Multisport/Tri Watch

I have been researching getting a multisport watch for about 8 years now. I somehow never ended up buying one. * Well sort of.

I started running, cycling and hiking recreationally back in 2013. I ran my first half marathon in 2014, and ran five more half marathons (if my math checks out.) and half walked-half ran a full marathon. I had registered for a half back in 2018, but the SF half stopped letting you run on the Golden-Gate bridge, and so, I withdrew. (more out of spite for them running out of water the first time I ran there.) 2020 has pretty much meant no events.

I’ve in the past had issues with my knees when I up my running mileage – maybe not enough stretching, not enough strength training, or just bad form, but either way, I was getting my knees a little whacked. So, I decided to bike a lot more, and take it easy on the running.

I hike from time to time, time permitting. I am no elite hiker, but manage to do some challenging hiked. I have a hike to Mt. Whitney coming up soon.

I also aspire to take part in a half ironman some time, and to that end I recently started taking swimming lessons.

So, that’s a background of my physical activities, and what I will look for in a watch.

Now, for what I absolutely don’t need in a watch. I don’t need almost any smart-watch functionality. Calls – nope. Messages – nope. Notifications from social media apps – nope, nope, nope. Meeting notifications – maybe ? (I’ve actually found that one thing alone a little useful.)

A couple of things I wouldn’t mind having, but don’t really need:

• Music. I would like the option to not carry my phone with me, but still have access to music.
• Payments. Sometimes, you forget your card or something, and in the absence of a phone, this is a nice to have.
• Maps/Tracks/Navigation: I’m not fully convinced I will use this really. I mean, when I am out in the wilderness, I travel with a phone, with some sort of maps on it. And I just recently bought an inreach mini. So, I think I am covered on the super emergency front at least when solo hiking in wilderness.
• Sp02 sensor: And whatever goodness it can provide – especially as it relates to blood oxygen saturation at elevation.

Some things I definitely need:

• Run tracking. The more run metrics it has, the better, especially as it relates to running form.
• Bike rides – and ability to pair with speed/cadence sensors and power meters. Well, the bike use case is low on the list, because I have a Wahoo elemnt which does everything I need it to. So, I can’t imagine using this device except maybe in the case of a triathlon.
• Swim – this is new, and something I definitely want to track. Especially open water capability. Some of the lower end Garmin FR watches which are aimed at runners don’t have open water swim features. I think you need to get a 745 to get open water swim.
• It’s a plus if the screen has enough real estate to show your metrics, and yet the watch is not some monster. Some of the hiking watches are crazy big.
• Sleep tracking without it being overly intrusive. I am super picky when it comes to sleeping with something strapped to my wrist, and it makes me feel uncomfortable. So, I ideally want something super low profile, and light weight to wear to bed.
• Activity tracking – i kind of like to get a feel for how active I am between workouts. i.e., if I go for a 4 mile run in the morning, then not accounting for that, how many steps did I walk that day ?

I like the features watches are putting in in terms of training plans, recovery and such. This is a great feature add. It’s nice when your watch can tell you to take it easy.

With all of that, here’s my experience with wearables so far.

I had the original Jawbone up – the one you had to connect to your headphone port. I quite liked it – I only needed it for step tracking. I was using a phone to run and cycle anyway. It also did sleep tracking reasonably, and was quite unobtrusive. So, good. I think their longevity was not great, and even after a few replacement devices, I finally gave up. Of course, the company went under at some point, so no more Jawbone.

I briefly tried an Apple Watch (original), but didn’t really like it. I mean, you needed a phone with you anyway. This is where I found calendar invites useful. I could sync work calendar, and not miss meetings like I was used to missing.

I still have a casio watch (paid like $30 for it) which was in principle supposed to do everything I wanted at that point from a wrist based screen. Connect to phone, and display metrics from phone – except it never worked well. 🙂

Fitbit Charge 3. When fitbit announced this with Sp02, I thought this had all the features I was looking for. The default band is trash, and I haven’t worn it even once. I bought the perforated band instead and that has worked well. The fitbit works well for activity and steps climbed tracking. (thanks to it’s barometric altimeter). However, they basically never delivered on their promise of sp02 data, and while they claim they are using it for sleep tracking, I think you need to subscribe to their service to take full advantage of it – which I find to be garbage. Actually, for this reason, I held out from buying a Fitbit charge 4. I continue using the charge 3, but these days, I don’t use it for sleep tracking. I have used it in the past, but never consistently. And even with the fitbit, I find it obtrusive on my wrist when sleeping. I don’t know I look at the heart rate data on it either.

Beyond activity tracking, I don’t use it for anything. else. I don’t use it to track runs, hikes, bike rides …etc. I mean, it has no gps, and I haven’t been inside a gym since the pandemic last year. So, yes, I don’t use most of it’s features. I don’t even care about it asking me to walk every hour and so. So, maybe I’m not getting the best use of it. I tried tracking a swim the other day, and have no idea what it did with the data. 🙂

So, with my Tri goal, I finally decided it was time to upgrade to a Tri watch. Lot of interesting options. I am fairly open to Suunto, Polar …etc. But, one would have to agree, the Garmin forerunners have kinda become the gold standard. So, I was looking at the 945 LTE and the 745. Both really good watches. Both expensive. Even with some discounts I have access to, the 745 still cost > $400. Might be reasonable for someone who is a dedicated triathlete, which I am not. The 945 LTE absolutely nails the implementation of how watches should use LTE. I would buy this watch in a heart-beat except for the price. I don’t think it’s unreasonably priced, but it has way too many features for me, I think. Plus, you need a watch to upgrade to later.

So, with all the research I did, and all of the above taken into account, I finally settled on a Coros Pace 2. Paid $170 for it as the store had a 15% discount. Not that much more expensive than a fitbit charge4 special edition. ($164 with taxes) This watch is super light – 29 grams apparently. Possibly lighter than the Fitbit charge 3. (or around the same weight) It has no Sp02 sensor, and no maps and navigation – something I can definitely live with. It does have open water swim tracking. It has no music – obviously at this price point. But then, when you actually do a tri, you cannot use headphones anyway. And when you train for a tri, you can carry a phone – so… Other than that, for it’s price, it looks solid. I can even pair it to my wahoo sensors. (HR, cadence, speed …etc.) I’ll take it out on a spin and see how it goes.