Samsung - Galaxy Watch 5

I had a GW5 and switched to a PW1 a while back. The pixel watch is just better in every way. Especially the UX design. The PW1 battery was worse but still got me through the day and the newer ones should be a lot better.

ive been using my galaxy 5 watch for years now tracking my swims. it works. just shake it after and use the water lock during.

I have tried Fossil. Skagen, Galaxy 4 and 6, Ticwatches, Oneplus, Amazfit watches. The ticwatches I tried had terrible vibration. I recently was surprised and found the galaxy 5 and the Galaxy 5 pro watches and they both have great vibrations. The 5 pro is thicker and its vibration is the best I have felt in years. Reminds me of the Pebble time and time steel which had a similar vibration. I would also like to point out the Galaxy watch 5 is 44 and the 5 Pro 45mm. The 40mm usually have less vibration strength.

You mention you want to use your watch for hiking I believe you are better with the Galaxy watch. The step count on the galaxy watches is right on the step count on the Oneplus watches is off. I have read this for the Oneplus 2, I experienced it on my Oneplus 2R and the Oneplus 3 has the same processors so I would be concerned. The galaxy watches get the updates the Ticwatches do not. My galaxy watches already have wear 5.0. The other problem with the Oneplus watch is the sleep monitoring. If you take a nap it will link in with your sleep score and you can not remove it. The galaxy watches have a much better sleep monitoring and if you take a nap it is registered separately so you can remove it or keep it. The stress monitoring on the Oneplus watch simply does not work. Galaxy watches win here again. If vibration strength is important to you the Galaxy 5 and 5 pro have the strongest vibration. I could go on and on.

A used Samsung galaxy 5 watch. Does the job.

I still have the GW 5 and it's been incredibly laggy and slow the past year. I've only had it for about 2 years now and I'm not the type to jump to the newest thing immidiately. I'd feel bad replacing it so soon. But if I were, would the 8 classic be a good choice? Or should I look at the 7 instead?

I have the watch 5. I don't recommend it. I mean, the HR rate monitoring is ok, but the battery life is poor. You have to charge every 20ish hours.

i've used the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and now the Watch 7. Both have been pretty accurate. i don't like Samsung Health's display of swim stats (it's just long list of 25's with no indication of when i rested), so i use [swim.com](http://swim.com) instead of the native app. [Swim.com](http://Swim.com) does not track kickboard laps at all and drilling and/or sculling, for reasons that should be self-evident, is hit or miss. You can, however, go into "Drill mode" in the middle of a swim and manually tell it how many kicking/drilling laps you will do.

i've used the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and now the Watch 7 and been happy with both. i don't like how the Samsung Health app reports a swim as a series of 25s with no indication of when i rested, so i use the swim.com app. i have read that Samsung will not stand behind the warranty for water damage, but i, and many others, take that risk and i've had no problems thus far.

Echo all these comments. Also will add since OOS15, the battery life (of the watch) has increased to the same as when it was connected to my Samsung S22+. OOS14 decreased battery life by 4-6 hours. For reference I usually get about 40hrs of battery time. EDIT: Adding that I have the GW5 44mm

Thirding the Fit 3. I have a Galaxy watch 5 as well but I got so sick of charging it every day. The battery on the Fit 3 lasts so long! I think I last charged it 2 weeks ago and use it everyday to track my stats.

Its very dependent on your budget, what phone you have, battery life you want, and actual features you want it to have. If you have a samsung phone, you can get either a Galaxy Watch (high on features, but only 2 day battery) or a Galaxy fit (very limited features but 7 day battery life) If you have an iPhone, obviously the Apple Watch works best, but battery life is abysmal. If youre ok with a 3rd party watch that has its own app to sync, the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro is pretty hard to beat. 10-15 day battery life. Has built in GPS, dive computer, and looks sleek as hell.

Personally, Ive been using my Galaxy Watch 5 for Strava for about 10 months now and it hasn't had any hiccups. Only once did the "strava sync" toggle turn itself off, but it was after I reinstalled Samsung Health so its expected.

