Want to buy my son a watch as he is joining me in triathlon this summer. Not stoked about shelling out the big bucks so are there any low cost options that are still pretty good for swim, bike run?
Garmin 45s
Or secondhand garmin 920xt
.
Coros Pace 2. Best bang for you buck.
I have heard good things about Coros Pace but have personally never used one.
I have a Coros Apex Pro and was previously using an Apex 42.
There’s a few minor quibbles with some of the sport modes, but overall excellent watches, and the best battery life.
Coros Pace 2 $199 done deal
.
One option is a used watch off eBay. Something like a Garmin Vivoactive HR for ~$50-$60.
As a low-middle price… Polar Vantage M. Prob get one reasonable price as the M2 came out a few months ago.
I’ve Had mine for about 3 years now - bought after multiple Garmin watch fails. V happy, and Polar Flow Web site / app ‘ecosystem’ is light years better than Garmin.
Coros Pace 2
.
One option is a used watch off eBay. Something like a Garmin Vivoactive HR for ~$50-$60.
That’s the right answer - as long as you can live without open water swimming and bike power.
Used Garmin 920 or 935
.
I bought the Coros Pace 2 for my son.
Want to buy my son a watch as he is joining me in triathlon this summer. Not stoked about shelling out the big bucks so are there any low cost options that are still pretty good for swim, bike run?
Garmin Vivoactive.
Maybe you should mention your price idea?
Older Garmin models is an option like 935/735, if the latter is still attainable. We also don’t know his age and the 935 might be very big on him.
Very happy with my Coros Pace 2.
Another happy Coros Pace 2 user here. Had a 735XT before that died after two years. The Coros battery life is superb. Think I probably prefer the Garmin phone app though. The Coros is much smaller as well, and seems to be more accurate tracking wise.
Coros Pace 2. Great battery life, lots of sport activities, works very well. Like any watch, it’s less than perfect for pool swims unless you ONLY swim front crawl, but that’s the only gripe I have (as someone who swims breast stroke and does a lot of kick sets).
I will add that the service from Coros in Canada is excellent. Not sure about other markets.
Amazfit Bip U Pro ~$70
.
Any particular reason why you want GPS?
I’m very happy with my used 735xt, it reads power and has a great battery life, like 100 bucks and can do optical heart rate, somewhat badly. The 920 is a good value, I used the 310xt for ages, it works great and is nearly free.
I have not been overly impressed with any of the Garmin metrics including the recovery coach, vO2, or the sleep measurement. I personally wouldn’t spend extra money to get a watch with those features. After using the wrist based heart rate for a while I find that kind of underwhelming too.