Myer have the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro on sale for $574, which brings it in line with current JB price. However with the 20% 10% cashrewards cashback this deal is more enticing for the next few hours.
ShopBack have an increased cashback rate of 17% on 10th September from 1pm to 5pm
Otherwise Check cashrewards for their latest cashback.
Original cashrewards deal
This comes under gifts and health and wellness gifts category. It’s not listed under electronics category.
Cashback is compensated at Myer's discretion and its decision is final.
Garmin watches can be considered as both Sports and Electronics. I would assume it’s the lower 10% cashback bracket
There are Garmin watches in the sport section like this one. The fenix is in a different section.
Hopefully a cashrewards op around to confirm.
I think smart watches only has 10% cash back instead of 20% as they do not appears under Men/women accessory but rather under "Sports"
Special Terms
Important: 'Entertainment & Electronics' category includes all electronics & electrical appliances on Myer's website. Electronics & electrical on Myer's Home & Sport pages, including personal care products, will be awarded cashback under 'Entertainment & Electronics' category on the cashback table of rates. Luggage & Travel Goods are also classified under 'Entertainment & Electronics'
I’ve updated the post as I have been able to find it in the sports section also do you could be right. Unfortunately it’s not too clear.
Don't forget Myer One, $10 worth: https://www.myerone.com.au/home
And also you can use your CBA points online or instore, think it's about 210 points per dollar.
You can’t stack the Myer One voucher with CR cashback. It’ll invalidate the cashback
But you are not using any vouchers, just entering your Myer One membership to earn points. Voucher will come later (quarterly).
So I'm not sure if Myer One invalidates CR. However, none of my recent Myer purchases qualified for CR, still not sure if that was because I have entered Myer One membership or due to paid for by CBA points (amount due is $0).
Could be either or both reasons.
Anyone have thoughts on this watch as it relates to fitness and physical health metrics?
Pair it with the Garmin chest strap and it gives you great running dynamics metrics.
I've got the 6s. The Pro is similar with a few extra features. Honestly I love it and it has made me so much more motivated to exercise. I love keeping track of activity minutes to the point that I often find myself doing some form of exercise on a weekend to get to weekly goal.
There's the daily stuff like breathing, HR, and stress levels plus exercise oriented stuff like training status and VO2 Max. Plus activity types for everything you can think of. I love it.
I have the 6x sapphire. Battery life has been awesome and great health tracking. Its good for hiking as well when you include the GPS tracking. I got it over 2 yrs ago (when the prices were higher) but used qantas points for purchase so got it a lot cheaper.
Either way I would defn consider at that price point. Just be aware the watch straps can get a bit worn out, and garmin has massive inflated prices for replaceement straps (79 dollars just for a silicone replacement) so you should buy third party replacement straps if required
Would you go for Fenix 7 sapphire? Or no need
If you haven't got the 6x then yes. But I don't consider the 7 sapphire enough of a jump in technology or features to justify buying it (esp given the 6x sapphire is still holding up and still gets software updates)
the latest update now includes Heart rate Variability (HRV) which is a highly useful metric if you are doing any form of training or fitness improvements
What makes these so expensive, even more so than Apple watches? Even on sale they are more expensive than a brand new last gen Apple Watch, what justifies the price?
These are for people more serious about running and other things like triathlons. If you are just tracking steps, heart rate, sleep or the occasional run etc then you don’t need one of these. There are quite a few good review websites that compares these to the likes of apples and other smart watches.
Thanks for that. But again I have to ask, Apple Watch also does all that and I think one of the most accurate sensors out there, what does this Watch do to justify paying even more for tracking run, swim, bike, trail run. Doesn’t Apple Watch also do all that?
You might have to do more research. Looks like Apple Watch only has a 18 hour battery life which would mean it is useless for people competing in ultras for example. If you have to ask whether it is worth it, it probably isn’t - for you.
battery life, accuracy of tracking and durability are completely different.
If you want a smart watch with more 'smart' features, sure an apple watch or similar would be fine.
If you want the most accurate tracking,. long battery life and something that can take a few hits, this is the go. This is aimed at fitness and outdoors enthusiests generally
as they said, this is a fitness watch, gives you recovery data, performance metrics like vo2 max, lactate threshold, max hr, marathon pace, it tracks your weekly load, HRV (coming soon), gives you tips on what exercise to do today (running is not just running)
tracks your gym, bike, swim
on board music for on the go
15 days battery life
@botchie: Again, Apple Watch does all that? (Minus battery life) I have so many apps that do these same interpretations. Why do everyone keep pointing out Garmin tracks your run, bike swim? Do people think Apple Watch doesn’t track your bike swim etc?
All the load and recovery metrics you mentioned might not be built in but there is a ton of apps that do that out there… I personally use some of them. it’s all data from the same sensors, heart rate, motion, spO2. What am I missing?
@Larsson: Mate apps on the phone have a much lower accuracy than a watch.
A watch can check heart rate and oxygen and basically tell you the day you may pass away or have a heart attack
The phone will just guess
@AussieMark: What? When I say apps I mean Apple Watch apps mate. They take the data of heart rate, motion and spO2 from the watches sensors. Not randomly guess stuff Phone doesn’t have capabilities to do these at all.
