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Nov 27

Holiday Gift Guide 2020: The Best Fitness, Sports And Adventure Watches – Forbes

Exercise Programs Comments Off on Holiday Gift Guide 2020: The Best Fitness, Sports And Adventure Watches – Forbes

The latest crop of fitness and sports watches do a lot more than track steps and heartrate, like ... [+] this ultra-advanced Grit X from Polar.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years Resolutions are all coming fast, while hiking, cycling, golf and running have boomed during the coronavirus pandemic. With COVID-19 still here for winter, skiing and snowshoeing are expected to be hot. From fitness walking to swimming, indoor treadmills to exercise bikes, everyone seems more fixated on getting outside and/or getting more exercise since the crisis began.

Thats why a fitness or sports oriented watch makes a great Holiday Gift, and there is a perfect high-tech model for every athlete on your holiday list, whether they are training for an Ironman, tackling remote mountain peaks, training by heartrate zone or simply tracking steps on lunchtime walks. The days of separate fitness bands and watches, chest heartrate straps and handheld GPS devices are disappearing as these watches increasingly can do it all. But each still has a main focus, so there is one that is right for the skier, runner, cyclist, hiker, swimmer, golfer or even surfer on your Holiday Gift list.

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The Suunto 9 Baro has just about every feature you can imagine, from barometric altimeter to full ... [+] fitness tracking, GPS mapping, smartphone connectivity and wrist heartrate and blood oxygen monitoring

Outdoor Adventure, Mountain & Fitness GPS Pick: I originally picked the Suunto 9 Baro as the top choice for skiers and snowboarders, but it does so much more that it wasnt fair to pigeonhole it. This watch was designed with outdoor adventure in mind and is perfect for any kind of mountain or wilderness pursuit, including hiking, expedition mountaineering and snow sports, at a resort or backcountry, but it also is a great all around fitness watch and training tool for data-driven hardcore performance athletes.

Finlands Suunto has long been the leader in wilderness-focused watches, and unlike altimeters using just GPS, this has a more accurate barometric altimeter (hence Baro) combined with GPS for the best performance. The barometer also helps judge water, and it provides up to date forecasting based on real current conditions around you. It is also focused for GPS route finding, leaving a digital breadcrumb trail to avoid getting lost and providing instant coordinates for start point and current location in the event of required emergency assistance or navigating home, plus compass features. In the mountains, it tracks vertical feet gained, vertical speed, grade, normalized graded pace for trail running, and separately tracks multiple climbs so it works for a summit hike or hill training repetitions, while also measuring total daily descent for skiing or snowboarding. For fitness it has wrist heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and regular activity tracking (step counter, custom targets, calorie tracking, heart rate tracking) plus several Sport Specific Modes with enhanced features: Swimming (lap count, stroke rate, stroke efficiency, open water, pace and distance, etc,); Cycling (speed, distance, Bluetooth power meter supported, interval guidance); Running (speed, distance, stride senor, interval guidance); Multisport (preconfigured multisport modes). Sprint Tracking measures multiple sprints when interval training, it can track running pace or sync with a cycling power meter, and has built in Strava functionality that measures your Relative Effort in real time, displaying a personalized measurement of how much effort goes into your workout based on your heart rate zones. This syncs to Strava Summit for deep dives into analytics, and the Suunto app lets you download all this data and more closely analyze training info and stats. For swimming and watersports, it features 100-meter (330 feet) water resistance and has extra-long charge battery life, 25 hours in full performance mode, and 120 hours (5 days) in ultra-mode. (Regularly $600 but holiday priced at $374 - a real bargain - until December 1).

The Polar Grit X has sport specific features and data tracking for myriad activities, from running ... [+] to swimming (shown).

