Fitness watches and the like.

That's bad lol.

So this thing has be on me for 48hrs only coming off to shower. I've been using it a lot including the hr monitor which I have on all the time. It's now at 68% battery life after syncing my sleep data to my phone when I connected them this morning. Not bad in my book so far. My girl was at 40% last night with her Apple Watch after taking it off the charger yesterday morning at 7:30.

 

Now that is impressive. The Fenix has been connected to Bluetooth the entire time but doesn't really eat up battery unless it's using the GPS during an exercise/activity. When you leave it on "smart gps" it takes a reading every few seconds and lasts a decent amount (from what I'm reading). The other setting is once every second and then you're under a day. My buddy just did a 24hr endurance obstacle race in Vegas and his didn't last the entire time because he had everything going at once. If you don't NEED the gps on they claim it'll give you 2-3 weeks. If I turn the HRM off it'll help too I'm sure. I like that it gives me notifications from my phone though, makes it easier when I'm sitting with the in-laws when I don't keep having to check it every time it goes off.

 

Both were on sale for the same price. My concern with the HR sensor was possibly damaging it. While not likely, I do have a tendency to break thing in the weirdest way.

Swimming is a life goal. I just haven't had a reason to. lol

 

I'll be honest... I don't either.

Damn that's good. Although charging it weekly doesn't seem so bad- I always take off my watch before bedtime anyway. It would be a good time to charge it while I catch some zzz's.

 

That's great, so your essentially using all of the features over the course of 48hrs and it only dropped to 68%? I think the manual says up to 20hrs.

 

I haven't used the GLONASS or the constant GPS. Mine is on every 3 seconds so it's more of a breadcrumb trail than a line on the map. At 60% now. I was thinking today.. I'm going to see how much it will charge in the time I'm in the shower so everyday (or 2 or 3 depending on battery level) when I shower I can charge it a little bit and can wear it while I sleep and all that.

 

That's a good idea. I plan to treat it like my phone, use it- and charge it up or top it off while i sleep. What I wonder, is if there are any ill effects of leaving it plugged in while I sleep. Some companies say it's best to unplug your phone, battery, whatever within an hour of completion.

 

Went from a Gshock mudman to an Apple Watch gen 1, now you have got me contemplating the Fenix 3.

A refurb metal band refurb model is going for $329 on eBay. I'm tempted.

 

Yea not good to overcharge it

 

My wife has the Apple and is an absolute turd compared to this one.

 

lol cold as ice man...

 

It's true! Haha. If anyone is even considering getting one of these don't hesitate! She likes hers because she can send texts back and all but if this had that feature I think she'd buy one for herself.

 

I don't think I'd want to text with mines. With what this thing already does, I'm not looking to replace my phone.

What I would like to see though, is more on board memory, esepecially now that we are in an age where 256gb micro sd cars exist. And the ability to safely operate the buttons underwater like G-Shocks. It's odd to have a watch marketed as good for swim tracking, but it can't be operated in water. Granted most watches are like this- it's a feature I'd like to see. Even though I can't swim. I'm a demanding sob. lol

This might be a strange question, but how well does yours keep time so far? I wonder if it syncs up with gps, similar to my atomic solar watches. I've had some standard digital watches in the past, that would gain or lose a few seconds a day. Then atomic watches came out, and I got spoiled with atomic time keeping.

 

It uses satellite or something I think. It told me when I was doing the setup. It lets you do it automatically or manually if I recall correctly. So I can't press the buttons while it's wet?

 

oh cool, I like that.

Yes, manual states not to operate buttons under water, as is the case with most watches out there unless diving specific. Only the G-Shocks I've owned were okay (from the manual) to operate under water. While Garmin says NOT to do, I've read of several people doing it, a video, and a review. Either they were all lucky, or Garmin is being safe on their end, as many companies would want to be.

The reason I bring it up, is because it's often overlooked. I've ruined two watches in the past. One was a Freestyle watch rated for 200M- I was attempting to learn how to swim and time myself. Both of which ended in failure- I almost drowned that day lol. Haven't been in a pool since. Second time was with a Indigilo(?) Timex, I was pushing buttons while playing in the rain- it was rated for 10M. Both watches became foggy, the Freestyle one actually had water inside it behind the lens.

You can press it while it's wet, just not under water from what I'm gathering. Not sure how much difference there is (although I'm sure there is) between pushing buttons on a watch that's been submerged but no longer under water, and one that's still under water. The situation with the Timex in rain could have been a freak accident, but it still happened. Maybe I just have bad luck with timepieces. Had one of my analog watches fog up in the shower once, luckily that one was okay after I left it alone for a few days. One of my more expensive ones.

 

So I've had it on since Monday morning (except for showers. Still loving this watch. I'm starting to realize I don't NEED the HRM running all the time and I'd rather have a NATO or Zulu strap for it so I'm going to be ordering one for it after the holiday. This rubber strap is plenty comfortable but I always get contact dermatitis after wearing any rubber/steel watch band for a while and the nylon is more comfortable for me.


Used the HRM the entire time along with the step tracker and daily calories and other day to day stats, did a few updates and setup included me playing with it and customizing it for hours on end, the biking app was running with smart GPS tracking my ride and HR for 2-2.5 hours yesterday, and today I used it to track back my steps in the woods for about an hour. It's at 19% and I know it'll go until tomorrow night and probably until the end of Christmas because I won't be using the GPS but I may not be home for the weekend so I'm gonna call it a week on the battery for an average charge and charge it tonight.

 

@Mudman @Jeff Randall you guys should check out Panatime.com. I just ordered a new NATO strap from them. They came highly recommended and are supposedly top notch. Got plenty of colors and sizes available. I got the 26mm black 5 ring.

 

So is there any reason someone should buy this, who has zero interest in exercise, working out, or living a healthier lifestyle in general? They sound like they have many features, I just need to know if any of the features apply to me.