Are you a runner? Hiker? Swimmer? Whatever sports you are in, this GPS watch is a must-have!
Welcome to the world of endless discoveries in technology. It’s amazing how in just a second, there is a new idea born in this world. Can you imagine locating your distance to any place, measuring your running route, or just finding your way back home is now simple by just one touch to your watch? Is it possible? Definitely, yes!
What’s a GPS?
A navigation system made up of satellites is called GPS or Global Positioning System.
This feature is now available on devices such as phones, cars, and even watches. It works any time of the day, any weather conditions, any situations, without paying for setting up fees.
The U.S. Department of Defense put the satellites circling the Earth twice a day for military purposes. But thanks to human genius minds, it is also available for a civilian in calculating or determining one’s exact location.
How GPS works?
A GPS watch is a device that has a GPS receiver. This receiver is used to track satellites and transmits a signal to determine a user’s position and display it on a watch or device with GPS. Once the satellites are firm with your position, a GPS can calculate speed, track distance, sunrise and sunset, and a whole lot more.
Introducing GPS watch
You don’t have to worry about being lost or checking your trail because the power is in your wrist. As long as you have a GPS watch, you can never be lost! That’s right, GPS is already included in our favorite watch. Now, we can not only use it as an accessory but an essential tool in our daily routine.
Commonly for sports and fitness purposes, GPS watch provides data logging, sports assistance, and of course, navigation. The watch can also have other features depending on its purpose, if it’s more about navigation, then it must be a smartwatch. Smartwatch focuses on dealing with applications like messaging, music, games, etc.
5 Best GPS Watch with Map Display
Many people do multitasking every day, and any device that can help them with their tasks will be a sure hit. Thanks to this GPS watch, you can now wear just one band to help you track your daily steps, count the calories you’re burning, or monitoring your hours of sleep. This lets you have one device for your 24/7 fitness tracking.
So to give you some choices, here are the five best GPS watch with map display, made just for sports lover like you.
Rokea Bluetooth Smartwatch Fitness Tracker Sports Band
This watch has a touchscreen display with 1.39-inch and 400×400 high definition resolution. It easy to wear that you can carry around while doing something. This watch is made for health and fitness purposes. Pedometer, health monitoring, and exercise tracking are all included in the watch. Along with the camera, it also has GPS navigation, weather updates, and internet applications like Facebook, Google, Skype, and so on.
PlayBetter Garmin Fenix 5X
This watch ensures that it will look brand new every time with its tempered glass screen protector. It also comes with a hard case and portable charger. This is a multi-sport watch with GPS and beautiful Sapphire lens and Wi-Fi feature. One important thing that is in this watch is the on-wrist heart rate technology that monitors your heart rate.
Garmin Tactix Charlie Multisport GPS Watch
This watch has a rugged look which includes TOPO mappings and map navigation. Along with the GPS, it has a compass, altimeter, barometer, and gyroscope. With its 1.2-inch high definition and sunlight-readable display, you can switch from daytime use to night vision using goggle compatibility. Other features of this watch are Jumpmaster, tactical activity, waypoint projection, and dual-position GPS formatting that can last up to 12 days battery life.
Garmin Epix
This watch lets you load a variety of maps with its 1.4-inch sunlight visible high-resolution touchscreen display. It has a memory up to 8 gigabytes and helps you customize your watch with choices of watch faces, widgets, and applications. You can also stay connected because it automatically uploads data using Garmin Connect and other social media applications. So you can receive emails, notifications, and even texts directly on your watch. This has an easy access to sports activities whether indoors or outdoors.
LNBEI Hot Smart Watch 
This watch brings you a different impression of excellence with perfection in details. Consists of different steels to offer a new experience to any users. This is the first watch in its family to have a 3.0 mega high-definition camera that gives good quality pictures or videos for you. Other features of this watch are GPS, Maps, Browser, Bluetooth, and a large storage that let you fill with entertainment like Music.
Things to Consider in Buying a GPS Watch
A basic GPS watch always has at least three features to offer. This includes the pace, duration, and distance run. But now GPS device can measure your heart rate. Training while monitoring your heart is a great way to keep you healthy yet balance your workouts. Before you buy one, having these features are an ultimate plus.
- Cadence
Some watches offers to count the number of steps you take while running or simply walking known as cadence. With a built-in motion sensor in your watch, it allows you to check if you already reach the desirable steps, which is 180 steps per minute. But most experts agree that there is no ideal cadence for individuals. It varies when you start from walking to jogging, until the race pace.
When you know your steps, it will result in less impact on knees, hips, and ankles that will help you avoid serious injuries.
