Fitness Watch/Tracker

[Erik A]

For those tracking sleep how accurate do you think your watch is??

As both my (huawei) and partners (garmin) fitness bands cannot differentiate between sleeping and lying awake motionless, I find it difficult to have faith in the accuracy of the band differentiating between light sleep, REM sleep and deep sleep if it cannot discern when I am awake.

Like most everyone else on here seems to find, HR monitor is useless on both devices for rowing, and even cycling where you'd think it would have a fighting chance with limited wrist movement. Resting HR seems to monitor OK tho.

i also have a Huawei watch and while it is pretty good with most things i sometimes wonder when i wake up in the night and according to my watch i didnt. so either i was dreaming i woke up or i was so still that it didnt register. mind you i do tend to be a very still sleeper. when my wife goes away for whatever reason i dont need to make my bed the whole time as its like i didnt move all night. it also annoys my wife no end that she takes ages to get to sleep and i walk in lay down and asleep in less than a couple of minutes. she may be lying there and start talking and then it clicks that im asleep and she gets annoyed and wakes me up to complain lol

[JaapvanE]

i also have a Huawei watch and while it is pretty good with most things i sometimes wonder when i wake up in the night and according to my watch i didnt.

One of the big issues I had when I had a Huawei watch was the lack of integration. I love it when I row and I get decent metrics on my Garmin app (as well as C2's). Never got that to work with Huawei. Did they fix that?

[Jrummel83]

Hello all, first time poster, long time…reader/browser.

As a previous Fitbit owner and a current garmin watch owner(VivoActive 4, I’d recommend the Garmin HANDS DOWN over Fitbit.

- HR Chest straps can vary, some being dual connection some singular. I have a garmin hrm dual which allows me to connect to the PM5 seemlessly and my watch. The only reason for this is I like to track my workouts and activity time through Garmin and in order to do that, the heart rate zone must be recorded by a garmin device…one the row session is over, I discard it without saving it. The logbook sends the workout data to garmin automatically with heart rate data too.

- As far as sleep tracking, it seems pretty accurate, but I do know that if you are sitting still for too long, let’s say watching a movie before bed, your stillness can register as being asleep…especially if your heart rate is in the lower range.

- Battery life is about 7-10 days even if I’m rowing for 30min-1hr per day.

- There a bunch of different models of watches, but if you like data, they all have it and the app is free. If you want MORE data, for instance VO2 Max for multiple sports, I’d recommend the fenix. BUT, it’s pricey. The VivoActive and Venu are mid range and there is another entry level model that I can’t recall the name of. The VivoActive is more geared towards folks who lead an active lifestyle and don’t focus on just one type of activity or sport. (Rowing, cycling, running, walking, hiking, mountain biking, strength training, and yoga etc.)

If I didn’t cover something that was mentioned, I’m happy to answer more questions about Garmin products. No, I don’t work for them or get any perks for you buying one, other than the satisfaction of someone else using a great watch. I can send a few quick snapshot of my most recent rowing session from today so you can see the data recorded by the PM5 and sent to Garmin connect. I tried to attach them here but the attachment quota has already been reached…apparently.

[winniewinser]

I went from Fitbit to Garmin 245 and would never go back. Does everything I need and I can connect the H10 to it for accurate row session stats. Battery life was a revelation after the Fitbit.

I've just upgraded to the Garmin 255 today

What is your sequence you use for connecting your H10 to your Garmin watch? Bluetooth to the watch? Ant+ to your PM5? Does it seem to matter which one connects first?

I tend to get Garmin connected first but rarely have the H10 connected to the PM5 as I find HR a distracting metric especially on harder sessions. As I start to do more HR based sessions it's likely to get paired again though.

[Joebasscat]

For those tracking sleep how accurate do you think your watch is??

As both my (huawei) and partners (garmin) fitness bands cannot differentiate between sleeping and lying awake motionless, I find it difficult to have faith in the accuracy of the band differentiating between light sleep, REM sleep and deep sleep if it cannot discern when I am awake.

Like most everyone else on here seems to find, HR monitor is useless on both devices for rowing, and even cycling where you'd think it would have a fighting chance with limited wrist movement. Resting HR seems to monitor OK tho.

i also have a Huawei watch and while it is pretty good with most things i sometimes wonder when i wake up in the night and according to my watch i didnt. so either i was dreaming i woke up or i was so still that it didnt register. mind you i do tend to be a very still sleeper. when my wife goes away for whatever reason i dont need to make my bed the whole time as its like i didnt move all night. it also annoys my wife no end that she takes ages to get to sleep and i walk in lay down and asleep in less than a couple of minutes. she may be lying there and start talking and then it clicks that im asleep and she gets annoyed and wakes me up to complain lol

Now that is verboten in our house!

[CharlieW]

I use ANT+ to connect my Polar H10 to both the PM5 and my Garmin 245. Works great. The Garmin will automatically grab the H10 if you are wearing it when you start an activity. You don’t have to pair it to the 245 each time. I do, however, have to pair it to the PM5 each time.

Once your workout is in Garmin connect you can analyze it with a bunch of third-party apps.