@Larsson: im pretty sure apple watch is not as accurate in the measurements as Garmin
apple watch is made to be lifestyle watch and smartwatch first and foremost,
Garmin is made for fitness and its data and precision is why ppl get it
you cant be a serious triathlete and wear apple watch to track your progress :)
if its 5-10% off thats massive
Like it was said, if you are just a casual runner and apple has all the things you need then you dont need this one
if you are serious about running you wouldn't be asking these questions.
@botchie: Will the HRV come to all the garmin range at the moment or just the Fenix and above?
I just went and got the Forerunner 245 as the extra $250 for mainly the look and gps function isn't for me as I wanna track purely health based metrics.
Cheers
@Marto101: they haven't said - you can get it on fenix 6 now but its alpha build only -beta to come out soon, I wouldnt think they would release it for 245 but you never know
@botchie: Would be great if they did, especially as the sensors are the same! Always love to see more metrics to track from.
Have you got the fenix 6 and tried it?
@Marto101: How’s this Watch doesn’t have HRV, all other functions are there. Apple Watch always had it built in, this is why I am questioning why this Watch is priced far more expensive than the Apple Watch.
Also not a fan boy by any means for everyone’s benefit. If people said whoop, I’d honestly understand. They have on going research to improve the metrics and their apps interpretation of it.
@Larsson: Mate, if you want to drag your apple watch across a beach, through an ocean, and hours upon hours of sweating running/cycling, on a regular basis, you be my guest.
@[Deactivated]: Umm I already did and keep doing so constantly. I don’t think any of this was part of question.
Rock climbing or activities where the watch will get banged up to hard surfaces is a clear advantage for Garmin with raised edges but than again Apple Watch has a sapphire screen too.
It's two different devices with different use cases…
Think of the Apple watch as the all rounder smart device… It can do GPS tracking, store your music and replace your phone with eSIM.
Garmin doesn't do as well with Siri/Google Assistant integration or application on watch.
Think of the Fenix as a dedicated activity watch…
I ride, run and hike, can't care less about notification, phone integration or app on watch… So Garmin Fenix is a better tool for me…
What's the difference between an expensive apple watch and a cheap Xiaomi (or whatever Chinese branded) smartwatch? They both do the same thing.
If you have to ask about a Garmi for sports tracking, then it's not for you.
Nope, very different comparison and situations. The sensor accuracy and consistency is very, very important as well as the interpretation of the data presented by the system.
Yeah maybe a cheap Xiaomi will have the same features, but it’s useless if the data is incorrect.
That’s why I am only discussing hardware that have high accuracy and consistency.
Exactly this. Comparing Garmin to apple watch is like comparing apple watch to Xiaomi.
Apple provides some accuracy but it is laughable when compared to the same data provided by Garmin.
I own a Garmin Fenix 6 pro and would recommend it to anyone who is serious about exercising, tracking activities and likes to go hiking and wants gps and offline maps.
The people I know who are serious about sport like ultramarathon or triathlon all wear Garmins.
Then again if you are the occasional jogger on a saturday at spring time, this watch isnt for you.
@Stromae: I am referring to the accuracy and consistency of the heart rate sensor mate, apples is best out there just after polar h10. Not talking about gps. Best measures for your Health tracking comes from these.
What are you basing your ‘comparing Apple Watch to Garmin is like comparing apple to Xiaomi’?
This is why I hesitate when poeple list one is better than the other or try to give advice.
If you are talking about gps accuracy , sure that justifies it for you no problem.
@Larsson: Mate. Give it up. Stick with your Apple watch. You're not the target market for a Garmin.
It's like going on a RTX3080 deal, and complaining that it's no different to a 5 year old GPU since you can't notice any difference when surfing the web browser 🤯.
Or for me, who is more likely to be aspirational at best about the fitness, it still does 2 things much better than any other smartwatch:
How many athletes do you see running with Apple watches?
@eraser215: First of all, how many athletes do you see wearing any watch during competition…
Secondly, I saw many athletes wearing Apple Watch in their daily life from stuff I recollect many. The nature of the question is anecdotal, so I don’t think you can show a trend either way?
@Larsson: Every now and again I might come across a gym goer doing outdoor run with oversize Beats headsets and apple watch.
Everyday I come across serious runners with Garmin and no music on.
One type of runner is serious, the other is out of place.
ant+ connectivity and physical buttons instead of a touch screen are a couple more points of difference.
Does Apple watch give you a vO2 rating?
@based: Yes, yes and yes. Except ant2, which is only beneficial if you have android and you have to use old Bluetooth standards, but than again haven’t heard and issues with Bluetooth connection dropping in ages, and never experienced with any apple product tbh. My experience of course
This is a fitness watch that also works as a smartwatch, Apple watch is a smartwatch that works as a fitness watch.
My brother does fairly serious climbing and has a Fenix, he says it probably saved his life at one point, having GPS plus offline topo map and huge battery when climbing in a remote area and getting lost.
Also remember an Apple watch doesn't work with non-Apple phones due to their selfish fight against standards and interoperability.
