Running watch advice

[Avoidinghills]

I'm not getting on very well with my Fitbit charge 4. It doesn't seem to respond the way it should, but more importantly I find the screen / font too small while I'm running - I can't see how long I've been running for! Any suggestions for a running watch that's not enormous but has BIG font? Thank you!

[Hidden]

Go Garmin, I've the forerunner 235 does everything you'll need, except carry you up those hills 🤣

[HeavyFoot Graduate]

From what I’ve seen the screen size of the F235 looks ideal.

I’ve just got a F45 and one criticism I do have is that some text is too small for my longsightedness. Particularly annoying are incoming notifications of emails or texts which I cannot read, so I mostly have the phone connection turned off except for data transfer.

[Hidden]

I have a Garmin VivoActive 4S, probably too small for you. But I have very small wrists and a big watch is a no go for me. Plus I wanted a watch which I can wear 24/7 also at work. The VivoActive 4(s) tracks heartrate, stress, sleep, body battery, etc. 24/7 and you have a load of activities you can use, amongst which running (also treadmill but a footpod is recommended then). It does the trick for me, but I think just about any decent Garmin watch will be good.

[Minimouse36 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Hi

I am looking for a watch for use on the treadmill as I cannot separate my walk from the run at the mo in the information my app provides.

Does this work well?

Thanks for any advice you can give 😀

[Hidden in reply to Minimouse36]

Running on a treadmill will not work perfect for any kind of watch.

You can either calibrate the watch after your workout and enter the distance manually. But this only works if the watch has calculated a minimum distance, which does not work for me as I hold the bars of the treadmill.

And the other solution is to use a footpod, which you attach to your shoe and which calculates the distance based on the number of steps combined with your stride length. You have to let the footpod calibrate itself first on a run outdoors and after that it works perfect on a treadmill. Garmin does not have footpods at the moment (I bought mine second hands online), but they do have something to attach at your waist. I don't know a lot about it, as my watch is not compatible with that new thingy.

[Minimouse36 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply... I was going to just jump in and buy one, as the watches say they have a treadmill mode, but it sounds like there is a lot more to consider, for now I suppose I doesn't matter too much, but I can't work out how far I run in 30 mins, Cheers for your advice 😀👍

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Maybe your Fitbit needs calibrating.

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

I can't give you advice on a specific watch to get but I I know that Fitbits are more lifestyle watches and are nor dedicated running devices. Something like a Garmin, Polar, Coros etc will suffice. Have a look on Youtube for demo videos to check screen and font size out and/or look at the very detailed 'DC Rainmaker' review site .