I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and used the Active 2 before. Before Samsung I used Fitbit. I found the algorithms for the health information is probably different. I'm very interested in the Pixel Watch 4. Some of the features I'm not interested in, but also interested in the health features of the PW4. I'm frustrated with Samsung for some features not being available unless you have a Samsung phone (which I don't). And it sounds that the restrictions on a PW if you don't have a Pixel phone is not health features, which makes it more appealing to me.

Thank you. It helps a lot and confirms that it will be a good move to a Pixel watch. I was never able to use some health features from my Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 because I don't have a Samsung phone. It always bothered me why it should be necessary for someone to have to buy other products from a particular brand just to be able to use the functions of said product.

I'm very interested in the PW4. Currently using a Samsung W5. One of my frustrations is that I'm limited in using some of the features because I'm not using the Samsung phones. Is there any limitations in the use of some features on the current PW3 and do you know if there will be with the PW4?

Since you've already got an S21, a Galaxy Watch 5 can be bought from Back Market for $75. Strava has a Wear OS app so you can just run Strava on your watch to have HR record.

If you want Wear OS, get the Watch 4 or 5. https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Galaxy-44mm-Smartwatch-GPS/dp/B0BWNZMCR5?crid=UC53KETJ3WNE&sprefix=galaxy+watch+5%2Caps%2C239&sr=8-1 The watch 5 is pretty cheap and the watch 4 is like $50 on Amazon which is great for a wear OS watch.

If you don't want Wear OS, get the Fit

Difference between the SoC on GW6 and earlier and the GW7 and later is massive. I went from a 5 to a 7 and it's a game changer. Buttery smooth like an Apple Watch for the first time.

I'm like you, I like a traditional watch but Hubby loves his Samsung Watch 5 and wanted me to try one as well last year. Because I'm cheap, I hoped I could find a knock off instead. I tried one after another for around $30 - $60... I ended up getting a 'renewed' Samsung Watch 5 for $110. They're even cheaper now, and there are renewed Watch 4s, 5s, and even 6s, for $59 - $105 right now). It's been a great watch. However, the charging thing is a bit of a PITA for me. I used to wear a traditional watch 24/7 and I sometimes forget to charge the Watch 5, or I sometimes forget to grab it from its charger. All that to say, if you're considering getting a smart watch, I recommend looking at 'renewed' known brand name watches.

It's why I'll be switching to a Garmin. Still have a GW5, but the lack of physical bezels/navigation on the watches and poor health tracking leaves so much to be desired. What's even crazier is that I have an S25, a GW5, and Buds FE and the ecosystem is just mehhhh. It's definitely not competing with Apple on ecosystem cohesion so id rather just get the Garmin app and watch and run that for a few years.

I just switched from a Galaxy Watch 5 after 3 years of usage to a Garmin Venu 4 silver. The Venu 4 has a nice look, it's sleek for a sports watch and the thing that I immediately realized is the battery life. And it's not even about having to charge everyday. If you charge it at night or when you take a shower it's okay. But any kind of endurance activity with GPS will kill the battery of a normal smartwatch especially over years. I reached a point with my old GW that an hour of GPS running would drastically lower the battery life for the day, enough to not reach the evening. Also it's perfect when I want to go for a weekend trip somewhere, I don't have to bring the stupid dedicated charger. I realized I don't use "smart" features that much on watches. So I rather use it for sports. Also over years, battery will degrade even more. If you are happy with the AW it's fine, but the battery life on the Garmin is really good.