Fitness, Training, Heartrate & Multi-Sport Outdoor GPS Watch: If you know the type of athlete who is always working to shave seconds off their Personal Record (PR), follows a rigorous training plan and logs workouts, consider the Polar Grit X, a serious data driven tool for serious training. Polar has long been the leader in fitness, heart rate monitoring, but this adds a lot of features including GPS and altimeter to a very accurate heartrate system. Along with the Polar Flow app, it lets even the highest performance, most competitive athletes more closely analyze all the training, activity and sleep info and stats gathered by the watch. But its not just for Olympians - this is perfect for someone with a new goal for 2021, like running their first marathon. Heres what you need to know. At just 64 grams, the Grit X is far lighter than its competitors with similar features, yet it is tough, exceeding military standards testing for being dropped, humidity and extreme temperatures. The bezel is stainless steel, the color touchscreen display Gorilla glass. It has customizable watch faces, letting you change to analog styles so it doesnt look like a fitness tracker when you are not working out. For outdoor adventures like trail running or mountain biking, it displays current weather and 2-day forecast, and has a more accurate barometric altimeter, plus GPS, and route tracking with map view, You can even download hikes or rides in advance and get turn by turn guidance, like in your car. The compass can be used without GPS to extend battery life - which is ultra-long (40 hours in full GPS mode, 7 days in watch mode with continuous heart rate monitoring).

Training? It syncs with the popular training and workout apps, including Strava, TrainingPeaks, MyFitnessPal, Nike+ Run Club, etc., is compatible with running, cadence, and cycling power meters and has a Hill Splitter function for detailed tracking of ascents and descents. It tracks your personalized workout effort and recovery for long term improvement, using the wrist heart rate monitoring with continuous HR tracking, HR Max, and HR zones. There is an onboard 5-minute fitness test, it offers guided breathing exercises that are heart zone based with real time biofeedback, and counts Smart Calories, more accurately measuring how many youve actually burned based on your weight, height, age, gender, individual maximum heart rate (HRmax) and how hard youre training. It even will track how your body performs in training with different foods, dividing energy usage into carbs, protein and fats, so you can fine tune your diet for performance. There is sleep tracking, inactivity alerts and sport specific features for Running (VO2max estimates; personalized adaptive running training programs; advanced running power (effort output) measurement; Strava Live segments and Stride length tracking) and Swimming (distance; strokes; pace; heart rate, for both pool and open water, with 100-meter water resistance. Smartwatch functions include staying connected with your phone via wrist alerts for incoming calls, messages, and emails ($429).

The Fitbit Versa 3 does more for less cost than just about any option, with tons of fitness tracking ... [+] and smartwatch functions

Fitness Tracker/Smartwatch/GPS Value Pick: Fitbit helped create ethe entire fitness tracker category and currently popular notion of counting steps, and now they have expanded with a more fully featured smartwatch hybrid model, the Versa 3. This combination GPS, Fitness Tracker, and Smartwatch does a ton for a reasonable price - and it just got even better. Just last week, Fitbit rolled out a new operating system, OS 5.1 which adds several key features to the Versa 3. These upgrades include: Automatic SpO2 blood oxygen readings at night; Google Assistant, so users can now choose either this or Alexa as their preferred voice assistant; Audible replies with Alexa using the built-in speaker; Receive calls, using the built-in speaker and microphone to answer calls directly from your wrist; Respond to text messages with your voice.

Those are all new, but the Versa 3 was already packed with features, like GPS tracking to measure and map runs or rides. It measures both heartrate and Oxygen Saturation (Sp02) at the wrist with no chest bands and tracks heart rate based active zone minutes. It is waterproof for swimming/triathlons, charges very fast (12 minutes for a full day) and the fully charged life is over 6 days. You can track sleep and use Sleep Score on the Fitbit app to improve sleep quality., For fitness, it tracks more than 20 different specific activities with goals and real time stats, offers programmable reminders to move and you can download hundreds of fitness apps like TRX. It is the one of the few quality fitness watches designed with music in mind (Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, etc.) and one especially cool feature is daily 2 and 5-minute guided breathing sessions that are customized for you based on your heart rate. Smartwatch functions let you see calls, texts, and app notifications on your wrist, even fire up an Uber. Its compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones, and Fitbit Pay allows cashless, touchless transactions. No model does so much for so little ($200 through 11/30 then $229).

