Just been through this whole watch/GPS pre-purchase thing myself.
First will declare prejudices I'm aware of. Used Polar Accurex way back twenty plus years for triathlons and fantastic, loved them. These days I find Polar off the pace no pun intended and outdated in a range of ways I won't go into, but can't rekindle original love affair. Since have had multiple Garmins, couple of 510's, a 910XT and up until recently a 920XT. Though loved my my 920XT just now expired after nearly 3 years, Garmin itself as been less endearing for me. I include Garmin Connect, Garmin Training and Garmin Express. All at some points difficult, clunky, non-responsive ("Please connect your device" - my #&*% device has been connected and reconnected 50 @$&*# times already!!! same on my phone) .
Anyway cut to the chase here - I'm getting a Garmin 735XT having considered everything else - and note PRICE NO OBJECT. Not a wholehearted endorsement of Garmin, but presently this product meets my immediate needs best. Everyone will have their own preferences for the devices we are talking about here, favouring some elements over others, so I'm not saying my choice is the bees knees, nonetheless here are a few things to think about.
Before the alternatives though a real gripe that has come out of my current search. Garmin pre-eminent company focus is marketing - it is overwhelming consumers with product choice, corporate time and energy spent getting onto the market as many differently niched products as possible to maximise profits. To Garmin's credit they cover the marketplace effectively - their watch range automotive, sport/rec, marine, aviation, activity tracking. Of these there are 30 plus subsets. Good on them, well done. But look at Multisport watches and there are 9 subsets, of which one subset has eight watches, each of which has two or three options! Jesus wept. What is confusing is that within subsets are common watches. My 735XT either found in or I know can be used in all of these categories so I'm having to forever cross-reference. My point is I think consumers can become bewildered by the choices and forever beguiled into up-buying. "Hey, 735XT looks pretty good but hey there's a 935, whoa wait a minute a Fenix with sapphire face .." etc and up we go. There's my bitch anyway.
SurfskiEstonia, had a close look at the Garmin Epix (cannot for the life of me remember after bazillion watch views what dissuaded me about it) but regarding your gripe check your settings. Data access can be smoothed so watch doesn't record every few secs. Secondly if you have the watch on your wrist rather than footstrap there will be higher chance of recording data like this.
Going from top dollar down I lusted after all the specs of the Garmin Fenix watches - all the stuff they could do despite not needing most of it - and some of those sexy bands (apologies I hadn't clarified this earlier but I'm chasing a one-fits-all watch use all the time rather than just in the boat or on the bike, run, swim). However at this point, leave the monitor GO TO A SHOP AND PUT ONE ON. Sorry Garmin (and many other brands) but bloody hell who wants this very unattractive (yes subjective) metal brick thing to weigh your arm down. Most of these high end Garmin's are very unappealing (to me) because they are big hunks of metal, cumbersome as buggery. Going down into the "plastic" range 935XT top of range but I don't need some of this stuff. My eyes then down next to Miss Eye-Catcher to Miss Not Quite So High-Maintenance Hottie. Mmm maybe a keeper here.
But looking around the room as it were, are the likes of the Suuntos (I liked the Ultra especially because of the size because I'm long-sighted) Polar. Suunto has plenty of upsides but not enough to sway me. And then heyy Apple! Now Apple is an interesting one because the new watch Series 3 now waterproof (for our purposes) genuinely has some activity settings that are on paper close to all I need. I came really close to trying one (leaving the hottie analogy now) however AU$600 plus plan for my model of choice. The Garmin 735XT which is to be superseded in December (I'm happy with current features) is currently on special AU$400 all up.
So there's my money on the counter. But having done that I may be a mug because even though my 920XT was great it did just crap itself one day, on Save went into Garmin screen mode and despite online assistance, manual advice etc refuses to budge. Garmin doesn't repair, only offers rebate on same model, refurbished. This costs $150. By way of "repair" one could argue that I get a new watch for $150 however I'm not happy to pay $150 just to get "my" watch back. FU Garmin. Yes I'm buying another, see how we go.
Enormously ponderous response to your query SurfskiEstonia but looked at wide range of alternatives and final choice not necessarily THE watch/GPS unit to buy. Pretty obvious but each of us has his/her own preferences. Size, weight and style may be subordinate to one or two other functions. Next time around I'm likely to try the Apple all other things being equal because for what we do it really does have things to offer. "Hey Siri, I'm in the shit. Phone home now!" And hands free. Well as long as there's no unauthenticated wifi nearby
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