[quickfox11]

Originally Posted by Tachyonites

I still am in a soup as I am not able to decide whether the premium that the Ionic commands for its in-built GPS is worth or not

I have been using the Versa on & off for almost 2 years now and for me the best feature is the music storage! Anyways, GPS requirement is very usage specific. It’s about how seriously & regularly you want to track your efforts.

While using it for running, I have to carry my phone which is not so comfortable, but I can do without it since I used to run in a garden and you can know the track size after a few times. Also, many people run for specific time period as per their requirement and don’t need to track the distance. But most importantly, if you ARE carrying your phone, it already has gps and multiple health tracker apps, making the watch useless!

I also used it for swimming, and its just crap in tracking the distances. So, I guess the gps one would be the more successful one there.

For long distance cycling, you can slip in your phone somewhere among other basic stuff. So, it would not be so much of an issue.

Regarding other multiple exercising modes, never tried them seriously so can’t comment but they sure look like a gimmick to me.

My Suggestions - If looking for something specifically to track your fitness regime wrt distance covered, get a normal gps device that would sync with other devices later. They are very accurate & robust to last long.

If looking for a device that can also double up as a cool lifestyle watch to display heart rate and notifications, get Apple watch (ever Series 3 is excellent and <20K).

Else, if you are not part of the iOS ecosystem, you can wait for Versa 3 which is coming soon with gps. Even if you decide against the gps, Versa 2 will get cheaper.

[Tachyonites]

Originally Posted by quickfox11

I have been using the Versa on & off for almost 2 years now and for me the best feature is the music storage! Anyways, GPS requirement is very usage specific. It’s about how seriously & regularly you want to track your efforts.

I feel that the Versa would be a more VFM product. Spending extra 6k just for in-built GPS doesn't feel right. I do run around 5kms a day and cycle for 10 but after a few reviews that I read, the only difference is that you get a pictorial representation of your location. I guess it would be possible to live without in-built GPS.
Thanks a lot for you inputs quickfox11

[Invariance]

Originally Posted by Tachyonites

I still am in a soup as I am not able to decide whether the premium that the Ionic commands for its in-built GPS is worth or not. I request Team-BHP members to tip in and help me out.

Thanks in advance,
Tachyonites.

Hi Tachyonites.

Short answer: I'd go for neither. The Ionic's built-in GPS is painfully slow to lock, and the Versa's connected GPS kind of defeats the purpose of having a dedicated fitness band. Truth is, unless you're willing to shell out 15-20K for a decent Garmin, Tom-tom, or Suunto, you are going to have to settle for a sub-par GPS system.

Here's a longer answer. I run thrice a week: 80% of the time I run a 5K circuit around my locality, while the other 20% of the time I path-find for about an hour. Before buying a fitness watch, I used a Decathlon-sourced strap to keep my phone on my arm. It worked well, but sweat + phone strap = phone randomly sliding down my arm and cracking its corner on the ground.

I now use an Honor Magic Watch 2 (not my first choice, honestly - nor my second, third, or fourth choice - but money was tight). And with this thing... well, you get what you pay for. Best thing I can say about it is that the GPS is accurate and much quicker to lock on a GPS signal than my friend's Fitbit Ionic. The Magic Watch 2 is not too bad, really, but I'm planning to grab a Garmin or a Samsung Active 2/3 as soon as my finances permit.

Judging by your use (loads of running and cycling) you'd be much better off with a Garmin than you'd be with any Fitbit. And a fitness watch can tell you far more useful than a visual representation of where you've been, such as pace, distance intervals, HR zones, etc. And even though it is dung-grade, my Honor watch will occasionally give me useful reminders, such as landing more softly on my feet and moderating my pace.

All in all, I'd avoid the Fitbits you've listed because they don't do enough for the money. With your level of activity, I'd want a Garmin or Suunto at least, and nothing less.

[Tachyonites]

Originally Posted by Invariance

Hi Tachyonites.

Short answer: I'd go for neither. The Ionic's built-in GPS is painfully slow to lock, and the Versa's connected GPS kind of defeats the purpose of having a dedicated fitness band.

