Going the distance with Garmin

GARMIN HAS added an “HR” |to the name of its popular sports wristwatch, the fenix 3, reflecting its upgrade with a built-in heart-rate monitor.

The GPS/GLONASS fenix 3 HR doesn’t require wearing a monitor strapped to your chest since the sensor is right there on your wrist. And that adds up to more comfortable running and cycling.

Fitness enthusiasts already used to the technology know that monitoring the heart rate during exercise can improve performance. You work harder while watching the monitor to see how far you can push the heart without crossing the red danger line.

The fenix 3 is a multi-sport watch, meaning it’s also useful for cycling, golfing, skiing, hiking, rock climbing, swimming and even a triathlon, as well as the usual fitness regimes. (It’s waterproof to a depth of 100 metres.)

This is a boon to anyone whose physical restrictions, such as degenerative disc symptom, prevent them from running, so they have to pursue lower-impact activities.

Like the fenix 3, the HR model is designed to track training progress both outdoors and indoors, but it’s also suitable for everyday routines because it doubles as smartwatch. It has Thai Smart Notification to alert you to incoming calls and messages and events scheduled on your calendar, in Thai or English. 

The Activity Tracker function encourages an active lifestyle by sending you a prompt if you’ve been idle for an hour.

All of this is packaged in a round, stainless steel case with an EXO antenna, a 1.2-inch colour Chroma display readable under bright sunlight thanks to LED backlighting.

The battery life is good – up to 50 hours in UltraTrac mode, 16 hours in GPS mode and a full three months in ordinary watch mode.

The sleek look overall can be customised with a choice of watch faces. On the model I tested, the default analogue-watch face with hour, minute and seconds hands indicating numeric exercise data was realistic enough to fool my friends. And the refresh rate of the watch face was so fast that the seconds hand appears to be ticking along just like on an actual wristwatch.

Additional features for training regimes include the “VO2 max estimator”, which calculates your running speed, heartbeats per minute and variability in heart rate to estimate the maximum volume of oxygen you can breathe per minute. 

Other fitness metrics include “recovery advisor”, with a recovery timer and recovery check, and a race predictor that estimates your ideal finish time based on current VO2 max number.

You have an altimeter, barometer and compass providing relevant, real-time information. 

The altimeter gauges elevation in your uphill and downhill movements and the barometer keeps an eye on the air pressure to forecast short-term trends in the weather. The triple-axis electronic compass helps you maintain your bearings – even if your’re not moving.

The fenix 3 HR, like its predecessor, can be Bluetooth-linked to a smartphone or tablet computer and uses an app to upload data to your Garmin Connect account for analysis. You can also link to your home Wi-Fi router to upload the recorded data to your account.

Since I’m one of those barred from running due to degenerative disc symptom, I tested the activity-tracking feature while walking and cycling in my neighbourhood. It was immediately noticeable how fast the GPS sensor kicked in, ready to guide me with the help of a satellite far above. The map data provided was quite accurate.

I was impressed to find that the activity tracker counted the number of floors I climbed in buildings. This was handy for bragging purposes after my daily 31-storey ascent of the Interlink Tower to the newspaper’s offices. 

My peak heart rate during the climb was about 150 beats per minute, reaching a maximum at 166bpm and then slowing to 70bpm once I’d sat down at my desk.

I next tested the watch with a 300-metre freestyle swim. I tried to cheat it, though: I paused the watch function after every 25-metre lap. It figured it out nevertheless, recording 8.31 minutes for the full distance at an average 23 strokes per minute – but also an elapsed time of 28.26 minutes, deducing that I’d taken long rests between laps!

The Garmin fenix 3 HR has a suggested retail price of Bt23,400.

 

Key Specs

 

- Dimensions: 51.5x51.5x16mm

- Display size: 1.2-inch (30.4mm) diameter

- Display resolution: 218x218 pixels; transflective MIP colour; sapphire lens

- Weight with silicone band: 86.1 grams

- Battery: Rechargeable 300mAh lithium-ion

- Built-in memory: 32MB with 23MB available

- Track log: 100 hours of activity data