Convince me- smartwatch

[Pgohil]

I haven't want to watch in close to 20 years. But every now and again I think I should get one of the new Garmin smart watches. There is a ton of benefits to them from fitness tracking to not having to pull my phone out for various reasons. My concern is that I won't use it. Or that I wear it all the time and end up tearing it up during work or play..... They're quite spendy when they can do just about everything my phone already does.


Need some help justifying the expense and knowing that I'll use it regularly enough to warrant.

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[Sportsman]

smart watch or fitness watch? I have a Garmin Forerunner 935. HR monitor, GPS, tracks more fitness events than I'll ever do. I wear it 24/7 including swimming. Only thing I worry about wearing out is the band.

I can read texts or see a call on my watch which is handy, particularly in meetings or if I'm home and phone isn't next to me.

I can't send texts, answer the phone, or many other things a smart watch does. The 935 uses bluetooth to tether to the phone.

I wouldn't be without it but I work out 5 days per week and use the fitness functions. I use it hiking and hunting as well but on a multiday trip I have to worry more about battery life.

 

[Pgohil]

smart watch or fitness watch? I have a Garmin Forerunner 935. HR monitor, GPS, tracks more fitness events than I'll ever do. I wear it 24/7 including swimming. Only thing I worry about wearing out is the band.

I can read texts or see a call on my watch which is handy, particularly in meetings or if I'm home and phone isn't next to me.

I can't send texts, answer the phone, or many other things a smart watch does. The 935 uses bluetooth to tether to the phone.

I wouldn't be without it but I work out 5 days per week and use the fitness functions. I use it hiking and hunting as well but on a multiday trip I have to worry more about battery life.

I see your point. Fitness watch. GPS capable? Sure!

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[Runwilderness]

I’ve been a longtime Garmin user, primarily to monitor my pace and distance running, or vertical feet gained when in the hills. When I upgraded to a Bluetooth enabled Fenix, I was really surprised how much I actually liked having Txt and work email updates on my watch. For some reason I both find it easier to glance and ignore an after hours work email when my mind would rather be elsewhere, while at the same time a buzz on my wrist makes it almost impossible to miss something critical.

 

[KChunter71]

I have the garmin instinct $299, it will do all the fitness and gps stuff. Works like a old g shock and takes a beating. I probably will get a new fenix too add to it. Most watch’s don’t last a month or two. Wife buys them and I break them

 

[rcdinaz]

I was looking at the Instinct for hunting/hiking, it has a some great features for the price!
As far as smartwatches Apple really can't be beaten. I have had Garmin, Suunto, Microsoft, Fitbit. The only category Apple loses in is battery life and cost.

 

[bloom1gr]

Do any of these watches pair with OnX by chance? I'm like OP - don't wear a watch but think I would like to start if I can find the right features so I don't have to keep my phone in my pocket or in my hand so much. If I don't have to have my phone at all, that's a huge plus. Primarily hoping to find something that has GPS and waypoint tracking (if possible), text and phone accessibility, waterproof and fitness tracking.

 

[Marbles]

I wear a watch all the time, and cannot convince myself to spend the money on a GPS watch. I don't see them changing how I do things, so it would just be one more gadget.

Some people get a lot out of them though.

 

[IAMike304]

Issue I run into with one is battery life. Its another charger to carry. I use one (not a fitness /gps specific one)daily, and they are great for seeing who is calling, seeing messages etc without taking your phone out of your pocket especially in meetings. I dont think its worth spending the money on one for back country or general hunting activities though. IMO

 

[Zsyacsure]

I haven't want to watch in close to 20 years. But every now and again I think I should get one of the new Garmin smart watches. There is a ton of benefits to them from fitness tracking to not having to pull my phone out for various reasons. My concern is that I won't use it. Or that I wear it all the time and end up tearing it up during work or play..... They're quite spendy when they can do just about everything my phone already does.


Need some help justifying the expense and knowing that I'll use it regularly enough to warrant.

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I have a Garmin instinct tactical. Very basic with everything you need for hiking/hunting and it looks like a normal watch. I don’t think it will get tore up easily I’ve had mine for 4 months now and I wear it everyday.

 

[400orBust]

I just got as a birthday gift a Garmin Fenix 5 sapphire. I would never have bought it for myself. My wife got it as a refurb for 1/3 of new but it looks new. So far I'm kinda liking it. It is the biggest, heaviest watch I've ever had but after a week I'm getting used to it. I'm liking the text notifications and trying out different faces. It has got me thinking about walking more and watching my heartrate and I'm looking forward to tracking my elevation gain/loss and miles covered come hunting season. Sure I have my phone with OnX but I only turn it on if I need to check something out so it doesn't track my progress. If you have limited funds this would not be the first thing I'd spend money on as far as acquiring or upgrading hunting gear but it has potential to be handy occasionally. Particularly I see the gps as a backup to my phone (in case I lose or break it hunting) since I stopped carrying a standalone gps a couple years ago and have been exclusively using OnX

 

[dv808]

I have the Fenix 6x Pro Solar which replaced an older 5x. I went this route in lieu of a dedicated GPS or my phone. In the field, I use the mapping/tracking primarily to guide myself in unfamiliar areas. I also like the ability to receive notifications without having to pull out my phone every time. I can set the phone to silent and not miss any notifications. At home or in the office, I can set my phone down somewhere and get the alerts. The newer model also allows me to do simple or custom replies directly from the watch.

