A Watch, Water and Workouts

Furbo.org ^ | July 14, 2015 | Craig Hockenberry

[zeugma]

He was, however, loathe to give up his fancier mechanical jewelry watches, but I got the impression he was going to wear both in the future. The Apple Watch on his right wrist for its wonderful functionality and a great, good looking jewelry mechanical on his left, or vice verse.

Yeah. I thought that was pretty funny, but I understand it. Folks like him, (and myself for that matter), really enjoy the worksmanship and engineering that goes into modern mechanicals. I plan to hit him up for an update after he's had it for a year.

 

[Cementjungle]

A much better (and cheaper) watch for water sporting activities would be Garmin's Vivoactive:

[Swordmaker]

A much better (and cheaper) watch for water sporting activities would be Garmin's Vivoactive:

I wouldn't call it much better, considering it has far fewer functions that the Apple Watch and with the heart monitor which is built into the Appe Watch is only $50 less expensive for a device with less capability. Not a good buy at all.

[Cementjungle]

It's designed to go much deeper into the water, and it has a built-in GPS rather than depending on a cell phone for GPS functions.

Batter life is up to 3 weeks when using in watch/activity mode (10 hours when using GPS).

It can also be paired with your smartphone for messages/emails/etc. but can be used without a smartphone too.

[Swordmaker]

It's designed to go much deeper into the water, and it has a built-in GPS rather than depending on a cell phone for GPS functions.

I suggest you read the numerous negative comments on Amazon from the people who actually bought the Garmin's Vivoactive and found what a poor product it is. . . and how poorly it works. Quite a few of them failed in the first few times they were used. The screen is very hard to see being designed to be a reflective LCD rather than backlit except when occasionally when the user pushes a button to see it and then poorly backlit (the instructions say to try different angles of reflected light to see the screen better!), and the Bluetooth connectivity is problematic, with frequent failure to connect or disconnecting in use and failure to completely download data. The lack of backlighting is the way that Garmin extends it's battery life.

Sorry, it's not a better "smartwatch" at all. . . just one that made poor engineering choices. Yes, it probably is a better underwater option. . . you can dive to 50 meters with the Garmin's Vivoactive. . . but you can't see the screen that far down and the users say it doesn't measure your swim.