Best Watches Out There?

Triathlon Forum
1

My 920xt has seen better days and I am looking for a new watch with the following criteria:

  1. Integrated HRM that is good
  2. 15 hour battery life
  3. I don’t care about the manufacture, I have always had Garmin but I am more than willing to move
2

DCRainmaker is your friend here. In addition to tons of very in-depth reviews, there are ‘buyer’s guides’ and a comparison chart thing that allows comparisons of features among wearables. If you need tri mode, the choice narrows considerably. You’ll be surprised (in a negative way) at the prices since the 920XT (which is also my current device and one I looked to replace until I saw how many beans-and-rice dinners would be required to pay for it).

3

I used my 920 for years…great watch! (use it now as a bike mounted computer)
I upgraded to a 935 at the beginning of the year and am very happy with it.
The integrated HR monitor works well. I still use the HR chest strap for runs to get run metrics.
Battery life is pretty good, but not as good as the 920. (I don’t think any of the newer watches have as good a battery life as the 920) I usually have to charge it every 10-14 days depending on use. I get about 20 hours in gps mode.

4

Not sure about other brands, but the Garmin 945 is probably your best bet from Garmin. It has the battery life, does multisport, and it has Garmin’s latest HRM.

Quick caveat: You could be unhappy with everyone’s wrist-based optical HRM. Or, you may absolutely love it. Performance depends a great deal on the individual (physical characteristics) their expectations. I have a 945, and I love it. However, I have never used its built-in HRM. Others have told me it works well, but I prefer my external optical HRM arm strap.

5

Have a look at either : Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR or stay close to your old with the Garmin FR735XT, as already mentioned there are comprehensive reviews of both (and as outlined by giorgitd the dcrainmaker site is your go-to for this question and answer). I’m personally getting the “cheapo” Suunto watch.

There are more expensive watches (Garmin Fenix 5 & 6 / Garmin FR945) but I would get something else for triathlon before spending that kind of money.

6

This. I just picked up a Suunto Spartan for about $100 on eBay, primarily as a race watch. (Is that a thing?). Obviously the Apple Watch doesn’t cut it for multi sport. Anyways, they’re “only” $200ish for a new one on Amazon, if you prefer that. Seems like they’re close to being discontinued, as Suunto is not even stocking them. Point being, seems like you can get a pretty solid unit for not a lot.

Have a look at either : Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR or stay close to your old with the Garmin FR735XT, as already mentioned there are comprehensive reviews of both (and as outlined by giorgitd the dcrainmaker site is your go-to for this question and answer). I’m personally getting the “cheapo” Suunto watch.

There are more expensive watches (Garmin Fenix 5 & 6 / Garmin FR945) but I would get something else for triathlon before spending that kind of money.

7
  1. Integrated HRM that is good

I don’t have personal experience with this (I am very white), but I’ve heard that most optical HRM suck if you have a darker skin tone.

8

I have used an optical hrm on my arm for three years so I am trying to condense down to one device. Thanks!

9

I have used an optical hrm on my arm for three years so I am trying to condense down to one device.If wrist HR is a high priority, then I would narrow the list to the Garmin 945 and the Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR. On paper, these two have the best wrist optical sensors on the market (Garmin’s in-house latest-and-greatest module and the Valencell in the Suunto).

10

Thanks that’s very helpful.

11

Is the Suunto Spartan easier to read than the Garmin 920? For swimming and running I find my 920 very hard to read…eyesight going with age…
Looking at the Spartan, it looks great. So what does it give up to the models that are twice the price??

Edit - nevermind, just read a bunch of reviews on the spartan trainer…not impressed.

12

It all depends on what you want the (or A) watch for, and how much you want to spend. If you dont want the Suunto watch, you are probably looking at something thats going to be at least twice its price (with of course all the add-ons you get with that price tag).

13

Garmin Fenix = worth it
.

14

Update to my prior post… scratch the Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR from the list. I do not think it has the battery life you want. I am pretty sure it only does 10 hours with 1-second GPS recording. The watch you would want from Suunto is the Suunto 9-- that has the latest Valencell HRM and it has tons of battery life.

15

How is it better than the 920 for you?

16

What about the Garmin 735XT? I’m seeing it in the last weeks around $250 in several sites, I know it has limited functionalities when comparing to the 935/945 but at this price seems like a good option.

17

What about the Garmin 735XT?Battery life is the 735XT’s limitation; OP wants 15 hours for IM races. 735XT will not make an IM unless you are very fast.

I had a 735XT, and it is a fantastic watch. I would highly recommend for HIM-distance racers.

18

You could check also Suunto 5…

And there is quite nice discounts ie. For spart sport whr

https://www.suunto.com/en-us/Product-search/See-all-Sports-Watches/

And there is new ironman edition avaible for usa…

Janne
Ps. I work for Suunto
Pss. I use suunto 9 for training & racing. The software featuret is pretty much same with spartan family, suunto 5 and suunto 9. There is bit difference between models with batterysize, barosensor, whr, compass…

19

Thank you!

20

I just made the upgrade to the 945 from the 920. It’s much better. Much longer battery life. As for the integrated HR, I’m still not a fan of it. During workouts, it spikes and doesn’t seems to be off with my chest HR monitor.

I would repurchase all over again without hesitation.