Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

A little bit about me: I am a fairly average guy. Not a triathlete and probably not training for a marathon. I am just a middle-aged guy fighting against the natural descent into dad-bod slothdom. I go to the gym 3-4 days a week and mostly swim and do some weights, kettlebells, etc. I "run" once in a while but most of the time just do a brisk walk around the track a few days a week. Ok, enough about me. Let me share my thoughts on the watch. My desired requirements: More activity tracker than a smartwatch. Good battery life. Reasonably accurate activity tracking (hopefully it will improve with more calibration). Lap swimming - more importantly, I wanted a watch that would be able to guide me through a workout. PROS: Nice shape and size Great display I like the fact that it is not a touchscreen Excellent swim training mode (it buzzes and dings on the last length of an interval/set, so you don't necessarily need to keep track) Great battery life (so far) Music storage (I have not used this yet) CONS: Garmin Pay is not functioning While I do not like touchscreens, getting used to the buttons takes a little time Not the cheapest watch out there Other watches tried: Garmin Fenix 5 with sapphire glass PROS - amazing features. Bomber construction. Great design. Accurate tracking. Swim features were great. A multitude of pre-installed activities. CONS - display a little dark because of sapphire glass. Limited app selection on Garmin Connect. Even though this is a lot smaller than the predecessors, I still think it is a pretty hefty watch. The last nail in the coffin for this incredible watch was close to 50% price difference for a watch that didn't hit everything I wanted. Samsung Gear Sport 2 PROS - reasonable price point. Great display. Samsung Pay worked well. Pretty nice design. Good variety of apps available. Can store music on board. CONS - More smartwatch than a fitness tracker. Fitness tracking was inaccurate. Battery life was not great. Better than an Apple Watch, but not bad compared to the Fenix 5. Only had swim tracking, not workout guidance and tracking is inaccurate. Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro PROS - excellent price point. Display nice and sharp. Battery life was pretty good. CONS - Inaccurate activity tracking - it was .5 miles off over 2-mile run. No Samsung Pay. Not wild about the shape or aesthetic. Only had swim tracking, not workout guidance and the tracking was inaccurate. Garmin Vivoactive 3 HR PROS - Decent pricing for what you get. Nice size and shape. A good set of options. CONS - Lacking swim workout function. Battery life could be better. Touchscreen overly sensitive.