You’re absolutely right to look past the glossy marketing and ask for real-life feedback, because fall detection is one of those features you really want to know is going to work when it matters. I’ve set up a few different smartwatches with fall detection for older family members, and also wear one myself when hiking solo, so I can definitely give some boots-on-the-ground perspective. The Apple Watch (Series 4 and up) still sets the gold standard when it comes to fall detection. I’ve seen it trigger a few times, once for my mom when she tripped on her porch, and another time when I slipped on icy steps. In both cases, it gave a haptic alert, started the countdown, and if no action was taken, it followed through and sent the emergency call as expected. It also pinged the emergency contacts with location info. That peace of mind is hard to beat. The main catch: you need an iPhone to pair it, and the cost isn’t cheap, especially if you’re getting the cellular model so it can operate independently. For Android users, Samsung Galaxy Watch (especially the Watch 5 and 6) is one of the stronger alternatives. It does have fall detection and can send alerts to emergency contacts, but the setup isn’t quite as intuitive, and the sensitivity seems to vary more than with Apple. My uncle had one and it worked okay, but we had to fine-tune the settings so it didn’t false alarm when he dropped to tie his shoes too fast. That said, the newer Galaxy models have improved that a lot and are generally pretty sleek and comfortable for daily wear. Garmin makes some models with incident detection too, especially for active users. If your concern is fall detection during exercise like cycling, running, or hiking, it’s great. But it’s less ideal for general daily wear or older adults, since the interface isn’t the most senior-friendly and the detection is more tied to activity than general falls. If you're looking for something lightweight, reliable, and not wildly expensive, Samsung is a solid middle ground. But if your priority is emergency handling that just works, Apple Watch still leads the pack. Just make sure the person wearing it understands how the alerts work and how to cancel them if they go off by mistake. That small bit of prep can make a huge difference.

I have the Samsung Watch 5. The only thing I noticed you cannot use when paired with a OP phone is the blood pressure testing. I know there are ways around it, like installing a modified version of the watch app. I never found myself using it, though. It's a good watch with good battery life.

Yes, I have the Samsung Health app installed on my OP 12. I have the watch app to change the watch face. I can read messages, answer calls, use Spotify, control my YT music, use Google assistant... However, I forgot to mention that if you have a OP with reverse wireless capabilities, it will not charge a Samsung Watch.

samsung watch works for me. i have a watch5. it does what I need it to do. a newer version would be just as nice I'm sure.

I had fitbit, pixel watch, and Samsung fit 3 and now Samsung Galaxy watch ultra 5, I got the watch ultra 5 for 80.00 I love it

The 6 Classic is actually quite a bit slower. The Watch 4 and 5 series used the same CPU (W920). It's showing it's age, and it's pretty slow. The Watch 6 (including the Classic) uses the W930, which is basically the same as the W920 but with slightly faster clockspeed. It's about 15-20% faster than the W920. The Watch 7 uses the W1000, which is a completely new design. **It's about 300% faster than the W930...** When you have the watches side by side, interacting with them, the difference in speed is staggering. With that said, if you're not actually interacting with the watch often, and instead mostly using it for basic notifications and passive health tracking, then you won't really be affected much by the slower CPU. The Watch 6 also has older sensors, the same as the ones used in the Watch 4. But they are "good enough". The new sensors in the Watch 7 are the same as those still used in the Watch 8 and Ultra variants.

GWU is probably one of the better WearOS watches for exercise tracking, and it still sucks. I'm hoping the OP Watch 3 will be better, I'll try that out eventually. Right now I wear the GWU most of the time and a Garmin Fenix 7x for exercise. Yep, I'm one of those guys.

I had a samsung galaxy watch and my bestie had an apple watch. We both switched to garmin. I have the forerunner 165, and she has the vivoactive. One of best features of the garmin watches is battery life - one charge lasts about a week with daily workout tracking

Same! Galaxy has a peloton app on it, activated automatically. Highly recommend.

For battery life I would go Ticwatch or OnePlus 3. I have the latest Galaxy Watch and while the watch itself is slimmer than my Ticwatch 5, its battery life isn't great. I would have 70% battery left after listening to podcasts all day on my Ticwatch, while I have less than 50% with my Galaxy Watch.

I wore my galaxy watch for 3 years climbing with no protection on it and while it got some scratches, it never really got anything on the screen and nothing cracked, it's a pretty durable piece of hardware. The only time it really got in the way of climbing was on the occasional very large sloper where you get an arm on the hold and on crack climbs. I don't wear it anymore because I no longer enjoy smart watches in general, but it was a pretty solid piece of tech in terms of durability.

I use my galaxy watch because I like to listen to music while I climb without having my phone near by. I use a protective screen on the watch. I run through em quickly.

NRC does not require Apple products. Works just fine with my Samsung Galaxy Watch.

My leg day HR today. Matches almost exactly to my oura ring. This metric never excited me either way as it's always pretty consistent as long as I am wearing it properly. Similar readings from all my Galaxy watches going back 5 years. I would need to wear a medical HR monitor to really know if there was any difference.

