Polaris OBark

I'm looking for a watch (ideally) for my wife that would simply auto-detect and record a ride without her having to push any buttons or do anything other than ride the bike.

My Garmin Venu 2 almost does this for cycling. It does what I would want in the case of walking/hiking/running, and records the walk/hike/run with GPS, allowing me to sync it to Garmin and Strava for example, but for biking, it detects and flags the activity, but it doesn't auto-record it.

I'm looking at Withings ScanWatch, and it looks like it might do what I want, but I think it relies on a phone for GPS.

I'm hoping there might be other options, but it seems like a feature nobody mentions in reviews. (I did find a review of the ScanWatch where a reviewer complained it auto-detected a trip in the car and labeled it as a bike ride, but that is the closest I have seen to confirming that it does what she might want.)

Steve B.

I would not want that as the watch would mistake many activities and always be auto-starting. PITA you ask me,. How is the watch supposed to know the difference between hoping on a slow moving city bus and a bike ride ?

Instinct is easy enough to start. You can set which activity is top of the list so when you press the activity button (upper right) then press again, the record starts.

Chuck M 

I don’t know if any of the current Fitbit devices do this, but I seem to recall my Fitbit Surge having the capability to automatically detect certain activities. I have not had a Fitbit for many years, but in the day their customer service was quite good at responding to questions like this.

Polaris OBark

In the case of my Garmin Venu 2, which can auto-detect a ride, it is done I think with heart and breathing rate, and possibly cadence. I assume it doesn't fire up the GPS and record the activity in order to conserve battery life. I wish there was an over-ride setting for this.

It is remembering to press the button. (It even gets me about half of the time if I am using only the watch and not the bike Garmin.)

philbob57

On some devices (old Lezyne series 10) it's an option in settings. I first came across the option with a wireless non-GPS computer, and it always failed to restart at some point, and I lost all the data, so I can't write about how well it does or doesn't work, and the manual is no longer available for me to check how to use the setting.

Polaris OBark

I bought the Withings ScanWatch. I'll post back with impressions (still in the box for momma's day).

fooferdoggie 

a few garmin watches were supposed to but the last one I tried it came up as a outdoor run. Apple Watch finally stepped up the game and will record and pause fairly well. but it will ask every ride if your riding. wearing a coat would stop me from clicking the screen. garmin may have improved in that in a couple of years.

billridesbikes

Apple watch 7 will auto-detect any cycling and save it to your activities. Having played around with it a bit I think it uses a combination of your current heart rate vs. your historic and resting heart rates, readings from the accelerator, and the GPS to differentiate cycling from running or being on a bus. You don't have to do anything, it will tap on your wrist to tell you it's recording your workout. It also has a crash feature if you fall or get hit by a car it can notify a coroner or whatever. I believe you can turn off 'start workout reminder' and it will automatically record without doing anything else.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/how...linst-in-2022/

fooferdoggie 

I always had to ok a ride. but maybe I didn't to do it for long enough. its not as accurate as my gamin when you pause for lights and such.

billridesbikes

You can turn off 'start ride reminder' in the menu and I think it'll just start. What do you mean 'not as accurate'? For distance, HR, current speed? These three seem to match up well enough for me.

fooferdoggie 

it did not pause as well when I hit stop lights so my averages could be way off. plus I ride so much every day it was killing the battery. I do two 8 mile commutes then often 10 or more miles on the tandem. so the watch would need to be charged twice.

Chuck M 

I realize this is too late for the OP as he has made his purchase, but in the event someone else is looking for this feature, I remembered that my Garmin Edge can be setup to auto start. I would suppose other Garmin devices can do this as well. https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webh...55733092F.html

fooferdoggie 

mosty gamins will but then you need someway to get your heart rate.

biker128pedal

The Garmin edge can be set up to auto start. But leave it on while the bike 🚲 is on the rack while driving and improve one’s average speed.

Seattle Forrest

Most things are useful if you use them correctly but not helpful way outside their context. My house key lets me get inside, but try giving it to a thief!

Polaris OBark

The Withings watch auto-detected hand-washing as an activity: swimming. It dutifully uploaded it to Strava.

I think the auto-start on the Edge 530 just means you don't have to press the triangle button to get it to start recording the ride. It isn't like you can have the thing turned off or in sleep mode, hop on the bike, and it turns itself on and then starts recording the ride.

Chuck M 

That's correct. I guess that isn't exactly what you were talking about. It still keeps one from riding off without starting the ride though which I have done since I don't have mine setup to auto-start. And I did that with my Forerunner on a run last week which I find aggravating.

Polaris OBark

This has to be the biggest let-down of anything I have purchased in recent memory.

It can't even keep time accurately (like the one thing any watch should be able to do).

It is beyond worthless for recording rides, either automatically, or manually. It works occassionally, but success is quite rare.

Today it claims to have detected a 4 hour ride at 8:30 pm today. It is currently 4:15pm. Maybe it can see into the future.

It looked like a good idea (a smart watch that doesn't look like one, has a small form factor, and uses the phone's GPS), but the implementation is so fraught with difficulties and outright failure that I would not wish this thing on my worst enemy.

Avoid.

Seattle Forrest

EDIT: no low ballers, I know what I've got.