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What are the best options out there for fitness trackers that have built in heart rate sensors? It would be paired with an Android phone, if it matters. I was looking at the Microsoft Band for my wife for Christmas, but some of the reviews are pretty mixed. She doesn't need a pedometer, but (mostly) accurate heart rate sensing, graphs and poo poo synced somewhere, and the ability to coordinate somehow with her running app (RunKeeper, but she could switch) would be great. Any extra features typical of smart watches would be nice but aren't necessary. If it shows the time and maybe has a stopwatch, I think she'd be fine doing everything else on her actual phone screen. She'd rather be able to set it and forget it than fiddle with settings. Are there some coming out after Christmas that would make me regret buying now? Should I just jump on the Microsoft Band? Some reviews (including in this thread) have made me hesitant. I haven't heard much about the Basis Peak. Has anyone here tried it? Is there another option out there I'm missing?
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Dec 4, 2014 02:27
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 18:00 |
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Three Olives posted:It sounds like her goal is to get heart rate into RunKeeper and not an actual GPS enabled standalone device, in which case she probably would be much better off with a Bluetooth HR strap. If she wants to view HR and stopwatch in real time she is probably best of with a Forerunner. I probably explained my needs wrong. Running is only one thing she does. She's very active over all and in the gym or playing sports a lot. More importantly, I think she'd get a kick out of graphs of calories burned, sleep patterns, and that sort of thing. But I see what you're saying. Maybe these crossover smart watch/fitness trackers are a bit too new yet.
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Dec 4, 2014 06:54
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eyebeem posted:I was in a really bad road bike accident a few years back. A bystander called my wife with my phone while I was being loaded into an ambulance, unconscious. He basically told her I might be dead, but was being taken to a hospital, then hung up. She had to call around to find out where I was being taken, and since then I use Strava live feed via my Garmin GPS or apple watch. I have also used life360 for free tracking, and it's pretty useful for letting her know if I've left the office, or letting me know if she's about to arrive at home (So I can put my pants on). Note that all of those can be done with separate apps on your phone, though. They're all good use cases, but if you'll have your phone with you anyway, those particular needs may not necessitate a GPS capable wearable. Google Maps even has live location sharing built in now. As far as integrating live location with your fitness data, I can't speak to that.
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May 9, 2017 16:53
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My wife's Charge HR is starting to break. I'm considering getting her a Charge 2 for her birthday. Those Wirecutter charts worry me a bit, but she's pretty heavily tied into the social/group challenges aspect of Fitbit, so I don't think a Garmin will work. Is there any reason to not get a Charge 2 at this point? I haven't seen any rumors of a Charge 3 on the horizon, but it'd feel a bit bad to see it released right after finally getting a Charge 2. She likes the altimeter, so the Alta HR is out.
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Jun 26, 2017 23:44
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Amazon has the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar for $450 right now (normally $600). It was up yesterday as well but sold out. Seems to be back again. Ship date is almost 2 months out for some reason though. I had been eyeing a 255 Music. But $50 more for a 955 Solar was too hard to pass up, even if I probably don't really need the added training stuff. Edit: Looks already sold out again. Maybe it'll come back like it did before. incogneato fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Oct 2, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 23:20
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I got a Garmin Forerunner 955 and promptly put a little scratch in the screen. Guess I'm a clumsy idiot after years of wearing cheap G Shocks and the like. I already ordered a screen protector (better late than never). I assume there is no good way to remove the scratch or make it less noticeable? Thankfully it's small and hardly noticable as is, but I can't unsee it now that I know it's there.
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Nov 2, 2022 01:06
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Giant Metal Robot posted:The screen protector often makes a scratch optically invisible. Oh, well that's disappointing to hear. I was hoping (based on nothing at all) that it'd make it a bit less visible. I've never really used screen protectors even on my phones. Am I going to do some sort of damage (eg to the oleophobic coating) if I put it on then decide to remove it?
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Nov 2, 2022 14:58
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CLAM DOWN posted:....."optically invisible" means you won't see it, did you misread their post? Hah yeah I definitely misread that as saying optically visible, as in it'd increase visibility. Which isn't even a normal way to say that, so you'd think I would have reread before posting. Thanks for pointing that out.
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Nov 2, 2022 18:59
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You could also compare the Forerunner 955.
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Feb 11, 2023 17:35
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Gripweed posted:I wanted to get my dad a Fitbit for Father's Day, but all the ones they have now are crazy complicated and seem to require a subscription. I remember when they first came out and they just had five little lights to tell you if you did 10,000 steps, and an app so you could see your progress. I had one, it worked great. My dad's trying to be more active, a simple pedometer like the original Fitbit would have been perfect. I'm not buying him something that also requires a subscription and can get stuck in Golf Mode if you accidentally press the wrong button. I don't have a Fitbit, but it looks like you don't actually need a subscription unless you want some pretty deep metrics: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2023/03/fitbit-makes-some-premium-subscription-features-free.html A quick search of the best inexpensive fitness trackers does seem to return a lot of Fitbit suggestions. I don't have much more advice than that (sorry), but they may still be worth checking out if you can verify that a subscription isn't really needed.
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Jun 16, 2023 03:12
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nonathlon posted:My broad comment about any Garmin kit is that it's good but the phone-side app is a bit clunky. You might attribute it to them not having as good access to or experience with phone internals as (say) Google, but for whatever reason it's a bit complicated and fiddly, e.g. figuring out how to change the watchface on your device I agree. I saw articles earlier in the year that a fully refreshed and simplified design app was in the works. It can't come soon enough. To be clear for anyone reading this, the app is perfectly capable and full of all sorts of functions and data. It's just poorly laid out and not intuitive to use, in my experience.
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Mar 16, 2024 22:26
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