Which GPS watch to choose ?

This small article gonna be partly the answer for Tawnee's question from Endurance Planet. I have been using/testing these running devices from the very first non GPS models, for a decade now. Starting with the Forerunner FR50 and the Polar RS400 through all the Polar, Garmin, Suunto, Timex, Soleus, Casio watches ! Non of them are perfect, however after initial set up few of them are very useful and great to have it on your wrist when out in the woods !

First thing to consider is size. The bigger the watch, the bigger battery you have and the bigger GPS antenna is in the device. In addition to the GPS, there can be a Glonass arial too, what is the receptor of the Russian satellite signals. Some watches offer the possibility to use the WAAS/EGNOS geostationary satellites and terrestrial stations and they might already be set up to be able to use the future European Galileo satellites.

(Glonass uses more battery, than GPS only turned on, so you really need a long battery life)

So the bigger the watch, the better battery life you have and the better and more precise satellite signal reception. The better satellite signal reception you have, the most accurately the device will give you your distance and pace. Also the more high end you go, the better instant and AVGPace the device will show. 

This is why the FR15 what Lucho was talking about is really crappy, cause you cannot pace yourself with it at all. Small antenne, only the US's GPS receptor, the screen can show only two data, no altimeter and no other functions at all. In addition it comes with that crappy all plastic HR belt, what will chafe the hell out of you and cannot even be worn with a sportsbra !

He mentioned the Garmin FR220, what has truly 10h of battery life, but no other functions than running, the GPS signal is week and you might have to wait for 10minutes, before you reset and restart your watch, cause it never got the GPS signal to start your run ! My wife had it for a year, was really happy and it worked fine, but she was doing only her 10 to 15km runs with it, where no data was important, just the fact of seeing time and distance pass by. 

About battery life. You want to get a watch with the most. It is not only great for the long outings in the woods, but the least you got to charge it, the better you go, and the longer the watch stays "healthy". Either ways most of the time you won't see any difference in battery life until like 100 charges and that might take 2 years. 

When you see, a 30 or 50h Ultratrac mode or long battery life mode, that is only for the desert, when you go in a straight line ! Your GPS watch will take your position only every 10 second or every minute to increase battery life. If you want to have an idea about where you were and what you did, it is great. However the distance and pace and your track will be all over the place. Instead of 50km and 2000m of elevation gain,  it is going to give you 72k with 8848m of elevation gain. 

When you read about battery life, it is calculated in completely ideal situations. Perfect sky, with all the satellites aligned and no buildings around, HR off, Glonass Off, only Chrono on the screen, no swapping between watch pages, alti/baro/compass off, no data transfer and during one single run. I had once a 11h48minute run with the FR220 despite the 10h stated battery life. However when uploading your data every day and use all the running functions, this will be more likely 6,5 to 8hours !

The TAP screen of the Timex watches, what was mentioned also by Lucho, is not a touch screen. It is a type of screen to have the most accurate splits, in case you work without a coach. Instead of searching for a button when you arrive to the finish line of your 400s, loosing split seconds, you just smack the watch with your palm and it gives you a lap. 

Since GPS watches are really ruling the market, Timex lacks behind a lot. I have the one with the ulnar wrist band. It has ANT+ HR belt. You can see 2 data-fields and have 3 data max: HR, chrono and splits. Instead of having the watch on the flat of your wrist, it is on your inside, so when running or down in the AERO position, you do not need to turn your wrist, just have a look at your watch and see your heart rate and time. Not that bad !

A watch with long battery life or GPS or Altimeter is not that expensive. However, when you combine those 3, the price shoots up straight with way too many functions added as a plus !

There can be many negative reasons, to not to get the Suunto Ambit 3 ! 

1. You need internet connection to change anything on the watch ! Without that, you cannot change data fields and other functions. For instance, you do a race where you break down your splits for 1 or 5km distances. You want an autolap function to be turned on, where the watch beeps and gives you a lap automatically when you pass your mile markers. You cannot turn it on without internet, or turn it off, if it annoys you.

If you wanted to see pace and heart rate instead of elevation gain, speed and time, you cannot change it without internet connection. Yeah, you can have 8 screens with the modifiable 3rd data-field with 5 roll down options, what adds up to 56 different data. I just don't want to scroll anywhere, cause it is too complicated and too much. When hiking, I want map, sunrise, sunset, barometer, altitude, storm alarm, distance and time of the day. When running, I want HR and lap pace and a screen with HR, time and distance. 

2. It is only capable of connection to BTsmart devices. You have a 5000USD ANT+ powermeter ? Ooops, doesn't work ! You bought the best and most comfortable ANT+ HR brand, a MOXY or any ANT+ only device ? Won't work !

