Monday, July 19, 2021

Garmin 945 quick review by a noob

Garmin forerunner 945 - about

Best so far watch for runners.

Garmin forerunner 945 alternatives

For runners: Garmin Forerunner 245.

For runners: Garmin Forerunners 55.

Generic: Garmin Fenix (especially saphare version)

Outdoor: Garmin Solar

Outdoor: Garmin Instincts

For swimmers: Garmin Swim 2

For women (small, touch): lily

Hybrid (with mechanical arms, touch): vivoactive

General alternatives: Polar watches

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Some Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung watches

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Apple watches

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Others

What is cool

Map. You run. When done (tired or just need to get back) just choose "get back to starting point". It will show you the way (either short one or full way back). And it works offline.

You could buy LTE version (garmin forerunner 985 LTE) to call in case of emergency when running without your phone.

Garmin pay. Again works offline so you can pay while running without your phone.

Music from the watch. No need for phone.

WiFi. Not really a gamechanger though.

You could connect BLE and ANT+ devices to the watch.

What is not cool

Price.

There are too many garmin watch options. I would like to buy forerunner + fenix + solar + saphire + LTE combined.

Lack of wireless solar charging. And I would like to charge/connect without taking it off.

Envelope should be 2mm higher than screen.

A lot of features are difficult to control with 5 buttons. I just need to get used to it.

Price of great Garmin HR belts (again - not a single one but we could now buy one for swimming and one "pro").

Overall

Really nice. Well invested money.

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Diablo III vs Path of Exile...

I have finished Diablo III starter edition today. It took a very short time. When compared to Path of Exile it is maybe equivalent of first 2 levels.

Diablo III starter edition is free (same as Path of Exile).

Now the catch: Path of Exile has 10 acts each with multiple levels, then maps (hundreds of them) and a very long story line. We get thousands times more in free to play form, better graphics, better community, great gameplay for free.

Speed of development is much much higher with PoE. And we get a new season with really large content every quarter (where blizzard provides only tiny amount of content and often it is paid extra). Extra characters? In PoE it is free, in blizzard it costs extra.

Diablo III? I have not wasted money on it. Diablo 1 was great. Diablo 2 was OK. Diablo 3 is a money sucking crap IMO.

PoE? I have spent some money - probably not that much taking into consideration how much time I spent on it (way too much). But that game is life changing (and could be ruining your life as well - be careful).

Blizzard? I am really disappointed. Blizzard lost in every possible aspect with grinding gear games.