So my birthday is coming up and my other half has asked what I want. I have been eyeing up a proper sailing watch but I am completely overwhelmed by the options and wondering if I even need one.
I have been using my phone for everything — wind apps, tide tables, the Navionics chart. It works but I nearly dropped it overboard twice on my south coast trip last weekend and the screen is basically invisible in direct sunlight. A dedicated watch with wind data and a countdown timer for race starts (yes I am thinking about racing, Carlos has got me curious) would be brilliant.
The Garmin Quatix 7 seems to be the popular choice but it is not cheap. The Suunto range looks nice too. Has anyone here actually used a sailing-specific watch and found it genuinely useful, or is it one of those things that sounds good but you end up just checking your phone anyway?
Also open to the “just buy a waterproof phone case and save your money” argument if that is the honest answer.
Sophie, I have been wearing a Casio G-Shock for sailing for about fifteen years now and honestly I cannot justify spending more. It tells the time, it has a countdown timer for starts, it is solar powered so the battery never dies, and I have smashed it into winches, dropped it in the bilge, and left it in the sun for entire summers. Still going.
I know that is not really answering your question about Garmin vs Suunto. A friend of mine on a racing crew swears by his Garmin Quatix and uses the wind data integration with his instruments, but he also spent more on that watch than I spent on my dinghy.
For what you are doing — day sailing, coastal trips, the occasional overnight — I think a phone in a waterproof case on a lanyard plus a cheap tough watch is hard to beat. The sailing-specific smartwatches are brilliant if you race or do long passages, but for weekend sailing they are a lot of money for features you check twice.
I will weigh in as someone who has gone through several watches over the years. Currently wearing a Garmin Quatix 7 and it is the first one I have been genuinely impressed by.
The sailing features are not a gimmick — the tack assist and virtual starting line actually work, the wind data syncs from compatible instruments (I have it talking to my B&G), and the battery life is legitimately a week of normal use. Three days if you are hammering the GPS on a passage.
That said, Carlos has a fair point about the G-Shock. If you are not racing and you just want a timer and something indestructible, spending 600 euros on a smartwatch is hard to justify. I wore a Casio for my first ten years of cruising and never once thought I needed more.
The thing that sold me on the Quatix was MOB alerting. It talks to my Inreach and my chart plotter — if I go over the side, everything starts screaming. When you are single-handing a lot, that feature alone is worth the price.
Following this thread with interest! I do not need a sailing watch yet (I barely know port from starboard half the time) but James that MOB feature sounds incredible. Is that something that works even if you are just on a course boat, or does it need to be connected to your own instruments?
Just catching up on this thread after my crossing back from Sardinia. For offshore passages I would not go without a proper watch — I wear a Suunto Core and it has saved my bacon more than once with the barometer trend. You glance at your wrist at 0300 during a night watch and see the pressure dropping steadily, that tells you something is coming before any app will ping you.
That said Carlos has a point about the G-Shock. For day sailing around the bay you really do not need anything fancy.
Marco, the barometer thing is really interesting — checking pressure at 3am on your wrist sounds so much more practical than fumbling with a phone. Is the Suunto Core easy to read in the dark? My night vision is terrible and I keep imagining all these scenarios on night watches where I cannot see anything at all.
Has anyone tried the Apple Watch Ultra for sailing? My husband has one and keeps saying I should use it on the boat but I am not sure if a proper sailing watch like the Garmin would be better for a beginner who actually needs to learn what the data means rather than just having it on a screen.
Also — do you really need a dedicated watch or is checking your phone in a waterproof case enough for coastal day sailing? Trying not to spend money on gear I do not actually need yet.
Anna, for coastal day sailing honestly your phone in a good waterproof case is fine. Save your money for now. I tell all my students the same thing — you do not need a sailing watch until you are doing passages or racing, and even then it is a nice-to-have, not essential.
The Apple Watch Ultra is actually decent if your husband already has one lying around. The tide and compass complications work well enough. But I would not buy one just for sailing at your stage.
When you do eventually want something dedicated, the Garmin Quatix is hard to beat. But that is a conversation for when you have your Day Skipper and are planning your first overnight.
I still wear a Casio G-Shock I bought in 2003. Solar powered, shows the time, survived being dropped in the bilge more times than I can count. I do not need my watch to tell me the wind speed — I have a face for that.
Seriously though, if you want a proper sailing watch the Garmin quatix is hard to beat. A friend on a Swan 45 in Port Adriano swears by his. But for coastal day sailing around Mallorca? Save the money and use your phone in a waterproof case.