TicWatch Pro 3 GPS As a Fitness Watch with an Android Phone

There is a ton of info in the video that would make for a huge read if I actually wrote it all out so I will summarize here to keep it short and sweet but make sure to watch my full TicWatch Pro 3 GPS As a Fitness Watch with an Android Phone video for the complete details on the inner working of how I was able to make my TicWatch Pro 3 GPS Smart Watch into a fairly usable Fitness Watch.

Fitness is important to me but I also like the way a good Smart Watch becomes an extension of your Phone allowing you to keep it in your pocket a bit more which can in a way be less distracting and time consuming keeping track of all the incoming pings and dings...

That said I need to have a Smart Watch that at the end of the day can track my daily steps accurately, record my fitness activities again accurately and also have a good on board heart rate monitor with the ability to also connect an external chest strap based heart rate monitor for more accurate heart rate readings. I also need all of this information to sync automatically with MyFitnessPal so I don't need to manually record this data into my food tracking app.

So here is a quick rundown of some of the Apps I need to make this all happen on my TicWatch Pro 3 GPS since there is not a single App that can do it all :)

Adidas Running App: I use the Watch version of the App to record my activities like Weight Training, Walking, Biking... The Adidas Running App syncs this data to MyFintessPal along with Google Fit.

Google Fit App: Google Fit does not sync properly with MyFitnessPal even though it claims it does, I did find a work around by using a third party App called Health Sync which allows the syncing of data between Apps that normally do not have this option so because Google Fit has an App on my TicWatch Pro 3 GPS that counts steps I can then sync these steps to the Fitbit App which then syncs the steps to MyFintessPal.

iHealth Sync App: Again Health Sync is a mediator between Apps and for me I use it to sync Google Fit Steps to Fitbit, I also use it to sync my iHealth Scale to Fitbit which then in turn syncs that data to MyFitnessPal so I don't have to manually enter this every time my weight changes.

Fitbit App: Fitbit at least for me is another what I call transition App as it plays nicely with MyFitnessPal so any data that I can get into Fitbit will then be synced with MyFitnesPal so in my case, Steps form Google Fit, Activities form Adidas Running and body weight from iHealth.

Mobvoi Fitness App: I really don't use the Mobvoi Fitness App much other than to occasionally look at my sleeping adn maybe my steps since it record all this data no matter what from the Watch App. It's a decent Fitness App but has too many limitations like not being apple to sync with MyFitnessPal and no External Heart Rate Monitor option in the Watch version of the App.

MyFitnessPal: This is the end game App where my goal is to get all of my Fitness calorie data into from my TicWatch Pro 3 GPS. The purpose of this is to track my calories consumed via food and beverage and then offset those calories with my base daily resting calories burned combined with my exercise calories to see where I stand calories in versus calories out.

Yes it all sounds a bit confusing and id did take a lot of trial and error to get this sorted out and working on my Android Phone. It's all working nicely at the moment but you never know as I could be one update away from something in this rather complicated workflow from not playing nicely for me...

Should I Switch to a Wear OS Smart Watch Like the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS

I have been using a Garmin Fenix 5X for almost a year now and I have to say it has been one of the most dependable and reliable Smart Fitness Watches I have used so far. It never lets me down and the battery lasts for days at a time, It just works, never crashes and gives me consistent usable fitness data I can depend on!

So why am I thinking about switching to a Wear OS Smart Watch like the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS? Maybe I'm just nuts or bored or perhaps I just like farting around with tech a bit too much and my Garmin Fenix 5X has just become that thing on my wrist I don't think all that much about.

I can say I do miss the added functionality of a dedicated Smart Watch like the Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy series of watches, all the cool Apps, being able to answer my phone and speak into my watch, reply to texts on my watch and the constant detailed notifications that allow me to leave my Phone in my pocket most of the time.

After a bunch of research the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS Wear OS Smart Watch may just be something that has good enough Fitness Tracking combined with full featured Smart Watch capabilities and will allow me the best of both words this time around?

My plan is to combine a few Wear OS Apps like Sporty Go linked to Strava combined with Google Fit and the native Mobvoi Fitness Apps to send workout and step info to MyFitnessPal, which at the end of the day will give me my total exercise calories for tracking of my daily calorie expenditure.

So I have a few work arounds to figure out with the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS Wear OS Smart Watch before I can determin if I will be able to switch from my Garmin Fenix 5X to TicWatch Pro 3 GPS but so far it looks promising...