3. The arial is external, what should give excellent GPS data. However while all Garmin or Polar devices are very similar in given post race distances, Suunto lacks behind with 2 to 3kms always over a 30km distance. This has been true since the very first Ambit model to the recent Ambit 3 !

For female wrists it is also impossible to use the watch. 

4. This all might be solved with the new up and coming Suunto Spartan Ultra. For the first price at 649USD ! Really ? The Spartan sport will be cheaper, but only 10h of battery life and no altimeter. 

The best choice is the MIO Alpha 2 ! It has the only working optical HR sensor in the market. You can have a free run with no chest strap every single time you are out on the door ! 24h battery life ! Only 3 data with one single large datafeild. Time, splits and HR. It has to be set up with an android or IOS telephone, ONCE ! Then no need to touch it ever, unless you change your heart rate zones. 

You got 2 possibilities, to set up a 5 or a 1 zone HR system. I use a 60 to 145 HR Zone. When go to run, there is only heart rate on the screen, I run between 135 to 145. When step over, it gives a single not loud but recognisable BIP, every 20 seconds. Not every 2 seconds, no 5 beat chimes or annoying vibration, nothing. One single beep every 20 seconds to know that I stepped over MAFmaxHR !

Super simple, great look, solid watch. It has to be worn a bit higher than regular watches and tighter during the run. The only concern is your wrist size and shape. My wife has a thin wrist, a strong and capillariesed forearm, so it works fine with her and I have a thin wrist too and it is perfect. 

(No GPS, no any other data, than HR,Time and Splits - I love it and used it for marathon MAF training. With the 2 big hard to push buttons and the lack of functions, I recommend this watch only for PURE MAF enthusiasts. For that it is EPICly great ! )

735XT ? Only 10hours of battery life (14h as Garmin says, NO) ! Integrated optical Garmin Elevate HR sensor, what is a mess and doesn't work. I tried all three watches with this sensor, Fenix 3HR, 735XT, FR235HR ! They don't work. If you wanted 24/7 activity tracking and sleep tracking they are okay, but not the best either ! It looks nice however, with no barometric altimeter ! 

So we arrive to the 4 final options, what are the 920xt and the Fenix 3, the FR235 and FR630 from GARMIN !

Battery life on the FR230 and FR630 is 16hours. Great. No altimeter and no fancy functions for non-running sports. With the FR630 we can do swimming and cycling, but honestly it is no for that, only running. The VO2max and other estimated crap is of no use, but over this level you get it anyways in all watches. You can turn these notifications off.

630 comes with a touch screen what must be grounded. So the touch screen is already a bad idea on a running device, but when you put the watch on your bike handle bars, it won't work anyways, cause it is not grounded. You can navigate with the buttons after, but why would you pay a ton for a tech that you don't use ! Pfff. 

920 XT ! It is giant, big screen easy to read, loads of functions and long battery life. What is the setback ? It cost the same as a Fenix 3 with zero outdoor functions ! So why would you get it ? The only thing is the Multisport button, what you can use for unlimited amount of multisport activities, compared to 5 max in all other devices in the market. This means, that if I did a swim run workout where I exited the water 10 times, I can do that and have the 20 different swim/run splits. Anyways, with other watches, I just start a new sport by saving the last one and that is it. I don't need to have it in one single GPS file, it can be 20, I don't care.

So all the 4 forerunner watches from garmin like the FR230, FR630, FR 735xt and 920xt are hyper super extra light ! All plastic ! When you are outdoors, taking on and off your backpack by sliding your wrist through the shoulder straps, you might do some rock climbing or river crossing, going through bushes or being in a triathlon transition, you can seriously scratch and damage these light plastic watches. I mean really, really easily ! 

It is perfect ! Honestly ! You can have a lot of functions, but can turn them off if you did not need them. There is a well working storm alarm. When the barometer drops too fast, it tells you to be careful. When you arrive to a stream, water source or any point of interest, you can mark a waypoint, so at home you can see it on a map. You can set up a bearing and follow it, even if you detour, the watch will lead you back to your bearing. The altimeter functions very very well in harmony with the GPS altitude, but if it messes up, you can change your current altitude manually like on a noGPS outdoor watch. (you cannot to this on the 920xt ). When you see something in the far distance, on a cliff, where you cannot go, cause it is too rugged, you can project a waypoint estimably and see it on the map afterwards. You can use the alti/baro/compass function without using the GPS, so you can get like a month of battery life. 