Casio's G-Shock brand is known for rugged durability, but the new G-Shock Move adds heartrate ... [+] monitoring, GPS and fitness tracking functions

Rugged Outdoor Adventure Fitness, GPS Watch: Some of the watches above are overkill for many users, who want to be active but are not training for trail ultra-runs by doing repeat hill interval sprints or using a power meter when cycling. For an all-around fitness and outdoor watch with a running focus and all the basics, GPS, excellent heartrate monitor, and standard training and environmental functions, plus app based personal fitness plans, consider the new G-Shock Move. The less-is-more upside is that it is easier to set up and actually use for the less tech obsessed, and also eschews a touchscreen for buttons, which keeps annoying fingerprint to a minimum and is often easier to use during real world exercise. Plus, it has a much different look, more watch and less smartwatch, like something a commando would wear, great for someone who you dont picture in a basic fitness watch. But the rugged, complexly shaped case isnt just to look tough, it is designed to prevent direct impact to the glass or any buttons. G-Shock has long been known for ultra-durable adventure and outdoors watches, and the Move keeps the essence of the brands DNA, big (63mm), tough, shock-resistant and water-resistant to 200 meters - the best of any of these watches. But it adds a full slate of fitness and activity tracking features.

This watch has multiple customizable displays and is designed to give the info you want, at a glance, while you are using it. You can display current heartrate, current zone and target zone, or show a HR graph for the past 30 minutes. For running, a primary audience, it displays pace and HR zones. It also gathers and displays VO2max, your training effort status, current load and overall fitness level to gauge improvement. One of the things that sets this watch apart is the use of an algorithm from fitness data analysis specialists Firstbeat Technologies to help maximize training efficiency. The other standout technology is solar charging, which augments USB charging and runs basic features off the sun - or indoor fluorescent lighting. It skips extensive sport specific tracking but has key fitness and outdoor adventure functions: altimeter, barometer, thermometer, compass, GPS with route mapping, step tracker and pedometer using a 3-axis accelerometer, measuring distance traveled even when GPS reception is not available. When traveling it automatically adjusts for time zones, can run four different daily alarms plus snooze, and has a full calendar function. Vibration alarms can inform you of everything from heartrate zone changes to email notifications as you see fit, and if you choose, it can display emails, phone calls and texts. Like other G-Shock models it has multiple intuitive buttons for stopwatch functions, laps, interval times, countdown timers, and LED back lighting for night use. The G-Shock Move app manages the measurements, data and training history gathered by the watch and automatically creates training plans tailored to user set targets. It works with iOS or Android and can also link data to Strava, Google Fit and Apple Health ($400).

Nixon's new High Tide is aimed at surfers, and tracks tide conditions at 550 top beaches worldwide.

Surfing Watch: This is brand new, so if you know a surfer, especially a traveling surfer, its hard to go wrong. The Nixon High Tide was released for National Recycling Day (November 15th), because it is the first Nixon watch - a favorite surfer and skate brand - made from upcycled ocean plastics. Thats cool enough, but what separates it from the pack and makes it the top surfing pick in the Nixon lineup is the multi-function display with split-screen featuring precise tide, sun, and moon data from 550 preprogrammed marquee beach locations worldwide, from Cocoa Beach, FL to Santa Cruz, CA to Uluwatu in Bali. If you can name a surfing spot, its on the list. The High Tide is also Nixons only watch using MLCD to deliver a higher-contrast and higher-resolution display than LCD technology. Users can customize the display on the high-res screen to show the data most important to them in the water at any given time, and it also has chronograph and countdown timer, useful for competition. The High Tide was developed with quality and functions to meet the distinct needs of avid surfers and other ocean adventurers and comes in four color schemes. Co-molded silicone pushers are unusually -and deliberately - placed at 12 and 6 oclock to keep them from being accidentally pressed by the back of a hand while surfing or other activities where your hand bends back towards your wrist ($220).

TAG Heuer is the first Swiss luxury watch brand to jump into the golf smartwatch market, complete ... [+] with GPS, full connectivity and heartrate tracking.

Golf Luxury Watch + Fitness: This is a first, a smart GPS digital golf watch from a luxury Swiss legacy horology brand, perfect for the person who eschews the typical smart model and still wears a nice watch off the course. The new TAG Heuer Connected Golf Watch marries the virtual analog look of TAGs classic auto racing-inspired three sub-dial chronograph with high-tech golf features. This vintage chrono dial is just one of the virtual face options and looks so good you can hardly tell off the course. TAG went for lots of bells and whistles like an ultra-clear OLED touch screen, precise wrist heartrate monitor, and a display of each hole on the screen that is easily manipulated to show distances to hazards, actual pin positions, etc. Because it was built to look like a Swiss mechanical watch, the two pushers and crown really work and provide important functions in an intuitive manner, most notably a simple way to record the distance and club used on every shot to create a performance library that over time helps with individualized club selection and score improvement analytics. Theyve mapped more than 40,000 courses worldwide for the app, but unfortunately, these do not come pre-loaded on the watch. It can also be used for fitness and other sports, and besides steps, features cycling, running and other sport specific trackers, and supports many third-party fitness apps. This is a highly customizable golf watch with lots of smartwatch functions (text messages, emails and so on) that will make an impression - even the packaging is impressive and perfect for gifting - the oversized box contains smaller leather cases with the watch, logo Titleist Pro-V1 balls, a custom Scotty Cameron divot tool, all the supporting materials and a magnetic charger ($2,550).