Yea I used to jog years ago and workout with one of those. I think it was a Polar...anyways, at my age now, I am more interested in HRV , sleep metrics, and ease of use and I love the Galaxy watches and kinda have become somewhat of a collector. I swim 4 days a week and find they work excellent there. I enjoy seeing the advances in tech each generation and since my entire ecosystem is Samsung, I stay true to this brand because of compatability. BP is also VERY accurate but in the US it needs to be side loaded because FDA has never cleared it even though it's been working in most other countries for 5 years. While these wearables aren't perfect, they do keep improving and it really depends what is most important to you as far as features. It seems in your case that HR is at the top of the list which I totally get.

My experience with ticwatch was with the original pro and then the 3 pro. The original pro was laggy to the point of being unusable, and the 3 pro, when it eventually did get one of the few system updates, had the battery completely die not long after. I got fed up with ticwatch, and you can't trust them for anything to be honest. I've used the galaxy watch since the active 2 and up through the 7 (44mm). Working fine for me, but I don't particularly care for samsung's choice of notification cards (whole-screen horizontally-scrolled cards as opposed to a vertical list like most other watches). But it isn't a dealbreaker. Most everything else, I think samsung has the best overall experience. You could also look into a pixel watch 3. I used the pixel watch 2 and 3 (the 3 is no different from the 2 experience except for the larger size option; the SOC is the same and the software is the same). I think google's software features and fit-and-finish is lacking for their watch (for example, there is no option on a pixel watch to just automatically turn on the screen when a notification comes in to view the notification; you have to manually interact with it by either tapping the screen within a few seconds or lift-to-wake the watch, which is very unreliable--that actually was a dealbreaker for me).

I wear a galaxy watch and it's protected by my glove.

I have a Galaxy watch that I sometimes use. I only really find the heart rate useful and have been looking for an alternative. Refs are inconsistent in my (Sunday) league around the use of watches even if they're covered.

I have Samsung as well. A 4+ yr old galaxy watch and the app on my lg phone lol

I just got the OnePlus Watch 3 and I'm loving it. It's doing everything you mentioned and lasting me something like 4ish days, long enough that I'm kinda losing track. Usually I throw it on the charger when I shower and don't need to actually set aside any other time to charge it. I use it for sleep tracking, workout tracking, Google Wallet payments, all the normal stuff and looks pretty great IMO. I'd definitely recommend it. Like it way better than my Samsung Galaxy Watch that I had before this.... the 6 I think? Maybe 5.

People have been claiming that Google was going to end fitbut over 2 years ago. It's still fine. I tried a galaxy watch, but you have to charge it every day, just like the apple watch. My fitbit goes for days. I just charge it every other day while I shower. I've never run out of battery.

It’s not a fair comparison to an Apple or galaxy watch. It’s great for those of us who wear traditional watches but want something that can help track stats. One big benefit you missed is the sleep tracking. It’s way better than anything Apple watch can offer, and who wants to wear a watch while sleeping?

There's nothing wrong with climbing with a watch on. I do it almost exclusively with my Galaxy watch that I like and tracks pretty much everything you mention. Throw a wristband over it to keep it from getting scratched up and you're good to go. Just make sure to loosen it a notch before your session to allow for muscle contractions.

I have a Galaxy watch now, but it's crap as a fitness tracker. When I want accurate data, I wear my old Garmin. I think it's a Forerunner 235? That may not be in production anymore, but any of the entry-level Garmins would work.

You lost me at #1. I've had the last 4 galaxy watches and the pixel 3 watch blows them all away.... By far.

If you will use the new functions that the watch allows you, it is totally worth the change. If it is only decorative, there are smartwatches with longer battery life at the same price. I went from the Huawei GT Line to the Galaxy, and it was totally worth it. If you have an LTE and you are worried about not being able to call in emergencies, use the "Watch Only" mode, you get up to a week of life and you use it when you need it.

Built in speaker and microphone is compelling I won't lie.

That's fair. I've used my Galaxy Watch to answer calls before though so I'll choose this model for that feature.

