Walkhighlands

Hi
Can anyone recommend a fitness tracker that measures distance and height climbed?

I have a Fitbit Charge 3, which has been great, but recently the display has become so dim to be barely readable, even inside, and impossible out in the sun. I bought it 2.5 years ago, so it is out of warranty and Fitbit have offered 30% off a new one, which would still mean spending about £80. (I have tried all the fixes Fitbit suggest can sometimes help with this).

Is there anything else worth getting instead, with decent battery and not costing more than about £80? I have an iPhone, but may change that to Android, so ideally something that works with either.

To be honest, for distance and altitude etc. I would recommend to forget fitness trackers and go with a Garmin or Suunto Sports watch.

I recently got a Garmin Instinct Solar and very happy with it. The solar version does not add functionality, so you can save about 100 by getting the non-solar version.

It will have all the functions you need and is compatible with the phones.

Distance and altitude is the difficult bit.
Distance can be crudely estimated from number of steps, but to be accurate requires GPS which both increases cost and shortens battery life.
Height gained can be calculated from GPS, but barometric altimeters are probably more accurate, further increasing costs.

In short, I don't think you'll find what you're looking for in the £80 price bracket.

Look out for a second hand Garmin forerunner 45, or vivoactive 3.

I got a Polar Vantage watch last year and I've found it to be pretty accurate (the first few walks I used the mapping on here to check distance and ascent and it was pretty much spot on). I spent about £100 on it. I haven't trusted Fitbits since my old one used to say I'd burned 500 cals walking 0.7 miles to work.

If you end up using the your phone to track using Strava, don't rely on it. Weirdly Strava tracks cycling almost perfectly, but massively over and underestimates walking distances.

Many thanks all, I guessed I might be looking for the impossible as a new buy!

I've got a TomTom Runner 2 (discontinued, TomTom have exited the market) and whilst it's great for running/cycling/gym it's not ideal for walking in my (admittedly limited) experience. Battery life just makes a 3-4hour walk, although could probably last a day if I didn't use the bluetooth headphones for music, and it would be a lot better if there were seperate modes for running and walking in my opinion.

I just record my walk on my phone to Strava. Gives me all that info and doesnt kill the battery to be fair.

I have a Garmin Instinct (not Solar) and it does everything I need or ever wanted, the Solar version was just selected by TGO magazine as the best GPS watch.

jaykayemm wrote:I have a Garmin Instinct (not Solar) and it does everything I need or ever wanted, the Solar version was just selected by TGO magazine as the best GPS watch.

+1 for the Garmin Instinct. I would buy the Solar version if I had to get a new one.

iain_atkinson_1986 wrote:

jaykayemm wrote:I have a Garmin Instinct (not Solar) and it does everything I need or ever wanted, the Solar version was just selected by TGO magazine as the best GPS watch.

+1 for the Garmin Instinct. I would buy the Solar version if I had to get a new one.

+2. I've got the Solar version. It's a cracking watch, does everything I want it to do.