In addition the charger clip is a flat under the watch platform. You are able to charge the watch, on your wrist, while hiking, without stopping the watch, comfortably, by leading up the charging cable on your sleeves, attached to a solar panel or external power bank !
Battery life is between 16 and 24hours, depends. I did 2 double days, with no heart rate, no BTsmart, no Wifi and no Glonass, no auto-laps and nothing turned on and I got out 2 times 12h+ from it !

The free Garmin basecamp software can be used with the watch, with the free Openstreetmaps ! So you can create a track, mark some waypoints and you can do proper navigation with the watch. When you are lost, you can find the next refuge, hut, fuel station, all the water sources, whatever. 

So the garmin basecamp, doesn't need any kind of online connection ! When internet is down, you can still use your laptop and Fenix 3 to transfer data for hiking. No other device in the market offers this. 

All the running and hiking options of the watch can be set up and changed on the watch itself ! No need for any kind of internet connections or computer devices. 

It does multi sport, like triathlon. Measures transition time and has all the functions, ALL, of the 920XT ! The GPS  and Glonass antenne is in the bezel, on the top of the watch-face ! It is precise as ! I use AVG Pace to do long runs and when I want to run on 3:45/km for 2hours on a flat non rolling road section, I run a freckin' 3:45/km for 2 hours. Of course, we talk about 2 to 3 seconds of precision here. I am not a pro athlete winning a marathon ! If I finished 2:45:03 instead of 2:44:48 I don't give a damn !

You can set up 3d speed and 3d distance. You have to understand then when going uphill the watch is just connecting GPS dots. You did 100m of distance, but watching from the sky, connecting your first and last position, it looks like only 50 meter cause you are on a 45° slope. 

With the 3d speed and 3d distance, together with the altitude based vertical speed, athletes preparing for Vertical Km races, can now have proper in-training data, to improve their climbing ability ! It is specific, but it works fine on steep terrain, like a 2.9km VKrace for 1000m of climbing in Chamonix. 

There is a track back function, in case you got lost. It is great when you left for a run, you mess up your navigation and a thunderstorm hits you with 100km/h wind gusts. You won't open your 2m/1m paper map or check your compass bearings ! Get the track of your watch, and get out from there. 

At this moment it works with all ANT+ devices , but will be able to connect soon, to BTsmart ones too, as it already works with smartphones. 

It has a wifi connection possibility to make life easier. It is not a gadget, you just don't need the USB cable or a phone either to have your workout on strava or Garmin connect. 

When I finished my run, I arrive home and I did not even enter my apartment, the workout is already up in the cloud ! If I wanted to analyse or check that I broke the strava segment of the steepest hill on the race course, I can do it immediately ! 

I use Garmin Connect often, but many people put it down. I can clearly see through it, I am not sure what the problem is ! I have a direct link on my browser to my GC training calendar and I see all my data perfectly. Of course like all Garmin Devices, this one is compatible too, with strava or training peaks, sporttracks or firstbeat ! 

I have the Fenix 3 since last April what is nearly a year and a half, I gave it to my wife and I tried 5-6 watches since. At the end,  I got back to the Fenix 3 and now we have 2 in the house. 

Easy to use, takes a little bit of time to learn it, but if my wife could do it, you can do to !

To finalise this recommendation, the Fenix can come with a normal or a run HR Belt. This will give you some not so bad, but kind of gadgety functions, like ground contact time, vertical oscillation and extra cadence. It is interesting to see at the beginning, but at the end it all comes down to cadence. The least amount of time you spend in one stride, the quicker the steps are, your GRF/impact is the least ! Cadence is great and it is very useful ! I often set up a screen where I can see only heart rate and cadence, so when I glance down every 2 to 3 minutes, I check that my cadence is 78, I have to bing it back up to 86 to 90 !
You can get the TRI belt for open water swimming, what has the functions of the RUN belt, plus transfers/functions under water. There is also a chemical resistant indoor swim belt for pool swimming if you needed !

I think that on the run, live training- and bio-feedback is the most important in all sport watches, to adapt form, speed and effort now ! We can post analyse as much as we want, but if we messed up the workout, we messed up the workout ! I might have done my 400s one second faster than usual, but if my cadence was down 8 steps per minute and my hips hurt because of this, well, what is the point of having the function at all ?

Of course you got also the activity tracking and BT phone message/email/fb chat receiving possibility too. Crap you don't need ever ! The easiest thing in life is to be distracted ! Turn on all the functions you need for training, racing and health and off all the junk ! 

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl - Openstreetmap to Download for Garmin

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/shop/downloads/basecamp - Garmin Basecamp

https://sporttracks.mobi - Sporttracks

https://www.trainingpeaks.com - Training Peaks

https://www.strava.com - Strava

https://connect.garmin.com/ - Garmin Connect
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/wrist-worn/fenix-3/prod160512.html - Fenix 3