Which Wear OS Watch is Better for Me - Samsung Galaxy 4 or TicWatch Pro 3 GPS

This is far from a review, more of an update on my plans to test out the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 to see if perhaps this is the best solution for my needs?

I just recently switched from my Garmin Fenix 5X to a TicWatch Pro GPS. Now the Garmin Fenix 5X was a fantastic fitness Watch but lacked in the SmartWatch category. On the other hand the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is a really great OS Wear SmartWatch and the Fitness integration is there but is cumbersome and not as refined as what you get on a dedicated Fitness Watch like what Garmin offers.

So here we are with the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 running a new version of Wear OS 3. I have used Samsung Galaxy Watches in the past and liked them a lot even the Samsung App which runs on your SmartPhone and watch is a very full featured App. So I am hoping maybe this solution will get me not only an awesome SmartWatch experience but also solid Fitness tracking capabilities.

Right now I am in the testing stage so the jury is not out yet but so far things are look positive overall with a few hiccups that may or may not be an issue! Stay posted for my more in depth review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and if it is up to the task at least for my requirements...

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...