Another new watch: Coros Apex Pro!

I had to send the Garmin Instinct Solar back because it froze twice in the first four days of owing it.

Not good enough! Apparently it's a known issue, but that almost makes it worse.

A shame, as I liked it a lot and seemed the best fit right now.

I was going to persist with me 935, but I thought I'd try the Coros Apex Pro, which I've always liked the look of.

And lucky I did. 

I suspected the altimeter on my 935 was off, but I never actually tested it against the Instinct. Something I should have done.

I did test it against the Apex Pro --- I think to prove I actually needed a new watch.

The 935 did OK in the mountains but faired terribly on the flat and in the wind, compared to the Apex and common sense! On one 20' walk around a flat track it marked more than 50 m ascent and descent.

For all I know, it did terrible in the mountains, too. But it's harder to know what the elevation change should be on the trails, where the differences don't seem as important anyway as there is a lot of climbing and descending.

So a change was warranted.

The altimeter on my 935 did use to work (I checked flat runs I did after buying it on TrainingPeaks), but at some point it started to float.

Why the Apex Pro?

It won by elimination.

• I didn't want a Fenix as any model with a good battery life would be heavier that I wanted and I don't need or want music, Garmin Pay or maps
  
• I didn't want a 945 either, not after my 935 experience and because I've heard complaints about the battery
  
• I wanted to get off the Garmin treadmill if I could
• The Polar Grit X or Vantage V2 didn't seem to be what I was looking for

So I took a gamble on Coros and the Apex Pro.

The Apex Pro is expensive and quite old (they could bring out a new one soon). But it seems sturdy, so hopefully it will last. And it's light and has a good battery life.

Anyway, I'm happy after a week or so of owning it. It's simple, like the Instinct promised to be, but with a bit more functionality.

It's weird to change from Garmin after so many years, and I have lost some things I liked having on my 935 (more flexibility with activities and a pool swim mode that makes sense --- Coros's is brainless), but I'll get by.

New watch: Garmin Instinct Solar!

[UPDATE: I sent it back. It had a problem. It froze twice in the first four days of owing it. Apparently this is a known issue. I imagine Garmin'll fix it, but I didn't want to own one while waiting for the fix.]

Despite what I said here, I bought a new watch!

And it wasn't one of the watches I thought I'd get.

Why the Garmin Instinct Solar?

• It's got good batter life
• It's light and small
  
• It looks cool! (Eye of the beholder and all that!)
• I don't need the metrics it hasn't got (VO2 max, running dynamics and training effect)
• It's got swimming heart rate
• It's got an easy to read screen (no dark, sapphire glass a lot of high-end watched have)

 

An upgrade?

As I'm coming from a Forerunner 935, I thought this change might not feel like an upgrade as I'd be losing some of the metrics I had with the 935.

Granted, I never used those metrics and found some of them plain annoying. For instance, the recovery advisor and training load function. But in theory, the Instinct is a lower-spec watch.

But it does feel like an upgrade. Many of the standard functions have improved from the older 935 to the newer Instinct Solar, and there are new functions I like, e.g. the power manager. Even the body battery seems half useful, much more so at least than just sleep data.

No! You don't need a new GPS watch!

That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

The plan was to keep my current watch (a Garmin Forerunner 935) for at least three years (up until the end of 2021).

But every so often, I get the bug for a new watch.

What triggered it this time was the altimeter on my 935 not working. Even though this turned out to be a solvable problem, the seal had been broken on my desire for a new watch.

The candidates were the Coros Apex Pro and Premium, Garmin Forerunner 945, Polar Grit X, and Garmin Fenix 6 Pro. The most likely being the 945 and the Apex Pro. The Grit discarded because of poor navigation; the Fenix 6 because of weight.

What would I want from a new watch?

Longer batter life, wrist HR in the pool and good navigation, possibly maps.

Thus, the watches I most liked out of the above candidates were the 945 and the Apex Pro --- the 945 because of its light weight and maps; the Apex Pro because of its looks.

But I don't really need a new watch.

The 935 does everything I need. I might push the battery life in an event I want to do in October 2021, but that will only be one day. One day is not enough reason to buy a new watch (even if I could use it as an excuse). Particularly as I should be able to get by on that day with the 935, albeit at the watch's limit.

Also, the watches I'm looking at aren't that much of a jump up from the 935.

So I'm standing firm and not buying a new watch now. But I am changing my pledge to make the 935 last three years. Instead, I'm going to buy the next new release I like as soon as it comes out, be it the Forerunner 955, the next iteration of the Apex Pro or something else.

Solution to wonky Garmin Forerunner 935 altimeter

In windy conditions, when the altimeter can go haywire, wear the watch tighter on your wrist and possibly cover the watch with your sleeve.

That was easy. Whew! I was thinking I might need to buy a new watch. (Any excuse will do!)