Garmin works with both. I also feel they're overpriced, but there isn't anything that does quite what they do, and as a more niche item than an Apple watch, they can both get away with it and probably can't push costs down quite as much.
Oh! and the screen. It's transflective, which means it looks worse, but it actually works in the sun at any brightness, is always on, and doesn't destroy the battery. I personally like this kind of screen tech.
@Qmanol: I mean again, ‘ This is a fitness watch that also works as a smartwatch, Apple watch is a smartwatch that works as a fitness watch.’ sorry but this doesn’t quantify anything.
Not sure if Apple Watch has offline maps- that is 100% a valid reason if not. But I know it has gps. (Tho without and offline map it’s doesn’t mean much. There must be offline map apps, no?)
Screen goes against battery life again, which I did acknowledge. Apple Watch is quite visible under the harsh light at the beach had no problems.
Apple only working with apple again 100% valid if you have android.
So again, rugged, good battery life, and maybe offline maps? Watch choice of the android I guess. Still does nothing to explain X2 the price.
But people pay it, so what do I know… 😅 I just can’t see very clear justification.
I have a Garmin 945 which is essentially a plastic Fenix 6, so lighter and less bulky. Some of the key reasons to buy a high end Garmin watch:
- battery life. It lasts over 24 hours for a ultra activity with full gps and HR tracking.
- full topographic maps built in natively with full route planning and navigation
- dozens of key metrics to help with your training
- myriad of different sports built in which can be used with full set of data fields available for each activity
- ability to record one activity type and switch to another mid race with out having to record 2 seperate activities
- syncs with dozens and dozens of external partners for full integration of data across different platforms
- deep health data based on a myriad of metrics to give you a truely accurate picture of your performance condition
- the watch uses buttons for accessing everything which is awesome as it doesn’t matter if it’s wet or your hands are cold and in gloves, you can still access all the functions.
The Fenix 6 is useful for high end athletes and/or ultra athletes. However for most recreational runners it is overkill and a Garmin 245, 55, Venu or Vivoactice would do the trick.
@Dazzman55: Best laid out answer so far thank you so much!
I do see quite a bit that both do the same here still, like switching between activities mid workout, ‘ deep health data based on a myriad of metrics ’ and ‘ myriad of different sports built in’ but even those would have slightly different implementations so I guess whichever has your specific sport is better for you.
But the topographic maps and just button use instead of screen are more reasons. So I guess it adds up and if you want these specifically and have X2 the money to spend, than sure it makes sense
@Larsson: I had an Android watch which I loved because of all the smart features. As soon as I started running regularly, I realised how inaccurate the sensors were - GPS, heart rate were both useless. I got a Garmin (245).
I run with a mate who has an apple watch 7 cellular, and he is always fixing his runs by using my activity data.
In races, no one would rely on an Apple watch, but you would definitely set up your workouts and pacing on a Garmin (with accuracy and lots of features).
I used to switch between analogue watch and Garmin , but now I just wear the Garmin as it helps with VO2 status, predicts (accurately, within a minute or two) long race times.
It doesn't let me view images from messages, or have voice to text. It's not a smart watch. But a smart watch is not a good performance watch (regardless of what the apps on it are). A fitness watch is not a good smart watch.
Two very different things even though they seem to cross over.
@Dazzman55: Thanks dazzman, went and got the forerunner 245 on your recommendation as the extra $280 pay on the 6 pro isn't worth it for what I would be using it for which would be almost entirely for tracking health metrics and workouts etc!
Cheers broski
@Marto101: I have the 245 and really like it. Personally I only do shorter ultras so for me it was worth it (plus I got it really cheap). I used to have the 235, vivoactive (original) and 610. The 245 is amazing.
@em: Sick as! Someone above was saying about HRV coming soon, do you know if this will be included in the 245 as well? And yeah I don't do ultras or anything, just some 10-15km runs, 50km bike rides and then workouts! Mainly want it for the data analytics of health and sleep tracking!
@Dazzman55: Thanks mate I got the watch and on my way to becoming an athlete
How do I know when I have levelled up to athlete status?
Is there an ozb badge or discount?
DC rainmaker does obsessively long reviews of these devices, including apple watch. You can see for yourself if the feature set justifies the price. And if not, if the device itself is significantly more fit for purpose as a sports device than an apple watch, even if the price premium may not be justified.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/08/garmin-fenix6-pro-solar-…
Everyone else has talked about the fitness aspects, but it’s also got a really good offline golf app (free) with 41k courses, which you’d need to pay for on the Apple Watch (likely a subscription these days).
Would the Garmin instinct at $229 minus cash back be good value?
seems pretty good tbh as long as the instinct is right for you. good price
I just did the City2Surf with one of these. It's heaps mad! I bought it for the battery life and navigation for multi day hikes.
These are perfect. When you actually make the time to exercise being disconnected from a phone (I.e. Apple Watch is a no brainer). Plus an Apple Watch really is only going to function to its fullest if you are on a major telco with an eSim. A true OzBargainer would be with Boost ;-)
So what cashback did people get Tracked
20% or 10%
Wouldn’t it be electronics though so obligated 10%?