Bridge to 10K

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Advice on Garmin thingys!!!

Ok folks, at the moment I run with my phone in my hand looking at Strava which is far from ideal so I want to enter the world of running watches, fitbits etc but don't really know what I am looking for.

I don't want anything to fancy, just to be told my current pace, distance and to upload to Strava at the end.

Any advice or links?,

Thanks in advance lovely people.

23 Replies

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It all depends how much you want to spend really! I have a Garmin Forerunner 235, which is a sort of midrange runners watch. It doesn't fit into the rest of your life in quite the same way as a fitbit, say, but personally I don't want it to—I use it for running and occasionally cycling, I'm not after a jack of all trades gadget. There are simpler Garmins out there, and fancier versions, with price points to match. But the 235 has been perfect for me. There are other reputable brands of course, Polar and TomTom say, but I went with Garmin because I was so new to running at the time I didn't know what to look for, and I had to trust there was good reason for their popularity. A year down the line I've no regrets. My little blue Garmin comes with me on every run, and regularly tells me off 😊

Garminer forerunner 10. It’s got virtual pacer and auto pause If you plan on going long, battery life comes into play

You can fork out a load for bells and whistles, but it won’t make you run any quicker 😃

Second vote for Garmin Forerunner 10 - not a lot of bells and whistles, but does all that I need it to do and was well within my price point.

I've only just discovered that strava will give you audio notifications every 0.5km if you select the option in settings. These include time over last 0.5km, last km split and total time/distance. This is enough for me for the moment but don't let me stop you have fun with shopping!

I got a secondhand Garmin on ebay Chris...its an older model but I didn't want to spend much...

Always records...uploading a bit of a faff but always does eventually.i think this is the Garmin rather than than the software though..

Good luck 😊 x

To add to the list, I’ve got the Garmin forerunner 35, having used Strava previously. I start my music in the phone, Bluetooth my phone via Garmin connect to the watch. Bluetooth my earphones to my phone. Then I can put it away , and control music via my watch. I get alerts on my watch every 1k and I think my audio alerts are coming from Strava (if not it’s the same voice) as soon as you save your run it downloads to Garmin connect and Strava. It gives great stats maps etc. I wear mine just for running , hiking and cycling, whereas UpTheStanley wears his (with black strap) all the time. Research on prices as there are bargains out there. I paid £10 extra at j Lewis to get accident damage insurance as well as their 2 year warranty.

Garmin 35 - does everything you need.

I got a used Garmin Fenix 5s on eBay. Garmin are rilliant. My daughter has a Forerunnr 235

Garmin 235 here. Regardless of which model you get, the stats these things spit out after a run are insane. I find the heart rate stats particularly useful.

I’m terrible I have 2 garmin, vivosmart hr and vivo active hr, One is for steps sleep and the like then the other is for running, cycling, hiking, swimming (it counts laps) and wearing while the other one charges. They are both gps and give good running stats, if I was to pick one over the other it would be the vivoactive hr, it is big a bulky on my wrist which is why after I bought it I saved up and bought the smaller one. Both bought on amazon discount days so actually I probably got two for the price of one. Even though you can get one that does the same as the two I don’t think I would swap them. The vivoactive finds the gps faster than the vivosmart. I think one is glonas and the other gps, glonas is faster.

I got a Garmin 235 a few months ago and really love it! Easy to use and I love looking at all my stats! I wear it all the time as my everyday watch! (My favourite possession!!!) 😀

I’ve got a gear fit 2 which came free with my Samsung galaxy 7 a while ago. It comes into its own when linked up to the health app on the phone. I find it fares well compared with strava in terms of distance and time . You can set pace, distance and time. I find it great for pacing as I tend to run quicker than I can breathe 😂 you can pick them up cheaply on eBay as lots of folks got them for free with their phones and are just after making a quick buck . Good luck whatever you decide.

What I would say is don't get a Fitbit if it's just for running. I have the Charge2 and it's brilliant as a general fitness and step tracker and the stats are ok although the distance is always off compared to my Samsung Health app and Strava. Having now got more serious about running I am considering upgrading to a proper running watch. Having said that I would probably still wear the fitbit all the time and the running watch just for running as they are usually pretty big.

My Garmin isn't any bigger than the Fitbit Blaze, in fact you could say smaller in that it neatly fits inside the square face but loses the corners. The newer ones are much smaller than they used to be. Xx

Mine's smaller than the Blaze so bit of an adjustment for me that's all x

Yes, the Blaze was a bit of an adjustment from the Charge HR I had, but not overly. Adapted really quickly for someone who only previously wore a watch for dressy occasions! Now I only take my tracker off to wash! Xx

I think I'm going to get a second hand Garmin Forerunner 10 and just try it out!!

Make sure you specifically ask the seller about the battery health. Those older models had earlier battery technology which suffered from losing charge. More recent models 25/35/230/235 have more modern batteries.

Another vote for the forerunner 10, had it a while now, all I wanted was the ‘evidence’ of my runs......does what it says on the tin 👍

So you've got a good range of watches in here already. I will add my tuppence worth anyway, but the answer is up there. 10 is a good bargain buy. 35 does a bit more and is a decent runners watch. 235 is the ideal running watch for stats freaks but who only run. The 645 music looked good but compromised running features for music and since carrying your phone for safety reasons is likely, it was a bit pointless. So, that's the Forerunners which seem to be the ones aimed at our type!

I went for bells and whistles 735XT, mainly because it was an early Christmas gift from my generous OH and because I was frightened I'd miss out as there are much more stats to ogle. However, that said it's a Triathalon watch and unless you're doing Triathalons it's probably overkill!

The larger 945 is definitely wholly unnecessary until you're doing Triathalons and are flush.

Then there's the Fenix range, which are high-end runners watches and require mortgaging.

The Vivoactive 3 looked great, but was short of a few ideal functions I wanted - e.g. recovery advisor and workload.

Whatever you get I'm sure you will be happy, they're all great watches and there's a watch for every type of athlete out there.

😁

I started with forerunner 10 too... did all you needed... have a 610 now

I'm waiting for the new Polars which hit the shelves in the next few weeks. Sounds like they've sorted out the wrist-HR thing which Garmin haven't yet got right. Looks a nice bit of kit....