Fitness tracker with HR, GPS & steps advice?

pebbleheed

Hi all,

I have a Fitbit Charge HR that I wear daily and when I'm exercising. I also have a TomTom multisport HR that I use when cycling.

I use both as the tomtom maps my route with GPS and the Fitbit does my day to day monitoring that Tomtom sadly doesn't.

I'd like to combine the two if possible. So I can count my steps, monitor my heart 24/7 and also turn on GPS when hiking, cycling or running all on the same device.

I don't want an HR strap. I like the optical monitoring of the charge HR where it's built in and monitors 24/7.

So, any recommendations please?

Thanks

pebbleheed

Replying to my own question,

I went with the Garmin Forerunner 235. It's does all the above it seems and let's you add small new features with apps.

It's expensive but I found someone selling one on 'buy it now' brand new at a very low price on eBay. As long as it's genuine when it arrives it's a bargain.

Anyone know if there's a way to get all your Fitbit data to Garmin connect? I suspect it's not possible but I have a year of data to move if it is.

Pezer

I'd love to hear how you go on with it! I've been looking around for a wearable that monitors HR but i keep hearing how inaccurate they are . Would you be able to update us with how you get on?

Cheers!

fubar925

Yep same here... I have tried fitbit hr, Microsoft band 2, apple watch, Trying polar a360 and have the garmin vivoactive hr on order..

pebbleheed

My current Fitbit Charge HR is accurate it seems. I've had it compared a few times recently to professional kit and it was spot on several times and close a few others.

I had my blood pressure and pulse checked at the doctors yesterday. Fitbit was the same reading as their kit.

Even when it's out slightly we're talking a few beats. And I don't expect ECG accuracy from a built in reader costing a few £s so that's fine for me.

My TomTom multisport also seems to have the same accuracy. Both perform well.

Trackers aren't at this stage going to give you hospital pinpoint precision but they're not intended to. The idea is they give you a good idea of what's going on with your body.

I'd have stuck with Fitbit if it wasn't for the skin issue with their stuff strap and the fact that I want gps and HR in one unit.

pebbleheed

Fubar925,

The polar doesn't seem to do 24/7 HR from what I've read. Only records when training and at intervals when not. Instant killer for me as I like to see how I'm performing and get my resting HR.

How did you find the Apple Watch? My fiancé is looking at replacing her charge HR and she's tempted by the Apple Watch but I'm not convinced as a fitness tracker.

pebbleheed

It's arrived and so far I'm interested. Not overly excited as I thought I would be, but it's early days and I've not had a full play yet. It may also be because I'm used to Fitbit and this is a different way of doing things.

I'm cycling to work today so will test it shortly.

Pluses so far -

Garmin IQ - it's a mini App Store. Love that I can add and customise watch faces and activities. This may swing the watch after a bit more of a play.

HR - seems accurate so far.

Bluetooth - seems a little better at connecting than the Fitbit was.

Waterproof - at last! I've wanted this for ages. Now I can check my swimming too.

Display - quite liking the graph for HR and the fact the watch can show the last 7 days resting HR too. There's a lot more info on the watch without having to sync to the app like I used to have to do with Fitbit.

I've also added hiking to my watch. So it does this as well as cycling, running, swimming etc. It took about 5 seconds via Garmin IQ. Quite a cool idea meaning I get a map and distance after my walk that doesn't show as a run on my profile. Will test asap.

pebbleheed

One day in and I've really started to like it.

The built in HRM seems accurate too. I wore my tomtom and this one each wrist last night and they seemed to agree on my HR most of the time. The odd moment they were a beat out from each other but I don't mind that at all. So the accuracy doesn't seem all that bad at all so far.

The watch itself has the fastest GPS I've ever seen in any device. I did two rides yesterday and each time it took about 1 second to lock to GPS. It's exceptionally fast and holds it perfectly. I never lost signal, even cycling in the city. Very impressed.

Comfortwise I never knew I was wearing it. I have an active job and didn't once notice this on my wrist except when I wanted to play with my new toy.

The battery seems good too. I cycled to work with GPS on. Did a full day's work and cycled back with GPS on. I had 24/7 HRM activated and wore it over night last night while I slept. Currently the watch is at 70% which for a fitness tracker is spot on. And that includes me connecting to it a lot via Bluetooth as I downloaded from it a lot more than I normally would as its new and I wanted to test it.

I turned off the smart notifications. They work very well but I personally prefer my notifications on my phone screen, not on my fitness tracker / watch. Also saved battery life.

The customisation of this watch is nice. I downloaded several watch faces from Garmin until I found one I liked. It now looks smart and constantly has my steps, goal, calories burned and battery % on the display in a small area next to the time, day and date. Spot on.

The app is good too. I really like how it handles the data and presents it to you. It looks smart and has a nice feel to it. There's a couple of things I miss from the Fitbit app but I can live without them. And the watch updates very reliably to the app, better than my charge HR ever did.

So far so good. It's really grown on me and I'll be keeping it. So much so that I'll be selling my tomtom and Fitbit. This does the job of both of them which is what I wanted.

The impression I get from owning both is that Fitbit is more for general health tracking and Garmin is more for in depth training with health monitoring. The Garmin watch and app feel more geared up for the serious athlete but is happy to work along with me at my general fitness level.

And the band from Garmin so far hasn't caused me the rash that Fitbit does. Hopefully this will continue to be the case. We shall see.

Anyway, highly recommended the FR 235.

fubar925

Yeah... In the end that was the reason I stayed away from the polar also it wasn't small or big it just didn't suit my wrist..

Had the vivoactive hr for a few days seems ok so far couple gremlins which I have contacted garmin support with..

It's not to good as a fitness tracker imho the fitness software was not there yet but it does have the scope to get there.. I think the second maybe third outing for the watch might be the time to purchase. Or they may release a dedicated tracker!!?

daymouse

I've tried so many and for now have the charge hr but only cos it came with 6 months free pure gym.

The 2 main contenders for me were the

Microsoft band 2 which has a great dash for your stats and gps but is lacking the on board memory for some music.

Apple Watch which has the music and ok dash but know where as good as the MS dash, has the on board memory for music but no gps.

I'm now waiting for an update to one of these I think to add the features missing as I love wearing a watch and it would need to look stylish too in order to wear day to day.

One day hopefully!