A Cool Smartwatch

7.1

I have benefited from a fitness tracker for about a decade. Back in the early days it was simply step counters and basic pedometers. They didn't have Bluetooth, so they didn't communicate with anything, and you actually had to write your steps down.

Fast forward to today's offering of innumerable smart watches, wellness trackers and wearable technology. Now we can capture every minute detail of our waking and sleeping hours simply by keeping a watch or wearable on our wrist. They measure and notify us of everything our body is doing and experiencing.

I got my first Fitbit about about 6 years ago. It was a Zip, and met my needs at the time. Then I moved up to a Fitbit Blaze around 2016, and that was the jump in technology and tracking I really needed. Next up was a Garmin Forerunner 235. It was a step into the world of GPS enabled devices, so I didn't need to carry my phone on my runs or races.

My Forerunner served me well for almost 2 years. Unfortunately, the face got a small crack on it during the Spartan Ultra last year. It was still water tight and I didn't lose any functionality. That was until a sandbag workout back in December when the crack ran across the rest of the face on the watch, and it was no longer water tight, and totally fritzed out.

I probably stretched the Forerunner past its design intent - it is really a running watch, not an adventure and obstacle course watch. Enter the Garmin Instinct. It was one of my Christmas presents a couple weeks ago. What a cool smart watch!

The Instinct is water, shock and thermal resistant, built to military standards and has everything I could want or use built into it. Yes, the screen is a bit small, and it only has a two-tone display (not full color). But I am fine with that, given the incredible functionality of the device.

It is very responsive to picking up satellites in all situations where I have used it, and the Bluetooth is quick to connect and respond. It has made me excited to log miles and watch the data gather in the background.

I think our wellness journey benefits when we see the progress we make. Days quickly turn to weeks and before we know it months and years roll by. Having some form of wearable tracker makes our efforts more objective. If we measure it, we can better manage it.

So, if you aren't tracking your wellness journey, maybe now is a time to start. If you already collect data about your journey, maybe now is a time to dig into it a bit further and look for the wins and weaknesses that are apparent.

By the Way 

I logged 700 miles of running for 2019. Without the Forerunner or Instinct, I wouldn't have been able to track my runs or progress. With the help of these wearable devices, I know where, when, and how much I ran, and can better decide how my 2020 training will progress.