I resisted any sort of "smartwatch" for years. Then I decided to start exercising, lifting weights, cycling, etc. This was last September. A short time after this, a friend gave me a very basic fitness watch, an Amazfit Band 5.
Frankly, it was everything I hated about your typical smartwatch. It is...androgynous. Like something they'd make you wear in "A Brave New World" or "Logan's Run".
I was supposed to stop wearing that, and wear this ambiguous thing instead?
But I gave it a try. And once I saw the impact it had on my exercise habits, my old watches stayed in the drawer. But if you aren't familiar with a fitness watch (I wasn't), you may not know that it pairs with an app on your phone. And when you enter in your age, height, weight, body and limb measurements, it generates useful health information.
That is a current screenshot from my watch's fitness app, "Zepp". That is my step count, miles traveled, and estimated calories burned through exercise today. I went to the gym and walked a few laps around the park, so it is a lot of calories burned. And the cardio machines I use translate into steps in most cases.
The phone uses the swing of your arm to count steps taken and the speed you walk, and GPS for distance. It senses your beats per minute heart rate using the arteries in your forearm. From all of this, and your height and weight, it calculates calories burned.
Below that is my sleep monitor. If you wear the watch at night it will measure the length and quality of your sleep, based on heart rate. That wasn't too bad a score for me, considering I have sleep apnea.
Below that is current heart rate. Clicking on that will show you what yours was the entire time throughout the day.
A bit further down on the screen are my exercise sessions. My total time lifting weights is a "session". Then I end and save that and start a new "session" for elliptical running, stationary bicycle, treadmill, etc.
And you can click on each field for more detailed data and workout history for day, month, and year.
Improving your numbers becomes much like having a "good" gambling addiction. A positive form of operant conditioning. It makes you WANT to exercise.
Eventually, I wanted a watch that, well...looks like a proper watch. So I got this Amazfit T-Rex Pro from Amazon. More features, better, more accurate heart rate sensors.
You can select different displays. I won't belabor the watch's features, like the azimuth compass in case you need to do a "polar" call for artillery fire. Plenty of videos on YouTube to tell you all the functions.
I just thought perhaps some guys were sitting on the fence about these. These are definitely "tool" watches.
Frankly, it was everything I hated about your typical smartwatch. It is...androgynous. Like something they'd make you wear in "A Brave New World" or "Logan's Run".
I was supposed to stop wearing that, and wear this ambiguous thing instead?
But I gave it a try. And once I saw the impact it had on my exercise habits, my old watches stayed in the drawer. But if you aren't familiar with a fitness watch (I wasn't), you may not know that it pairs with an app on your phone. And when you enter in your age, height, weight, body and limb measurements, it generates useful health information.
That is a current screenshot from my watch's fitness app, "Zepp". That is my step count, miles traveled, and estimated calories burned through exercise today. I went to the gym and walked a few laps around the park, so it is a lot of calories burned. And the cardio machines I use translate into steps in most cases.
The phone uses the swing of your arm to count steps taken and the speed you walk, and GPS for distance. It senses your beats per minute heart rate using the arteries in your forearm. From all of this, and your height and weight, it calculates calories burned.
Below that is my sleep monitor. If you wear the watch at night it will measure the length and quality of your sleep, based on heart rate. That wasn't too bad a score for me, considering I have sleep apnea.
Below that is current heart rate. Clicking on that will show you what yours was the entire time throughout the day.
A bit further down on the screen are my exercise sessions. My total time lifting weights is a "session". Then I end and save that and start a new "session" for elliptical running, stationary bicycle, treadmill, etc.
And you can click on each field for more detailed data and workout history for day, month, and year.
Improving your numbers becomes much like having a "good" gambling addiction. A positive form of operant conditioning. It makes you WANT to exercise.
Eventually, I wanted a watch that, well...looks like a proper watch. So I got this Amazfit T-Rex Pro from Amazon. More features, better, more accurate heart rate sensors.
You can select different displays. I won't belabor the watch's features, like the azimuth compass in case you need to do a "polar" call for artillery fire. Plenty of videos on YouTube to tell you all the functions.
I just thought perhaps some guys were sitting on the fence about these. These are definitely "tool" watches.