Just a tidbit, a test with just 1 person as the source is never going to be a "scientific" test. My personal testing had both mess up the health tracking but the step count was better on galaxy.

Yup. I've never scratched a watch in my life but my Pixel Watch 2 scratched all the time, even rubbing against my sheets when I slept. Luckily I was able to get it replaced later on under warranty but ever since I've used screen protectors to prevent scratching. I've owned three generations of Galaxy Watch and never scratched a single one so it's definitely not me but the Pixel Watch itself.

My three year old galaxy watch lasts 4 days. I use it for GPS tracking every day too. Less than 2 day battery life is terrible, idk why people find it acceptable. Garmin watches are similar or better than my galaxy watch too.

Galaxy watches don't play nice with Strava. I used a Galaxy watch previously & liked it, except that I lost data several times & it would stop talking to Strava and I'd have to reset it. I'm not the only one. I eventually gave up and got a Garmin.

just joined from galaxy watch, and MAN I feel the exact same 😭

It's like Apples to Oranges. Galaxy Watch has better watch faces and more customization but the apple watch has more third party apps and the heart rate tracking was always better for me on the Apple Watch. Also Samsung health gives you far more insights than apple health app

I've got both. I'd say they're about the same but Samsung health is better than Fitbit. The pixel watch keeps my heart rate more accurate than the galaxy watch though but not by much

I trashed one Galaxy Watch by wearing it in a dry sauna for 20 minutes and then immediately swimming laps in a cold pool. Since then, I don't chance it with my new watch. It's sits safely in a locker with my phone and ear buds, while I'm in the sauna.

I've used them all, not sure I agree that the aw is better, galaxy has some really important (for me) things that aw doesn't. Also, I like round for watches, the aw is basically a tiny iPad! If you are really into watches though, Garmin is miles ahead of both. Expensive but worth it, if you're an enthusiast.

As someone with a coros pace pro, Fenix 8 and Galaxy watch. Just stick to your apple watch unless you want to sacrifice a lot of smart features for battery life. If battery life is what you want go for the coros pace pro. Garmins are unnecessarily expensive.

Bad exp ko sa Galaxy watch mabagal and madali malowbat after a year. Limited na din support sa iOS. :(

Just to piggyback on this a bit, any trackers work well for steps for sqaush? My Galaxy watch really struggles. 

Galaxy Watch probably has the most of what a WearOS watch can offer but a fair bit of features are Samsung exclusive. Pixel Watches I believe offer mostly the same with a little less bells and whistles than a galaxy watch but with better health features with fitbit integration that isn't locked to pixels. Also looks more fashionable IMO. Blends with my outfits when using a stylish watch band. Just looks like a watch instead of a smart watch. One plus I don't know too much about other than it has actual battery life that lasts days. I feel like it would be the defacto best one but I haven't heard many people speak on it.

Don't get Samsung Galaxy watch if you want to connect with H365. I just got it recently. The step sync with H365 is always less by atleast ~1000 steps. Doesn't sync sleep hrs and MVPA at all. I'm losing the points because of this. I tried to change some settings from online reviews and also tried reconnecting with app/watch etc. Still same. Checked with both Samsung and H365 customer service. Both useless and don't have a solution for this. Both sides blaming the other for this issue. I can't return the watch because the 14 day return period is over. I don't like it but still using because no choice. My previous apple watch and Garmin was great. Everything sync perfectly.

What is it like on workout detection? My Samsung Galaxy does a far better job than my Ticwatch pro 5, but the battery on the galaxy watch is terrible in comparison so I end up swapping watches depending on what I'm doing. Even on a treadmill with both watches on, the galaxy tracks better despite the treadmill being made by Mobvoi! It would be nice to have a watch that does both.

Yeah, especially because it supports the qwerty KB - probably the one thing I'll miss coming from my galaxy watch

I'm in the two watch gang, Galaxy Watch on the right as a tracker and my watch du jour on the left.

Bought my mother (83 yo) a FR265 to monitor her heart rate while cycling and to use the live track feature in case she has an accident while out riding. Garmin decided to put live track behind a subscription, so there's no way I'd recommend it anymore. Samsung galaxy watch has some useful health tracking data, but battery isn't as good as Garmin's. When they do, I'm off Garmin.

