The Vivoactive 3 also supports Bluetooth HR straps. I have never tested this, just going off of specs. All Polar's soft straps are of higher quality than Garmin's (for some reason), so a BT one of those should treat you well. The Wahoo ones are also good, but not only do you not need one of Wahoo's 1,522 advanced running/swimming metric HRM. Don't know if it works on VA3. But lots of configuration and important datapoints. Sun up and down and ability to show a second time zone (Zulu). I also like smoott for the same reasons though it isn't quite as flexible and it only shows the nearest sun event.
Let’s start with the comparison with the best two smartwatches Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs apple watch 3. This is the best two smartwatches that are best for everyone but some people confuse to use the best for that. For this reason, iam review these two smartwatches in depth.
What is a smartwatch?
Smartwatch is a device that helps you to improve your health and fitness. Smartwatch can track your daily activity like steps, calories you burned your sleeping especially your heart rate that can indicate you about your health.
Most of all smartwatches have other feature that helps you in your exercise I mean these types of smartwatches track your exercises like running, cycling, swimming, and many more
How to use the Best smartwatch?
When Apple announced the first smartwatch back on 9th September 2014, the smartwatch moved to the next level in the world now in 2019.
There are many companies provided many best smartwatches that are best in their prices. With all this option it is very difficult to use the best smartwatch that is perfect for you In your budget.
For this reason iam adding some Quick Tips to choose the right smartwatch,
Must Read: Letsfit vs Fitbit The most powerfull smartwatches
Compatible with your smartphone
This is necessary to check the smartwatch which you use is compatible with your smartphone.
Because Imagine you bought the brand new smartwatch and then you can see that smartwatch is unusual for you because that smartwatch cannot recognize your smartphone.
Display of the smartwatch
The Display is the most important and the key factor that has two variants being offered in the market. Each one has its weaknesses and strength. You have a choice to use between an LCD screen or an AMOLED display.
AMOLED display provides you better display and best color Visibility in the screen where black will indeed be black. The AMOLED display tent to be the more power Hungary.
The catch here will be that AMOLED displays that are not as bright as LCD screens.
The Interface Being Used
There are two types of interfaces and you will have to pick from these options. The first interface is a touch screen and another is button interface and the last interface uses both of them I mean use the device that has the combination of touch screen and buttons.
Styling
Obvious some people look best with all the features that you need but with the smart-looking watch. Watches have always displayed class in men and women so be careful and use the stylish smartwatch with the best features.
Pricing
This is something that a lot you keep in mind the most whenyou are choosing your smartwatch. Price is going to depend on the brand of thewatch you are buying and the amount of time they have been producing thiswatch.
Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs apple watch 3
The first smartwatch that iam review in this article is Garmin Vivoactive 3in the list of Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs apple watch 3
Garmin Vivoactive 3
The new releasing Garmin Lineup, the Garmin Vivoactive 3 packs in a long list of features. This Garmin watch is the perfect tracker for fitness and health. This smartwatch tracks your heart rate via a wrist-based monitor.
The Vivoactive smartwatch guide you in stress reduction, towards better, sleeps from morning to when you lay down in the night. This smartwatch guides you from crushing our daily goal.
With the GPS, sports tracking and Smart Notification, this is the high-end device. This watch has an onboard payment system and a subtle, with the best design the Garmin makes the best and versatile wearable Smartwatch with true mainstream appeal.
The Garmin Vivoactive 3 smartwatch is a fully Featured smartwatch that is fitness-focused smartwatch available, but the apple watch series 3 has more apps
But the Garmin Vivoactive smartwatch has an always-on watch face and the round design with the advanced workout tracking.
The bad Part of Garmin pay supports few cards at launch and the Sleep tracking monitor is a little bit inaccurate. The worst thing is you cannot store songs in Garmin Vivoactive 3
Features of Garmin Vivoactive 3
Music Support: You can connect this watch with music streaming services and listen to music. this smartwatch connects with headphone and you can enjoy the music that enabled with the Bluetooth technology, this is best for phone-free listening
Contactless pay: This watch has a Garmin Paycontactless payment solution this is available for that who supported cardsfrom participating banks. These make your convenient payments with your watch,so you can leave your cash and cards at home
Watch faces: This watch Customize withthousands of free watch faces, apps and more.
Sports apps: This watch comes with more than15 preloaded sports apps, like yoga, running, swimming, strength training andmany more
Fitness tracker: You can also monitor your fitnesslevel with VO2 max and fitness age estimates, plus keep an eye on how youhandle stress through estimated heart rate variability
Battery life: This watch provides you 7days battery backup in smartwatch
Apple Watch Series 3
The first smartwatch that iam review in this article is apple watch 3in the list of Garmin Vivoactive 3 vs apple watch 3
The apple series 3 is Compatible with the Watch OS 6 that is beast this watch brings a dedicated app store to get the apps that you need in your smartwatch.
