Disappointing sports tracking on the Galaxy Watch 4 for kayaking

[marty313]

I really love the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic 46 mm. It is easily the best Android smartwatch currently available. My favourite until now was the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 GPS. It still has better battery life on its side, but everything else is better on the Galaxy Watch 4 - except sports tracking for kayaking.

I generally paddle the same 13-km tour every weekend that affords me close contact with nature but not with the big ships. The TicWatch 3 does not have kayaking, I use "trail running" instead. Very precise measurements, good battery life.

Sea kayaking - a competitor's watch

The Galaxy Watch 4 is EXCELLENT for cycling and has the most beautiful graphs on the phone app (only beaten by the Suunto 7) - but the kayaking activity disappoints on the Galaxy Watch 4: No GPS information at all! Plus huge battery consumption as I lift the watch with every stroke.

Same kayaking trip, but on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic

I have a few suggestions: Kayaking should include GPS (every 10 seconds to save battery), stroke cadence and heart rate. And it should be possible to set the display to "OFF" to save battery. (Norway being in the North, I wear the watch under a drysuit most of the year.)

Alternatively: I am VERY impressed by the customizability of the display for the different sports modes (I tweaked cycling a bit). Why not have a general toolkit that allows people to program their favourite sports? Choose name, icon, GPS high resolution or low resolution, display state, speed vs. pace and/or lap times. With 60 or more sports it is otherwise hard to satisfy ANY user.

[SamsungAdam · Accepted solution]

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