Garmin viva or polar ignite!

Hiya all! I am stuck trying to choose which one to treat myself to when I graduate, I use a polar a360 now and it’s a nice little sports watch but I want something that continuously measures my heart rate, looks nicer for 24hr wear and links with strava. The 220 quid price tag for the viva and the 210 for the polar has me stuck. Has anyone either of these watches that could give me some input? Do you have to start an activity to record your runs like on the old a360 or does it just do it automatically as you speed up etc? Do they get all sweaty with the 24hr use? Thanks in advance for any tips to help me decide!

[2718281 Graduate]

I have tried the ignite and several garmin (not sure which one you are looking into).

Things in common: I have no problems using any of them 24h, but I've always used a watch 24h so it's not a problem for me (some people don't like sleeping with them). Both polar and garmin are good brands, so you will be getting a good watch with good support. I think both of them can recognise an activity without you starting it (if it's longer than a certain period of time that you set up on the app), but I don't recomment doing so (it's not 100% reliable).

My experience with polar: I really liked their web and app. I found it easier to navigate than the garmin one, and if you are already used to it, it will be ok for you. The size felt quite right on my wrist. The thing that recommends you exercises depending on how much you have trained and how much you have rested is pretty cool, too. I tried the ignite when it was released, and from my experience it was quite buggy, the battery didn't last long, and there wasn't much personalisation (watchfaces for instance), so I ended up returning it. I also had some issues with the touch screen, I found it a bit difficult to use during a run, I ended up pressing the wrong part of the screen and the watch wouldn't do what I was trying to do (my fault, but my coordination while running is not the best :). Both things might have improved with the latests firmware releases, so you might prefer the opinion of someone who has used it lately.

Garmin: At the beginning I found it less user-friendly. There is a lot of customisation that you can do through the watch (not the app) and there is a lot of information that you will only find if you try to navigate through all screens and all versions (watch/app/webpage). However, I ended up sticking to garmin, as I found that their range of watches has more options and it was easier for me to find what I was looking for. I wanted music so I could leave my phone and I didn't want a touchscreen, so I ended up with a forerunner 245 music as a graduation present for c25k (after trying several other watches).

I think all your options could be good, just read a lot of reviews online to see the differences and decide which one will fit your interests better

[Hidden in reply to 2718281]

Thanks! I think I’m prob best sticking to the polar then, I don’t want to over complicate things by having to learn a new dashboard etc. It’s disappointing that the automatic exercise function is not that good I was looking forward to just running and having it automatically record. I quite like the idea of the 24hr heart rate measurements on the ignite so I can see where I’m most stressed and the custom made activities based on the recovery sleep etc sounds good to me x I shall just get on and buy it now and save it for my consolidation runs x

[2718281 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

you need several days of data (maybe weeks) to start getting useful insights... so you might want to start using it earlier

[Tasha99 Graduate]

Most people have garmin. They all measure heart rate all the time.

[CherryCore Graduate]

Not sure about polar, but garmin is pretty useless without Internet connection. This means, if you're out camping or climbing a hill with no reception, or are elsewhere on a roaming with no data, there's no way anything will get off the device. To sync it requires a phone and an Internet connection, and even to get the *.fit file for manual import, you'd need a device to be connected to the pc, it cannot be acquired via Bluetooth.

But that is probably too tech.

In regards of wearing, I didn't notice any difference to a mechanical metal watch. I tended to use bulkier chronographs anyways.

P. S. As about automatic activity detection, garmin doesn't. It would be quite hard to distinguish between running, or cycling, or electric scooter, or even car or motorbike moving slowly in a traffic jam.

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to CherryCore]

Garmin does automatically detect activities

www8.garmin.com/manuals/web...

[CherryCore Graduate in reply to Tasha99]

Firstly, feature isn't in all models.

Secondly, certain movements are mistaken for something else. Like using a whisk to make an omelette ramps up step count and motorcycle vibrations are picked up as elliptical trainer 🏍️

[Hidden in reply to CherryCore]

After much deliberation I have decided! It’s the Garmin one that has the GPS onboard and the move iq feature. I will still set it for runs though as it seems it’s not reliable to automatically do it according to some reviews online and your opinions on here x thanks all!

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I’d recommend looking at the vivoactive 4. You can download music into this too if you have a Spotify premium account. If you’re not bothered about music, the 45s is a good new one.

[Hidden in reply to Tasha99]

I have decided on the 45s as I don’t have a Spotify account but it’s got the ability to manipulate the playlist from my wrist(very handy) and it is the same price point WITH the GPS as the polar one which doesn’t have it z so I thought it may be useful when I don’t want to listen to music on a run and the gps will record anyway etc

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

My friend loves hers 👍🏽

[Hidden in reply to Tasha99]

Can’t wait to get it on me now x have lots of runs left til I graduate tho so will have to be a patient girly! Lol x