GPS Watches for college runner

excess watches poor logistics wrote:

gps user wrote:

I've had about 10 different ones ...My son runs with Garmin 20s. S because it's plural as I find with how frequently he uses them that we keep two and make sure they're exactly the same so it can use the same charger etc.

Your family sounds kind of dumb with the watch thing.

Why? With our schedules and how much he runs this works for us. What's your problem jack?

minimom wrote:

My college freshman son who runs NAIA XC has strongly hinted that he would like a GPS watch for Christmas. I'm guessing he would mostly use it for his offseason training and trail running since his school doesn't have indoor track. Any recommendations of what would be most suitable? There are so many options/price points that it's a bit overwhelming.

Have the wrist-based heart rate monitors become any more accurate in recent years? The one I got a few years ago seems ok for averages on long runs, but not very accurate for intervals/hill repeats, so would it be best to get one with a chest strap?

I know Garmin watches work well with Strava and smartphone apps, but am less familiar with other brands.

Garmin watches are one of the coolest and highest quality watches on the market, but at the same time, it is very difficult to find reviews on watches from this company. I just want to buy a garmin watch for $ 400, but I want to read a few reviews on them and only then buy them. Yesterday, my mother found and sent a website about watches on which were reviews

and I was very happy. I read the specifications very carefully and read reviews of people and decided that I would buy this watch in the near future. What do you think about garmin watches?

The other companies are usually fly-by-night, poor customer service, stop updating products etc. run out of money and are done.

Nobody needs an expensive watch, especially a college kid. Watches with music are nice to have but aren't necessary. Most pros that I follow on strava are only using a 235 at most anyways.

I will definitely try, thanks!

800 dude wrote:

The Polar M430 is a really superb watch at a great price. More accurate than the Garmins.

I got the Polar M430 and I am pretty happy with it.

Before this one, I had a Garmin FR 15 and that wristband broke on a pretty regular basis. I heard from several people with Garmin watches that the wrist bands are not very durable. I mean, you can get it replaced but it is still pretty annoying when it breaks.

Compared to the Garmin the GPS appears to be a lot more accurate with my Polar. But then again, I only had the FR 15, so I don't know how it would compare to a more advanced Garmin watch.

Another Polar M430 user here. Love the watch, it does everything a runner needs and it does it well. I had a Garmin Forerunner 230 some time ago, which was also pretty nice but I like the Polar better.

Wildhorse wrote:

Another Polar M430 user here. Love the watch, it does everything a runner needs and it does it well. I had a Garmin Forerunner 230 some time ago, which was also pretty nice but I like the Polar better.

This thread is a year old so the OP has a watch by now, but I have a question about the Polar M430. Will it pair with a Garmin or Timex chest strap monitor?

I wear my watch two notches loose on my wrist so I doubt that a wrist monitor will work for me.

Only Bluetooth Smart, no Ant+ or even older Polar ones.

The strap is pretty elastic, you cam tighten it and it remains comfortable. See if you can borrow it from a friend or try it in a shop.

Thanks

50 bucks 3g android os, Im tempted, OP needed to work with Strava not sure if it will.

I'm very happy with my Polar M430 overall, which I use for road and trail runs, as well as various indoor activities. Accurate wrist HR. Good amount of features for the price. You can get these used and in good condition for cheap. Otherwise may also be available new, and still a lot cheaper than newer watches, most of which are more than almost anyone needs.

I can't speak to Strava, but I like the Polar Flow app and web service.

If I hadn't gotten the M430, I was considering the Garmin Vivoactive 3. A little fancier, but ultimately I felt the extras would be either mostly useless or distracting for my purposes, personally. I could see it if you are slightly more concerned with style than I am. My main needs are/were convenience (hence not wanting to use a chest strap), yet tracking heart rate pretty accurately, along with distance, low price, decent battery life (taking into consideration the low power/mid GPS accuracy setting), visibility (in terms of reading the screen/face), ease/simplicity of analytical and training tools. I like the physical button as well, as opposed to touch screen. Everyone has their favorites but I'm content with my research and the choice I ultimately made in going with the Polar M430.

manualf150 wrote:

I don't recommend dcrainmaker's reviews. I can go on and on and write a book, but that dude's reviews are garbage and biased.

I recommend

https://www.techradar.com/

or

https://www.cnet.com/

.

I agree. Ray is 100% compromised...and lazy. first He puts the same thing in every review. With GPS and HR he always ends with "I'm seeing no issues there" Even when the new models have a ton of issue with GPS etc.

Also in the last few years he has focused on reviewing mostly high end stuff. He never reviews off brand or cheaper watches (he doesn't get as big as a cut from one of his sponsors or Amazon)

He also misses a lot of information.

I've been using my Coros for several years. It's actually a good performing watch. I discovered it while looking through the comparisons on Bäst-i-test.tips. But I'm looking for how to replace it too. So, I'm grateful to all the people who have replied here. I used to have a Samsung Galaxy Watch but eventually replaced it because it was out of the functions I needed. It's so cool that we have such opportunities like the GPS watch now. My dad told me he would have been the coolest guy if he had had the watch when he was young.