Finally got my GW46mm. My 5 days review

[Kko 5]

Greetings to all Galaxy Watch forum members. Thanks to all of your valuable comments and experiences in this forum (Sonnnet, Peter621022, Skatergirl, Greymire and many others) I finally got my GW 46mm last Friday, despite the issues you all have mentioned.
Just after unboxing it, the latest firmware was waiting for me so I installed it right away. After that I charged it fully and it lasted me 5 whole days, until today including 2 training running sessions total 4 hrs with basic phone notifications, gps, bluetooth on while training. On the rest normal daylife I had the basic following settings:
1.wifi off,
2.gps off, turned it on only while running
3. Bluetooth connected on with phone S9+
4. Notifications on for messages and phone calls.
5. No additional apps or faces installed.
GW 46mm is really stunning watch and works buttery smoothly, however here are my first thoughts. Gps was always right spot on, never missed a second. Now for the heart rate monitor (hpm)... Although when I compared the watch hpm with a pro oximeter while resting, both showed exactly the same gpm, during running however the hpm stops at some points and the white heart blinks for a lot of time without measuring hpm. Also the step tracker was Not accurate compared to the 10km distance I did for every session ( around 1800 steps less, compared to the distance) Any recomendations for these 2 issues?
Today I decided to make my first watch restart and I keep my fingers crossed that hpm and step tracker will be more accurate.
Any recommendations are mostly welcome...Cheers!

 

[sonnnet]

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[sonnnet]

Greetings to all Galaxy Watch forum members. Thanks to all of your valuable comments and experiences in this forum (Sonnnet, Peter621022, Skatergirl, Greymire and many others) I finally got my GW 46mm last Friday, despite the issues you all have mentioned.
Just after unboxing it, the latest firmware was waiting for me so I installed it right away. After that I charged it fully and it lasted me 5 whole days, until today including 2 training running sessions total 4 hrs with basic phone notifications, gps, bluetooth on while training. On the rest normal daylife I had the basic following settings:
1.wifi off,
2.gps off, turned it on only while running
3. Bluetooth connected on with phone S9+
4. Notifications on for messages and phone calls.
5. No additional apps or faces installed.
GW 46mm is really stunning watch and works buttery smoothly, however here are my first thoughts. Gps was always right spot on, never missed a second. Now for the heart rate monitor (hpm)... Although when I compared the watch hpm with a pro oximeter while resting, both showed exactly the same gpm, during running however the hpm stops at some points and the white heart blinks for a lot of time without measuring hpm. Also the step tracker was Not accurate compared to the 10km distance I did for every session ( around 1800 steps less, compared to the distance) Any recomendations for these 2 issues?
Today I decided to make my first watch restart and I keep my fingers crossed that hpm and step tracker will be more accurate.
Any recommendations are mostly welcome...Cheers!

Excellent news KKo. Congrats on your purchase and don't be disheartened. With a bit of tweaking here and there, you will love the watch all round.
Now then, for the heart rate issues, I cannot recommend the Gear Tracker app highly enough. It has transformed my watch into a brilliant fitness tracker. However, the reason I get such good results is because I have been testing a number of beta versions of the app.
The app in the store is still an improvement over S Health, but is the older version of the app.
So you have a couple of options if you want to try it out:
1) Buy the older version (and you will get the update for free when it comes out)
2) Buy the older version but ask the developer if you can join the beta testing programme (which I am in, and you'll get all the new features for free, test the software and report any bugs so they can be ironed out)
3) Wait for the new version - I'll tell you when it's out.

The app is sophisticated stuff. There is a fundamental problem with the system HR sensor software. It stops tracking. So Gear Tracker simultaneously monitors the HR sensor and when it goes to sleep, Gear Tracker restarts it, thus solving the problem.
Another fundamental problem: when tracking by GPS, the GPS service also goes to sleep - when the screen is off. Gear Tracker has a callback routine to keep the GPS running.
The result is fast GPS locks, constant GPS tracking and constant HR tracking.
The developer is nothing short of a genius. And ADDITIONALLY, the app has way more functions and configurable screens than S Health AND it uploads to Strava instantly if you want it to.
For less than £4, it's the best money I ever spent to get my watch working like this.

Let me know what you decide and have fun playing with your new Galaxy Watch

 

[sonnnet]

Also, re step tracking for workout, Gear Tracker records this and EVEN tells you what your stride length is based on calculations from the pedometer and GPS. This is especially useful because you can then enter this into settings. So, when you then run on a treadmill, by using your stride length, Gear Tracker will accurately estimate your speed and distance - much more accurately than the readout on the treadmill machine which is just a guess because it doesn't know your stride length.

