Looking at Surge & Charge HR

[Mg1125]

Hi,

I'm hoping a couple opinions from this community might help me decide which route to go.

I am fairly active, trail running and cross country mountain biking mostly, snow shoeing & cross country skiing in the winter.

I am not really tech savvy, so I'm not sure I understand how either of these "bits" will sync to my running apps. Do I need to have the app open while I'm doing my activity or just open the app after my activity and they will sync then?

The reason I'm asking, or what the dilema about which to pick, is that if I can put a bit on my wrist, and eliminate my phone from my runs, that would be great.

Second, the GPS function of the Surge: Will it map out my trail that I ran and put that into my running app? Will the Charge just give me distance/time/pace/etc but not map out the route that I have taken? If I buy the Charge, will I need my phone with me to use as a GPS then? Would you not just use the running app on the phone instead of using the Charge? What is the feature then of the Charge as far as a running tracker?

Thank you for your time and inputs, I'd like to move forward on this, but feel a little hesitant about making that purchase.

Matthew

[Wilber]

Hi Matthew,

The surge will track as a gps unit and can automatically sync with apps like strava. You don't need to have your phone with you while exercising.

The charge will only track steps and heart rate as far as I know. It's not a route tracker.

The new blaze (not actually out yet) will track your route, but only by being connected to your phone at the time of running, cycling etc.

[MikeF]

As far as basic functionality goes, both trackers run autonomously and only need to see an app when you want to sync but, as you already know, they both do different things.

The Surge will give you a GPS track while both will monitor steps and calories and heart rate. Distance also comes from both but is obviously more accurate from GPS than from steps multiplied by a stride length. In the case of some of your activities, I suspect that stepping and stride length really carry very little meaning.

It's also worth noting that of the two, the Surge is the only one that has formal support for biking. GPS is obviously used for this.

To be honest, I'd suggest GPS is probably mandatory with what you're doing so I really think you're looking at a Surge unless you want to take your phone with you. With a Charge, other than for heart rate tracking, you'll actually be relying more on the free phone app than the tracker I think.

Just my thoughts, I hope they're of some use to you.

[Mg1125]

Thanks Mike,

That is what I was needing to hear. Didn't consider the biking aspect for which bit to choose from.

The Surge def seems the way to go if I'm willing to spend the extra. The features seem to outweigh the added cost.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate your input.