What is Pro about Epix?

Troll!

Garmin Pay depends on your bank card. As an alternative you can use Curve.

ECG has never been advertised for Europe.

Steps are counted for all kind of stuff, but in the grand scheme of things it is neglectable. If you sit the whole day in a car you will notice. By the way: this is true for all watches that count steps.

Software is laggy & buggy is such a blanket statement, that it makes no sense at all.

Navigating on the map screen is no problem whatsoever, have used it hundreds of times over the last months.

WHR is by design not a reliable tool. It works fine for everday monitoring, for activities an external HR monitor is recommended. And again this is true for every device that offers WHR.

Just my 2cents on your rant.

schmjoe said:

Garmin Pay depends on your bank card. As an alternative you can use Curve

I don't see Turkey in the list. No, i don't want to deal with 3rd party solutions.

schmjoe said:

Software is laggy & buggy is such a blanket statement, that it makes no sense at all.

I shouldn’t have to provide proof for all my complaints here with a screenshot or a video. Please don’t treat everyone writing in this forum like trolls. You don’t have to defend the brand blindly in every situation and give generic replies like a fan of a football team. You could try being a bit more honest and original.

If i say laggy, it's really laggy. I've been using these devices for nearly a decade and thanks God i have the intelligence and experience to determine whether the software is problematic or not.

schmjoe said:

Navigating on the map screen is no problem whatsoever, have used it hundreds of times over the last months.

Oh, really ? Check between 1:10 and 1:45 then, you'll understand what i mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1EC1WifLa8

And this is how it is supposed to be, especially ''For a 1000+ USD watch !''
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dini2ebj1aE

schmjoe said:

WHR is by design not a reliable tool. It works fine for everday monitoring, for activities an external HR monitor is recommended. And again this is true for every device that offers WHR.

This comment is completely off. Please read first and then think twice before writing. Have a look at what i said,

Ryu said:

When doing some routine stuff, the HR sensor just sleeps. For example, when carrying 19 kg bottled waters in both hands from my car to my floor, it shows my HR as 70. Do i need to wear a chest strap all day long ? Even for daily routines ?

This isn't an activity, it's a part of a daily routine in the life. Then your solution is ''Wear a chest strap 7/24'' ? 

A) I will take my toolbox to the upfloor.

B) Wear your chest strap !

A) I'll take the dogs for a walk.

B) Don't forget to wear the chest strap !

A) We're moving our house. I'll grab some stuff and help them to carry.

B) Chest strap ! (Which activity to start for carrying the house ? Hmm.. Ok, cardio is good.Or may be create a new activity as ''Moving'' ?)

What do you mean for everyday monitoring ? Sitting at home and watching tv ? Walking in slow motion ? What ?

schmjoe said:

And again this is true for every device that offers WHR.

No sir, i'm sorry but no. It means that you haven't experienced a device other than Garmin and you're not aware of the capabilities of Apple's or Huawei's WHR. 

A chest strap is only used for specific types of activites, such as HIIT or weight lifting, not for every type of activity. For steady-state activities, the WHR is supposed to provide accurate results, such as running and indoor cycling.

WHR is quite a reliable tool if you choose the right brand !

I want to add more:

99% of the watchfaces downloaded from Connect IQ are laggy, even the ones created by Garmin itself. Just download a watchface made by Garmin and try to use the flashlight.

Why are you still using Garmin watches, then?

Btw, OHR is fine for me, even for running workouts (compared to a Polar H9 on another watch). I just wear a strap for intensity sessions to avoid any mistake.

Garmin Pay is a bank problem, not a Garmin one.

ECG is useless for 99% of the population wearing a Garmin.

If you want good OHR sensor, a payment solution and an ECG, buy an Apple Watch or any Chinese watch.

My friend, there is a lot to cover :-)

Garmin Pay: ask your bank to allow for Garmin Pay to be used. This is nothing that Garmin (or any other company) can influence. When I started to use my Epix Garmin Pay wasn't available. Only end of last year my bank opened it up. If it is important for you to use Garmin Pay, there are options. That is all I'm trying to say.