But some software updated is only available in apple watch series 4 or in higher series. Now, this watch has a lack of features from newer models.
The apple smartwatches are the far and away from the most popular smartwatches in the market with its design and best features every new smartwatch has its different and iconic features that Apple brings in the market.
Apple has managed in series 3 cram LTE compatibility and a faster dual-core processor without adding some heavy bulk. The case of series 3 comes with the same size that has in series 2. But the back of series 3 has been extended 0.25mm.
This Series 3 has cellular connectivity that’s mean you can take calls, talk with series, answer your messages and the most and best part access your maps without needing a phone.
The setting of cellular connections is very easy. Cellular connectivity is not the main focus. The series 3 brings with the barometric altimeter to help stairs climbed and elevation.
Now in this smartwatch, you can view your heart rate directly from the watch face. The Apple series has two versions that can impress.
But the cheaper, non-4G version has delivered good value for money and comes with top fitness capabilities from the wrist.
This apple watch has excellent fitness tracking features with Faster Siri and has an LTE convenient while you are working out
The best part of this smartwatch is its music streaming that entertains you by listening to music at the time.
Features of Apple watch series 3
GPS: You can use GPS on a series Smartwatch.
Heart Rate: You can track your heart rate with the help of apple watch series 3 that can help you to improve your health.
Processor: This watch comes with S3 with a dual-core processor.
Water Proof: you can use this watch in water and also you can use this in your swimming. Because this watch is swim-proof.
Mobile Payment: You can your payments by Apple pay.
Kayaking is a tough sport in general. It’s tiring, you’re usually on the water for a while and you need to also know where you’re going, especially if you’re traversing long areas of lagoons and caves like Halong Bay. If you are wondering what the best waterproof GPS watches for kayaking and paddling are, then read on!
The chances are if you’ve been kayaking for a while, you like to go WAY off the beaten ‘track’ and explore places further afield. You’ve probably realized that the less stuff you have to carry the better, and you don’t REALLY want to take your smartphone on the water if you can help it, even with a good dry bagon your back.
So you’re here, looking for the best waterproof kayaking watches that have GPS installed. Before we get into the guide, let’s take a second to think about what you might need in a kayaking watch.
What To Look For In A Good GPS Kayaking Watch?
- Well, the first thing is it needs to be waterproof
- The GPS needs to work well even when the batteries running low (a problem for a lot of GPS watches is when the battery runs low the signal somehow gets worse!)
- It needs to be comfortable because you’ll wear it for a long time
- Ideally, it could track your heart rate and fitness as well (two birds one stone)
The Top 8 Waterproof GPS Watches For Kayaking & Paddling In 2021
Here is our list with no particular order, as we wanted to give you a range of options and budgets. There are watches here at various prices and with various features, but they are all waterproof and have GPS so you won’t get lost while kayaking!
Garmin Fenix 3 GPS Watch
The first Garmin on our list, (there are several because they make very good watches for kayaking and diving). Let’s start with the basics, this watch can be seen even in the brightest sunlight with its sunlight-visible Chroma display.
It’s rated up to 100 meters waterproof (so you can paddle away) and comes packed with its’ EXO antenna for a better GPS signal. That actually makes it MORE accurate than just GPS alone, and it’s all wirelessly connected of course. It has a long battery life and it’s comfortable. Not much is wrong with this Garmin, except maybe the price.
Pros Of The Garmin Fenix 3
- Waterproof up to 100 meters (from here on we won’t mention waterproof because they all are)
- EXO antenna makes the GPS signal very accurate
- The long battery life of up to 20 hours or more depending on the mode you have it set on
- Monitors heart rate
Cons Of The Garmin Fenix 3
- Quite pricey
- The heart rate has been said to be inaccurate at times
Garmin vívoactive Black
This Garmin is a good addition and with this model, they actually give you the choice of having a heart rate monitor or not, and the price difference for that feature is only $20 or so!
We would always choose the heart rate over not having it, just because it can come in really useful for tracking your fitness and exertion levels. It comes loaded with sports apps and settings, and the battery lasts up to 3 weeks with proper usage (but only up to 10 hours when using the GPS function).
Pros Of The Garmin Vivoactive
- Long battery life when not using GPS
- Can customize the watch face design with free templates
- Powerful and accurate GPs antenna
Best Watch Face For Garmin Vivoactive 3 Review
Cons Of The Garmin Vivoactive Headphone mixer multiple inputs.
- The display stays on all the time, although from some reports this doesn’t seem to drain the battery much
Garmin Quatix 6 Multisport Marine Smartwatch
One of the more visually appealing GPS watches, this Garmin boasts racing modes and timing functions making it probably more suited to rowing and race events. That being said it’s still a great watch for kayaking and GPS kayaking situations.