Thanks a lot for replying Invariance. My old surge's GPS was pretty nice and I even tried out my friends Ionic. The GPS was pretty accurate and its very easy to use. My exercise has been decreased and now I run a bit less and what I personally feel is that connected GPS would be fine for me. Plus I am now getting a versa special edition for 11k (down from 13k). That would help me save 8k. I am not a part of the IOS environment hence I do not require an apple watch.

Thanks.

[Sheel]

Any advise on this, good deal I assume. Any end user experience?

[Trust_In_Thrust]

I recently bought the Garmin Fenix 6X Sapphire (had committed to it if i get to 85kgs from 96.5kgs during start of lock down ) and i love it to the core.
Positives
1.) Extremely easy and detailed data during runs along with easy visibility .
2.) More the day light more nicer the display looks even with sun shining right on to it.
3.) Battery has lasted nearly 20days for first charge yesterday.
4.) Super Built , feels rock solid
5.) Sapphire gives it a carefree level of use
6.) No need of internal backlit light as long as natural or artificial light is there.
7.) Number of parameters can be set at once on display .
8.) The heart rate is precise enough along with Sp02.
9.) Maps are nice and will come in handy during occasional travel / treks hopefully.
10.) Vibration alerts are very strong but i have turned them all off except call .
11.) Integration with Google Pixel much nicer then Apple Iphone 12.
12.) No touch screens, love the big buttons and clicks action.
13.) The menu is very easy to use, after getting used to.

Negatives
1.) Cannot set 500mts alerts for pace times ,Minimum is 1K.
2.) Unable to wear it over my Sieko Premier during work hours as not elegant.
3.) The display looks cheap in dark :( with poor color contrast
4.) Too Expensive for what it is.
5.) ECG is a feature they should have introduced but may be some software update can do it based on heart rate.
6.) Charging is not wireless.
7.) Issue with availability of various bands in India.
8.) Questions from people why did you not buy an apple watch ? I recently shifted form Pixel 2XL to Iphone 12. I find it amusing why people love apple so much as i rate Pixel2 XL much higher than Iphone 12 in terms of features and usability and even battery life if you consider additional software features always running to help the user.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Any advise on this, good deal I assume. Any end user experience?

Have you considered other watches? Could you share other options and why you're thinking about this watch?

I tried to say "Galaxy watch" everywhere, but if I say "watch", I mean the same thing, sir.
The price is good for what you're getting. No doubt on that. But that's only because the watch is two generations old. Samsung has since launched the watch active 2 and the galaxy watch 3.

I used the Galaxy Watch Bluetooth 46mm and Gear S3 frontier interchangeably as my daily drivers for about two years by now.

I'll start with looks, the galaxy watch doesn't look as good in real life. The Gear S3 frontier on the other hand looks better because of it's color.
The two tone look of the galaxy watch looks like that base variant with plastic bumpers. Due to the plastic black bezel. Quality took a drop the frontier had good shiny plastics.

It's simply indestructible.

My father used to use the Gear S3 before switching to iPhone, and his cockpit is a very cramped one, with the watch invariably hitting against or scratching against one surface or the other, Since the bezel protrudes out a bit, it protects the screen very well in case you fall or hit against something, The galaxy Watch's bezel works in a similar fashion but the plastic bezel of the
Galaxy watch scratches easy. My use of the watch in crowded college constant cycling, rain, running around in the house etc. Makes sure that I keep hitting the watch here and there, but the watch is very durable. Full marks for that. I already broke an Apple watch even without using it, It just fell and broke, the samsung can take all that brunt all day long (yes, that was a reference to the battery life)

The battery lasts me two days EASY PEASY. And I charge it once in three days, It used to last longer when new, but it's aged now. The frontier lasts just about a day but the Galaxy Watch lasts two days easily even after two years of use .

I used the watch with a galaxy s8+ for a few months and used the watch standalone for about 8 months after that. It's very powerful without a phone at home. On wifi. You've got a full fledged browser and music player with bluetooth. Have to sheepishly admit that I accessed teamBHP from it several times, I'm truly addicted to the forum.

