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- $4 are a powerful tool for anyone looking to train and improve their overall
fitness but so often they're used to just count steps or randomly track activities without putting that data to use. - Many popular fitness trackers do even more than just that standard tracking, too, offering wearers a wide range of capabilities such as sleep tracking, offline map support, and coaching programs.
Updated on 7/7/2020 by Rick Stella: Added links to relevant Insider coverage, updated non-fitness features of the Garmin Forerunner 945, added more to the section on how to get the most out of your fitness tracker, and updated the pricing, links, and formatting throughout.
Adjusting to having more time on your hands takes many forms. Some may finally get through that stack of books they've wanted to read while others may take the $4 or learn a new hobby. Perhaps the rest and relaxation of doing nothing is preferred (and that's OK, too).
For me, I've taken to learning the ins and outs of my $4 and, more specifically, how I can truly put everything it offers to use.
I've long worn a fitness tracker as a daily watch, using it to record my bike rides, hikes, or any other sort of outdoor physical activity. But what I found myself primarily using it for was to tell time — which doesn't do much for getting the most out of the wearable or myself.
So, I decided to change that. The two fitness trackers I wear most often are the $4 and the $4. But instead of just paying more attention to the stats they already churn out, I started at square one with both. This meant first entering my age, weight, and other fitness data into each watch's companion app to create my new profile.
Now, as they track my workouts, steps, and flights of stairs climbed, the amassed data isn't just dumped into a general well of information — I instead have somewhat of an accurate representation of my daily activity. I've also taken to syncing my heart rate monitors, bike cadence sensors, and Wahoo Smart Trainer to the watches via Ant+ capability.
But I understand these sport watches aren't designed strictly for tracking my workouts and to get the most out of them, I'd need to know them as well as they intended to know me. To do this, I decided to dig into what else they offer, including everything from sleep-tracking and offline map support to music compatibility and $4.
Garmin
An in-depth coaching platform
For Garmin, the $4 is one of its top-of-the-line sport watches, intended for use for everything from marathon training to triathlons. What I learned when I spoke with Garmin product manager, Joe Heikes, is that the watch doubles as both a tracker and coach.
Garmin offers three training plans developed by elite running coaches that can help me specifically prep for a 5k, 10k, or half-marathon. By using Garmin's own algorithms, the plan adapts to the training I complete and how I register I'm feeling after sessions. It then uses that to let me know my training status and the effect of my runs, how much rest I need, and when I can train again.
This feature isn't just useful for race training but can be vitally important to casual runners, too. Understanding the way training affects you, as well as how much rest you need between sessions, is a crucial aspect of anyone's physical fitness — and Garmin wanted to be sure advanced features like this were available to both competing athletes and ordinary wearers.
Prioritizing rest and relaxation
I knew my fitness tracker would help me track my training but I didn't know it could also monitor my energy, sleep, and stress. Garmin's Body Battery rating scores me 0-100 each day using my heart rate and blood oxygen data that it collects via a back-of-the-watch sensor. This rating allows me to see if I'm getting enough rest, whether I should prioritize recovery, and how well I'm doing during each training session.
Heart rate variability is a good indicator of stress level, too. If the watch detects my heart rate is higher than it should be, it directs me to breathing exercises to help me calm down. The watch uses sensors plus activity tracking to tell me how long a break I need to recover before my next workout.
The blood oxygen sensor has other applications, too. When I'm adventuring at altitude, I can use it to make sure I'm not ascending too fast. And while Garmin doesn't have medical applications, low blood oxygen levels on the watch could be a nudge to check in with a doctor if I'm not feeling 100%.
A world of maps on my wrist
Another feature that's indispensable to me is the watch's compatibility with onboard maps. The Forerunner offers neighborhood street-level detailed maps, so if I miss a turn on my hike, walk, run or ride, I can figure out where I am.
The watch even has a trackback feature that generates a retrace of my route so I can find my way back to a trailhead or cross-street. The mode also lets me choose a back-to-start option that shows me the shortest route home from my current position.
Make use of the non-fitness features, too
The $4 offers plenty of other features that aren't just fitness-related, too. A personal favorite is how it's able to store and stream up to 1000 songs straight to my Bluetooth earbuds. This means I can leave my phone at home and take a walk, run, or ride and decompress from the online sensory overload with music in my ears. The watch even syncs with Spotify, too.
The $4 also has $4. This allows you to load your credit card info into Garmin Connect for contactless payment via card readers at the grocery store. The service also lets you easily transfer funds.
One of the things I'm often asked about when I head out to run or bike is to keep in contact should I need help. Thankfully, the 945 also has safety and tracking features. This lets me add up to three emergency contacts and if the watch thinks I've been in an accident, it automatically triggers an alert to them. I can override the alert if I'm not too injured to tend to myself and I'm even able to trigger an SOS to my contacts manually.