Best GPS tracker

[Alan O]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

There is also the Vivosmart HR+ This has the added trick of broadcasting your HR to Ant+ devices, which could be handy if you get a dedicated cycle computer.

That one sounds pretty good, although there is one surprising drawback...

"There are no dedicated modes for swimming or cycling, which is slightly surprising. Of course, you can track these through the open workout option – just as you could hit the gym or a Zumba class – but the data that's returned is a little generic. You get distance (in GPS mode), time, bpm and calories burned, but no specialist metrics."
https://www.wareable.com/garmin/garmin-vivosmart-hr-plus-review

Still, as a "leisure"cyclist that's all I really want - it's all the Fitbit Surge offers anyway.

Alan

 

[jefmcg]

That's all you get on the watch. Upload to strava or garmin connect and you'll get all the data you could use.

 

[djb1971]

You won't get better than a vivoactive hr.

I've tried most of them.

 

[Sea of vapours]

That's why I'm asking cyclists for their opinions on wristwatch style devices, based on actual experience of cycling use.

I use a Suunto Ambit2. I already had this when I started cycling (purchased for alpine mountaineering). As per the table linked above, battery life minimum with the gps active and recording interval at 1 second is 16 hours (in practise I consider 15 hours 'safe'). You can nudge it out to 24 hours with minimal loss in accuracy (barely discernible on a cycling trace). It does all the things you listed above and the firmware is extremely stable and reliable. it can link to cadence and power sensors if you wish, as well as heart rate of course. (Note that the current model is the Ambit3, which is Bluetooth rather than ANT+, so you need Bluetooth sensors. There are still Ambit2 watches available to buy though.)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

That's a kind offer, thanks, but I really want a wrist device that does GPS/HR all in one. The Fitbit Surge would still be ideal if it had longer GPS battery life and a replaceable battery.

Alan

Get a wrist mount for the Garmin. Problem solved!

 

[flatflr]

I have a Garmin Forerunner 230 which I use for running and is supposed to have a 10 hour battery life, and I can believe having used only about 20% on runs over 2 hours. Also has a nice big display and pretty much the same features as my Edge 510.

Even my Garmin Forerunner 15 was good for 4.5 hours.