Crosstrainer's contributions

Garmin Vivosmart HR Activity Tracker: Measure your daily activity with this device that helps you to set and maintain aerobic fitness goals. Vibration alerts let you receive call, text and e-mail notifications from your phone.

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Customer Rating

4

Vivosmart HR hits the mark

on November 2, 2015

Posted by: Crosstrainer

Replaced Garmin 225 as it was not accurately reading my HR. Gave Garmin a 2nd shot when I saw their new Vivosmart HR as I had been happy with my previous Vivofit which died. I liked how Garmin developed their own optical HRM versus licensing it from Mio.
* Optical HRM, 5 stars
* Continuous Heart Rate 5 stars
* 5 ATM water resistant, 5 stars. Can't take the Fitbits in the shower. This is awesome
* Display is pretty poor unfortunately. With my poor vision, it's even tougher to see. But I do appreciate that the screen does not go to sleep and always shows the time or whatever you prefer. I can't even come close to seeing the email alerts without glasses which defeats the purpose of having alerts on a wearable. 2 stars.
* Bluetooth pairing and syncing, 5 stars.
* Watch style band, great! 5 Stars
* Activity Mode, running only. Nothing for other workouts. Not a huge deal since I just want aggregate data for my entire workout, which typically includes cardio and weights. I'm not just running. 3 stars.
* $149 price point. 5 Stars. I just can't spend $200+ on a tracker since they change so frequently. $99 seems too cheap on the other hand. If I want to replace every 12-18 months, I can't spend much more.

Overall, this deserves 4 stars. I'm happy to be able to workout without a chest strap, especially for travel as it's a pain to drag more gear and remember to pack it. Straps also get nasty and it's yet 1 more thing to clean and maintain.

My Best Buy number: 3485001470

I would recommend this to a friend!

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+132points

149of 166voted this as helpful.

Garmin - Forerunner 225 Sport Watch - Black/Red

Garmin Forerunner 225 Sport Watch: Track your physical activity levels and interact with the Garmin online community with this sport watch, which features Bluetooth and ANT+ technologies for easy sharing. The Mio Heart Rate sensor uses LED light for hassle-free readings.

Customer Rating

1

Garmin Garbageware Connect

on October 2, 2015

Posted by: Crosstrainer

Spent 3+ hours with various levels of Garmin tech support. No one could fix. All they did was have me reboot phone and watch 10 times and reinstall software. Phone stopped connecting with watch. Support reads out of manual as this process really should not be so complicated. Something is seriously wrong. My Vivofit always synced and never this pathetic. No mas. Terrible experience.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

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+1point

6of 11voted this as helpful.

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Crosstrainer's Review Comments

Garmin - Forerunner 225 Sport Watch - Black/Red

Garmin Forerunner 225 Sport Watch: Track your physical activity levels and interact with the Garmin online community with this sport watch, which features Bluetooth and ANT+ technologies for easy sharing. The Mio Heart Rate sensor uses LED light for hassle-free readings.

Overall

1 out of 5

Watch works ok - Does not Sync properly

By RustyRunner77

The watch works pretty well. The Garmin connect software does not sync properly. This is a known issue Garmin says they are working on according to there website and confirmation from customer service. The connection issues are hit and miss so you might connect with no issues or you might be like me and never be able to sync to myfitnesspal or have steps sync properly. DON'T BUY unless you like to gamble. Will be returning.

Crosstrainer

Same exact issue for me

October 2, 2015

Never was able to connect and sync.

+1point

1of 1voted this comment as helpful.

Garmin - Forerunner 225 Sport Watch - Black/Red

Garmin Forerunner 225 Sport Watch: Track your physical activity levels and interact with the Garmin online community with this sport watch, which features Bluetooth and ANT+ technologies for easy sharing. The Mio Heart Rate sensor uses LED light for hassle-free readings.

Overall

2 out of 5

Awesome watch! I've loved every second of it.

By Jenn

Awesome watch, love being able to train with a HR monitor and not have to wear the chest strap! Easy to use, works great with garmin connect and strava.

Crosstrainer

November 2, 2015

If it's so awesome, why only 2 stars?

+2points

2of 2voted this comment as helpful.