Your Navigation youtube video is for a Fenix 8. I don't own a Fenix 8. On my Epix it works fine. I'm using it frequently and have never had any issues with response times. Maybe we have different use cases.

WHR everyday monitoring: outside of activites your watch uses a low power mode, because what do you want to measure? A general average of your heart rate throughout the day. Longer periods of extended heart elevation are measured via this method e.g. when I'm on my bike for grocery shopping I'm not starting an activity, but I can clearly see that my heart rate went up as I was on the bike for several minutes. Elevation that happens only for a few seconds aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. Basically you get a great battery life and sacrifice it with a little bit less accuracy. Even if it is the most accurate it can be it won't give you anyhting beyond what you get today. So no, 24/7 chest strap is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is: reliable heart rate measurement in activities require a chest strap. Everyday readings are good enough as they are.

Laggy can mean different things for different people. I had the comparison between an Apple Ultra (first edition) and my Epix and wasn't convinced by the Apple offering. I have an iPhone, iPad and a Macbook. Yes, I wanted to like the Ultra, but after putting it on a charger for the fifth time in a week not to speak of all the extra apps/complications I had to install to get the marathion training going ... I gave it back.

If you have found a better watch for your use case ... where is the problem?

I'm not attached to a brand, only a use case. For this use case the Epix works fine at the moment. Your use case might require a different device. Go for it!

Replying to this message as it sums my experience too.

I'm using the optical sensor for all base and recovery runs and gym sessions and i don't have issues with it. Same when i'm outside of activities. Yes, there is some lag but that's true with majority of watches.Yes, sometimes it's not perfect during certain exercises but, again, it's the same with majority of watches.

Looks like op is not compatible with Garmin's algorithm and that's fine...it can happen and it's better to find another brand.

8015067 said:

Why are you still using Garmin watches, then?

Can I make my own decision on which one to use, if you let me, please? Perhaps Garmin cares about my feedback and will use it to improve the sensor?

8015067 said:

even for running workouts

Running workouts are a piece of cake, even for bands sold for 20 bucks such as the Mi Band. It's a steady-state activity.

8015067 said:

ECG is useless for 99% of the population wearing a Garmin.

But the science disagrees with you,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10757793/

So you approve that the OHR sensor on Epix is not good ?

The ECG sensor can be activated, there are manuals which can be found on the net.

It's not too complicated, I did that myself and it takes about 15- 20min. Only thing you have to do is to fake gps and set your position and account to US.

For OHR sensor I totally agree with you. I had a Miband 2 and the optical HR sensor was better when not in training. And during training the Epix Pro OHR often fails 10 to 20min to detect the real HR, measures 130 while HR is already 150-160 (that was also better, also with my old galaxy watch 4).

I still had an old HR chest strap (garmin dual) so that's not a big deal, I use it for training now. But it sucks if one forgets the strap. 

Finally I am not sure if one can trust the training metrics if the OHR lags behind when not in training.

If you want long battery life there's mostly Coros, Suunto and Polar for sports watches. But all of them seem to have their own trade offs. If I wouldn't like to have NFC pay option and other smart functions wouldn't be important to me I think I'd be with Coros and give them a try. Or Suunto, if they'd release again a wear os watch with a decent battery life.

I'll try to keep the Epix Pro right now since I'm still in 17.28 firmware which I can right now live with the functions not working right due to software issues.

But in the future I'll keep an eye on other companies like Coros and even Samsung, Apple, etc. (Huawei is right now no option since I don't want to have my data stored by a Chinese company, and you have to pay for training metrics and coaching I think). With new solid state batteries those wear os and ios watches might also get at least a week of battery life and that would be a game changer for me as they also get better in for sports.

Finally I would never pay again such a high price for a garmin watch. I would buy a used one or a cheaper forerunner which have nearly the same functions. And if it works switch off auto-update, because it really sucks if release known beta errors into the official update. That's the strongest point why I'll try to keep away from garmin in the future!