The Bezel based interface is simply AMAZING. No other smartwatch interface is as good. Some might argue that the Apple watch feels better, but that's just because of the tactile feedback of the apple watch being better. Navigating through the interface, increasing and decreasing volumes, adjusting your brightness, everything can be done using the bezel. And that too without having your fingers covering the already small screen

Fitness

Automatic galore. It does everything on it's own. Cycling, walking running sleeping are all detected well. I once got cycling auto detected when on a motorbike, and walking, running detects a little late. But sleep detection is perfect.
It has inbuilt GPS and tracks my cycling and walking very well. (I used to cycle to college everyday and very often take the bus an walk to and fro between home and bus stops pre covid)

AMAZING SLEEP TRACKING. 'nuff said,
A human watching over me wouldn't be able to tell my sleep/awake details as good as this watch.

It has Heart rate monitor, stress level (kinda gimmicky honestly), sleep tracking with deep sleep, light sleep REM sleep tracking, Everything is detected automatically.

I paired my galaxy buds with the watch and went running several times with the watch ONLY. Just import some songs from your phone and your playlists are there when you are running. Absolute convenience of everything on your wrist.

The fitness tracking is among the best I've seen.. The samsung health app has many many fitness regimes that you can choose and do with your samsung watch. There are many exercises that the watch has pre loaded and it can detect reps of many exercises like arm curls ,rowing, bench press etc. but you need to start the workout and choose what you're doing first. Only VERY generic workouts like running, cycling walking and swimming are auto-detected. There are many more But I forget. Shows step

Notifications

The notifications can all be customised. It's the best thing about a smartwatch. I can see whether I need to pull my phone out of my pocket or not. I can see my notifications and even interact with some apps with some preset messages or type my own, straight from the watch. The app lets me choose what apps' notifications are to be sent to the watch when they arrive. So that you're bothered only by the most important ones. It's a major plus point.

Calls

If you wear bluetooth headphones, then answering the call on the watch automatically sends the audio to the headphones you're wearing. Otherwise, it answers the call on the watch and it's really convenient when running, cycling or doing something that doesn't let you pull your phone out. You'll definitely look funny talking to your wrist but productivity++++

Apps

App support is terrible. I have ZERO third party apps on my watch since none of the app developers of the services I use care enough. There are no apps that are actually useful except UBER. UBER is the only app besides spotify that you can use on the watch, but I'd rather use my phone's bigger screen. There's tonnes of apps and watch faces but found none of them good. Only the notifications are good for apps like whatsapp and instagram and gmail etc. where you can reply from the notification. You cannot open the apps or see any messages on the watch unless you have a notification from the app.

You interact with notifications and not your apps.

Except for the oem apps that sync well with the android phones. Everything else is useless. If you're a spotify user, It doesn't work on the watch without Spotify Premium. Bixby is a bit laggy but does most of the basic stuff like alarms and timers. You don't even need to press anything. Just raise your wrist and say "hey, Bixby!"

all that said, the watch experience is fast but not extremely polished or fluid, but it's fast. Only lag you will notice is in the voice recognition part. The apple watch blows this one out of the water in that regard, and that too by a mile. The Apple Watches do what they do way better than the Samsungs. You lose out on a few features like a browser and inbuilt music, unless you pay for apple music. But the experience is SOMETHING ELSE. I might have unreal expectations from the samsung watch after using the apple watches, but it's definitely better than using only a phone. The watch definitely helps. If you don't mind spending more for the later models, this is a great buy, at this price, even better. You won't regret it.

I didn't wear my watch today but I'll add pictures etc. later. If you don't need the big size, I'd strongly recommend the black smaller galaxy watch. The performance of the galaxy watch is far better than the frontier. But the s3 frontier looks better than the galaxy watch, unless you go for the smaller black variant. Sorry for digressing so many times, sir.

[Sheel]

Thank You for such a detailed and insightful post, much appreciated ! After reading your post, these are the questions which remains to be answered -

Originally Posted by viXit

Have you considered other watches? Could you share other options and why you're thinking about this watch?

This watch popped in my feed and I thought, it might be a deal, just thought to cross check with my fellow BHPians, so...