[Jrummel83]

I use ANT+ to connect my Polar H10 to both the PM5 and my Garmin 245. Works great. The Garmin will automatically grab the H10 if you are wearing it when you start an activity. You don’t have to pair it to the 245 each time. I do, however, have to pair it to the PM5 each time.

Once your workout is in Garmin connect you can analyze it with a bunch of third-party apps.

When you connect the HRM to your PM5, it doesn’t offer you the option to “Remember monitor”? I only ask because mine does, but I also have a USB stick in the back, in case whatever app I use doesn’t sync properly.

[Erik A]

i also have a Huawei watch and while it is pretty good with most things i sometimes wonder when i wake up in the night and according to my watch i didnt.

One of the big issues I had when I had a Huawei watch was the lack of integration. I love it when I row and I get decent metrics on my Garmin app (as well as C2's). Never got that to work with Huawei. Did they fix that?

have never really looked at it for rowing. i use the watch in conjunction with my Huawei phone and the health program predominately for walking which it seems to be great for. lots of info every km total time/ time per km/total distance walked and heartrate. very handy when im doing long walks with a goal pace etc.
for Rowing i just use the garmin HRM HR monitor and the PM5 infometrics. along with ergdata.

[Citroen]

When you connect the HRM to your PM5, it doesn’t offer you the option to “Remember monitor”? I only ask because mine does, but I also have a USB stick in the back, in case whatever app I use doesn’t sync properly.

That's a feature of the USB stick.

[nick rockliff]

When you connect the HRM to your PM5, it doesn’t offer you the option to “Remember monitor”? I only ask because mine does, but I also have a USB stick in the back, in case whatever app I use doesn’t sync properly.

That's a feature of the USB stick.

My PM5 remembers the HR monitor and I don't use a USB stick

[Joebasscat]

When you connect the HRM to your PM5, it doesn’t offer you the option to “Remember monitor”? I only ask because mine does, but I also have a USB stick in the back, in case whatever app I use doesn’t sync properly.

That's a feature of the USB stick.

My PM5 remembers the HR monitor and I don't use a USB stick

Same here. I removed my USB stick when the ErgData update came out, per C2. It remembers the belt but I prefer to just connect it manually and not watch waiting for it to pick up.

[Tsnor]

When you connect the HRM to your PM5, it doesn’t offer you the option to “Remember monitor”? I only ask because mine does, but I also have a USB stick in the back, in case whatever app I use doesn’t sync properly.

That's a feature of the USB stick.

My PM5 remembers the HR monitor and I don't use a USB stick

ERGDATA remembers the HRM. PM5 does not.

If you do not have ERGDATA connected to your PM5 then the PM5 does not connect to your HRM. Ergdata tells the PM5 to connect to the HRM.

This is why you need to connect Ergdata first if you want to get your belt automatically connected.

[Jrummel83]

That's a feature of the USB stick.

My PM5 remembers the HR monitor and I don't use a USB stick

ERGDATA remembers the HRM. PM5 does not.

If you do not have ERGDATA connected to your PM5 then the PM5 does not connect to your HRM. Ergdata tells the PM5 to connect to the HRM.

This is why you need to connect Ergdata first if you want to get your belt automatically connected.

That makes sense considering I don’t strictly use ErgData. I have…a few different apps I rotate between to be able to vary my workouts. I’ll probably stick with the usb until I either stop being lazy or can trust that all row efforts get moved to logbook without issue.

As far as the HRM->PM5->garmin watch-> garmin connect go…I like to see my activity minutes in garmin connect, so I connect the HRM TO PM5 and just before rowing I start and indoor row activity on the watch(which connects to the HRM automatically. After row session is complete, Press the PM5 menu button, then stop watch activity and discard. It registers the heart rate zones with daily activity and C2 logbook sync’s the rowing activity(usually).

Pre-Setup: 20-30sec
Post: 5sec

If anyone is interested in connecting on Garmin, let me know. I’d rather having friends that row rather than cross country runners and cyclist who don’t know the painful joy of rowing.

[rOw]

The VivoActive and Venu are mid range and there is another entry level model that I can’t recall the name of.

The Venu Sq, I think
By the way, the Sq 2 just came out.

Concerning fitness tracking, I use ErgData to track my workouts, but I also wear my Garmin 955 and record a "row" activity. I just delete it afterwards in Garmin Connect, so the watch still keeps the session in its algorithms (body battery, recovery time... I use it for all my training and health data and wear it 24/7).
I use a Polar OH1 for HR tracking, both connected with the PM5/ErgData and with the watch.

[Joebasscat]

That's a feature of the USB stick.

My PM5 remembers the HR monitor and I don't use a USB stick

ERGDATA remembers the HRM. PM5 does not.

If you do not have ERGDATA connected to your PM5 then the PM5 does not connect to your HRM. Ergdata tells the PM5 to connect to the HRM.

This is why you need to connect Ergdata first if you want to get your belt automatically connected.

Thanks for that clarification Tsnor. I have used ErgData to auto connect some, but the success seems spotty. Maybe when updates come through or something, not sure. Eventually it just seemed easier to connect manually. That is since the 2.0 update. Prior it connected auto without fail. Maybe I’m just impatient.