    It is a tool - for some it is a great motivator to get moving! Others don’t feel that desire and do without. Totally a personal choice. If you decide you do in fact want one I would make a list of “must have” features and go from there...
  • Urun4me
    Urun4me Posts: 37 Member
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    What's your goal? Just to count steps? You can probably choose any smart watch for that.

    From a fitness/exercise standpoint, I think the undisputed winner is one of the Garmin watches. But they are expensive. And they may not have some of the non - fitness apps you can get on a watchos or wearos watch.
  • angelarene626
    angelarene626 Posts: 32 Member
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    Depends on what you plan to use it for. I really really like my Apple Watch. Pricey but so worth it. It tracks my steps, heart rates, calories burned/exercise, reminds me I need to stand more and on top of that works with my cellphone like the previous reaponse mentioned. I think it’s worth it’s value.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Urun4me wrote: »
    What's your goal? Just to count steps? You can probably choose any smart watch for that.

    From a fitness/exercise standpoint, I think the undisputed winner is one of the Garmin watches. But they are expensive. And they may not have some of the non - fitness apps you can get on a watchos or wearos watch.

    This. You can spend more than a thousand dollars to get the best available, but if you don't use the things that set it apart, it's like burning cash to stay warm.

    I love my Garmin, I have a Fenix 6X. I bought it because I was doing very long hikes, and needed a battery that would last. My last "big" hike was 26 hours, the battery goes double that on a charge while running GPS. Also important to me, it talks to my power meter.

    More general comment: Garmin did a good job in the sense that it's smart enough to let me set my phone down and feel like I don't need it, but it's not "too smart" where it would be extra complicated to use. Example: if I get a text while I'm in the shower I can't make a custom reply, but I can read it and know whether it's important or urgent.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    Tanja_CHH wrote: »
    I do not own a smartwatch (or even a watch). Ive considered buying a watch that would allow me to track my calories burned, but the options are endless and I am unsure what choice to go with. Some seem to be very pricey (Apple watch nike), whilst others seem to be as low as £50 for a watch.

    Which watch do you use, and what are the pros and cons of it? Do you wish you had bought another watch? Does it log your calories accurately for the whole day/your workout?

    I wouldn't have calorie burn estimates as my highest priority for a fitness watch. Some people find those estimates relatively accurate and others don't. That just wouldn't be my number one thing.

    I think you first need to decide whether you want a smart watch with some decent fitness tracking aspects, or a great fitness watch with some decent smart watch capabilities.

    I have a Garmin Instinct...I like it as a watch because on it's face it just looks like a digital watch. It also tracks a ton of different exercise activities, including mountain bike, indoor spin, and hiking. For the hiking and mountain bike I can also set it to leave a bread crumb trail if I get turned around. I can receive text messages, but I can't respond using the watch which is not a necessary feature for me...if it was I would have purchased a Samsung smart watch.

    I think you just need to sit down and outline what you want out of the watch...but like I said, I wouldn't make calorie burn estimates a number one priority at all...all you're going to get is an estimate, which may or may not be particularly accurate for you as an individual.
  • Tanja_CHH
    Tanja_CHH Posts: 216 Member
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    Thank for the replies - I was really looking for something that could tell me my calories burned from my workout since my heartrate monitor broke, and since that doesnt seem like a very reliable tool, Ill probably just forego buying a watch at the moment :)
  • jdderrig
    jdderrig Posts: 4 Member
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    I have a Garmin Vivoactive that I bought a few years back refurbished for about $100. It's nothing fancy but it does have some smart watch features and GPS. I don't go by the calorie burn because I don't think any watch can do that accurately. You can download different apps to track different activities from the Garmin Connect app.
  • JustBia
    JustBia Posts: 18 Member
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    angelarene626 wrote: »
    Depends on what you plan to use it for. I really really like my Apple Watch. Pricey but so worth it. It tracks my steps, heart rates, calories burned/exercise, reminds me I need to stand more and on top of that works with my cellphone like the previous reaponse mentioned. I think it’s worth it’s value.

    Agreed. I love mine. Very easy to use and sync. Been using it for over a year and it consistently tracks what I need and stores data in a way that’s easy for me to find. (I am NOT techy)

    On the pricier side but still worth it. Also, as a watch person in general, it’s stylish enough to use daily - can customize with different bands which is nice. Would recommend especially if you’re an Apple fan in general.

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