Best Replacement for a Garmin Forerunner 410 Sport Watch?
July 29, 2020 4:52 AM Subscribe
I'm been using a Garmin 405 or 410 for a very long time and I need to replace it because the band broke and replacements are unavailable. The battery life has also become short.
I'd like to know which Garmin Sport Watches to get as a replacement. I'm also wondering if I should switch to a $200 Apple Watch 3.
My price range is about $200 or less and I want accurate heart rate information, especially when I'm on my bike. I know my chest strap is accurate and I've heard that some wrist sensors are not.
I have a lot data stored in Garmin's Connect, including pre-Garmin runs that I entered manually. I don't want to lose it and I'd like to keep adding to it. So I don't want to switch to an Apple watch or another brand unless I can bring my data with me and be able to access it and study it easily. Which IOS apps will let me do this?
Also, privacy is important to me. Garmin knows a lot about how I exercise and where, but they don't know much more except for my email address. Apple, and some of my apps, know a lot about me because I'm an iPhone user. I'd rather not give them even more data but I know that I may not have a choice if I switch platforms.
My price range is about $200 or less and I want accurate heart rate information, especially when I'm on my bike. I know my chest strap is accurate and I've heard that some wrist sensors are not.
I have a lot data stored in Garmin's Connect, including pre-Garmin runs that I entered manually. I don't want to lose it and I'd like to keep adding to it. So I don't want to switch to an Apple watch or another brand unless I can bring my data with me and be able to access it and study it easily. Which IOS apps will let me do this?
Also, privacy is important to me. Garmin knows a lot about how I exercise and where, but they don't know much more except for my email address. Apple, and some of my apps, know a lot about me because I'm an iPhone user. I'd rather not give them even more data but I know that I may not have a choice if I switch platforms.
Best answer: Thirding the Instinct - I got one recently and it is awesome. Very in-depth review of the base model here. There's been several updates to the software since that review was written. There's also a new solar model out, but it is a fair bit more expensive. The base model battery life is brilliant regardless.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:47 AM on July 29, 2020
posted by Happy Dave at 6:47 AM on July 29, 2020
I don't know if you are aware of it, but Garmin just suffered from a massive cyber attack this week.
I've been using the 3rd generation Apple watch since it came out, and the heart monitor on the watches are generally considered best of class for a smart watch. It's also a good bit cheaper than the Garmin Instinct, it is available right now on Amazon for $169. The GPS definitely eats the battery and can't compare to the awesome battery life of the Instinct, but it usually good enough to last all day with 6-7 hours of GPS tracking when I go hiking or biking using the Activity app.
For a long time I used a Fitbit for step count tracking, but they stopped making a decent pocketable one with elevation gain, and that is when I jumped ship over to the Apple watch - if I'm going to wear a fitness tracker as a watch, I want it to do more. (They also got eaten by Google recently, making them even less palatable and always a concern for smaller companies.)
One big difference between third party fitness apps is that Apple doesn't have access to your unencrypted health information, and has worked very hard to protect it. You can also stop it from being uploaded to iCloud if it is a concern. Keep in mind that your Garmin data is probably being synced there as well, possibly unencrypted, for what it is worth when you back up your phone.
You can sync your data from Garmin Connect to the IOS Health App. Here is information about what can be transferred, according to Garmin.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 7:23 AM on July 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
I've been using the 3rd generation Apple watch since it came out, and the heart monitor on the watches are generally considered best of class for a smart watch. It's also a good bit cheaper than the Garmin Instinct, it is available right now on Amazon for $169. The GPS definitely eats the battery and can't compare to the awesome battery life of the Instinct, but it usually good enough to last all day with 6-7 hours of GPS tracking when I go hiking or biking using the Activity app.
For a long time I used a Fitbit for step count tracking, but they stopped making a decent pocketable one with elevation gain, and that is when I jumped ship over to the Apple watch - if I'm going to wear a fitness tracker as a watch, I want it to do more. (They also got eaten by Google recently, making them even less palatable and always a concern for smaller companies.)
One big difference between third party fitness apps is that Apple doesn't have access to your unencrypted health information, and has worked very hard to protect it. You can also stop it from being uploaded to iCloud if it is a concern. Keep in mind that your Garmin data is probably being synced there as well, possibly unencrypted, for what it is worth when you back up your phone.
You can sync your data from Garmin Connect to the IOS Health App. Here is information about what can be transferred, according to Garmin.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 7:23 AM on July 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by typecloud at 6:09 AM on July 29, 2020