Recommend me an exercise watch :)

Kel

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My son is looking for an exercise watch (he runs track, CC, HS & cup soccer, etc). Stopped at Sam's Club last night and there's a ton of options with Apple (bonus, he has an Iphone, so getting email/notifications would be nice...not that he doesn't sleep with the phone already ;) ), Samsung, although I didn't see any Fitbit types, etc. Probably don't need a monthly subscription for cellular(?), but would like one that can also function as a stop watch/timer (he refs as well) too. Appreciate any input, thanks!
 

GOTSVT?

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Fitbit. I charge mine every 7 days. no subscription needed.
I wear it to bed as well to monitor my sleep and HR. Apple Watch is great but needs to be charged every other day.
 

02Toner

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Garmin Instinct is a nice semi smart option I wear a lot. Lasts 2/3 weeks between charges, has heart rate, music controls, ABC functions, weather, stop watch, smart notifications, etc... Plus it's waterproof and so far been able to stand up to some good abuse.
 

IronSnake

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Wife and I both have apple watches. They're fantastic. But to each their own. If you want integration with the iPhone and additional non-exercise features I'd go Apple. If you want fitness focused, then fitbit does the job better
 

DSG2003Mach1

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Wife and I both have apple watches. They're fantastic. But to each their own. If you want integration with the iPhone and additional non-exercise features I'd go Apple. If you want fitness focused, then fitbit does the job better

pretty much this. There are decent fitness apps and such you can get. To me the worst part of the apple watch is the battery life. You don't NEED a cell version with a plan. The watch works even without your phone anywhere nearby, you can store some music and stuff like that on it too. You only need the cellular version if you want to make calls/text from the watch without your phone on you
 

AustinSN

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pretty much this. There are decent fitness apps and such you can get. To me the worst part of the apple watch is the battery life. You don't NEED a cell version with a plan. The watch works even without your phone anywhere nearby, you can store some music and stuff like that on it too. You only need the cellular version if you want to make calls/text from the watch without your phone on you
The non-cellular ones will still work on wifi.

My wife forgets her phone constantly and texts/calls me from work on her watch.

They really are nice, and like pretty much everything else technological, it does way more than I actually need.
 

CobraBob

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Wife and I both have apple watches. They're fantastic. But to each their own. If you want integration with the iPhone and additional non-exercise features I'd go Apple. If you want fitness focused, then fitbit does the job better
My wife used an Apple Watch and I use a FitBit. I like both almost equally. Like you said, though, if you have an iPhone and want integration with it plus integration with non-exercise feature, the Apple Watch would get my nod. It seems that the Apple Watch adds useful features, including exercise/health related features, faster and in greater quantity than FitBit. You really can't go wrong with either.
 

bglf83

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I have a Garmin 935, I charge it every 3 weeks.

My wife has a Garmin 245 Music. She charges it once a week or so.


If you want Fitness Garmin is the way.

I get notifications for texts and such from my iPhone but I cannot respond to them on the watch. The screen is always on, it’s not like a LCD screen on an Apple Watch.
 

Balt21

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I have a Garmin Vivoactive, it's quite a few years old now (they're on the Vivoactive 4 now) but it has been solid. It can display texts and who is calling you if your phone is nearby, but you can't reply or talk through it like the Apple Watch. I think you may be able to reply on the newer ones (though that may just be for Android). It easily goes a week, if not longer, before it needs charged.

From my research when looking at smart/fitness watches, both the Apple watch and Garmins/Fitbits/Polars, etc. can do smart watch things as well as fitness things, but the below is a general rule of thumb:

Apple Watch - you value smart watch features over fitness
Garmin, etc. - you value fitness features over smart watch features

Look up DesFit as well as DC Rainmaker on Youtube for the watches you're considering. They both go into a lot of detail on pretty much any smart/fitness watch out there and do comparisons of them vs. other similar watches.
 

TurboMach1

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Garmin is tops for a fitness watch. Few do more and are open source. Check out dcrainmaker for the most in depth reviews on this you will ever find.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 

quad

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My wife used an Apple Watch and I use a FitBit. I like both almost equally. Like you said, though, if you have an iPhone and want integration with it plus integration with non-exercise feature, the Apple Watch would get my nod. It seems that the Apple Watch adds useful features, including exercise/health related features, faster and in greater quantity than FitBit. You really can't go wrong with either.
I second the Apple Watch. I hardly use all the features it brings but it is great for working out. I've streamed music from it to a bluetooth headset and the heart rate monitor is great when working out. And I like to monitor how far we've walked. The only thing that sucks is I did not unpair it from my old phone when we upgraded to the iPhone 12 so I lost all my past workout data I think and had to reset it.
 

quad

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The screen is always on, it’s not like a LCD screen on an Apple Watch.
This is a feature I will like. The Apple Watch screen comes on fast enough when you move your hand but sometimes if I don't move it enough it stays off and I lose a bit of concentration in the whole process, for example if I am on a stairmaster and want to check my heart rate but the screen does not come on.
 

Kel

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Thanks for all the replies! I'm going to Verizon and talk to their folks this weekend. I'll check out the Youtube videos as well.
 

CobraBob

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I second the Apple Watch. I hardly use all the features it brings but it is great for working out. I've streamed music from it to a bluetooth headset and the heart rate monitor is great when working out. And I like to monitor how far we've walked. The only thing that sucks is I did not unpair it from my old phone when we upgraded to the iPhone 12 so I lost all my past workout data I think and had to reset it.
My wife has a 3-year old Apple Watch and I'm trying to convince her to upgrade. It has more usable features on the latest one. Well, our wedding anniversary is coming up in June, so maybe I'll just buy her the latest one in celebration.
 

08mojo

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As others have said, if activity/fitness tracking is priority, I'd go with Garmin. If you want something can also integrate as a cell phone on your wrist, go with Apple.
 

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