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Feedback on Garmin alternative?
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Hello all,

Well. after about 3 years of ownership, I think my Garmin 920xt $hit the bin. I contacted Garmin tech over the phone and the tech was helping me troubleshoot the issue to which no avail. The unit turns on and goes straight to "testing" mode and that's it. I was then told Garmin no longer services these units as they no longer carry any parts to fix them.

I was then told I could purchase a new unit for 20% off but only after I sent back my receipt of new unit and my 920. Looks like everything current (Fenix 5/6 are pretty high in price). I'm hesitant to purchase anything older than a couple years old (935/945) due to that particular unit becoming obsolete.

I'm after something that measures/records swim, bike and run. (Stryd/cycling watts.etc.) I am a triathlon coach and a bike fitter, so what I wind up getting plays a big role in my recommendations to those I work with. Of course, I've started also to look at possible used units, and will see how I go with that.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Jake

USAT L2 TriAUS L2 UC Irvine head coach "The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
Leonardo da Vinci
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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Best Buy has the 1030. You can pay $70 for 2 years of insurance.

https://www.bestbuy.com/...6611.p?skuId=6196611

I thought they had a sale on the Fenix 5 for $299, but don't see it anymore.

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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I have a Fenix 3 Sapphire for sale for $100 in the classifieds. It's not a huge upgrade from your 920XT, but it works flawlessly and the price is right.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...D_P7129532/#p7129532


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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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Consider a 735? Not the newest but does what you want, and is rather cheap. not gonna work for IM but anything below it is perfect
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Jake,
My 920 was acting up and shutting off on me randomly and I used polar back in the day so got the vantage m. I'm pretty happy with it. The smaller size is nice so I can wear it at work and then I always have it with me if I go for a lunch run or swim. Battery life is great and it meets my needs, gps connection is very fast. Complaints are not that bright, so I have to turn on the backlight when running, it has no drill recording like the 920, you have to press and hold a button after each workout to sync with the app and the auto pause seems dumber than the garmin. Wait, maybe I'm not happy with it :).
Mark
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [lassekk] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the feedback. I did consider a 735, however,I’ll probably would like something with a longer battery life.

USAT L2 TriAUS L2 UC Irvine head coach "The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
Leonardo da Vinci
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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Seems like your key requirements are multisport, long battery life, relatively current, and not expensive.

The ones to look at in that category are the Garmin 935, 945, Fenix 5+, Fenix 6; Polar Vantage M; COROS Pace; Suunto 5 and 7.

Garmin is really way out ahead of everyone else in terms of total maturity and completeness of vision. In the Gartner Magic Quadrant, they would be way up on the top right quadrant. Since you are a professional, I would look hard at the Garmin units regardless of cost. Then work from there to like the Polar or maybe the Suunto watches.
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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Jake,

I was going through a similar question as you and I got my hands on a Polar Vantage V. I gotta tell you, it's been really solid in the few weeks I've had it. I like their data crunching better than garmin (Flow > Connect), to the point where I think I might drop my trainingpeaks when it comes up for renewal. As a coach, I doubt you'd do that, but before I started using Polar, I wouldn't have even thought of that. The watch itself has been good. A few hiccups, mainly with being used to how the garmin world worked and having to figure out the Polar way. I really like the recovery metrics that Polar offers. I'm playing with the "nightly recharge" currently and it basically measures HRV in the first few hours after I fall asleep and then the quality of my sleep, when I wake up the next morning it give me an idea of how ready I am to get after my training. It's not necessarily a go/no go kind of thing, but I'll be honest that it has been pretty spot on. Days I "felt" tired but my data said I was good, ended up being pretty good training days, days where it said I wasn't recovered and I pushed too much, usually left me feeling pretty bad afterwards. I also have noticed certain trends with things that affect recovery, like two drinks at night affects me, one, not so much.

So the Vantage V is a little on the expensive side, but overall I am very pleased with the watch. Worth looking into for sure.

USAT Level 1 Coach
Team Next Level
http://goteamnltri.com/
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [Yakie54] [ In reply to ]
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Love my Coros Apex.
Would probably get the Apex Pro if I needed a new watch.
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [gregkeller] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you very much! I’ll look into this. Your feedback is very much appreciated!

USAT L2 TriAUS L2 UC Irvine head coach "The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
Leonardo da Vinci
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Re: Feedback on Garmin alternative? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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One thing I like about my Polar (as well as the garmin I had), but I'm not sure that Coros has available, is the ability to create interval workouts that the watch will guide you through. With my Vantage, I can (on the website, and to a more limited ability on the app), go in and create different types of workouts based on things like pace or HR zones, or distance goals, or things like that. I'd love to see ability to create intervals based on power zones, but the vantage V is the only watch to have power built into the watch, and the Flow website is probably designed for the majority of the polar products. I find the Polar workout builder to be much easier to navigate and work with than Garmin's, and tons easier to get onto the watch. I know the OP mentioned being a coach, I am not sure if Polar or Garmin can sync workouts across users, like as a coach, can you create a workout and assign it to one of your athletes like you can in TrainingPeaks.

I looked at Coros, because the price was very attractive, but I really like to have the ability to create workouts that I can follow on the watch and I don't think Coros can do that.

USAT Level 1 Coach
Team Next Level
http://goteamnltri.com/
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