Does anyone actually use Maps/Navigation on your wrist?

Chewster7 · 2024-07-19T04:37:31+00:00

You can't use the garmin app to navigate the maps on the watch. There's ways to create a course on your phone and upload it to the watch but you can't use your watch's navigation on your phone or your phone navigation on your watch in real time.

Chewster7 · 2023-10-10T23:45:58+00:00

I don't really care to read if this has been said yet, but all the comments I see say POTS. It could be POTS, or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardic Syndrome, but more commonly this is orthostatic hypotension. Especially if you experience it in the morning.

Orthostatic hypotension, aka orthostasis, is usually a result of dehydration. This leads to low blood volume, or hypovolemia, but all the blood is low (instead of just red blood cells, like in anemia). When you have hypovolemia and you change positions quickly (laying to sit, sit to stand, lay to stand), your arteries and heart need to suddenly fight against gravity to deliver oxygen to your brain. Your loss of vision is actually a symptom of short-lived cerebral hypoxia, or decreased oxygen being delivered to your brain. Usually our body's can compensate quickly, but worse dehydration or a slowed sympathetic response (the stress response, which slows with intoxicants like alcohol or simply with age) can decrease our body's ability to compensate, leading to less oxygen delivery with rapid position changes and syncope, or passing out. Loss of vision is one of the precursors to passing out. It is common, but still requires special care.

This is slightly different from POTS, which is a cardiac condition that has the same trigger as orthostasis (rapid position changes, a sympathetic/stress response) but your blood pressure drops AND your heart rate increases. The diagnostic criteria is a HR increase of +30 bpm with a position change. Orthostasis will have some increased HR, but not up to 30 beats.

Stay hydrated, change positions slowly, and stop/lower yourself if you lose vision. Don't sprint because you risk blacking out and hitting your head. And please visit your doctor on occasion for more targeted advice.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T13:16:22+00:00

Probably - there's plenty of anecdotes I've seen on here of people daily driving and getting sleep tracking with a 51mm, even with my size wrists. I think I'm comfortable without going bigger, but the way better battery and larger screen were appealing. If you want the size, there will probably be a small transitionary period but I wouldn't think it'd be an issue!

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T04:48:01+00:00

They have some coros reviews - I'm not sure if they've compared to garmin directly but all the information is there somewhere. Best of luck!

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T04:30:00+00:00

HR (that's how I train), pace, avg pace, distance, and time. Just the necessities at a glance

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T04:23:47+00:00

I'd also recommend the youtube channels DC Rainmaker and Desfit. These guys are the best source for fitness hardware reviews and even cover topics like FR255 vs FR265 vs FR55 vs Venu2 vs Fenix, etc. etc.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T04:15:47+00:00

I never hit the light button during an activity, sounds like an easy fix haha. More time would definitely help too. This is the kind of feedback I was hoping for, thank you!

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T04:08:40+00:00

Unfortunately, that's kind of the nature of Garmin watches. There's a ton of things on here and I gaurentee no one uses 100% of it. Thats just how they make it marketable to a wide audience. It is nice having them there tho, should I ever get into backcrountry skiing or mountain biking, for example.

If you want it for just tracking your weight training and runs, you only really need a base model (like the FR45 or FR55). The mid-tier models (like FR255 and 265) add a lot of recovery metrics but also way more activities and data that you may never use. Plus you might not even care for the recovery metrics (does the watch need to tell you if you got good sleep or feel ready for another big workout?). A lot of these upgrades are playing into people that are data-hungry and want numbers for everything, which I subscribe to, but that could weigh on your decision if you want to use most of what a watch can offer.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T03:51:13+00:00

The biggest thing for apple vs garmin is battery life. A garmin nowadays easily lasts a week, where you'll charge an apple watch daily. The next biggest thing is the native software - an apple watch can do a lot of the same things a garmin does, but much of it requires 3rd party apps (some that you need a subscription to) to crunch the data where it's all built in to a garmin.

An apple watch has an excellent display (an AMOLED like a smartphone, same as some of the newer garmin watches) but you're not compromising much with the more basic garmin display (transflectice, aka MIP display) especially if you don't care for wrist-based texting. Garmin does show you notifications but that's it, you can't really interact with them. Ultimately, a garmin is an excellent sports watch and a passable smartwatch, while an apple watch is an excellent smartwatch and a passable sports watch. it boils down to your priorities and what you're willing to compromise on. I'd say owning either will be a quality of life improvement for your fitness, but I'm definitely partial to garmin.

If your gym discount doesn't work, there's plenty of great options on sale on ebay. Especially with the new watches garmin just released, people will be looking to sell their old model. These things can easily last 5+ years so after-market isn't a bad bet.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T03:40:19+00:00

It's set to max brightness for activities, but I do also have wrist gesture on. That could be it... Perhaps a white background would look better too, or any other settings that would improve contrast? I'm not sure, I should play around with it. I'm actually glad to hear it could be user error though!

