How to choose the right sports watch?
Sports watches exist in all sizes and colours. I think almost every sporter wears one around the wrist. What kind of watch you need, depends on your goals and activities. Are you a newbie in sporting? Than you might look for a simple one. Are you an experienced athlete? Chances are you're looking for a sophisticated watch with technological features.
Don't you know what watch you should buy? We give you a guideline. Do you prefer personal advice? Contact our Runners' lab advisors online via the Live WhatsApp, or visit one of the Runners' lab stores.
Which sports watch should I buy?
A sports watch tracks your health stats day and night. Not only during running, also throughout the (work)day and even when you're asleep. With this gadget around your wrist, you have continue insights in your fysical health.
Which watch you need, depends on you. What's your training and fitness level? How fanatic are you? What's your main sport? What's your budget? Do you have a goal in mind? A lot to take into account. We would like to help you.
Good to know: most sports watches collect useful data to control your general health. Even when you opt for a basic watch, you can be sure it collects a lot of data. Sporters who would like to go one step further, better choose a more technical model.
Level of activity
Daily activities
What? Walking, a sociable bike tour, moving in a relaxed way.
Why? To maintain your health and to keep your muscles moving.
Preferred functionalities: tracking general data such as your steps, heart rate, sleep and calories. Most sport watches feature these functions.
Recreational sports
What? Regularly (intensive) trainings such as running, swimming, fitness...
Why? To improve your physical health and your fitness. To challenge yourself in a pleasant way.
Preferred functionalities: kilometers and pace, heart rate, gps, all general sports such as cycling, swimming, running, fitness, yoga...
Intensive trainings
What? Competitive and goal-oriented trainings, improving yourself. Using data to train efficiently.
Why? As a preparation for a race or event.
Preferred functionalities: VO2-max, training readiness, training suggestions, body battery, endurance score...
Specific sport
Running (or walking)
Are you an avid runner? Than you probably need a sport watch that tracks all running data. Distance and pace, heart rate, cadense or calories are important features. Also a gps-function can be useful during running.
Swimming
The most important feature for a swimming watch, is the waterproof character. These watches also have the ability to track your swim trainings. It tracks the amount of swimming strokes, and it detects your swimming style (crawl, backstroke, breaststroke...)
Triathlon
Triathlon, the sport where you have three sports in a row. That asks for a specific watch. With the multisport function, you can easily transition to the next activity. Of course, these watches track your performances such as pace, distance, heart rate...
Trail running (or walking)
Trail running means discovering unpaved and challenging paths. An accurate gps to lead the way, is a must. Not only breadcrumb, but also point-to-point navigation and a clear map. Plus, the longer battery life comes in handy. Trail runs or hikes often take longer, sometimes even a few days.
Different brands of sports watches
Do you want the cream of the crop? Choose a sports whats with ultra-technical analysis and functionalities. These features are made for the fanatic sporter, athlete or sporter who like to seek for the extreme.
With a sports watch for intensive trainings, you're good. These watches track the most accurate and detailed data, so you can train for your goals.
We would like to give you a small overview of different data collecting. Of course, there is a lot more that a sports watch can track.
Hill score: do you regularly train with elevation gain? It's logic you want to know how you're uphill skills evolve. The hill score analyses your capability to run uphill.
HRV-status: also known as heart rate variability. It shows the constantly changing time between two following heartbeats. This measurement analyses how your body handles training and recovery.
VO2 Max: this is the maximum oxygen volume per minute per kg body weight you can consume. Simply said: it's the indication of your athletic performances. The higher the VO2 max score, the better your endurance.
Lactate threshold: your lactate threshold tells you more about your pace. it indicates the fastest pace you can run for like 20 to 60 minutes. When you cross the treshold, fatigue will come soon.
Endurance score: this score combines endurance, training and running abilities to define your performance. This number is dynamic and increases or decreases with changes in long distance trainings. This score is mostly useful for endurance sporters.