Advice for decent inexpensive waterproof fitness tracker watch that is good at recording steps on ellipticals?

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Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#214230 2-May-2017 20:59

G'day.

I wonder what you guys would recommend I buy for a fitness tracker that:

Accurately tracks steps - especially on ellipticals/crosstrainer machines (I spend the majority of my daily workout on one).

Is water and sweat proof (enough to survive heavy sweating, a shower, or rainstorm. I don't plan to swim or dive with it).

Can replace my decades old Casio watch on my wrist, with at least a basic time function (but I wouldn't say no to a light, stopwatch, timer, date, and dual time as my Casio provides, though with a smartphone nowadays, this is less important).

Syncs wirelessly with my iOS devices, preferably automatically.

Is inexpensive. I'd prefer to spend less than $200. Less that $100 would be great, given my modest needs. But the more it can replace my old watch it terms of functionality and classy or at least inoffensive looks, the more I'd be happy to shell out.

Thoughts? :-)

TIA,
Jamie Kahn Genet

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

mattwnz

20147 posts

Uber Geek

#1774613 2-May-2017 21:01

An second hand apple watch?

Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1774614 2-May-2017 21:03

mattwnz:
An second hand apple watch?

IIRC the first gen. wasn't waterproof, and the second gen. is still pretty pricy?

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

b0untypure1

1426 posts

Uber Geek

#1776346 5-May-2017 14:45

This might be slightly off topic sorry, but how do they accurately calculate steps on an elliptical ? I've tried a few on treadmills and elliptical but the step counts are always way out on my Samsung S6.

trig42

5810 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1776361 5-May-2017 15:04

Wife has a Fitbit Charge2. It tracks steps on an elliptical (well, it tracks something - it definitely knows shes done a workout on it without her telling it).

Not showerproof though I don't think.

There are waterproof Fitbits though.

sidefx

3711 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1776379 5-May-2017 15:25

I've been really impressed with my Withings Steel, ordered direct from Amazon US; It's great never having to charge it, it looks a LOT better than most activity trackers IMO and I never take it off (shower, swim, surf, etc with it) - it's pretty good at registering any activity, though for things like surfing I have to tell it what I was doing (it just knows I've done a "new activity" for a couple of hours then I can select surfing in the app) It seems pretty good at automatically recognising walking, running and swimming though - I suspect the movement on a cross trainer would be close enough to walking\running that it would classify it as that by default. Must admit I've not tried it on a cross trainer but can if you're interested

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Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1776480 5-May-2017 18:27

sidefx:
I've been really impressed with my Withings Steel, ordered direct from Amazon US; It's great never having to charge it, it looks a LOT better than most activity trackers IMO and I never take it off (shower, swim, surf, etc with it) - it's pretty good at registering any activity, though for things like surfing I have to tell it what I was doing (it just knows I've done a "new activity" for a couple of hours then I can select surfing in the app) It seems pretty good at automatically recognising walking, running and swimming though - I suspect the movement on a cross trainer would be close enough to walking\running that it would classify it as that by default. Must admit I've not tried it on a cross trainer but can if you're interested

I like the look and functionality too. This can and will (I've ordered from their US site - MUCH cheaper! -with shipping via NZ Post YouShop remailing) replace my ordinary and very old Casio dual time watch, as well as hopefully being all the fitness tracker I need.

I don't know why so many other smart watches and fitness tracker bands ignore any attempt at looking good for all occasions. I was attracted towards Fitbit at first, because they're the big guys in the market, but none of their products look good outside a gym, IMO.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1776498 5-May-2017 18:35

b0untypure1:
This might be slightly off topic sorry, but how do they accurately calculate steps on an elliptical ? I've tried a few on treadmills and elliptical but the step counts are always way out on my Samsung S6.

Well distance tracking on an elliptical requires input of the stride length, which is multiplied by reps. I don't know if the Withings app will allow input of elliptical stride length (now I've ordered a Withings Steel HR). But I'm going for a step goal. Not distance. So long as all my strides are counted, I'm fine. Anyway, distance is a less useful measurement IMO, unless one factors in difficulty and body measurements as well.

And obviously steps only get counted with a watch or band, if you're using an elliptical's upper swinging arms. If you're instead holding onto the handlebars, there's no movement to be recognised.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

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Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1787670 24-May-2017 17:58

The Withings software was buggy syncing to Apple Health with only the current phone's motion chip stats, and Withings US cancelled my order without telling me, probably cause I was using YouShop :-(

So the heck with them. Since the Withings Steel HR was the only decent looking watch that did most of what I want (I considered the Garnin Vivomove, but it literally takes 16 hours+ to finally get their app to write fitness data to Apple Health which isn't inspiring in terms of quality software development, and the watch is severely lacking in features), I said the hell with looks and ordered the TomTom Spark 3 Cardio GPS watch off Amazon. No more need to carry my phone in my running shorts shallow pockets :-)

I might still buy a cheap Casio to replace my old dead good looking watch, as well. I'll see how I enjoy wearing the TomTom Spark 3 on my wrist 24/7, first.

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)