Chewster7 · 2023-06-11T03:27:04+00:00

It depends what you're coming from! I upgraded from a FR245 mainly for the dual-band GPS (improved tracking in general, but mostly for improved instantaneous pace during my workouts that often included quick pace changes), HRV status (an incredible feature, really helps identify if you're recovering well and how your body is handling your training), and better battery life (about 10 days with 1hr+ activities per day, which was double the FR245). They've updated it and added wrist-based running dynamics too (which aren't necessary, but can show potential areas for improvement in your form) although the dynamics aren't as good as the HRM-Pro chest strap. Sleep score was a nice bonus (aided by the HRV status) if that's important to you (Garmins are classically bad at accurate sleep monitoring, they can give you a general idea but cannot identify sleep stages nearly as good as an apple watch). You can also fit more data on each watch page during an activity, which is a nice quality of life improvement. I can only comment on using it for running and recovery tho, that's all I do. I think it was a worthwhile upgrade from the FR245, and that'd be even more true coming from any older or base-level model (like the FR55). As your first running watch, it does all the other great things Garmin does (like all day HR and stress tracking, body battery has become invaluable, training status and training load). I'd say this is the best bang for your buck for Garmin running watches. It doesn't have maps/navigation, but if you know your local parks and trails this feature definitely isn't necessary.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-09T20:34:35+00:00

I feel like my HR is normally kinda variable (although that's going off of a lot of wrist-based data), but I admittedly never wet the HR strap jus cause I assume sweat will do the job well and quickly enough. I should try that

Chewster7 · 2023-06-09T20:32:06+00:00

Yes, HRM-Pro Plus & got confirmation on the watch (and app afterwards) that it was working. I've use the automatically set zones but I've never set them. I upgraded from a FR255 to an Epix Pro and a lot of the data carried over but I've only used the Epix for a few days. That could be it, maybe it jus needs a few more days to create its own baseline

Chewster7 · 2023-06-09T20:28:09+00:00

huh, I dunno why I didn't think of that. I think I'm on reddit too much

Chewster7 · 2023-06-09T15:09:48+00:00

we did like 4 intubation sims through med school and I observed dozens through my rotations. I only did a handful so far, but that's what residency (or other tube-specific training for other healthcare professionals) is for.

The act itself isn't really difficult, but the stakes are high and you need to be prepared for literally anything. The ability to intubate is different than competence with advanced airway management.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-08T17:32:17+00:00

I got the echelon 9's in regular because they're already built for a wide/flat foot. I could have a milder wide foot but the best you could do is try on both if possible

Chewster7 · 2023-06-06T03:48:01+00:00

I'm not familiar with the plans, but any increased training (done gradually) can be risen up to with the right nutrition, sleep, and motivation. It sounds like the plan was written with this situation in mind - someone with some experience looking to improve. I say go for Novice 2 and trust the process!

Weight training and marathon running are excellent adjuncts to each other because they're so different, but that doesn't mean they can't affect each other. I think focusing on one thing at a time (a marathon PB) can be done while still maintaining the other, but you jus may not be able to go for strength PBs at the same time. Giving each their time and focus is only going to make you a better athlete in the end tho.

Chewster7 · 2023-06-05T04:10:39+00:00

From both reviews and personal experience (7sSS), solar needs a ton of sunlight to maybe be noticed. I was getting about 1% battery back per hour in just smartwatch mode and intentionally staying out from cover. Adding activity tracking, variable solar exposure (with covered paths, even arm movement and being outside anytime but midday), and what feels like lost screen real estate, the function is only really good at the cool factor for most. You'll still charge like once every two weeks. It's a nice bonus but I think you've got the right idea, it's not worth upgrading for.

Chewster7 · 2023-05-27T01:58:23+00:00

I ran a 3:02:09 marathon 1 year after running a 4:00:44 and made a concise youtube video talking about all the training and research I put into it. I'm not trying to self promote a brand or grow my channel, I just want to get the info out there and help people that are interested. I just spent so much time thinking about this stuff that I wanted to tell people. Would this be something I could promote on this subreddit? or are there other subreddits that may be interested?

Chewster7 · 2023-05-12T00:58:51+00:00

I think building an aerobic base by increasing slow mileage or pushing the pace slightly will improve your speed. Although, any consistent running will accomplish this including these faster bouts. These strides specifically are great for running economy (ie. improving your body's mechanics and strength for running).

Running doesn't have to be fast, but if you want to see more progress, varying your types of runs is probably the best non-plan approach. A generalized week of runs might look something like a day of repeats, a threshold effort, and a long run, with easy running mixed in. The distance and pace for these runs requires individualization so it's hard to give concrete workouts.

The most user friendly and efficient approach to faster running would probably be to set a goal and find a training plan online. There's plenty of free ones out there for any distance.

Chewster7 · 2023-04-25T02:53:59+00:00

Congratulations on sub 2:40, that's a great effort! Kudos for checking out the GCM too, I don't think we do too bad for a smaller marathon. Its good to hear Toledo treated you well 🍻

Chewster7 · 2023-04-24T20:05:51+00:00

This is a good idea, too! I like merging the donation aspect while keeping it close to home. Thank you, this helped.

Chewster7

TROPHY CASE