Related
Options

Why I have stopped wearing my Garmin.. (interesting story)

7828711
over 4 years ago

So, I am not entirely sure why I am even writing this post.. but, I thought it was interesting and wanted to share my little story.  The point of this is not to encourage others to do the same as I did, nor is it to say the Garmin watch (or any smart watch) is not a good idea.  I think they are all great, to a point.  So, let me explain and lets see if anyone can relate with where I am coming from..

A year and a half ago I got out of bed and said “Enough with this crappy body, and lifestyle”.  I was 37, 5’10 and around 176lbs.  Most evenings after dinner it looked like I ate a basketball, or was about to give birth.  Neither of which I was fond of.   I needed to make a change.  I have a 6yr old boy.. and a wife and I would love to see his wedding one day.   Okay, so a change was needed and I know A LOT of people are / were in a boat just like this at one point in their life.

So I did.

Starting with diet.. I cut out all the crap, and started to eat the right things.  I was careful not to “go on a diet” as this never works, and causes “yo-yo”.. I just sat down and thought about the food I liked, and did not like and figured out a meal plan of things that were healthy etc.  Hard at first..  but, I type all this now 18-months later.. and I am still doing great Wink

Now, I decided I wanted a “Fit-Bit”.  I told myself.. I needed something to help motivate me to keep going and to “see” the progress I was making.  At the time, it was perfect.. and cheap.  So, I got one.  It was great!  ….. for 3 months until it stopped working.  Some more google, and I learned they are all crap and that Garmin was the winner.   Off I went.. this time $350 in, and got the FR245M.  WOW.  LOVE at first wear.  The eco system, the app, everything.  Truly loved this and it did *exactly* that.. it motivated me to work harder, and I loved tracking everything.  Very cool.  

I will mention now.. that before any “smart watch” my Omega Seamaster (wedding gift) was glued to my wrist all the time.  For good reason too, this is an amazing watch and honestly the most important “thing” that I will ever own.  One day my son will have it. Etc..  But, now since getting the Garmin.. it just sat, all the time, un-used.  (more on this later).

Now, the next step was gym / and some physical activity.  The gym was scary AF but I had one in my apartment building that no one used.. and the hot girl was only there at night.. so I could be sure to avoid seeing her until I was ready.  LMAO.  Off I went each day (in the morning) to do my little routine.. and then after I would go for a run (well, what I would call a “run”. More of running for a min, than walking and wondering how I’m not dead yet. 

Day after day.. week after week.. 

90-days later.. I lost 30 pounds. 

4 months in, I hit the goal of 40lbs..  and I looked 10 years younger, and had the start of a much better looking body with a “flat-ish” mid section.

So, now.. things have been going great.  I kinda hit a “ceiling” with progression (normal).. but, am happy where I am and what I now look like.  This past Feb (before all this Covid mess) I decided to upgrade to the Fenix 6s.  I figured if I am wearing this thing all the time now.. I might as well have the “nice” one.  Better bands too.  So, I did and.. love that too.  Really think its an amazing watch for what it does.

 Then.. one day about a month ago..  I decided to wear my “real” watch.  I put on my Omega..  and was SHOCKED at how exciting that was.  WOW!  Felt brand new all over again, LOL.   And…. I have not taken it off since (except for workouts).

Here is what I have concluded..  and what I would have done differently.

In the beginning.. the Garmin was what I needed.  I needed that “new” shiny “thing” to help motivate me to keep going, day after day.  Getting in bed at night, and looking at “wow, I did 9,000 steps and burned 2800cal today!”  CooL!  Was really great.  I remember too, at one point I was like..  “why would people ever buy a normal watch now?”  lol..   But, as time goes on.. and you get used to your workouts, you start to care a little less about “how many steps” you take.. or how many cal. Your burning today.  Now, what I want to see.. is how much my bicep has grown (or not). Lol.  Ya know?   

So, it hit me.. all at once.. that while there is a SUPER good reason to buy a watch like this (any of them really) it does not need to be, nor should be your only watch (unless of course you want it to be).  If you are a runner.. then, yes.. this is EXCELLENT!  When I run, I have this watch on and I love it.   When I bike tho.. I use the dedicated EDGE 530.. no need for the watch at all, and no weird tan lines either.   When I workout, I really stopped using it.  I don’t care how many cal, etc.. anymore.  It makes no difference.  What I need is an interval timer for HITT or just to replace “reps”.  And any $60 Casio can do this.  (granted I wear the Garmin, but ironically don’t even bother recording the workout.. just use it as a timer).  This is because I don’t “track” workouts.. whats the point?  I track things now based on how I feel, and common sense.

So, the other 99% of my day.. when I am not working out, or running, or biking.. 

I wear my Omega! 

