Smart Watch for kayaking
 

Been looking at smartwatches for monitoring health and exercise, but also thought it could come in handy as a backup GPS and compass while out on the kayak.

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On the last outing between a 2.5kt Nth current, and a storm wind that started out of the Sth and veered to the East, I got disorientated. A 3 axis compass would have been very useful.

Does anyone have experience and/or recommendations regarding smartwatches?

Your post reminds me when I was in current and in the fog .
 

My Salas x jr really had a wide angle on it, drift fishing off la Jolla.
Once you get around the corner in la Jolla the current really takes you and I was headed south. After fishing a few hours....in the fog the whole time, I ran across another guy and ask him if he new where he was and he said no.I said I have a compass mounted on my kayak center console and we better head east. After padding just under an hour east still can't see land and we are in 10 to 15 ft on water. I look over my shoulder to the left and see brakers. So we turn around and get in a save depth and head north finally the fog lifts and we can see the crown and hotels. If nothing else at least have a hand held compass if you kayak in the ocean and bays. You got to back up anything electronic battery powered that can fail. That app your talking about is new to me I'll have to look it up.
There's times in the ocean when you cannot tell north east south and west with out mechanical aid

I use a Garmin Forerunner 235 (new model is the 245). You'd need to go to a fancier and more expensive model if you wanted something to help with navigation. I've been really happy with mine for recording my sessions though. A phone + fish finder + handheld or deck mounted compass seems like a good amount of redundancy.

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I use a Garmin instinct. GPS, altimeter, compass, step counter, HR. What's nice about it compared to other smart watches is that a charge will last more than a week. It has moonphase, sunrise, and sunset also. I've read there is a barometric storm alert feature. I have yet to use it yet though.

I bet 50% of the kayaks don't even have a fish finder GPS
 

A simple hand held compass in the kayak seat pack could save someone's life.
I must be old school I had a hand held Magellan 2000 GPS and a good compass when I used to tuna fish in my boat. I'm used to following a compass heading and deviate with the GPS. My compass never let me down but Electric connection have.

Plus a compass make you feel old school and cool! I put a deck mounted one on whenever I went multiple miles from shore.

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You might of liked my center console
 

It was made with 2in plastic PVC plumbing fitting and tube.
My feet slide under it, on a cobra fish and dive
4 things were attached to it a 2 piece pull up sail, for a free ride home increasing my range, compass graph and a sealed storage that you could sit your radio in plus a great holding point walking thru the surf.
My sail finally rotted after a couple rolls of sail tape. :cheers1:

Good points Mitch.

Seeing your trip routes is nice Ben. I like the Forerunner 245 and ordered an unused 245 Music for $150 on Offerup. The seller discovered the battery would not hold a charge so he canceled the sale. Adding a compass to the yak is a good economical option.

Thanks for your input John. Garmin recently came out with the Instinct 2. The instinct has most of the features of Garmin's higher-end watches but at a fraction of the cost and with much better battery life due to having a monochrome screen instead of color. I like the Instinct 2s.

It seems like Garmin has the sports monitoring and GPS aspects of the smart watches well covered, but like many of the brands, the health monitoring features lack accuracy. Still undecided, but leaning towards getting a compass and a Fitbit watch.

Yeah, if your arm is moving (running or paddling), the heart rate data from Garmin watches is pretty much garbage.

A note on the HR accuracy; I had a stress test done last year and from rest up to about 160bpm, the watch matched up well with the hospital's equipment. If you have it loose on your wrist, it will under-read at higher heart rates. Regarding step counting. I have friends with fit bits, apple watches, and garmins. We engage in the same activity and the step counts are all over the place. If i really wanted an accurate step count I would turn on the gps tracking on my watch and track the distance travelled, then divide that by my stride. Whatever you decide, get one with a long battery life. Having to take off the watch every night to charge gets old and you lose the benefit of sleep monitoring.

Yes, it becomes harder for any watch to measure HR under heavy movement. For those activities, it becomes more critical that the watch is well secured. The newer Garmins are actually rated pretty well for HR monitoring.

Good to know and concurs with other reports regarding newer Garmin's HR monitoring. It's other health measurements, such as sleep monitoring that I wish Garmin did better. I found a Fitbit Sense NIB for 120 on eBay. They claim 6 days between chargings and that in 12 minutes it can be charged for a whole day's use. I have heard mixed reviews regarding waterproof, so bought a square trade warranty. I will be testing it out next week, and since Google bought Fitbit, it might be a taste of the Google Pixel watch that is to be released later this year.

I vote for Garmin too. Got Fenix 5 for 2 years, best watch ever as said above! Now it's possible to buy it for $200!

I wear a garmin instinct. It works well for water stuff and tracking etc. I have worn it for numerous activities and checked the heart rate against other devices and it seems to be fairly accurate across the board regardless of activity. It’s waterproof 200m, and has tons of other cool features, including a link to my garmin inreach.

The data output is easily understandable and the interface with the app in your phone is very nice.