I have been searching for a good fitness tracker because I play football regularly and want to better monitor my daily activity, workouts, and recovery. I’m active on the field, I’m looking for a tracker that is accurate and comfortable to wear during sports. It should be easy to use, suitable for everyday wear, and ideally stylish as well.
I’ve seen a few models on the market, but I’m still deciding which one would be the best fit for my needs and have good reviews. I’d really appreciate any suggestions or personal experiences from people who have used fitness trackers while playing football or doing other sports.
Garmin vivoactive 5, Health and Fitness GPS Smartwatch
It is monochrome but its sturdy and gives great feedback for the price. It syncs fast with Garmin Fitness Connect and Myfitnesspal.
It has a moderately steep learning curve (no manual - all instructions online) but its elegance is in its reliability. There are some great YT videos on how to manipulate it. For less than $500 I love it.
Note, I don’t run much, mostly gym stuff and walking (about 17,000 steps a days.)
If you want to spend more and want some navigation features the Fenix is crazy good. You’re looking at around a grand to get all the bells and whistles.
I’m a Garmin fan so consider that in the consult. The flashlight is put to use daily. A remarkably useful feature. I think someone else on here uses the same. Maybe “Mariner” if I recall.
From the (limited, years-old) independent research I’ve read on this, Garmin tends to be the best at tracking things that I’d categorize as “sports performance” like distance traveled, while Fitbit is the best at tracking stuff that I’d describe as your “fitness level;” heart rate, calorie burn, etc. this was like 7 years ago, though, so I don’t know if there’s more accurate information for more recent models.
It’s probably worth noting that nobody does a particularly great job on calorie burn; even used optimally, there’s a large error rate there.
It has become essential. I can never have another fitness/navigation watch without it. I literally use it twenty times a day. I wear the watch when I sleep so if I get up at night there’s no tripping over the dog or hitting my knee on the bed edge. And innumerable other examples. I was under my car looking at an oil cooling gasket leak this morning. No need for a headlight.
Freakin Instinct Solar rocks!
I would give a caveat on the solar charging. To get serious charge you have to deactivate nonessential functions. But a minor inconvenience if you were way out in the bush trying to track back home.
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been thinking about getting the **Garmin Vivoactive 5 for a while great to hear your experience with the Garmin Instinct Solar has been positive and that it’s reliable.
I mostly do walking and gym workouts too, so it sounds like the Vivoactive 5 could be a good fit for me as well.
I haven’t owned that but I’m in Garmin groups on IG and Facebook and the VA has a good following. Especially with women because of its weight. I think you can swap out bands on it too.