What garmin watch should I get?

Fitness trackers only really work for aiming at calculating calorie burns for steady state exercise, like running for example. They don't really work for lifting unless a nifty programming trick was used. Think of it that way: You lift up a weight and lower it again. You burn a few calories. Then you sit and wait and burn more calories, yet your heartrate is likely still up, and hence such a device would attribute burns that aren't there. Those things also only work if your maximum heartrate is close to the equation 220-age, which it isn't for nearly 50% of all people. If not, you get much higher or lower burns.

If you want a nice, electronic toy then get it. But don't expect precise burns. If you just think you want a step counter then a simple fitness band might be enough. Or even an app on your phone.

Lietchi wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

Fitness trackers only really work for aiming at calculating calorie burns for steady state exercise, like running for example. They don't really work for lifting unless a nifty programming trick was used. Think of it that way: You lift up a weight and lower it again. You burn a few calories. Then you sit and wait and burn more calories, yet your heartrate is likely still up, and hence such a device would attribute burns that aren't there.

My Garmin Vivoactive 4 only counts during the reps (press a button at the beginning and end of each set). It's probably still not accurate, but certainly not an exaggerated calorie burn like trackers that also use the rest time to calculate the calorie burn.
Not sure how Garmin's other trackers are programmed for strength training though.

Exactly, that's what I mean. They don't do that automatically. Thus if you do 5 squats you have to activate it before doing the lifts, then lift, then stop. And then, if heartrate is taken into account you still need to be within 1 standard deviation of this equation (I think that's about 12 bpm) to get reasonable calorie burns.

shirazum2023 wrote: »

@Lietchi I was looking into vivoactive 3 and 4. Wanted to see if other people have any suggestions other than those.
@yirara I am ok with pressing a button too. I just want to know an estimation of how much calorie I typically burn in each session. Also I chose garmin because it looks more like a watch than a fitness tracker. I am not a runner, I probably will not get into running anytime soon either but I do feel that I don't walk/move enough. Tracker might help me with that.

Thank you guys.

You know, I started by tracking my steps using an app on my phone, but I was quickly annoyed by the fact that I always had to have my phone in my pocket for that. I then dug up an old (very basic) Polar tracker I had bought on a whim once and barely used. And as a reward to myself when I went from obese to overweight, I bought myself a Garmin Vivoactive 4s.

All these tools were helpful in increasing my activity level, but the two watches - even the basic one - were definitely a step up since they also gave estimates of total calories burned in a day and exercise calories. By monitoring my weight, I figured out that they were pretty accurate for me (even overestimating calories a bit).

I really like my Garmin Vivoactive (if it broke, I'd replace it with the same model) and all the stats collected in Garmin Connect. And I was also partly swayed by the look of it, on top of the functionalities (especially the fact that there was a smaller version, I have small wrists) But one of the deciding factors for me was that the Vivoactive can be paired with a HR chest band. I don't know how important that is for you, but I wanted a more reliable HR measurement for exercise than a wrist monitor. It's generally okay, but I have noticed abnormal readings when my HR is high (I remember a strenuous hike when my wrist reading was 100, but my HR was actually well into the 180's) or the activity I'm doing might cause movements of the watch on my wrist (rowing for example).

Which one is best depends on how much you want to spend and what looks good to you - all of their trackers are going to do what you want. The Vivoactive ones are well loved.

If you're looking at the VA I'd get the 4 instead of the 3 personally. Garmin makes great hardware and they've been really good on the software side lately too, but they only give the coolest features to the newest models usually. It's how they get people to spend $ to upgrade.

They do a decent job as smart watches, show you texts, calls, and other notifications as they come in, so you can put your phone down and still know what's going on. I thought that was a gimmick until I started using it.