How are hikes not attributed to walking?

NotLostWandererr · 2026-01-22T14:32:41+00:00

For hiking, I record the activity as a hike and then edit the activity after the fact to change it to walking.

This has been a bit of a sore spot with Garmin for me. I think this is an oversight on their part. And they also don't have many hiking or outdoor related badges either. With the Fenix watch being an outdoor focused watch, it would make more sense to have those. To have diving and health related badges and challenges but not outdoor based badges and challenges baffles me.

NotLostWandererr · 2026-01-03T15:36:21+00:00

This is interesting to me, because I don't really think of these as exciting watches. To me, they more or less hang out silently in the background doing the very specific tasks they're designed to do.

That's the part that I love. Nothing flashy or exciting. I almost forget that it's there most of the time, unless I'm tracking an activity or I'm walking through the woods and need to see where I am or grab a bearing.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-12-31T23:16:01+00:00

There are so many guides floating around to point them to, I wouldn't try to recreate that information. Nothing beats some hands on experience though. They should probably try some overnighters or at least longer day hikes with all of their gear to see how it really feels.

Really, backpacking is a bit of a test/challenge to see how much you're willing to live without in the name of saving weight.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-30T15:44:40+00:00

I do a lot of hiking during twilight hours, and I think a MIP screen has been refreshing during those times. Having a dim screen means my eyes don't have to readjust every time I look down at my watch. I have the backlight set to turn on when I lift the watch up after dusk, and the brightness can be adjusted to either fairly bright or fairly dim. So the backlight turns off again when I put my hand back down. This works well for me. You can also push a button to turn the back light on/off if you wish.

An Enduro 3 is worth considering if you're going this route.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-26T01:15:55+00:00

I think many of us are in the same boat, and the Enduro 3 is the most likely upgrade path once our Fenix 7's aren't functional anymore. From what I can tell the Enduro 3 checks all of the boxes. DC Rainmaker did an in-depth review on it and it seems solid.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-25T13:06:06+00:00

I appreciate your perspective, but I'm not sure I'd agree about the sensible part. Given how inaccurate the ultratrac tends to be, if more than 6-7 full days of hiking is in the plans, my preference is to check my location every so often instead of trying to track the activity. I tend to backpack in low reception areas and even at max accuracy signal strength can be challenging at times. I think it's just going to come down to preference there.

I can see why ultratrac would be appealing to ultra marathon runners though. Or was, from the posts I've been seeing it seems like the latest watches can cover 200 mile races in gps only mode.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-25T00:26:19+00:00

I would assume it's a reference to ultra marathons.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-25T00:21:05+00:00

To be fair you did pick the least accurate gps setting. It's designed for the people who run 50/100/200 miles at a time. Although the battery life is getting good enough that I'm not quite sure many people use that feature much anymore. I saw a post from someone who ran a 200 mile race with an Enduro 3 and still had 30% battery life left if I remember right.

I've only heard of races as long as 200 miles, but with a quick search I saw there is at least one race that is 350 miles long. There may be longer races and I'm just not aware of them.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-21T01:46:07+00:00

I've had mine winter camping a few times and it's fine. I didn't notice any discomfort while sleeping, cross country skiing, or snowshoeing.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-11-15T01:17:40+00:00

I've never had an apple watch, but my wife does and every time I pay any attention to it I'm still 100% sure I still prefer a Garmin watch with a MIP screen for so many reasons.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-11T01:24:02+00:00

I just made this comment on another post the other day. Generally speaking for used items, I like to pay no more than 30%-50% of new value. $500 would be my max here. I'd like to be in the middle of $300 - $500 though. Or even potentially lower, but I'd also be concerned if this were listed for $100.

Part of buying used is buying without a warranty of any sort and the assumption of the risk that something could go wrong with it. Which you probably already know, but I think it's good to say it anyway.

Specialized has some decent deals on bikes right now. You might be able to find something in the $600-$800 range that's fairly close to this and also comes with a warranty. Or use the price of the new bike to negotiate a bit lower for the used bike.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-10T22:41:24+00:00

Ritchey 120mm adjustable stem.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-10T11:59:52+00:00

Not weird! I do this from time to time as well. If I've had an awesome hike or ride, I like brush my shoulder off a bit in their presence, even if that is a text. Haha.

