The Ref Stop

Recommended Smart Watches

Tim Punter

Tim Punter

Level 5 referee
Level 5 Referee
A bit of an update needed on past discussions.

I want to update my Fitbit Versa 3 to a smartwatch, which enables the RefSix app and also can customise interval runs, ready for the FA fitness test for training. There are so many Garmin watches available, any recommendations on the best ones on a budget of around £250/£325?

These three look ideal Garmin Forerunner 255 , Venu 2S GPS or the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro, but don't know what people have or would recommend.
 
The Ref Stop
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.
 
On the same subject, I have an apple watch. Does anyone know how I can do interval training on this?
 
Tim Punter said:
A bit of an update needed on past discussions.

I want to update my Fitbit Versa 3 to a smartwatch, which enables the RefSix app and also can customise interval runs, ready for the FA fitness test for training. There are so many Garmin watches available, any recommendations on the best ones on a budget of around £250/£325?

These three look ideal Garmin Forerunner 255 , Venu 2S GPS or the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro, but don't know what people have or would recommend.
Click to expand...
I have an Apple Watch SE, which is within your budget. Works great for me, strong battery life, affordable in the grand scheme of smart watches. Would recommend for Iphone users
 
Jed said:
Go on the workout app, press the 3 dots on “outdoor run”. There are a few default choices but you can edit some to make your own interval workout. E.g 800m hard 200m easy
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Is this workout app compatible with Strava? Do people run both side-by-side? Or what?
 
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 agree having had/got all versions of Samsung smart watches but was able to download the fitness test Audio and upload it to samsung music to play on my watch
 
I would be potentially include looking in the 2nd hand market for a slightly higher model Garmin. (I say Garmin because along with the Refsix compatibility Garmin are a market leader when it comes to GPS tracking and performance and they are also generally feature rich.)

Can usually get a decent deal on one in good
nick. I got my current Polar device (Polar Grit XPro) which RRPs at about £600 for about £220 if it recall correctly so you could get a flagship model for the lower spec budget.
 
RefereeX said:
Is this workout app compatible with Strava? Do people run both side-by-side? Or what?
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Yes it is. I normally do all my runs straight onto strava but when I do tempo run sometimes I use the exercise app. Once I’ve completed the run on the exercise app i save it and it connects to your strava, all you have to do is go on strava and click connect activity to strava and then it will show on your profile
 
RefereeX said:
Is this workout app compatible with Strava? Do people run both side-by-side? Or what?
Click to expand...
What do you mean compatible with Strava? I run the session on my watch and when it synced the data to the app it then posts it to strava so I wouldn't expect any compatibility issues.
 
JamesL said:
What do you mean compatible with Strava? I run the session on my watch and when it synced the data to the app it then posts it to strava so I wouldn't expect any compatibility issues.
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That’s what I do, in my message above I tried to explain that but done it in a really complicated way
 
JamesL said:
I would be potentially include looking in the 2nd hand market for a slightly higher model Garmin. (I say Garmin because along with the Refsix compatibility Garmin are a market leader when it comes to GPS tracking and performance and they are also generally feature rich.)

Can usually get a decent deal on one in good
nick. I got my current Polar device (Polar Grit XPro) which RRPs at about £600 for about £220 if it recall correctly so you could get a flagship model for the lower spec budget.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Amazon Warehouse have them for £291, so will investigate a bit more.
 
JamesL said:
What do you mean compatible with Strava? I run the session on my watch and when it synced the data to the app it then posts it to strava so I wouldn't expect any compatibility issues.
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That was what I meant. When I run refsix, because I don't pay for it, I have to run strava at the same time. (If you pay you can download the GPS file and upload that to strava). But if this workout app that I've never used automatically loads to strava then that would be handy.
 
RefereeX said:
That was what I meant. When I run refsix, because I don't pay for it, I have to run strava at the same time. (If you pay you can download the GPS file and upload that to strava). But if this workout app that I've never used automatically loads to strava then that would be handy.
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do you want the exercise app for running or reffing games. If you want it for reffing I guess you could start it a minute early then start your REFSIX then at the end of the half end your REFSIX then go over to stop your exercise app then export it over to strava
 
Jed said:
do you want the exercise app for running or reffing games. If you want it for reffing I guess you could start it a minute early then start your REFSIX then at the end of the half end your REFSIX then go over to stop your exercise app then export it over to strava
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No, just need it for running, but was wondering if I could still easily get the data over on to my strava.
 
RefereeX said:
No, just need it for running, but was wondering if I could still easily get the data over on to my strava.
Click to expand...

Looks like there's a Strava app for the watch and therefore doesn't have same level of compatibility as some other devices that do all the leg work and then just export the data to Strava upon syncing the device with the products app.
There is something in here about splits though so potentially can setup a workout with intervals.
 
JamesL said:

Looks like there's a Strava app for the watch and therefore doesn't have same level of compatibility as some other devices that do all the leg work and then just export the data to Strava upon syncing the device with the products app.
There is something in here about splits though so potentially can setup a workout with intervals.
Click to expand...
When you download strava on your phone it automatically downloads onto your watch, the data from the watch goes onto phone app. When you finish your workout you press done then it uploads to phone app
 
Jed said:
When you download strava on your phone it automatically downloads onto your watch, the data from the watch goes onto phone app. When you finish your workout you press done then it uploads to phone app
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Yes. My point is you're forced onto Strava as a consequence which is not as configurable.
For example, I can set a program on my watch and it will tell me what to do and when with pre programmed workouts.
Or I can set my own training target with phases - really useful for fitness test as I get a 4 second vibratory countdown into the end of each interval.
So I can do all the fancy stuff on my watch and then it gets chucked into Strava rather than being limited but Strava recording options.
 
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