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The critical piece of this process is to always sync your watch with Polar Flow first, followed by the GoPro video files. Most people don't bring a computer to the track, so this is likely the natural course of action anyway. If you process data in the reverse order, we can't import your heart rate data.
Sorry for resurrecting this thread. I'm in the market fo a new watch. Are there any new watches that stand out for tracking laptimes and data?
My polar pacer pro, has a choice to select motocross for training/riding, which is cool.
Personally, i stopped wearing any fitness watch. Triggers my anxiety watching heartrate and all the other metrics.
Litpro did a great comparison for us. I ended up going with a Garmin 255 based on their reviews and data. Search Litpro GPS device shootout in your browser.
The Garmin Instinct is really hard to beat, its the cheapest of the rugged Garmins and has its own GPS and the battery lasts for over a week with quite a few activities using GPS.
Wrist heart rate on any watch is useless while riding so if you care about heartrate get a chest strap and hook it to your watch
Polar sucks. I would do everything I can to stay away from their products.
I personally just swapped to garmin chest and a forerunner 255. Have not used yet but but I have used all my polar stuff for quite some time and about 1/4 workouts and sessions are useless because of bad data. Not to mention they do NOT have customer service whatsoever. No phone, no email response, no response to contact reqeusts. They seem like a knock off viatnamese sweatshop that pays a hip california company to run their website and branding.
I called garmin and a human answered the phone and talked to me for 15 mins answering my questions.
Never had an issue getting in touch with polar. Had no luck with garmien on 2 watches that both became paper weights in less then a year. Luckily the place i bought them from replaced the 1st 10 months in with the 2nd and refunded me my money on the 2nd when it went 6 months later.
Moral of the story lie anything if you ask enough people you will find someone whos been burned by said ccompanies.
I have an Instinct and a Fenix and I'm really happy with the wrist heart rate readings. Not much deviation from what I get from the strap and I absolutely hate wearing straps.
You're right about the Instinct, I have beat mine to hell for years on the road, dirt and water and it hasn't lost any performance. Hard to beat for the money.
Yeah my wrist stuff is accurate during normal activity but its all over the place on the MTB and dirtbike I guess the way your wrists get bent, I wouldnt care to wear a chest strap if I didnt have to get surgery for SVT a couple years ago so I like to keep an accurate eye on things.
Been wearing a Forerunner 255 for over a year now and it's great. Create a new activity type for Motocross and in that activity settings max out the GPS sensitivity. Makes for very accurate MX track readings and lap times. Buy some of the cheap tempered glass screen protectors. I had my last screen shatter from roost and my new one the protector did it's job and got cracked.
I have good luck with the wrist HRM on the 255 doing MX. Much better than older previous Garmins. Mine tracks pretty well compared to my chest strap.
How did you get in contact?
what are people using now? looking into a garmin to track laptimes with litpro
I've used the Polar Vantage M3 and have since switched to Garmin 265. IF you get a garmin get one with the motocross setting (265 does not have this although you can make a "custom" activity for it).
I've tracked laptimes on my polar and pushed to litpro on the same tracks as my buddies garmin 965 they do the exact same thing. If you are worried about just using it for moto honestly you could get a WAY cheaper GPS watch than either of these devices.
As far as other things go it highly depends on what you want to use the watch for. Garmin has better training readiness metrics/training productivity whereas I find the Polar sleep tracking a bit better. Garmin all around has a better GPS system but you are splitting hairs at this point.
If you cycle and use a garmin cycling computer get a garmin, thats what made me switch.
Pit Row
CUO if you have a KTM.
I am also curious what non-CUO riders use.
Garmin Instinct all the way. I like Solar version, it only needs charging around every 30 days depending on how many activities you record.
Same, I have the Forerunner 265 and i use it to cross train with its running features. I charge it probably once a week. I will say the only models that have the moto profile are the super expensive models such as the 965 and Fenix. If you use a Garmin without the Moto profile, do a custom profile and set the base profile as eMTB.
Yeah, I also second Garmin over Polar. I had two different M series, and I really like them, but my last one's bottom button stopped working, so I replaced it with a Garmin Forerunner 970. It's 2 or 3x the price, but it's awesome, and I'm super pumped with it so far. It definitely seems more accurate across the board.
You don't necessarily need the 970, but I wear mine working out and riding, so the Sapphire lens is really nice to have.
Pick up a used Garmin Fenix 5 and use it for MX only. I have had mine on my handlebars for 5 years probably. Holds up through power washing, dirt and so on. Just put some tape over the sensor so it doesn't rubb against the bars and also protects charging port.
I turn it off between im not riding so don't have to charge it so often. Have to clean the charging port some but that's it.
looking into a new 570 or instinct 3. How much better is the forerunner?
The HR monitor on any watch is an optical system and never as good as the strap. It will always underpredict the heart rate in the higher ranges. The most accurate is a strap. David Attia mentioned this in his pod. Very interesting listen.
pulled the trigger on a instinct 3 amoled. excited to give her a whirl
I have the Instinct 2. You will love it. Its built like a tank and perfect for moto.
Instinct 2 owner here. Put it on the handlebars and wear the chest strap. I put a small chunk of pool noodle on the bars so make it thick enough for the watch band to tighten against
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