Fitness watches, whoop , Garmin & others

[kingrollo]

Anybody used any of the fitness watches that measure recovery ? Any experience ? Good/bad gimmick useful or not ?

 

[C R]

Anybody used any of the fitness watches that measure recovery ? Any experience ? Good/bad gimmick useful or not ?

I have a garmin one, which I use to record my rides. It gives a recovery time at the end of each ride, but I've never used that for anything.

 

[alex_cycles]

I have a garmin one, which I use to record my rides. It gives a recovery time at the end of each ride, but I've never used that for anything.

Is it usually ridiculously long? I often get a message on my Edge 520plus stating a recovery time that seems crazy long, like 72 hours for a 32 mile ride. I ignore it. I'd rather have something a bit more realistic, e.g. one of the devices that measures HRV (heart rate variation). But even that has to be taken in context for the result to be useful. I'm looking at the new Forerunner 255 with interest though as it seems to do this properly. (Should be available in a few weeks).

But one of the things I don't like about the Garmin ecosystem is that it doesn't seem to measure training stress on Zwift rides etc. which is a bit crap, since you want a full picture on your £300 device.

 

[kingrollo]

Is it usually ridiculously long? I often get a message on my Edge 520plus stating a recovery time that seems crazy long, like 72 hours for a 32 mile ride. I ignore it. I'd rather have something a bit more realistic, e.g. one of the devices that measures HRV (heart rate variation). But even that has to be taken in context for the result to be useful. I'm looking at the new Forerunner 255 with interest though as it seems to do this properly. (Should be available in a few weeks).

But one of the things I don't like about the Garmin ecosystem is that it doesn't seem to measure training stress on Zwift rides etc. which is a bit crap, since you want a full picture on your £300 device.

I thought a whoop would measure that - to come up with your strain score.

 

[C R]

Is it usually ridiculously long? I often get a message on my Edge 520plus stating a recovery time that seems crazy long, like 72 hours for a 32 mile ride. I ignore it. I'd rather have something a bit more realistic, e.g. one of the devices that measures HRV (heart rate variation). But even that has to be taken in context for the result to be useful. I'm looking at the new Forerunner 255 with interest though as it seems to do this properly. (Should be available in a few weeks).

But one of the things I don't like about the Garmin ecosystem is that it doesn't seem to measure training stress on Zwift rides etc. which is a bit crap, since you want a full picture on your £300 device.

Not sure, I don't pay much attention, but sounds about what I get for a 40 mile ride on my Forerunner 235.

 

[cougie uk]

Anybody used any of the fitness watches that measure recovery ? Any experience ? Good/bad gimmick useful or not ?

Isn't the whoop the one you have to pay a monthly subscription for ?
I have a Garmin Fenix and it does give me my recovery time and it does make sense - longer after a harder ride etc.

It's a guide but you could probably do that yourself just by monitoring your heart rate.

 

[alex_cycles]

I thought a whoop would measure that - to come up with your strain score.

What? HRV or activities not recorded with the device itself? I think the Whoop does do HRV. Just not sure how (there's quite a lot of variability, ironically )

 

[kingrollo]

Isn't the whoop the one you have to pay a monthly subscription for ?
I have a Garmin Fenix and it does give me my recovery time and it does make sense - longer after a harder ride etc.

It's a guide but you could probably do that yourself just by monitoring your heart rate.

Yep whoop is subscription.

But the way it measures strain is supposed to be significantly different to any other device out there.

 

[Time Waster]

My fenix 6 once gave 50 plus hours after an 8 mile leisurely ride with the family at 6 to 8mph. Not sure it's got any significance for me.

 

[alex_cycles]

Yep whoop is subscription.

But the way it measures strain is supposed to be significantly different to any other device out there.

I think that would have to be in their algorithm then. There's only so many things you can measure. Heart rate, heart rate variation, oxygen saturation etc. so it must be looking at the trends in that data (which is exactly what the Garmin ones do, but their algorithm will be different because they're all proprietary - so yes you can say they're all unique - marketing!)

 

[alex_cycles]

Yep whoop is subscription.

Just had a look at Whoop. £264/year or £27 a month. Interestingly I've been looking at the Forerunner 255 which is £299 and will be available in a few weeks. Whoop makes this look fairly cheap as I would expect it to last at least 4 years. (My 4 year old Vivosport still works fine, but I want overnight HRV stats which it doesn't do). Four years of Whoop would cost me a grand. No thanks! Don't think it's worth it at my level.

 

[kingrollo]

For those who have a device - do you have to tell it what you are doing ?

Ie if going to gym - do have to load a gym workout ? - or does it automatically know by increased exertion, HR etc ?

 

[kingrollo]

Just had a look at Whoop. £264/year or £27 a month. Interestingly I've been looking at the Forerunner 255 which is £299 and will be available in a few weeks. Whoop makes this look fairly cheap as I would expect it to last at least 4 years. (My 4 year old Vivosport still works fine, but I want overnight HRV stats which it doesn't do). Four years of Whoop would cost me a grand. No thanks! Don't think it's worth it at my level.

Yep - I've been looking a Garmin Venu 2 - around £300.

 

[alex_cycles]

Yep - I've been looking a Garmin Venu 2 - around £300.

I liked the Venu sq as it was the smallest (the Vivosport I have currently is tiny and I like the fact that it's so unobtrusive) but when I saw the forerunner 255 it ticks a lot of my boxes. I don't think the Venu gives you the raw HRV data that I (now) want, but it does handle recovery and 'body battery' etc. which sounds like it may be what you want.

I found tracking gym sessions on the Vivosport a bit of a fiddly waste of time, but if you do cardio (treadmill etc.) you can track that quite well.

 

[Mo1959]

For those who have a device - do you have to tell it what you are doing ?

Ie if going to gym - do have to load a gym workout ? - or does it automatically know by increased exertion, HR etc ?

I think the higher level Garmin models you have loads of different exercise modes. Pretty sure gym workouts are on it, including treadmill, exercise bike, indoor rowing, weights, etc. I splurged on the Garmin Epix a few months ago and love it, but I do love my gadgets!