Fantastic watch and the best price I can find around at the moment compared to other stores still listing much higher (Harvy Norman $347, Rebel Sport $349)
Good review found here @ DCRainmakers: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/11/garmin-fr230-fr235-revie…
All 3 styles are on sale.
Wrist based optical is patchy at best on all of these devices (Fitbit, Garmin etc). If you want proper hrm you will probably want a chest strap or one of the dedicated optical units (scosche rhythm etc), or at least heavily tighten the wrist watch during exercise
As a long term Android fanatic, it pains me to say it, but a few of my friends have compared the apple watch 2 to their polar watches w/chest straps and the apple device is always within ~5% of their polars.
So, based on this very scientific and irrefutable evidence, imma go with the aw2. Doesn't hurt that the wife is nuts for apple stuff either.
Good advice on the chest band, she has a polar which she uses for running but as she wants to calorie count throughout the day she wants a full time wearable.
You cannot use Apple Watch with Android, but you can the other way round.
Can't go wrong with the AW2 as a daily, I just don't like the square shape but like the Samsung Gears the screen looks amazing.
Which Polar device doesn't track activity and count calories?
How accurate does she want it? Because AW2 time intervals of measurements of background HR are variable.
As @jobler also mentioned, From my research it appears that getting an accurate reading from wrist based monitors HRM is not that good, but for me it wasn't an issue as I'll be using a chest strap from my old forerunner 210 (strap broke and it's not replaceable!)
As a replacement for an older forerunner, I'm pretty happy with it so far.
LOL you will need a proper chest strap for accurate heart rate data, otherwise the only fault on the Garmin in my opinion is the bad resolution compared to the eye candies like Samsung Gears.
Just recently switched from Gear s3 to a Garmin forerunner 935 and even though the screen is nicer on the gear, this is easily outweighed by having a battery that lasts 2 weeks, accurate GPS and hr, and an all around superior activity tracking watch. Gear s3 is just gimmicky and the novelty wears off pretty quick!
I myself just purchased the Fenix 5X, bloody love it except well the screen's resolution lol.
Yeah, according to DC Rainmaker the optical HR on the 935 is as good as a chest strap. A colleague has one and is very happy with it.
I got this watch (more than a year now) and I am pretty happy with it. Yes, wrist-based HR is not the most accurate but is the most convenient if you think vs wearing the chest strap all the time? GPS is awesome. I use it for running and cycling. I also wear it as my full-time watch and for sleep monitoring as well.
I am sure you can pair an ANT+ compatible chest-strap-HRM with this watch and get more accurate results. I wouldn't bother that much to be honest. For cycling, you can pair most ANT+ speed/cadence sensors available with this watch. It is quite a powerful watch to be honest. At this price it is a bargain.
BTW, I wouldn't recommend this for ladies for that fact that it is quite big and is not the coolest looking watch most ladies would want to wear.
I have a Fitbit Blaze and it will be my last tracker from Fitbit. Their support for Android is poor at best, Garmin are leading the way.
The Optical Wrist Based HRM on any of the devices out there are in general less accurate than chest straps.
A colleague has the Forerunner 235 and it's a decent looking unit.
Battery Life on the Garmin and Fitbit (about a week) are what makes them so much better than the Samsung Gear or Apple Watches.
The exercise HRM is pretty good.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/11/garmin-fr230-fr235-revie…
The daily tracking HRM is better on Fenix 5, and the 5S is a more athletically suitable for smaller wrists. Of course if your wife likes the look of Apple Watch 2 and won't wear something else because of looks then it doesn't matter what's a technically better one (at least that is what it was like with someone I know).
The Garmin App is fine and syncs with Health App.
I paid $380 for this in February at JB! This is a great price.
I would recommend to go to forums.garmin.com and read comments/issues first. I used to wear Vivosmart HR and software quality on it went from bad to worse to the point where it's just an expensive step counter at the moment.
Would have thought these watches would have at least been waterproof not water resistant..
It is waterproof
Rebel Sport have now also dropped their price on the FR235 to ($296)[http://www.rebelsport.com.au/Product/Garmin-Forerunner-235-GPS-Heart-Rate-Watch/39505701] if it's more convenient to shop there.
Quite a few reviews around the place stating the heart rate sensor is patchy. I am in the market for a fitness watch for the wife and I was keen for a Garmin due to their name recognition (GPS) but might steer clear due to her really wanting bpm to be accurate for calorie counting.
Cheers for the post, it is a bargain if you are looking for a solid gps connection.
Check out the app reviews before purchase too if I can just leave a last piece of advice.