Sports & Fitness Best value smartwatch

I've smashed numerous activity trackers/fitness watches (and normal watches before that) but early on there were no robust devices that would be suitable for me.

My requirements were:
- activity tracking (easy - they all pretty much do that)
- sleep monitoring (bit more difficult - those with a short battery life would be no good)
- decent battery life - even with GPS (see above, but also for general convenience)
- smart watch features adequate to see notifications, and at least do simple responses (getting more into the smart watch territory here, but many fitness trackers are doing this a bit now)
- gps to track exercise etc when I dont want to use my bike computer or phone (again, more devices are offering a GPS option)
- waterproof (pretty hard to find at the time, apple watches were not waterproof when I bought this)
- not stupidly expensive
- most importantly: robust (virtually none!)

It wasn't until the Garmin Instinct was released that my requirements (particularly being robust) were met. My one has 2 weeks battery life as an activity tracker, and I get almost that long even when I ride to work 2-3 times a week using it for GPS. It is very robust - my normal watch ended up being a Casio G-shock, and the Garmin Instinct is reminiscent of that style.

There is a new version now that incorporates solar charging, so time between usb charging should be pretty long now.

Anyway, I am extremely happy with my Garmin Instinct. I may actually sell this one to get the solar version, but that is significantly more expensive. The smart watch features are perfectly adequate for me - there are a bunch of canned responses ("yes", "no", "on my way". etc) that are good enough for when otherwise occupied, and you can read notifications on it. Has good features for a sports watch, again without going over the top.

Cheers,
Inertia.

 

oh, and if you want to read a thorough review of any device like this you are considering, go to DC Rainmaker - all your answers will be there.

 

That's one thing that I'm very worried about with my Active 2, as it has a very exposed glass screen and I'm not the most careful of people. I bought a stick on bezel, which has got a few scratches on it, so it's definitely good that I did. But I'm still a bit concerned about it. Currently I'm renovating a house and I've got a sweatband on it when I'm working, which has been fine so far.
But I agree, more rugged would be good!

 

I'm a ham-fisted clutz, and have so many watch screens it is not funny. I bought my Garmin Instinct the day it was released, so coming up to 2 years now, and the screen is still perfect.

Cheers,
Inertia.

 

Hi all,
Based on your posts, I looked into the smartwatches that were written about. The ones that most appealed were the Garmin Venu, Garmin Active 4s and Samsung Galaxy Active 2. I am sure I would be happy with any of these.
Some of the others either looked too beefy and masculine or more basic/less refined.

Anyway, based on price for what is possible off Gumtree atm, I am most probably going to get a Samsung Galaxy Active 2 in a couple of days. The Garmins have much better battery life, but the Samsung still seems to be a very good device, and you can do voice commands with it.

 

Good choice, I reckon. If you're really into running, the Garmin is probably the better choice, or if battery life is extremely important to you. But I get 48 hours on my active 2 without putting it into energy saving mode (note that 44mm watch also has a bigger battery though). You can also put it into a dumb-watch-mode to make the battery last for weeks, but to me that defeats the purpose.

 

I think the most extreme use for me would be a 12 hour day in a canyon, though 8 hours would be more usual.
I'm more inclined towards cycling and unicycling, and maybe a city to surf type run.

I understand I can have map type apps on it too? That would be quite a benefit.

Anyway, from what I can see, you can get a near new Galaxy Active 2 on Gumtree right now for $250, whereas it seems for the Garmins the starting price second hand on Gumtree is around $400+. Thus, the choice. Also the Garmins don't have the voice control.

 

Yes, there are all sorts of maps, some free, some you have to pay a few bucks for. As I generally have my phone on me, I only use one that connects to Google Maps and shows me turn by turn, but I believe there are standalone ones as well.

 

Looks like the guy who I was going to buy the snartwatch from may have sold to someone else. A bit shattered since I came into the city especially for it today

It's not the end of the world though. I'll live.

 

I got talked out of the Galaxy 2 by a mate of mine who had one, said at best he gets 6 hours out it, much less if using GPS for activity tracking, sounds like he may have got a lemon though, comparing your charge times. The galaxy watches look great and lots of functionality

 

Definitely not my experience!
Every now and then there's a battery drain issue (say once every few months) and you've got to restart both the watch and the phone to fix it. A bit annoying, but really it's just about 30 seconds worth of inconvenience. If you just restart the watch though, it still persists, so I think it's a bug in their comms software.

Gumtree/Facebook can be really annoying like that. Goes for both buyers and sellers though. I reckon close to 50% of buyers never turn up. Very frustrating.

 

Not a smart watch, but I just bought a Fitbit Charge 4 and really love it. $200.

Has the time, steps, heart rate, km, text msgs, pay from a limited number of banks including ANZ, several clock faces, 7 day battery, and gps.

Bought a protective cover (listed as a ‘case’) from Amazon which looks great too.

 

I ended up buying a new Australian model Samsung Galaxy Active 2 smartwatch LTE 40mm with black leather straps from Kogan, received just now. $422. Downloaded the new software and charging it now. So far, not too bad.
I have to learn how to really use it.

 

This default watch band is too long, and I can see it sticking out at the top.
#FWP.

 

It's funny, the 44mm one looks smaller on my wrist than the 40mm does on yours!



How are you liking it otherwise?

 

It's so good! Tried making a phone call on it, it works. Able to send a simple drawing. And I'm amazed at the watch face variety.
Got it to control taking photos and videos, it's got a really good screen, synched it up to make payments, loaded Strava on it.... i'm very happy with it. It's not a masculine looking watch, which was a turnoff for me for so many other smart watches. It's really nice. I could also see my running up and down the hill too when I did that today.
And, i've seen there's a flashtlight option and a setting for using it underwater. All handy stuff.

I do want to see some turn by turn mapping... Do you use any app for that? If so, what and how?

The downside of the watch is the battery life is just a bit short though.

To compare,
I have a Fitbit charge 3, the screen on the Fitbit is nowhere near as refined or elegant, the functions are way more limited. Now if that cost $200 not so long ago, and this was $422, this was such a good buy.

The Samsung Active 2 watch has so much more bang for buck.
And, did you know there's a screen capture function too? Lots of things to try!

 

Hi Guys, my budget is no where close to rich folks (here) to spend on smartwatch however cane across this through Yahoo, has any one tried it ir knows about it:-

KoreTrak Watch

 

I suppose if someone is on a budget then a Kogan smart watch is an option? At least it's not a complete unknown quantity.

 

Update. Bought the Active 2 smartwatch 9 Sept 2020.

So many issues with mapping Strava rides.
I found it seems to not work if battery saver on my phone is on.
Also, today I switched my phone off and the watch had died before 2pm. I charge it every night. Also found it always died around lunch time when canyoning (and I don't bother with having a phone on then, cause of the environment).

So with the above, if you asked if I would buy the same watch again, it's an absolute no.

I like that I could answer phone calls and see and respond to messages on it, and use it as a smartwallet, but the negatives are too negative.