Author Topic: Smart watch App  (Read 1244 times)

Scubatt

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Smart watch App
« on: 21:31:39, 07/06/20 »
Hello, I'm new to the forum and hope someone can help. I use Gaia On my phone to plan and track my routes and wanted to go down the smart watch route. Lots of smart watches seem to offer apps that can plan routes down roads but can't seem to find anything too definitive on Footpaths. I'm looking for something that can guide me without keeping my phone out. I know it's not actually in the spirit of hiking but we have young children and want to plan our walks and explore without the worry of map reading. Any success stories out there without spending a fortune? Thanking you in advance.

ninthace

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Re: Smart watch App
« Reply #1 on: 21:52:26, 07/06/20 »
Welcome from Devon.
Smart watches are still a closed book to me - I use Garmin and/or mobile phones with ViewRanger or the OS app to navigate off road but can you link your smart watch to your phone as in and run the app on your phone but view it on your watch?
If you ran ViewRanger or the OS maps app on your phone then could you link to your phone?  ViewRanger is free to download, the OS app requires a subscription.
Then there is this https://www.viewranger.com/en-GB/about-us/media-centre/2019/02/07/casio-and-viewranger-team-up-to-bring-more-smartwatch-features-t
Solvitur Ambulando

BuzyG

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Re: Smart watch App
« Reply #2 on: 08:30:44, 08/06/20 »
Welcome to the forum. My wife loves her smart watch, I think it's a fit bit..  The tracking apps she uses for walking on it seem to be pretty inaccurate though.  Her mobile phone apps give far more realistic data.  Great for e-mail, not so great for navigation.  Of course there may be better apps for the phone.   O0

BuzyG

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Re: Smart watch App
« Reply #3 on: 14:04:36, 08/06/20 »
Welcome from Devon.
Smart watches are still a closed book to me - I use Garmin and/or mobile phones with ViewRanger or the OS app to navigate off road but can you link your smart watch to your phone as in and run the app on your phone but view it on your watch?
If you ran ViewRanger or the OS maps app on your phone then could you link to your phone?  ViewRanger is free to download, the OS app requires a subscription.
Then there is this https://www.viewranger.com/en-GB/about-us/media-centre/2019/02/07/casio-and-viewranger-team-up-to-bring-more-smartwatch-features-t
An interesting and developing subject.  You can just about get away with using a smartphone size screen for navigation in open country, a paper map or pre review via PC screen, still works better though, for the big picture, in an unfamiliar area..  Using a watch sized screen though...?  In open country, that is never going to work, even if an area has been Radar mapped.  I the city it could prove invaluable though, which I guess is where the money is.

ninthace

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Re: Smart watch App
« Reply #4 on: 15:56:13, 08/06/20 »
An interesting and developing subject.  You can just about get away with using a smartphone size screen for navigation in open country, a paper map or pre review via PC screen, still works better though, for the big picture, in an unfamiliar area..  Using a watch sized screen though...?  In open country, that is never going to work, even if an area has been Radar mapped.  I the city it could prove invaluable though, which I guess is where the money is.
My Etrex screen is as small as I like to go. Perhaps if you were basically following route, then you could use a watch to follow the red/magenta line but beyond that I would have thought a screen is better.  My old phone was hard to read in bright light but my current phone is bright enough to read OS maps easily and with zoom you can get a decent feel for the bigger picture - up to a point.
Solvitur Ambulando

gunwharfman

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Re: Smart watch App
« Reply #5 on: 21:07:18, 08/06/20 »
I have just logged onto the www.backcountrynavigator.com site and it claims that 'Android Wear support to see navigation at a glance on the wrist.' I don't know personally what that means but you might like to take a look.

Scubatt

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Re: Smart watch App
« Reply #6 on: 21:25:11, 08/06/20 »
Thanks people for your input and as BuzyG said, it appears to be an interesting and developing subject. What I have found out is that Viewranger is similar to Gaia and operates on any watch that uses the google Wear OS so that slims my choice down. The idea (apart from some really expensive Casio watches) is that the watch in your bag or pocket does a lot of the hard work and the watch uses its GPS and tells you when to turn. Having a 7 and 10yr  is one of the main reasons for using a watch as I’m often carrying the younger on shoulders or need both hands to help them and recently one went to grab the phone and it fell and chipped the screen. We also do cycling as well so I’m probably going to go for a TicWatch that seems to be doing well in many reviews if anyone was interested. Thanks to gunwharfman who has confirmed my thinking as I typed! If you are an Apple user i believe it works with Apple watches as well.

 

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