Garmin - Forerunner 225 Sport Watch - Black/Red

Garmin Forerunner 225 Sport Watch: Track your physical activity levels and interact with the Garmin online community with this sport watch, which features Bluetooth and ANT+ technologies for easy sharing. The Mio Heart Rate sensor uses LED light for hassle-free readings.

Overall

1 out of 5

Garmin Garbageware Connect

By Crosstrainer

Spent 3+ hours with various levels of Garmin tech support. No one could fix. All they did was have me reboot phone and watch 10 times and reinstall software. Phone stopped connecting with watch. Support reads out of manual as this process really should not be so complicated. Something is seriously wrong. My Vivofit always synced and never this pathetic. No mas. Terrible experience.

Crosstrainer

Update

November 2, 2015

I returned the 225 and saw how Garmin released the new Vivosmart HR which I will review. Ultimately, I was able to get the 225 to sync better once I updated the firmware. But then the heart rate accuracy suddenly became inaccurate. Calorie counts per workout went from 1000+ to 200-300. After strenuous activity, my HR was around 79. I probably would have kept the watch had it been accurate. For running only, it seemed to measure my HR. But for other cross training, such as weights or the elliptical, the 225 was not providing usable feedback. For $299, I was hoping for something that would work for various workouts.

0points

0of 0voted this comment as helpful.

Beats - Powerbeats³ Wireless - Black

Take your workout to the next level with Powerbeats³ Wireless earphones, featuring up to 12 hours of battery life to last through multiple workouts and secure-fit earhooks to maximize comfort and stability. With Fast Fuel, a 5-minute charge gives you 1 hour of playback. Sweat and water resistance provides trusted durability and dual-driver acoustics deliver dynamic sound to power your workout.

Overall

2 out of 5

Amazing Sound, Questionable Durability

By 503Phil

I exercise 5-6 days per week and hands down the most critical piece of equipment that will either make or break my workout is my headphones. They've got to be wireless, stay in my ears and sound amazing.

After going through my fourth pair of Jaybirds (Two pairs each of Bluebuds and X2's) I ended up giving these Powerbeats3 a shot as the X2's were discontinued and no local Best Buy store had any inventory of the new Jaybird X3's. I generally have stayed away from Beats for a few reasons:

1) Unnecessary price markup given the cost/value of competitors.
2) I can't get the Best Buy protection plan since the warranty is serviced through Apple. Which, by the way, doesn't offer AppleCare on these which doesn't give me a lot of confidence in protecting my investment.

As you can imagine, I've relied heavily on the protection plan over the years to avoid the lengthy exchange process and aggravating downtime when dealing with the manufacturer directly. The simplicity of Best Buy protection plan exchanges are the very reason why I don't buy consumer electronics anywhere else. Luckily for me, these failed within my two week return window so I dodged the bullet.

I had these Powerbeats3 for 11 days. During those 11 days I ran 7 times, twice in the rain, and during every workout I was sweating profusely (That's the point, right?). Starting on day 8 my music would randomly pause, skip or the volume would randomly adjust. By day 10 the inline controls stopped working all together. Sound was still great, but the user experience was beyond annoying. I called support, tried doing the reset/re-pairing, etc, but the inline controls just flat out broke.

I took them back today hoping that the Jaybird X3's would be in stock, but sadly they weren't so I'm going to cross my fingers that I got a lemon and give a new pair of Powerbeats3 one more shot.

In summary, these sound great but not enough to justify the $50-70 markup over Jaybird X3's and Bose SoundSport's. As an iPhone, iPad and Nike+ Apple Watch Series 2 owner, the W1 chip and iCloud device pairing is cool, but again not enough to justify the markup. They stay in my ears just fine, but so did the Jaybird's.

In the end, I just want a great pair of wireless workout headphones that sound great and can take a beating. Several hundred dollars later the search continues...

Crosstrainer

Los Angeles

Same Experience

March 31, 2017

All the same issues with the volume control no longer working, random lowering of the volume and other hassles while working out with these. Spent $149 on Amazon, but even that was too much. Looking at the JB X3's here at BB and saw your comment about the extended protection. Probably a good idea to spend the extra $30 as I too go thru headphones quickly. I'm stuck having to send my PB3's to Apple and will have just old wired earphones during the repair period.

I really wanted the PB's to be the ones as they sounded great and stayed in my ears.