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Comment by agentgt | Hacker News Reader

Not to be too tangential but I'm actually looking for a good running watch (I'm just getting back into running) and possibly heart rate monitor + gps. I noticed in the article they show her watch (to show the discrepancy in distance). What watch is that? What is the running software?

EDIT (I missed the Garmin 235 link and paragraph). I am not sure how I missed it over and over (I was using my phone) and yes I feel dumb for posting the comment.

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I'd love to recommend the Polar M600 which I have owned since the beginning of this year. It is one ugly Android Wear watch but in terms of functionality and features I do not regret the purchase one bit. It has built in GPS and a pretty accurate heart-rate monitor and superb battery life which is around a day and a half which includes a daily 5-7mile 50min to a 1.5hr run with GPS and HR monitor active and music streaming to my BT earphones to boot during said runs (streaming from the watch not phone which is left in the car mind you).

A review on Amazon pretty much sums up all the bullet points for what I was looking for and meets and or exceeds all of them:

- GPS tracking

- Heart rate monitor

- Onboard music storage

- Smart notifications

- Battery life

https://www.amazon.com/Polar-Smart-Sports-Watch-black/dp/B01...

Also the Android Wear 2.0 update has been confirmed coming down the pipe to this watch as well this spring.

It says so in the article, it is the Garmin Forerunner 230 or 235. The 230 uses a chest strap for heart rate, the 235 has optical heart rate built in. The software is Garmin's. To connect the watch and get the data off it you can use Garmin Connect (works via your phone and bluetooth) or you can connect the watch with a wire and use it as you would a regular hard drive. The files on a Garmin are saved as .FIT files. I use a Garmin Forerunner 225 and am quite happy with it.

I feel completely stupid for missing that. For some reason the layout of the pictures on my phone made me miss that. I might delete my comment now.

May I piggyback on this tangent ?

I really want a real-time heartrate monitor but have been convinced that the wristwatch heartrate monitors are quite inaccurate compared to the chest straps ...

But I also need a simple timer/chronograph. Do I need two devices or is there a chest strap HR monitor that has a simple timer/watch/chrono built into it ?

I did some careful examining of the picture (after commenting) and it looks like she is wearing a high end garmin watch.

That is sort of the problem. There is super cheap that timex just does time, fitbit/garmin/polar that requires constant charging and is buggy and then there is the ultra highend garmin watches that are $500+ (the fenix series).

I just can't justify $500 (Garmin Fenix) as I only wear watches when I run. Looks like Amazon sells them refurbished though.

The article does link to the watch (a Garmin 235) on Amazon [0].

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-230-Black-White/dp/...

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