Stopwatch woes - alternatives?

I have two problems with the native stopwatch app, the first one might be PEBKAC but I think I'm stuck with the second.

1. I often use the stopwatch app at the gym to time my rests between sets, intervals, etc. I do this while running the "Gym" Activity in the background. For the life of me I can't figure out how to get back to my data screens on my "Gym" activity if the stopwatch app is currently running (the timer is going). I'd like to see metrics like my heartrate, etc. But as long as the stopwatch app is running there seems to be no way to get back to the activity data screens - i.e. I have to kill the stopwatch first.

2. Anyway to skip the "Save as an activity" when hitting "Done" on a stopwatch? This extra step is annoying at times, as I rarely want to save a stopwatch as an activity if I'm already recording an activity. It would be cool if you could disable this per activity, as I'm sure there are activities like Running where it could be useful, but it isn't for my Gym case.

Is there a better stopwatch that works well with currently running activities than the Garmin stopwatch app? Thanks.
(is there a data screen that is a stopwatch that's interactive? stop/start/splits? That would be ideal)

0 AllanOlesen67 over 6 years ago

For your question #1:
On the F3, you could in any app or menu long press the Down button. That would bring you to the normal watch screen. Then press Start to revert to your activity.
On the F5X+, the long press Down hotkey has been changed to start a music player. I have configured it back to the original F3 behaviour. This also works in stopwatch.

And then a general comment:
Why don't you just add a lap timer data field to a custom data screen in your activity? And then start a new lap every time you take a rest. That is what I do when I do strength training with rests between sets.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Use the "Strength" app for training in the Gym. Press the top right to start the activity and then it'll count your reps (somewhat correctly). Press the bottom right to indicate you have finished that set and you'll then have the option to edit the set (reps & Kg's). Whilst this is happening, a timer starts indicating your rest period as well as HR. Press bottom right button again to start the next set etc, etc. Press the top right to end the activity. Once saved into Garmin connect, you can then go in to the activity and it should show a "guesstimate" as to what lifts you were doing - which can be edited if incorrect.