It comes with features like a heart rate tracker and music linking abilities, along with a range of watch strap options making it a good choice as an everyday watch as well!
Pros Of The Garmin Quatix 6
- Fully waterproof
- Great GPS function
- Can connect to speakers and track your heart rate
Cons Of The Garmin Quatix 6
- You can find similar features for a much lower price in other models
Garmin Foretrex 401
The GPS receiver is very sensitive to this model, making it better than other models which tend to give a location ‘bracket’ for where you could be. Ideally, you want your GPS watch to be as accurate as possible especially when navigating tight lagoons and cave systems, etc.
This watch can also track sunrise and sunset times letting you never miss either. This is particularly useful for not only making sure you’re back before dark, but for making sure you never miss the perfect sunrise or sunset photo on the water.
Pros Of The Garmin Foretrex 401
- Very robust model
- Accurate and effective
- Supports dual position so you can read your location in various formats
- Much more affordable than almost all the other watches we’ve listed here
Cons Of The Garmin Foretrex 401
- Doesn’t look as good as similar models (doesn’t look very much like a watch with its horizontal design)
Garmin Forerunner 35, Easy-to-Use GPS Running Watch
You have a few color options with this one, making it a bit more likely to become your everyday watch. There is also a bike mount you can get for it, but for the purposes of kayaking, it’s very good.
There’s a 24/7 heart rate monitor that can also track your sleep, and it gives you haptic alerts about your heart rate, running (or kayaking), and various other things. This GPS watch doesn’t require a phone to be connected for it to work, so you can easily connect to GPS without a phone nearby (some watches require a phone to be connected for GPS to work fully).
People report having used this watch for years and it still performs exactly how it did when they bought it, which is amazing and made them recommend that this is a really good purchase. This just shows how reliable and durable this GPS watch really is. For kayaking, you really need watches that are durable because they’re going to get beaten up! You might clip it with your paddle a bunch of times, get it covered in mud or sand, or almost anything else! This watch can stand the heat.
Pros Of The Garmin Forerunner 35
- Independent GPS function without phone
- Vibration alerts for a fully hands-free experience
- Fully waterproof up to 5ATM
- 24/7 heart rate monitoring
- Lots of color options
- Affordable and comfortable
Cons Of The Garmin Forerunner 35
- For shorter distance tasks like a quick run, it can take a while to find a satellite
Magellan Switch Crossover GPS Watch
We promised to include a wide range of products here, and this is the best budget option so far. It includes a heart rate monitor and 50-meter waterproofing. You can use it for several hours but the GPS works within 5 meters or so, making it a bit less accurate than some of the other watches.
That’s to be expected though as it’s a tiny fraction of the price of other GPS watches. It’s a very basic watch but it has the essential features, GPS, heart rate monitor, and waterproofing. Great value for money.
Pros Of The Magellan Switch Crossover
- Very cheap considering the features it includes
- Waterproof up to 50 meters
- Several activity settings and tracking modes
Cons Of The Magellan Switch Crossover
- GPS could be a bit more accurate
- When not in a workout mode, it doesn’t display the current time on the watch face
- It’s quite big on your wrist (in terms of how it feels and looks)
Fitbit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch
The Fitbit blaze has a place here for shorter distance kayaking trips. It comes with GPS, looks great, and performs well in terms of accuracy.
It also tracks your heart rate very well (the main thing FitBit is used for typically) and is fully waterproof which makes this a GREAT addition to this list. Another bonus is that because it’s such a popular brand there are always good deals on this model online.
Pros Of The Fitbit Blaze
- Very affordable but performs well
- Fully waterproof
- 3 color options
Cons Of The Fitbit Blaze
- Battery life tends to drain fast
Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR
This has the longest battery life of the watches on this list, an amazing 14 days on time-only mode, and waterproof up to 100m. It can easily pair with your phone, and the watch strap is very comfortable despite how strange the color looks.
What we like about this GPS watch is that it’s nice and simple, it doesn’t have loads of features you’ll never use it just has some GOOD features that you WILL use.
Pros Of The Sunnto Traverse
- Robust design and well-performing features (like GPS etc)
- Waterproof up to 100m
- Huge battery life in time only mode
Cons Of The Sunnto Traverse
- Expensive considering it’s one of the more basic kayaking watches in terms of features
Which Waterproof GPS Watches For Kayaking Are Best?
Garmin Crystal Watch Face
Well, there are of course LOTS more watch options for watches without GPS, but this list just covers the ones with GPS. If you don’t mind being flexible with price and features like GPS, you can find a good normal waterproof watch for almost no money at all.
For GPS kayaking watches, however, Garmin seems to be in the lead in a big way, and we’d probably suggest one of the first 3 we included in this list.