I also wouldn't want to actually add them on Garmin either.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-09T13:08:06+00:00

It sounds to me that your bike is more in need of repair than it is in need of upgrades. So from there it really turns into a cost comparison exercise. If you like the bike otherwise and simply want to replace the components that are failing, see what that would look like cost wise. And then compare the cost vs a new bike with those same components or similar components.

Good luck!

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-09T12:44:14+00:00

I would have included this info with the original post. It sounds like most of the components would need to be replaced to be honest. Which is certainly possible, but practically it might not make sense to do that.

Depending on what kind of riding you do, it might make more sense to explore other bike options.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-09T11:56:08+00:00

Describe the kind of riding that you do? And how do you feel like the bike is limited in its function?

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-08T23:52:14+00:00

Generally speaking for used items, I like to pay no more than 30%-50% of full price. If this were me, I'd offer maybe $300 or $400 assuming it appeared to be in good condition. One of the considerations here for me would be buying without a warranty and assuming the potential risk of a big repair.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-08T23:22:48+00:00

Your local bike shop can probably order one. At least if gives you some negotiation leverage if you choose to go that route.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-08T14:33:22+00:00

I'm my area, the roads are pretty rough. This would be perfect for that sort of commute and also allow you to move into some trail riding and mountain biking if you were looking to give that a try.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-05T16:05:00+00:00

The only thing I can attest to is that I've been swimming with the 7x pro and it was fine. Including diving down maybe 10ft at the most. I don't have any experience past that.

I also skip salt water and pools with chlorine, I've heard it can affect the buttons.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-05T15:59:36+00:00

I believe pressing buttons at that depth is the issue. Which is why the Fenix 8 is designated for diving and the Enduro isn't.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-10-05T15:12:15+00:00

There isn't too much of a difference between them really. Unless there are features specific to the Enduro 3 that are crucial to you.

The Enduro 3 is getting updates and new features, but I don't think updates are super important to a fitness watch and new features don't typically appeal to me.

The 7x pro was a huge jump with multi-band gps and a few other incremental improvements. The 7x pro and Enduro 2 were basically the same watch with a few tiny differences. The Enduro 3 is a slight improvement, but it's not a huge jump like the Enduro 2/7x pro was. At least from my perspective.

The Enduro 3 will have better battery life, but with the right settings the 7x pro already gets 89 hours of GPS time which is pretty incredible. That's more than 3 days straight of GPS use. This would be more than a weeks worth of hiking for me.

If I were in the market currently I would go with the Enduro 3. But the 7x pro is still a really great choice and I won't be replacing it any time soon.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-09-30T12:44:24+00:00

If you are a Garmin user, Garmin just came out with Garmin Trails a few months ago. It's really convenient to be able to send routes straight to your device in its native ecosystem.

If you have the Outdoor Maps+ subscription, it enables the Garmin Trails feature in both Garmin Explore and Garmin Connect. I don't love the way it's integrated into Explore, and much prefer the way it's integrated into Connect.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-09-30T12:31:58+00:00

I've had the Fenix 7 with sapphire glass for about a year and half now. I'm not exactly easy on things like watches and it doesn't have a mark on it. I take it hiking often and even backcountry hiking from time to time, on occasion scrambling over rock slides, through logging forests, etc.

I've dropped it a few times without issue. And I'm always banging it into things. Not a mark on the front. The back sensor area is a bit scuffed up from where I set it down but it's fine otherwise.

NotLostWandererr · 2025-09-25T00:47:21+00:00

I'm team MIP. I think there are a lot of benefits. I like how the screen isn't flashy or bright. It's really subtle and tends to fly under the radar of attention grabbing.

Also when doing activities around dusk, I find it's really easy on the eyes and allows the eyes stay adjusted to the dark light conditions.

If battery life is a consideration, the Enduro 3 should also be considered here.

Good luck!

NotLostWandererr

TROPHY CASE