Strava & Smartwatch

A Garmin will work on its own and when in Bluetooth range of your phone or computer (when you get to you front door) will sync to strava. Is this sufficient? I just got the 235 and love it.

dinerooooeoeooeoeooo wrote:

I'm currently in the market for a smartwatch that will play nice with Strava

A smart watch is only worth the money if you are going to wear it.

Besides the Apple Watch, they all look like JUNK.

Look at the Moto 360, with the FLAT TIRE design. You're not gonna get laid wearing that watch.

So yes, Apple Watch plays nicely with Strava and is the way to go.

It would be sufficient, unclear what I'm getting for the $150 more it costs than the Band 2? Or $75 more than the Fitbit Surge?

TomTom Runner 2 Cardio. Got one recently and very pleased with it. GPS and optical HRM.

Agreed most are junk (I don't mind the flat tire look for the Moto watches, I think the (mostly) circular design is appealing/different.

Most running watches won't get you laid anyway, so this isn't much of a change in either direction.

Also worth mentioning here I'm an Android user, so the Apple watch is a non starter.

The Scot wrote:

TomTom Runner 2 Cardio. Got one recently and very pleased with it. GPS and optical HRM.

Will it automatically sense I'm biking, or will I need to switch modes?

Naming your max price and what kind of features you are looking for would help narrow down the options a lot. Are you just using it to measure distance, time, and pace while running? Do you want a heart rate meter? Do you want it to support other apps and widgets? Will it be an 'all-in-one' watch that you can wear in a suit as well?

I'm not familiar with the watches you mentioned but I did pick up a Garmin Forerunner 230 a few months ago on sale for $199. I am pretty happy with the watch so far. Its far lighter than I was expecting and very comfortable to wear. GPS is accurate and never had an issue with it even while running on heavily wooded areas or dense downtown areas. I recently started playing around with building custom workouts on Garmin Connect and its both easy and convenient. This allows me to do interval workouts of varying length and rest periods without constantly monitoring the watch. Strava does not support a direct sync between Garmin devices (not sure about other brands) so you need to download Garmin Connect and sync the two apps. Not a big deal. I had a problem with workouts not transferring over one time but I was able to fix the issue after deleting and re-installing the apps.

I only have two complaints. 1) I can't seem to figure out how to use the regular non-GPS stopwatch function. This would be useful for simple non-running things like timing how long my laundry has been in or how long dinner has been in the oven. 2) It definitely looks like a sports watch and is not appropriate for a business wear. Not a huge deal for me because I work a mostly blue collar job but when I need to throw on a jacket and tie for meetings I usually need to change it out for a more dressy watch.

So you want a GPS watch with smartwatch notifications. All smartwatches require your phone. I don't know of any GPS watches that don't upload either directly or indirectly to Strava.

dinerooooeoeooeoeooo wrote:

The Scot wrote:

TomTom Runner 2 Cardio. Got one recently and very pleased with it. GPS and optical HRM.

Will it automatically sense I'm biking, or will I need to switch modes?

Depends whether you are talking about the full blown session recording or the daily 24/7 activity tracking (which tbh I don't use). For session recording you select the activity type. Not sure how the 24h tracker would know you were cycling - it does use an accelerometer to estimate your stride when running though (ie off your arm swing).

I'd like to stay under $350 if possible.

I want to be able to easily record runs and bike rides, and get data during the activities. I'm indifferent about heart rate tracking. I think it'd be nice to see and a perk, but not a deal breaker.

I don't really care about activity tracking during the entire day, but I do like the idea of a smartwatch (even if most suck). The Moto360 Sport was appealing to me, but I've read (I could be wrong), you still need your phone for it to sync with Strava (which is defeating the purpose here).

I'm fine with it not being an all purpose watch. Just want to run/bike without my phone with me, have it sync with Strava effortlessly/automatically, and have a few other tricks if possible.

You have to sync ALL watches with your phone app (or upload to your desk top) to transfer data to Strava. You don't have to carry the phone with you, but you will have to sync it at some point.

Apple Watch needs you to take your phone with you for GPS.

I use / wear a Garmin vivoactive. Not the fanciest "smartwatch" but discrete enough, decent battery life, smart notifications (SMS, email, etc etc) and pairs with my phone when I get back from a run to upload to Garmin Connect and then automagically to Strava and other services.

I could sync it via a PC cable instead if I wanted to. And if you do choose to take your phone with you when running you can use the Garmin Livetrack feature to let others (family?) see where you are either to track you through a race or just to help with personal security.

I'm very happy with mine.