Recommended Smart Watches

I’ve got the garmin forerunner and use it for running and with REFSIX. I actually prefer it to the Apple Watch because of the buttons. The Apple Watch is inconsistent for me when I’m sweaty or cold. I don’t trust it. The buttons on the forerunner are reliable and all the other functions are similar. I don’t love the HR monitor on it but that’s my only complaint.

What I'd love to be able to do is to start/stop time on Refsix using the button rather than touching the screen.

Is there any option for doing that on any of the watches?

Viridis1886 said:

What I'd love to be able to do is to start/stop time on Refsix using the button rather than touching the screen

Click to expand...

This is a big thing for me, and why I always start it just before I blow the whistle, because I had one match where the screen must have turned off as I pressed it to start the time because 2 mins in I realised it wasn't counting (my 2nd watch came in handy then!). Any recommendations from anyone on this one much appreciated!

Gabriel said:

This is a big thing for me, and why I always start it just before I blow the whistle, because I had one match where the screen must have turned off as I pressed it to start the time because 2 mins in I realised it wasn't counting (my 2nd watch came in handy then!). Any recommendations from anyone on this one much appreciated!

Click to expand...

I do the same. Check keepers and AR, start R6, check encroachment on the circle, start watch 2..... PEEEEEEEEP!

Gabriel said:

This is a big thing for me, and why I always start it just before I blow the whistle, because I had one match where the screen must have turned off as I pressed it to start the time because 2 mins in I realised it wasn't counting (my 2nd watch came in handy then!). Any recommendations from anyone on this one much appreciated!

Click to expand...

Had similar with Ref Six, the app closes it self far too regularly for my liking leading to having to select the app from the list to reopen it.

Also find it overly sensitive on occasions, like when recording a goal and it thinks you want to stop the time.

CaptainsPlease said:

I have a Samsung Watch 4. I would not recommend it for interval training as the minimum intervals in the Samsung Health app are 30 seconds so not very useful for replicating the fitness tests. However it works fine for RefSix.

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I have the samsung watch 6 classic - there are a few interval timing apps you can download in the play store compatible with your watch

Viridis1886 said:

What I'd love to be able to do is to start/stop time on Refsix using the button rather than touching the screen.

Is there any option for doing that on any of the watches?

Click to expand...

If I understand what you’re asking, my garmin forerunner will do that. You can start or stop time with one button and end the half with a different one. I don’t have it near me now but I think there’s also a way to set it up with a continuous count that doesn’t stop counting when I stop time.

Bleedaggie said:

If I understand what you’re asking, my garmin forerunner will do that. You can start or stop time with one button and end the half with a different one. I don’t have it near me now but I think there’s also a way to set it up with a continuous count that doesn’t stop counting when I stop time.

Click to expand...

Is that using the R6 app or just as a timer function? If so it seems like the functionality I'm after.

Viridis1886 said:

Is that using the R6 app or just as a timer function? If so it seems like the functionality I'm after.

Click to expand...

Using REFSIX. I just checked on my phone. You’ll need at least the plus version of the REFSIX app ($1.99/month) but it works that way on my garmin forerunner music 245. You configure how you want the timer(s) to work in the app.

More for general purposes, here is the list of all of the Garmin watches that use RefSix.


There are a lot of HIIT/interval timing apps on Apple Watch, or you can set up intervals in the native Apple exercise apps as shown in the link below (Look for the Customize a Workout section in the link).


I've used Refsix for a couple of years, but I think I'm going back to the Referee Watch app by Winder on my Garmin Fenix 7. I always have the best of intentions of just using R6 as a timer and then updating the match record following the game, but I never seem to get to that. I LOVE it for the timing and heat map features, but I've tried to keep a match record on the watch and just can't get comfortable doing it. I'm tech-forward, but still like to keep a match record in written form. I think even if I started using an Apple Watch Ultra (which I'm considering after my current Garmin ages out), there are some other timing apps that seem to work well without the full match record features of R6.

If R6 could provide some sort of "easy" functionality where I could just enter cards and goals so I can get the time and location without doing any sort of extra recordkeeping (i.e. "Blue goal", "Red caution", "Blue send-off"), that would be ideal for me. I spend too much time messing around with my watch if I keep the game record on my watch, particularly when I'm in the center. It's not quite as bad to operate when I'm an assistant referee.