What watch

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Glasgow44

Veteran
I have a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for the bike. I'd like to pair this with a watch. Does anyone have any recommendations? What is the best and most compatible watch to buy?
 

Dogtrousers

Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
I'd be interested to know what you are looking for in terms of "compatibility". What features of the watch do you want to show up on the GPS and vice-versa?

As a Garmin fanboy I have a Vivoactive watch and Edge GPS so you'd expect maximum compatibility but there are no watch-GPS features that I actually use. Using the watch as a HRM to broadcast to the GPS kills the watch battery, you're far better off with a chest strap. There are some "extended display" screen sharing features but I found them gimmicky and useless.

I'm not trying to drag the thread off topic by rabbiting on about Garmin. Just trying to focus on what features you are looking for.
 

PaulSB

Squire
I've had the Xiaomi Smart Band below for 6 months now. It replaced a Garmin Vivoactive HR that failed after nine years - no problem with that.

I use it for recording gym workouts, spin classes, walks via GPS and as occassional backup to my Wahoo for cycling. On the ocassions I've run both the Wahoo and Xiaomi to record the same ride the results have exactly matched each other. I use it for other non-cycling activities. It comes pre-loaded and ready for use with perhaps 100+ different activities.

The band/watch connects with my phone for playing music, notifications, answering calls etc. Only answer, one can't talk to it. HR monitoring is accurate to 1 bpm when compared to an Omicron BP and HR monitor.

I'm unsure why one would want to pair a watch with a Wahoo? In nine years with my Vivoactive I never had reason to do so. My Vivo and now Xiaomi are a back up for the Wahoo and then for functions the Wahoo doesn't offer.

I wasn't prepared to spend £ hundreds. The Xiaomi was £62, you can currently get it for the less than £50. After I'd received it I read a Which? review which rated it as the best they had ever tested. I'd urge you to consider this as tremendous value for money and fulfilling probably every function most folk need. Of course if you need to make phone calls into your wrist, contort your hand to pay in a shop you'll have to spend far more.

My only slight disappointment is it only seems to record in kilometres, no Imperial I can find. Strava converts this for me.

It's worth a punt.

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro - Xiaomi UK https://share.google/zUksP72fWDX37Xg1N
 
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Pblakeney

Senior Member
I recently got a watch out of curiosity, and literally everyone else having one.
Waste of money. Doesn't tell me anything that my other devices don't.
 

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Über Member
Location
Hampshire, UK
Bought a Xiaomi Redmi 5 Lite in the summer for £40, has own GPS which has good tracking. Battery needs charging every few weeks as I don't use GPS often. Few health sensors that aren't that accurate but give trend idea.
 

88robb

Active Member
Location
Netherland
I have a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for the bike. I'd like to pair this with a watch. Does anyone have any recommendations? What is the best and most compatible watch to buy?

For the best, no-fuss pairing with your Wahoo, get a Garmin.
A Garmin Forerunner or Fenix watch works perfectly. They connect directly to the Bolt via ANT+. Your ride data like heart rate and calories will sync straight to the head unit and then automatically to Strava.
It's the most reliable combo.
 
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