Excellent watch, it has everything that I could have wished for ... I ditched (sold on ebay) my 1st gen Apple watch for this and I just wished I had done it before. My review
- Cool looking manly watch
- Made by Garmin. To me this is synonym of quality, dependability and excellent customer support. I have owned several Garmin computers and sensors through the years (Forerunner 305, Edge 500, Edge 520, HR sensors, speedcadence sensors, etc) and my experience has been top. I think they are ahead of the competitors
- Super fast wrist-based HR sensor (apple watch gen 1 is painfully slow)
- Excellent form factor and top design quality, quite comfortable to wear and to sleep with
- Configurable with watch faces and widgets
- Tons of built-in sensors and support to connect to BT4 ANT external sensors (I own footpod, cadence, power, HR strap, speed, etc)
- Ability to connect to WIFI for data uploads and software upgrades
- Excellent high detail topo maps and navigation functionality (way to navigate depends on activity mode), Easy to zoompan in a map. I have not tested in the mountains but I expect it to work just fine ...
- Cannot say much about battery life because I have had the watch for a short time but I am satisfied so far
- Fast GPS signal acquisition
- Excellent Garmin connect IOS app for easy setup
Kudos to BTD for its excellent price (I could not find a better price from a reputable retailer), VIP points, fast shipment and for being awesome in general
The watch would be a game changer if it had built-in World clock (Third party watch faces offer limited World Time Zones). The battery life is very good. The terminal for USB connection does not have cover. However, I believe the contact pins are gold-plated for anti-corrosion due to salty sweat and I hope they will last.
Horology guy who finally got sick of watch costs....and rides as a former II...
Coparison - Garmin 810.
Watch Custom faces make it great. It does ALL sports....xc skiing - covered. Bike inside...covered. Amazing.
The Garmin site is great.
GPS maps ON THE WATCH cover being off the grid.
It is good to 100m, so I am not worried about swimming with it (there is a 3rd party dive computer app....).
Basically, the BEST sports watch on the market by far. I have it at 10% screen on all the time, second hand running all the time...with a custom face that a programmer made to my specs for a few dollars (beer money)...GMT4 btw, great programmer...he added the second hand as a request (to be fair, many of us wanted that).
I spoke to Garmin support to ask for a feature. They picked up, were respectful and responsive and later (the next release) my request was a reality. No one beats that in the whole market. I am amazed by that ....it was probably a common request but still, nice support is so rare these days.
Only con a bit pricey.