 

[Kko 5]

Also, re step tracking for workout, Gear Tracker records this and EVEN tells you what your stride length is based on calculations from the pedometer and GPS. This is especially useful because you can then enter this into settings. So, when you then run on a treadmill, by using your stride length, Gear Tracker will accurately estimate your speed and distance - much more accurately than the readout on the treadmill machine which is just a guess because it doesn't know your stride length.

Dearest Sonnnet hiiii....I can not thank you enough for your time to provide all these long and helpful info and that you are always there available for support to all forum members...Respect!!!. MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
Regarding the Gear Tracker app I have tried to buy it but I get the msg that the app is not available any more (screenshot attached) I contacted the developer who is really Professional, great and responsive and I am waiting for his directions on how to proceed. I will let you know what happens.
Indeed I love this watch and I have no regrets buying it. I am sure that eventually these issues will be resolved sooner or later.

 

[sonnnet]

Dearest Sonnnet hiiii....I can not thank you enough for your time to provide all these long and helpful info and that you are always there available for support to all forum members...Respect!!!. MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
Regarding the Gear Tracker app I have tried to buy it but I get the msg that the app is not available any more (screenshot attached) I contacted the developer who is really Professional, great and responsive and I am waiting for his directions on how to proceed. I will let you know what happens.
Indeed I love this watch and I have no regrets buying it. I am sure that eventually these issues will be resolved sooner or later.

Good stuff. Maybe the developer has withdrawn it until the new version comes out. Good that you've contacted him. It will be excellent once it's released.
Pleased to hear you are enjoying the watch so far.

 

[Kko 5]

Good stuff. Maybe the developer has withdrawn it until the new version comes out. Good that you've contacted him. It will be excellent once it's released.
Pleased to hear you are enjoying the watch so far.

Dear Sonnnet hi and I hope you are well and your GW runs smoothly...just to let you know that unfortunately Samsung Support informed me that the Gear Tracker app is not supported for my country, Cyprus. I have also informed the developer hoping that he can adjust the compatibility in the near future

 

[skatergirl]

Hey Kk5, so sorry I just saw your post. I have not been out to the forums much in the past week or so.

You mentioned your step tracker. For me, it's been like walking on egg shells with this tracker. I can usually tell early in the morning how my tracker is going to work. The past two days it was terrible. This morning it is working well.

Especially before you do a workout, make sure there are no Google Play apps pending an update and just sitting there. Wonky background apps will interfere with the tracker. Also, make sure as many background apps as possible are closed when you want your tracker to perform. And, also set the watch for a workout when you get ready to start tracking. That seems to help the tracker remember to not stop.

 

[skatergirl]

P.S. I use the device care app to close apps that I think are closed but are still running in the background. I don't remember with the Note 8 if I was able to do this, but with Note 9 and Pie, I can default every app I want closed after I shut it down and leave the apps that I need running in the background. That has helped with my step tracker issues.

 

[sonnnet]

Dear Sonnnet hi and I hope you are well and your GW runs smoothly...just to let you know that unfortunately Samsung Support informed me that the Gear Tracker app is not supported for my country, Cyprus. I have also informed the developer hoping that he can adjust the compatibility in the near future

@Kko, sorry to hear about the region issue meaning you can't download Gear Tracker. I hope the dev can sort this for you; I'm sure he will try.
If it's not possible, I hope there will be a future Samsung software update which will nail this issue for good. You wouldn't get the additional features of Gear Tracker, but at least S Health working would be problem solved.
Hope everything else is going well with your experience so far. Are you still having step tracker issues/ did any of @skatergirl's suggestions help?

 

[Kko 5]

P.S. I use the device care app to close apps that I think are closed but are still running in the background. I don't remember with the Note 8 if I was able to do this, but with Note 9 and Pie, I can default every app I want closed after I shut it down and leave the apps that I need running in the background. That has helped with my step tracker issues.

Hi Skatergirl and I hope you are well...Thanks for the tips...appreciated...I will keep an eye for the apps running in the background before going for a run and update any pending ones. I hope this will help too....Cheers!!!

 

[Kko 5]

@Kko, sorry to hear about the region issue meaning you can't download Gear Tracker. I hope the dev can sort this for you; I'm sure he will try.
If it's not possible, I hope there will be a future Samsung software update which will nail this issue for good. You wouldn't get the additional features of Gear Tracker, but at least S Health working would be problem solved.
Hope everything else is going well with your experience so far. Are you still having step tracker issues/ did any of @skatergirl's suggestions help?

Dear Sonnnet hi...the Gear Tracker developer replied to me and said he would his best to make the app applicable for Cyprus. For the time being I am still facing steps counter issues and some heart rate ones while running. The ❤ hpm stops calculating and many times it can take up to 2km to start measuring again. Btw I always start the running or walking tracking through the watch workout and not through Samsung Health app... Well what else to do?
It is really a pitty cause apart from these 2 major issues, I am very excited and happy with my watch.
I hope you are doing well...Cheers!!!