How to Connect an External BT Heart Rate Monitor to your Samsung Gear or Galaxy Watch

If you're reading this then perhaps you are like me and where or are looking for a way to connect an External Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor to your Samsung Gear or Samsung Galaxy Smart Fitness Watch? Well get ready because I have found a way to connect many popular External BT fitness devices to your Samsung Gear or Galaxy Watch even though Samsung says this is not possible within Apps.

Now before I get into the details I think I should clarify why this is even necessary. It all comes down to the accuracy of the built in Optical Heart Rate Monitor on your Samsung Gear or Galaxy Watch. These built in Optical Heart Rate Monitors simply do not do a good job reading your heart rate especially when your heart rate is jumping around a lot or your arms are moving around as in when you are doing a weight lifting, Crossfit, Bootcamp or other HIIT style training.

So back to the solution on how to connect an External BT Heart Rate Monitor to your Samsung Gear or Galaxy Watch. You are going to need to download and buy a Watch Face called "Sporty Watch". Sporty Watch is much more than your typical Watch Face, most importantly it has a settings option that allows for the connection of external BT Heart Rate Monitors and even some other Bluetooth Fitness Devices. Sporty Watch also taps into your Samsung Watche GPS for tracking GPS details during outside activities. Sporty Watch has access to pretty much all of the watches fitness related real time data which gives it all the information it needs to track your workouts in full detail.

When you are finished your workout, Sporty Watch saves the workout data to its own Diary if you want to recall the info later. SPorty Watch also syncs this data to a number of possible sources: Strava, TrainingPeaks, Google Drive, Diary Webserver.

I personally have Sporty Watch send the workout data automatically to Strava where I can see and share that data to MyFitnessPal and Samsung Health. The only thing that Sporty Watch and Strave don't take into consideration would be the total steps for your day which helps programs like MyFtinessPal figure out your total calorie burn for the day. This is not a problem because your Samsung Gear or Galaxy Watch your steps for you where you can see it in the Samsung Health App and also share step data with MyFitnessPal.

So there you have it!

LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch Review

Here is my official Table Top Video Review for the LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch. In this video review I go over some of the basic specifications and talk about the hardware and software. I show you around the watch and talk mainly about how the hardware ties into the software making sure to cover the fitness applications and fitness tracking.

 

Make sure to watch my Unboxing Video as I do go into the specifications of the LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch and more details about what exactly an Android 5.1 Smart Watch can and can not do compared to an Android Wear Smart Watch.

I highly recommend you watch my full Video Review for the LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch as I do go into a fair amount of detail on how this watch integrates hardware and software. in summary I found the LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch to be built much better than I expected, the hardware inside is for sure very impressive but I found that many of the applications especially fitness applications did not take advantage of hardware features like the built in GPS and Heart Rate Sensor nor was their a way to look at historical fitness data on the watch or even using a cloud based application.

If you install the Google Fit App the LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch can do a decent job of basic fitness tracking but the onboard built in Fitness App is fairly limited compared to today's fitness trackers and fitness watches.

As a feature packed and hardware heavy Smart Watch, the LEMFO LES2 Android 5.1 Smart Watch does a good job with all the fun pre-installed Apps and Google Play Apps you can install later on. You even get all of those annoying notification alerts from your Smart phone including phone call alerts.

LEMFO LES2 and LF17 Android 5.1 Smart Watch Unboxing Preview

I while back just before I got my Apple Watch I tried out a Moto 360 Android Wear Smart Watch but at the time the Android Wear Software for iPhone had very limited usability so I was not able to take full use of the Moto 360 as an Apple user.

Well along came my way a couple of LEMFO Android 5.1 Smart Watches, the LEMFO LES2 and LF17. They both have similar features and can pretty much both do the same things but the LEMFO LES2 is by far the superior product with a faster CPU, more memory and a brighter and sharper screen.

What's a little deferent about these Chinese made Android 5.1 Smart Watches is the fact that they do not support Android Wear connectivity at all! In fact they are more like dedicated Android devices rather than Smart Watches and so the only way to get Apps on these Smart Watches is to download them from the Android Play Store, most Android Play Store Apps will work but not all depending on their hardware requirements. The LEMFO LES2 and LF17 Smart Watches even have features like built in GPS, Heart Rate Monitors and you can even add a GSM or WCDMA Cellular SIM chip to get data and make calls directly from these Smart Watches or should I now call them Smart Phones?

Not being able to sync using Android Wear does have its downside since most Android Wear Apps are formatted for the smaller Smart Watch Screens unlike Android Play Store Apps that are made for larger Phone and Tablet Screens. I guess I will find out how this all plays into using a device like this as I test them out over the next week or so.

Enjoy my Unboxing Preview Video for the LEMFO LES2 and LF17 Smart Watches.