The Garmin Approach S62 Golf Watch is jam packed with golf, fitness and smartwatch features.

Golf & Fitness All Around Pick: Garmin is the worlds leading manufacturer of GPS devices, used in exploration, ships and commercial aircraft, but they also have a long golf and fitness history, and the Garmin Approach S62 Golf GPS Watch is the newest top of the line offering for golf and a lot more. This really does do it all, and it comes pre-loaded with maps of most courses in existence, more than 41,000 worldwide. It is user friendly with course recognition, so it knows where you are playing when you arrive, nothing you have to download in advance, and no subscription fee. As additional courses are mapped, updates are free forever. It has a larger screen (1.3) then previous models, the touchscreen face is golf glove-friendly, and the full color high-resolution display automatically compensates for the sun to make it readable even on the brightest days. It also offers customizable watch faces like a smartwatch to change the appearance to digital or analog styles so you can wear it all the time and it doesnt look like a golf watch off the course. The CourseView maps have hole-by-hole details including doglegs, sand traps, water hazards, and green layouts. It displays distances to the front, middle and back of greens, while manual pin positioning lets you drag and drop the pin on screen to its actual day location and the S62 adjusts distances accordingly. You can drag a crosshairs for distance to any point on the hole. You can switch to hazard view and get all the layup and carry distances, and a compass like pin pointer gives you the line on blind shots. You can also switch the display to green view for close up detail on approach. No more guessing, ever!

Another standout feature improvement is the Virtual Caddie feature. It tracks every shot you hit and by entering what club, records distance and direction and over time can suggest what club you need to hit and where you need to aim for your particular maximum success - accounting for wind and elevation. You can also track how far your drives went. You can even automate the club tracking process with optional club sensors. The S62 is rugged, weatherproof, rated to 50 meters underwater, and features an industry leading 20-hour charge life while using GPS, enough for back to back 36-hole days. The Garmin Golf App lets you analyze your strengths, weaknesses and scoring in detail. Smart Notifications allow you to receive emails, texts and other alerts from your iPhone or Android device on the screen. You can use it for Garmin Pay for cashless touchless transactions, and it doubles as a top-shelf general fitness tracker with odometer, step tracking steps, and preloaded activity trackers for running, cycling, swimming and more. It even measures heartrate and pulse oxygen at your wrist. ($500).

A bargain gift pick for golfers, Bushnell's iON2 golf GPPS watch has everything you need - and ... [+] nothing you don't.

Golf Watch Value Pick: I already have a nice watch that I like for normal life, but when I play golf, I want instant access to precise distances. I am also fairly low tech, dont track analytics off the course, and use a different device for exercise. I love a bargain. So what do I want in a golf watch? To do nothing in advance, show up at the course, and still readily get instant distances to the front, middle and back of each green without spending an arm and a leg. The Bushnell iON 2 Golf GPS is the watch I use, and if anyone on your gift list fits one of these pre-conditions (low tech, likes real watches, loves golf, etc.) this is a great pick - and a steal. Thanks to its simplicity, it is lighter, sleeker and comfier than much of the competition, still comes preloaded with more than 36,000 courses worldwide (30 countries), and has great battery life - enough for three rounds on a charge. It isnt featureless by any means, and still tracks shot distance, displays hazard distances, has an odometer and step counter, but it is idiot proof. Yet like many sports and fitness watches, you can do even more if you prefer, through the app, which uses your smartphone to display full color course maps with all the hole by hole details. It has been selling all year for $199 but is discounted for the Holidays to just $100 and you simply cannot get more bang for your buck.

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Holiday Gift Guide 2020: The Best Fitness, Sports And Adventure Watches - Forbes

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