The activity, heart rate monitor stuff is a bonus that's made me want wear the watch a lot more than I thought. You can customize the face and display settings/monitors.

It is rather big and bulky but I'm used to it by now. I do find that I miss quite a bit of notifications if I forget to put it on. Before I went with the Fenix, I did do daily wear with a Casio Pro Solar.

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[TheGDog]

You don't wear a watch when you hunt and scout? At first I didn't. I was only hunting deer at first. And it was ambush style hunting, so I was just fishing out cellphone a few times during the end of morning to check.

But.. after I started hunting for coyotes and using the watch to create a timing pattern for calling cycles... I started noticing that it was helping me to note subtle things like around what time of day the wind direction would seem to change at the spot I was at. How long I will remain in the shadow I'm sitting in, until what time of day will the shadow be over my sit area. So that I can plan when to move to another location when necessary during the day. Sometimes if the weather wasn't too terribly warm I could decide to wait it out, being not in the shadows for a certain time period during like the 11a - 2p or 12p - 3p thereabouts window of time. Because I'd actually timed it before since the watch was there and in my face, so I'd bother to note the time.

I find since wearing the watch I now do things naturally like pay attention to where I'm at along the hike-in compared to time transpired in order to know if I need to pick up the pace in order to get to my spot near my desired time before the sunrise. It helps to motivate me to move it. (Or to know that I won't get there by the desired time, but to at least have an idea of about when I will arrive, based on timing the hike-ins before. And to dress up faster at the truck when arriving. It helps me shave my timing of things closer so I can stay in bed those precious 30-60 minutes more sometimes.

And sometimes having a watch has led me to deciding some times to instead drive-in to that area the night before and sleep in my vehicle, in order to minimize the stresses on my body on the day-of by not having to wake up at 2am or 3am. Which also led to me streamlining my process of getting ready the day before so on the day of It's just wake up, eat something, brush teeth, grab-n-go.

Especially when you do it solo and don't really have any friends you know in your age bracket that would be down for doing this. It's good to note when you're burning the candle at both ends by the early rising. Also it can be good to have that watch on when you know your battery power is getting close on your illumination during a multiday. You *may* elect to call it a little earlier on that last day to ensure that during the part of the hike-out where you have to have light, you do still have enough, since you covered a certain number of minutes during sunset to shave down the minutes of illumination needed.

 

[mrbillbrown]

My Fenix 5x saved my bacon late one night when I drove up to the top of a mtn to get cell coverage and couldn’t find my way home in the pitch black pouring rainstorm. Lots of oilfield roads crossing back and forth and got turned around. Of course I’d run off from camp without my pack, bino harness or any gps or compass with me. Trying to hurry up and down I left everything in camp. Marking camp (just off the roadway) on my Fenix 5x helped me down the mtn and I’ll alway have it with me in the back country. I’ve used it to mark spots I run across or navigate back to camp without constantly pulling out a compass, map, or gps. Been invaluable to me so far.


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[Whiskey_Fish]

I have the Fenix 6x Pro Solar which replaced an older 5x.

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How effective is the solar function? I’ve been eyeing one.


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[dv808]

How effective is the solar function? I’ve been eyeing one.


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I'm not sure how much a difference it makes but it does last quite a bit longer than the 5x. The 5x could have been affected by age though. I haven't been able to use it in the field yet.

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[KBC]

I’ve been thinking about trying one out since I get 35% off Garmin stuff through my work. Then I looked at the price! Holy crap regular price is $1350 CAD for a fenix 6 solar! I already have an inReach explorer and an iPhone with a few different gps apps. It’s probably a cool gadget but that’s a lot of money even with a healthy discount for something like that when I already have too many gadgets.
If it could replace the inReach I would buy it right now, although that technology in that size of package is probably a few years away.

 

[jdubrr]

Issue I run into with one is battery life. Its another charger to carry. I use one (not a fitness /gps specific one)daily, and they are great for seeing who is calling, seeing messages etc without taking your phone out of your pocket especially in meetings. I dont think its worth spending the money on one for back country or general hunting activities though. IMO

My Garmin Fenix 5 battery will last approx 2 weeks before I need to charge. If I track a lot of outdoor activities that uses GPS function then it uses more battery, so it depends on how much GPS you use/ don't use

 

[GunsAreFun]

I just bought a regular digital watch for backpacking and hunting. I mostly wanted to keep from having to pull my phone out to check the time and also wanted an alarm on the watch. With those things, I can turn my phone off and maximize battery life for when I need it to navigate.

It also has an altimeter and barometer. The altimeter has decent’ish accuracy. The barometer so far has been nearly spot on with the weather app. It also has a thermometer but you need to take the watch off for about five minutes to keep your body heat from skewing it.

 

[austinphps]

I've had the instinct for maybe over a year now, and I like it quit a bit. I use it for working out and just daily wear. While hunting I don't really use the GPS to track all of my movements. I mark camp, and things like water holes, and that's about it. Typically get about 2 weeks of battery life on it; sometimes a little less if I am tracking hikes just to see my mileage or if i'm working out a lot. I know you can link it to your InReach but I have never done that.
For the price and what I needed it for I think its good. I couldn't justify the Fenix series because I don't really use a watch for navigation and looking at maps.