Yeah, so..  I wish I never spent all that money on the 6s and all the bands etc.. when the FR 245 was all I needed.  I need the watch for running, and for timing during workouts.   That’s about it.  I may even sell it!  LOL.  I just don’t see a need for it anymore.  I no longer need that “motivation”,  I no longer care about steps, or calories, I am no longer trying to loose weight, I don’t have any heart condition (and I already see the HR on run days, and bike days anyway.. no need for 24/7).. so, honestly.. I think the lust is over with this.  It also occurred to me.. that a watch like this.. gets updated every few years, decreasing in value.   My Omega.. never.  Increases in value each year.  Yeah, it just (for me) makes no sense.. and I never thought I would say that!  I think I look at it now like, the Garmin is very much a “tool” to get the job done..  and my Omega (or any other regular watch) is something more “special” that makes more of a personalized statement etc.  While, wearing a Garmin all the time is fine for some (and was for me for a long time) I can now see there are two very different sides to this.  For fun, try wearing a non “smart watch” that is nice, for a few days.. and see how you feel.  Maybe you will come to realize what you thought you needed, you..  don’t!

That’s my story.  Hopefully it was worth reading.  There is no wrong answer here.  If you love the Garmin / any smart watch… your right (and I love them too!)  If you have gone through what I have and came to the same conclusion.. then, I you are not alone Blush

 

Thanks guys!

 

T

  • +1 over 4 years ago in reply to Ɛpsilon

    I saw this data field earlier. I don't know if I'd use it. As I understand it relies on accurate distance to each aid station, but that is hard to achieve on densely wooded mountainous trails where I run most of ultras. 6X tends to be 5-10% short on local trails. Some of that can fixed later by correcting the distance in Strava, but using something like this field would cause frustration during a race I suspect. 

    I'd rather experiment with course points and encoding splits in course point names.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to silentvoyager

    For me anyway, it's worked reasonably fine. Like you, I do trails. But over the longer distances the accuracy seems fine and to be honest since most ultra's just say something like CP1 at 6 miles, it's been enough for me to be aware that I can soon satiate my `jaffa Cake fix.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Ɛpsilon

    If you have grid ref's/ Lat/long for CP's what I've done is plot the route or get the downloaded route - shove it in Basecamp and in basecamp plot as separate waypoints each CP.

    I then have a folder on Basecamp with the GPX route, the six/seven/whatever separate waypoints and transfer them all to the watch. I then set up navigation alerts for each waypoint to warn me when I'm around 1Km away

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Ɛpsilon

    So the basecamp folder looks like this : 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Ɛpsilon

    Ok replying to myself but I didn't realise this

    Apparently with plotted routes in Basecamp you can create extra waypoints and then name them, rather than separate points as above they're included in the file. I'm going to plot myself a route for tomorrow, encode internally to it some 'aid stations' and see if they appear in the TBT

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to silentvoyager

    SV

    This may not be an optimal solution, but I think I have a solution


    If you create a route on PlotARoue, or import one - you can add named waypoints, add notes and symbols to them. I just tested this with a simple example, downloaded the FIT file and copied it manually to my watch,

    Now at 2AM I don't fancy doing the 21K :) but on loading the route into a run activity, the waypoint does appear with a little symbol and the text I allotted to it when I scrolled the map to this position. I don't know if it'll appear in the TBT, but people have said this method works well.

    Admittedly it's not ideal as it requires some manual copying, but I think for now it's a way around it

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to rhdevries

    Yes, I am currently at about 143 - 145 depending on the day.  I did dip into around 138lbs after a 100-mile bike ride I did in Oct.  So, it does bounce a little.. At the high tho.. it was around 176 - 179 depending on the meal, lol.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Sounds like your on the right track to make yourself better and more fit.  You probably didn't need any fitness/sports watch to do so.  As you stated, many purchase the F6 and find it to be overkill.  Others do so because they want the ability to track everything and improve on what they've already done.  Good for you.  I'm glad you're reaching your goals. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I can see your point of view, different people have different desires for their watches. I'm sort of a tech nerd, so I love that my Fenix does so much different stuff (besides just the fitness tracking). One of my favorite non-fitness features is the phone notifications. According to Murphy's Law, my phone ALWAYS gets a text or call when I can't immediately reach for my phone, like when I'm washing my hands or carrying groceries. It's extremely nice to be able to just glance at my wrist to see who it is and if it seems important, without having to quickly dry my hands or drop my groceries to dig my phone out of my pocket.

    Also, my phone is on silent 100% of the time, and I often don't feel it vibrating in my pocket, but I always feel my watch vibrate.

    Beyond notifications, I like the other smartwatch features, like the weather widget, sunrise/set times, ABC, and Tempe temperature readings.

    Honestly I would keep wearing my Fenix even if I became a couch potato and never had any intention of recording activities. I might have been better off with an AW or something if I only wanted smartwatch features, though.

    I can definitely understand wearing a high-end watch like an Omega sometimes, but I honestly don't envision I'll ever wear anything besides a Garmin 99% of the time, I just really really like having all that tech on my wrist 24/7. But I fully admit that I'm unusual in that regard, most people don't care that much about having all that tech on their wrist all day.

    Also, I frequently do impromptu/unplanned activities, and it's very convenient to already have my navigation/tracking device on my wrist already when I do. I honestly don't care that much about the fitness metrics this watch provides, I care a LOT more about the GPS/navigation functions. My phone could work in a pinch, of course, but I like the Fenix a lot better than my phone.