Samsung Galaxy watch and arccos

For the first part, no, galaxy watches are kind of shit for health and fitness tracking tbh. They gave the sensing hardware, but their algorithms and health app are crap.

I use my samsung Galaxy Watch together with my iphone, I can use music controls, get notifications and keeps track of my steps, how lazy i have been and even how much sleep i get.. Yes i am a lazy person :p

I just went into the app store and installed the samsung galaxy watch (Gear S) (i dont have the gear s but in the app u can choose the right wearable) I just hate the square apple watches cuz square, galaxy watch gives me the feeling i am wearing a watch

Aside from navigation, a dedicated bike computer will give all information you need on your handlebar. Like what the OP asked, real cyclists need to see the information when they need to as looking at your wrist while biking isn't ideal. Also, my experience with using my Galaxy watch which biking isn't that great as it drains the battery really quickly.

You will be back to Garmin lol. I've tried apple watch ultra, Samsung Galaxy watches and ultra, and pixel watch 3. Nothing compares to the metrics Garmin provides. Plus the battery life is incredible. Don't have to think about charging at all. Everything is built into Garmin. You don't have to pay for other apps to get similar functionality. I'm a golfer and it's so nice to have the golf features built into the watch versus having to pay extra for them. Morning report is amazing. Body battery. Now evening report too. Plus the watch is very reliable. I can't go back. I love my Fenix 8 too much. And the flashlight is chefs kiss.

Yeah--that is helpful. However, the Afib check is what I liked from my Galaxy watch.

I love pixel watch faces, but for full features, I would choose galaxy watch

I used my Samsung Galaxy watch with it all the time and it's fine.

I never realized I should be worried about my watch battery dying on longer runs. I have a Galaxy watch and have to charge it twice as often as my partner with their apple watch. However, I use a lot of my smartwatch features, I wonder if eventually be worth it to just have 2 watches. I hate having to use battery saving on my watch, it makes it frustrating to use.

What phone do you have? You'll be happier if you stay in that ecosystem. I am in the Pixel ecosystem and love it. My sister is in the Galaxy ecosystem and she loves it. The Pixel Watch is great and works best with Pixel phones. The Galaxy watch is also great and works best with Galaxy phones. They each have features that are exclusive to their ecosystem, and you may miss out if you get a Galaxy watch but have a Pixel phone and vice versa.

How's there Samsung handle replying to text messages? I had a galaxy watch years ago and that could be hit or miss. My pw3 was hit or miss last year but seems like updates fixed it and it's reliable

Love my Galaxy watch. I would say consider what phone you're going to pair it with, if it's a Samsung considered Galaxy if it's a pixel consider pixel watch Etc

I did. And 2 days later went back to galaxy watch lol

My galaxy watch got really bad during the end of its life. Couldn't rely on any of its data and battery only lasted 2 days max. My charge6 is less than a year old, so I'm planning on letting this one ride for a couple to a few years and see how the chips fall

Considering that it tracks steps/heart rate, I dont think it can really provide any useful information when doing curls or benching or etc. Do other watches provide any unique metrics there?

Ahh, I usually only track cardio with the watch. It looks like you can actually add custom workouts on the Samsung Health app. It can track specified data like Sets/Rest or calories burned. You can select free weights/machine etc Looks like you can also create routines. Shit, I might use this

But you can track a row machine on the galaxy watch...

Currently, Galaxy Watches and Pixel Watches

Samsung nerfs its watches if you don't use them with Galaxy phones? I didn't know that.

I put my Galaxy watch on my ankle and it tracks it brilliantly!

You can obviously use swimming activity outdoors but it's more designed to be used indoors where you can set the length of the pool you're in. Galaxy watches eg. Have "Outdoor swimming" exercise which tracks your GPS and calculates rates based on that

Mate, I was pretty frustrated with my old Samsung Galaxy watch for swimming. It had inaccurate lap counting and then attempting to stop using a touch screen with wet hands. 😅 No watch used for swimming should have a touch screen! My Garmin 255 music is great. Accurate and has never messed up with laps and...no touch screen, just buttons that work.