Need recommendations for a good fitness watch

I love my Garmins, have had a Vivosmart HR and recently upgraded to a Fenix. Both are great, HR accuracy was very good and both would pair to a HR strap if I want. Step accuracy is always subjective, I'd say they've very good and the Fenix is better than the Vivosmart was but it's just a number and the aim with all trackers is just to get you to aim for and achieve a bigger one/more steps.
Syncing is generally good and easy to do, Garmin Connect talks nicely to MFP too.

I went from Fitbits (4 different ones) to Garmin Vivoactive 3 and couldn't be happier that I made the switch.

Which one is best for you will depend on the kinds of workouts you do and what you want out of the device.

Susieq2466 wrote: »

Looking to see what fitness trackers everyone has had luck with when it comes to accuracy and etc.

First, decide if you want an activity tracker that has some training features, or a training watch that has some smart features.

If the first, most any of the main stream trackers will be fine - fitbits, garmin bands, apple watch, etc.
If the latter, you should really be looking at the garmin watches and/or suunto watches.

Susieq2466 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your input . I am looking to go hard or go home at the gym , but I want it to sync with MFP to count my steps etc. Any other feature is a bonus. My friends don’t do any competition with steps etc so that is not a concern for me . They have apple or Fitbit trackers.

If you want to go hard or go home, check out the Garmin fenix 5 series devices.

They are pricey but you get what you pay for. They have all the standard fitness features plus very advanced features as well.

If you want to get serious with your fitness, it would be a device that you will not out grow.

_mr_b wrote: »

I love my Garmins, have had a Vivosmart HR and recently upgraded to a Fenix. Both are great, HR accuracy was very good and both would pair to a HR strap if I want. Step accuracy is always subjective, I'd say they've very good and the Fenix is better than the Vivosmart was but it's just a number and the aim with all trackers is just to get you to aim for and achieve a bigger one/more steps.
Syncing is generally good and easy to do, Garmin Connect talks nicely to MFP too.

Just wondering what band you paired the vivosmart HR to, as I read somewhere else (when I was searching for which chest strap to buy) that this is the only Garmin HR watch that won't pair with a chest strap. I really want to start using a chest HRM for hill sprints etc as the vivosmart doesn't work well for this on me, so any info on how to do this is appreciated, thanks

OP- I like my Garmin vivosmart HR with gps for running but it is only good for steady state cardio. If I do circuit training or anything that causes spikes in HR it doesn't record properly but I think this is common with all wrist based HR monitors.
I'm not keen on using it to gauge calories burned when doing weights either, and the strap is coming away after 8 months. The start/ stop button is on the strap so its not a straightforward strap swap either.
Having the watch has made me more conscious of my sleep and how (in)active I am outside of the gym/ running, which is a good thing and not something I thought about much before. But when this watch breaks I will get a better Garmin that hopefully lasts longer.

I've had Fitbit, Microsoft and Garmin for fitness tracking, and I like my Vívoactive HR and the tracking it provides the best. Well thought-out app, easy to tie into MFP and the link between both is seamless and fast. I'm not easy on my devices, and it has held up well. As noted above, if you want to monitor HR spikes, any wrist-based device is not going to be accurate enough. I too will upgrade to a higher-level Garmin once this one no longer functions.

AnvilHead wrote: »

OldAssDude wrote: »

Susieq2466 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your input . I am looking to go hard or go home at the gym , but I want it to sync with MFP to count my steps etc. Any other feature is a bonus. My friends don’t do any competition with steps etc so that is not a concern for me . They have apple or Fitbit trackers.

If you want to go hard or go home, check out the Garmin fenix 5 series devices.

They are pricey but you get what you pay for. They have all the standard fitness features plus very advanced features as well.

If you want to get serious with your fitness, it would be a device that you will not out grow.

Or the Garmin 935, which has all the features of the Fenix 5 (same internals) but a polymer case - and is considerably less expensive.

Yep - love mine. Heck, I've even gotten into developing my own custom watchface. But that's beyond the scope of this thread, obviously. IMO. the 935 is a great value buy.

AnvilHead wrote: »

OldAssDude wrote: »

Susieq2466 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your input . I am looking to go hard or go home at the gym , but I want it to sync with MFP to count my steps etc. Any other feature is a bonus. My friends don’t do any competition with steps etc so that is not a concern for me . They have apple or Fitbit trackers.

If you want to go hard or go home, check out the Garmin fenix 5 series devices.

They are pricey but you get what you pay for. They have all the standard fitness features plus very advanced features as well.

If you want to get serious with your fitness, it would be a device that you will not out grow.

Or the Garmin 935, which has all the features of the Fenix 5 (same internals) but a polymer case - and is considerably less expensive.

Yes, the 935 is also great.

I did not mention it because I thought the OP may want something a little smaller (like the 5 or 5s), but if she don't mind the larger size, the 935 is also a great choice.

Depends on what you want out of it...

I wear a Swatch which is waterproof. It's fine for counting intervals on the elliptical and I can wear it in the shower too.

AnvilHead wrote: »

OldAssDude wrote: »

Susieq2466 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your input . I am looking to go hard or go home at the gym , but I want it to sync with MFP to count my steps etc. Any other feature is a bonus. My friends don’t do any competition with steps etc so that is not a concern for me . They have apple or Fitbit trackers.

If you want to go hard or go home, check out the Garmin fenix 5 series devices.

They are pricey but you get what you pay for. They have all the standard fitness features plus very advanced features as well.

If you want to get serious with your fitness, it would be a device that you will not out grow.

Or the Garmin 935, which has all the features of the Fenix 5 (same internals) but a polymer case - and is considerably less expensive.

I've got a 3HR and bought it because it was less expensive by ~$400, hardier than the 935 and all but the most expensive 5 and did everything I needed. Only thing it doesn't do is mapping (vs 5x) and link to the run dynamics pod.

But it's as big as the 5x or 935 so may be a bit big for a lady (it looks funny on my wife's wrist). My wife has my old Vivoactive HR.