- Stride Length
Inversely proportional to cadence is stride length. The more your step counts, the shorter your stride length. It can prevent you from over striding which may lead to injury.
- Vertical Oscillation
This helps you measure your torso’s motion. The idea is that the runner with less bounce have less unnecessary work done. Also, it means that the work is more efficient.
So the next time, you should have a goal of less fluctuation as possible. Vertical Oscillation is a sensor that is built into the heart rate strap to measure the optimum running efficiency. Another advantage of having low vertical oscillation mean lower stress on the lower body.
- VO2Max
It describes the maximum amount of oxygen your body can consume. The higher amount of oxygen, the greater chance for a runner to develop their muscles and improve their VO2 max rates. Also, the more oxygen you can have, the faster you can run and perform your exercise routine. You can have a greater chance to perform longer and harder run.
- Ground Contact Time
Allows you to measure how long your foot maintains contact with the ground. It depends on your running style, some runners have a ground contact time of 160 to 300 milliseconds, while professionals have 200 milliseconds or less.
- HR Max
It is important to trace your maximum heart rate. It shows how many times your heart beats in a minute when you are doing an intense workout. Your heart rate is unique, it depends on your genes and age. Knowing your heart rate can identify which sports you are most capable of that can give you effective results.
- Heart Rate Zones
Estimating your heart zone rates can give you more chances of getting the results that you hope for. Different devices break down their estimation with recovery training, aerobic capacity training, endurance base training, and so on.
- Lactate Threshold
The threshold for professional runners is 90 percent of their maximum heart rate. This is the specific level of the pace of your endurance performance capacity. It will show you how much you have left in the tank to keep you during your training or a race.
- Recovery Time
After every workout, this will alert you if how many more hours are left before you can start your daily training. The length of recovery that you need depends on your body response to workouts and how long it will replenish. Recovery time usually varies from 4 days and is calculated by your physiology. It is important to keep a track of your recovery levels to make sure that you will harvest all your hard works.
- Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)
Most commonly known as afterburn, it is the time after your training that your body needs oxygen at the maximum rate. We all know that exercise helps us burn calories, but when we are done, the burning still until we reach our normal rest.
Tips for Choosing the Best Watch for your Sport
A multisport watch is very useful in any kind of sports. It can have a specific feature for swimming, biking, running, and other more. The most helpful feature is the navigation or GPS. Aside from accurately tracking your locations, speed, and distance, this allows you to record those data. There are available maps from any country that will help you find your starting point up until to your finish point.
With a variety of multisport watches available in the market, choosing what’s right for you is essential. Never mind the style or design, what matters most is the features that will help you get your fitness goals. In choosing what watch matches your sport, you have to answer these questions:
What is your sport? Will you use it as a daily tracker? How long will you use it in a day?
For basic running, hiking, biking, and other sports, it is advisable to have features such as GPS and accelerometer to measure your moves accurately.
For multiple sports or triathlon, measuring your speed is very crucial. Having a multisport watch that can let you switch from one sport to another will be beneficial to your success. This must also include navigation to help you check your location, your distance, and help you reach your finish point.
For swimming, you must have a watch that is water resistance rating to let you know if it can stand any water sports activity that you want to be part of.
You can also choose a multisport watch that can be your daily tracker. Like most fitness bands, these watches allow you to count your steps, alert you when you’ve been slowing down, or even monitors the hours you sleep or rest in a day.
Moreover, since all of us are guilty of staying connected online, multisport watches have now become smartwatches too. Using your cellphones, connect them to your watch via Bluetooth to let you receive calls, emails, or notifications, so you can still be updated with the latest happenings.
Conclusion
Nowadays, a watch is more than an accessory. It becomes an essential tool, not only for athletes but for normal people too. Aside from it helps us see time, there are also added features that can serve numerous help in our everyday lives.
Knowing your fitness data doesn’t only let you monitor your performance but it serves as a great motivator. You will be able to know if you are hitting your goals or how much more effort and hard work you need to put in your daily training. This way, when you know that your work out is not working at all, you can have a different approach that will somehow make you see an improvement until you find the perfect sports for you.
Choosing the right watch for you does not have to be expensive, it should have the necessary features you need to keep you on pace or make you better every time. Most of the feature is available on the list of the five best GPS watch with a map display that is out in all markets.
So don’t forget to take time to read this article and check the tips that are included and make sure to leave your comments down. Thanks!
My name is Eugene Thornhill. I'm an outdoor enthusiast who loves nothing more than being one with nature. I've lived in numerous outdoor homes and even constructed my own. Living off-grid is something I'm very familiar with, more so than living in the city. For many years I've dealt with the many problems of living off-grid. It's time to pass on my knowledge through Cabinguides.