To cut a long story short, I need a watch which I can wear always with good tracker for all physical activities, I play badminton, walk a bit [especially in this weather]. Would prefer wearing one almost always, but I somehow do not like the heft of G-shock, plus, would want something which can alert me in case of basic mobile phone feature - alert on calls and if it can show me text [WhatsApp], the better. It is not a necessity, but would be good to have.

Would need it to be splash proof [at-least]. Budget would be something around 25K. [can be increased by 50% if something is really good] I prefer using an android and hate to carry 2 phones, else, the iWatch might have been a default, save for the fact that it is becoming increasingly common.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Sheel

To cut a long story short, I need a watch which I can wear always with good tracker for all physical activities, I play badminton, walk a bit [especially in this weather]. Would prefer wearing one almost always, but I somehow do not like the heft of G-shock, plus, would want something which can alert me in case of basic mobile phone feature - alert on calls and if it can show me text [WhatsApp], the better. It is not a necessity, but would be good to have.

Would need it to be splash proof [at-least]. Budget would be something around 25K. I prefer using an android and hate to carry 2 phones, else, the iWatch might have been a default, save for the fact that it is becoming increasingly common.

I would suggest you take a look at FitBit Versa and Garmin Vivoactive HR watches. These are very good health and fitness trackers which also work as smart watches with notifications and alerts from the cell phone for calls, text etc.

If you are looking at general fitness parameters like steps, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, FitBit is a better bet. If you also want sports tracking, then Garmin would be my choice.

These watches are platform independent and can work with both iPhones and Android phones.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Thank You ....

Would need it to be splash proof [at-least]. Budget would be something around 25K. [can be increased by 50% if something is really good] I prefer using an android and hate to carry 2 phones, else, the iWatch might have been a default, save for the fact that it is becoming increasingly common.

You're very welcome sir. Glad I could help.
The watch is splash proof. You can swim with it. it shows you notifications well and has good Bluetooth range . If you're going with the LTE version check with your network provider. Apple watches can be used independent of a phone after the initial pairing process for phone calls in India. Tried and tested. But fails a few times. Idea and Airtel offer this eSIM service.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by graaja

I would suggest you take a look at FitBit Versa and Garmin Vivoactive HR watches.
If you are looking at general fitness parameters like steps, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, FitBit is a better bet.

If FitBit suits my needs better then, be it. Versa 3 or the Sense?

The website shows Versa 3 and Sense as to be launched, but, on Amazon, it shows as available. Does FitBit websites ship, reliable? Are they available at any off-line store, say, Reliance Digital [only this is available here].

Originally Posted by viXit

Glad I could help.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by Sheel

If FitBit suits my needs better then, be it. Versa 3 or the Sense?

The website shows Versa 3 and Sense as to be launched, but, on Amazon, it shows as available. Does FitBit websites ship, reliable? Are they available at any off-line store, say, Reliance Digital [only this is available here].

My uncle has bought a fitbit versa for my cousin and is buying another one for another cousin i think. I'll ask him and tell you how the watch is.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by graaja

I would suggest you take a look at FitBit Versa and Garmin Vivoactive HR watches.

I was reading few reviews online, fitbit has mixed while Garmin has mostly positive reviews. Any first hand users of both?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I was reading few reviews online, fitbit has mixed while Garmin has mostly positive reviews. Any first hand users of both?

I have been using Vivoactive3 for near 4 years now. Office and running. Works perfectly well. Now we have Vivoactive 4. Ideal with price points. If you need the best of all then Fenix series. These are watches that can double up as fitness trackers.

If you only want a runners/trackers watch look at Forerunner series.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I was reading few reviews online, fitbit has mixed while Garmin has mostly positive reviews. Any first hand users of both?

I have been using Garmin Fenix 5 for the past 3 years and I wear it 24x7. Very satisfied with both sports and general fitness tracking. I use it to track my runs, cycling, swims, cardio workouts and yoga.

Only grouse I have with Garmin is it does not detect my afternoon naps. So, I don't get the complete sleep tracking. Fitbit on the other hand does better sleep tracking.