Fitness tracker - which one do you use?

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  • MercuryBlue
    MercuryBlue Posts: 886 Member
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    I've got a Polar A300 and love using it along with the Polar Flow app.
  • Akibo23
    Akibo23 Posts: 88 Member
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    MercuryBlue wrote: »
    I've got a Polar A300 and love using it along with the Polar Flow app.

    Suits my need. But looks bulky. How comfortable is it ?
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    Akibo23 wrote: »
    brianpperkins wrote: »

    Why would you recommend a multisport watch and cycling computer to a person looking for running pace?

    I would mainly use it to track running and HIIT workouts. An occasional hike and cycling trip might be thrown into the mix but it is definitely not a weekly activity for the moment. What do you recommend ?

    My earlier comment was at the person that mentioned a cycling computer (the type mounted on handlebars that lacks a running funcionality) and an expensive multisport (triathlon) device for your needs.

    For running pace you'll need a GPS equipped device. The more basic models that include the ability to connect a heart rate strap include the Garmin Forerunner 15, TomTom Runner (older version heavily discounted now that they introduced a model with optical HR) and Polar M400. The addition of cycling is doable with the M400, TomTom Multisport, or the Garmin Vivoactive.

    The V800 along with Garmin's (920XT, Fenix 2 and 3) and Suunto's (Ambit) multisport devices are great products ... but the additional features come at a hefty price. Is the ability to log a triathlon or track open water swimming worth the additional expenditure it takes?

    None of them accurately calculate HIIT.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    Akibo23 wrote: »
    I would mainly use it to track running and HIIT workouts.

    Dreadmilling puts a different complexion on the issue. From a Garmin perspective you'd need either a footpod or on the more modern devices, the Running Dynamics chest strap. They'll both give you length of pace, as well as vertical oscillation and ground contact time, but the distance will be more reliable than the machine, once you've calibrated the system. I'm not sure how Polar do that as the simple step counter is optimised for walking, rather than running.

    And nothing is going to give ou an accurate assessment of HIIT, as thats anaerobic. A GPS watch will give you distance run in a high intensity session, but that's of limited accuracy if you're doing grid sprints or hill repeats.

  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    Akibo23 wrote: »
    MercuryBlue wrote: »
    I've got a Polar A300 and love using it along with the Polar Flow app.

    Suits my need. But looks bulky. How comfortable is it ?

    the a 300 doesn't have gps, it seems the main difference between the a300 a m400 is A300 can read your heart rate while swimming, the M400 has gps.

  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    Akibo23 wrote: »
    I would mainly use it to track running and HIIT workouts.

    Dreadmilling puts a different complexion on the issue. From a Garmin perspective you'd need either a footpod or on the more modern devices, the Running Dynamics chest strap. They'll both give you length of pace, as well as vertical oscillation and ground contact time, but the distance will be more reliable than the machine, once you've calibrated the system. I'm not sure how Polar do that as the simple step counter is optimised for walking, rather than running.

    And nothing is going to give ou an accurate assessment of HIIT, as thats anaerobic. A GPS watch will give you distance run in a high intensity session, but that's of limited accuracy if you're doing grid sprints or hill repeats.

    I have the V800, and I'm not sure what you are referring to by grid sprints, or hill repeats. But just to see how far I would walk cutting my grass, I had the gps on, it counted every pass I made as a lap, and gave me a total distance.

  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    I have the V800, and I'm not sure what you are referring to by grid sprints, or hill repeats. But just to see how far I would walk cutting my grass, I had the gps on, it counted every pass I made as a lap, and gave me a total distance.

    So I'd ask how accurate that total distance is, as the pool of error on a civilian grade GPS using a nine-spacecraft fix is around 5 metres. The effect of cumulative error depends on the distance of the repeat. Gridders might be a 10 or 20 metre distance, hill repeats might be 100 metres, so less gross effect but still substantial.

    To put that in context, on my Turbo trainer I can ride for 40km in an hour long session, using my GPS as a head end for the instrumentation on my bike, but letting it track GPS. The GPS could measure as much as 1km in that time, just from the cumulative effect of location accuracy errors as it chops between different spacecraft and tracks them. Looking at the trace from above it'll show a disc of 10 to 15 metres diameter.

    So if the originator is looking for calorie estimation then from distance based a HIIT session like that is going to be wrong, and from an HR perspective it'll be wrong. There is no way to forecast how wrong that is, so one might as well just pluck a figure from thin air.
  • chazza55
    chazza55 Posts: 27 Member
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    i own a garmin fenix2. As much as I like it, be aware it's gps is not as good as polar or some older garmin devices due to a change of gps chip they use. I wish I had waited for the polar v800 as the gps seems pretty accurate. With my fenix2 75% of the time, the gps track is almost spot on......the other times I can get wild offsets or delayed turns. I do like it but it is not worth the large price tag.

    Also be aware the fenix2 does not have a 24/7 fitness tracker.....only individual defined activities.

    We are looking at a polar m400 for my other half as we feel her Vivofit doesn't cut it for serious exercising.

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