Apple Watch + Microsoft Band. Quick review

[BlueMoon63]

Reading your several posts on this thread, it seems you've given up on the watch as far as fitness/HR tracking goes. I know its a bit much to be told to buy something else to make your $1k+ watch work, but I really can't recommend the sport band strongly enough.

I have a link bracelet that I wear daily, however I swap it out for a sport band every time I go and work out/run/bike. I do this because the watch really is better at reading your pulse when tight around your arm... tighter than I'm comfortable adjusting my link bracelet (worried the stress from arm expansion/contraction could bust a connection along the band). As someone else said further up, the heartrate reading is much more consistent/accurate when you attach the watch about 1-1.5 inches above where you typically wear a watch (I attach mine about 1" above the bump on my wrist from the ulnar bone). Attaching it this high up means you need to tighten the watch fairly tight because it will just slip down your arm as soon as you get sweaty... which is why the sport band is really almost a 'necessity' for tracking workouts with the apple watch.

Completely agree on sport band or canvas and one notch tighter and higher up from the wrist "bump". Also helps when lifting weights by being out of the way on serious bending of the wrists.

Last week it was so muggy the sport band was starting to slide so I purchased a cheap canvas band to try and after one try it was even better at not sliding.

 

[ivandr]

Completely agree on sport band or canvas and one notch tighter and higher up from the wrist "bump". Also helps when lifting weights by being out of the way on serious bending of the wrists.

Last week it was so muggy the sport band was starting to slide so I purchased a cheap canvas band to try and after one try it was even better at not sliding.

Hmmm... hadn't thought of fabric/canvas bands being even more slip resistant. Its been solidly in the upper 80s and low to mid 90s for a few weeks here in the Northeast... particularly when biking (arm angled downwards) I have to readjust my watch up my wrist a few times during the ride. I'll have to check that out as another option, thanks!

 

[BlueMoon63]

Hmmm... hadn't thought of fabric/canvas bands being even more slip resistant. Its been solidly in the upper 80s and low to mid 90s for a few weeks here in the Northeast... particularly when biking (arm angled downwards) I have to readjust my watch up my wrist a few times during the ride. I'll have to check that out as another option, thanks!

Welcome. Sport band has been solid but we were in the 70's humidity here in Wisconsin/Minnesota border and I lost the pulse 3 times in an hour which was a lot for me.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Tomorrow I am golfing with Apple Watch on my left wrist and a borrowed Fitbit On my right to compare.

I also wear my AW to bed every night and in three months, I have not a single instance of the heart rate not being measured every ten minutes.

I golfed in the rain today looking like a geek with the Apple Watch SS with black sport band on my left wrist running Workout Other and the FitBit HR Charge (purple) on my right wrist. I had no clue how to work it but my friend set it up for tracking my heart rate. After two hours in the rain, the FitBit HR Charge did not lose the heart rate once and I averaged 135 bpm overall. The Apple Watch lost the heart rate once and when I finished, the activity app said my average heart rate was 134. Can't really do much with the $150 FitBit HR Charge but I used the Apple Watch to track every shot of my round and GolfShot was very accurate on the distance to the pin for all my shots. It had trouble moving to the next hole, but that was about it. I responded to several texts using siri and some custom canned responses and used Siri to schedule two meetings and one reminder. Apple Watch went from 77% to 55% over 130 minutes of golfing with constant HR running and GolfShot running the whole time. The iPhone 6+ went from 100% to 91% in the same amount of time.

FitBit is a nice workout toy but that is it... wouldn't be caught dead wearing it with a suit or buss casual. The manual says you should not wear it in the shower or swimming - pretty much like the Apple Watch but after three months of swimming and showering with it from time to time, I feel safe in knowing the Apple Watch still works and looks like brand new. If I only wanted a fitness tracker with constant HR, I would def use the FitBit HR Charge.

 

[richpjr]

The fitness app was the main reason why I wanted the AW and after reading the very mixed results people were getting early on, I held off picking one up. I'm still on the fence as to whether I want to pick one up. I have a Polar chest strap that I use paired with my iPhone and as expected, chest straps give excellent results. Of course I can use it with an AW too, but I really wanted something to use all day long and I really don't like super tight watch bands so I am leery that I'll get great results.

 

[MH01]

Reading your several posts on this thread, it seems you've given up on the watch as far as fitness/HR tracking goes. I know its a bit much to be told to buy something else to make your $1k+ watch work, but I really can't recommend the sport band strongly enough.

I have a link bracelet that I wear daily, however I swap it out for a sport band every time I go and work out/run/bike. I do this because the watch really is better at reading your pulse when tight around your arm... tighter than I'm comfortable adjusting my link bracelet (worried the stress from arm expansion/contraction could bust a connection along the band). As someone else said further up, the heartrate reading is much more consistent/accurate when you attach the watch about 1-1.5 inches above where you typically wear a watch (I attach mine about 1" above the bump on my wrist from the ulnar bone). Attaching it this high up means you need to tighten the watch fairly tight because it will just slip down your arm as soon as you get sweaty... which is why the sport band is really almost a 'necessity' for tracking workouts with the apple watch.

This is spot on. I think I need to get a sports band , cause I am not that comfortable to have the link band that tight. I'll get one this week and report back

 

[ivandr]

This is spot on. I think I need to get a sports band , cause I am not that comfortable to have the link band that tight. I'll get one this week and report back

Awesome, glad my experience was able to help sway you to give it a shot. I love my link bracelet (its what I wear all the time [unless working out]), but its really not meant for hard activity or to be cranked down overly tightly around your wrist to help with pulse reading during working out.

 

[MH01]

Awesome, glad my experience was able to help sway you to give it a shot. I love my link bracelet (its what I wear all the time [unless working out]), but its really not meant for hard activity or to be cranked down overly tightly around your wrist to help with pulse reading during working out.

I agree with that. A link bracelet should be able to move up and down ones wrist to be comfortable. Going to pick up a sports band today and test it