Some have only just allowed digital compasses!

Garmin Connect. It also tracks and map displays your sail afterwards on the App. I understand the Quatix can interface to Garmin yacht instrumentation, but an Aero is not in that league  ;-)

(for the iPhone, I use the Waterspeed app - I am sure there are many others)

The Vivoactive 3 is one of their cheaper wearable devices but is fine for this, and will also record your heart rate from its built in wrist sensor, you don’t really need anything better for sailing.

Its also good for cycling, running, swimming etc..

Its brilliant for bike rides, rowing, hiking, even open water swimming, but racing - not so good.

Firstly the distance to line feature (why I bought it). Its too slow to update. It says I am 5m behind the line when I am on it. Then it catches up a few seconds later it tells me I am over the line. Its OK for off shore racers but not for dinghy racing.

Secondly the countdown display is too small. I thought it would expand to fill the screen, but it doesn't - its hardly readable, especially if using with the distance to line feature.  

I have downloaded 2 apps which have a bigger countdown display, but my old Suunto gives a much clearer countdown, and is easier to use, so I have reverted to that.

So all in all I love its features and look - but don't buy it for dinghy racing (unless I have missed something in set up).

But its a lot more than the Casio Pathfinder I normally use though.....good to hear you've not had issues. The design of the strap does look like it stops the end getting snagged by ropes, etc, that would normally undo a strap. I might have to give it a try

I've just ordered one of these, what device do you run Strava on?

I think it was you that prompted me to make the "legal" version

TBF, I'm struggling with RaceQs and Race Countdown timer on the watch (and Garmin's help is hopeless, much worse than Apple's and that's not up to much for minority interest apps) and I don't really use Strava so I'd probably better persevering with RQs.

I like a lot of what RaceQs does and the animations of sailed races are great but I don't need to post it online for all to see....

I've tried race Q's and Garmins own app.  The thing both lack or I've failed to find is a good replay system, so one can compare performance lap to lap esp if trying different sailing styles eg footing off a bit up wind or different angles down wind.  Does Strave do this? I though that was for cycling.

The other thing I've found difficult esp with the Garmin app, is multiple races,  seem to have to exit the app and restart.  Maybe better that way in any case to split the data up more.

You can set the app to only record whilst the timer is running. So if you restart the timer after each race you will get separate tracks. No need to exit the app. Here's the link again  https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/d24109e9-2fa4-4dc6-bc44-4240c97a10db" rel="nofollow - https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/d24109e9-2fa4-4dc6-bc44-4240c97a10db

On a different subject has anyone used Strava for post session analysis, or is it too cycling specific to be useful?

Mostly I am recording GPS so I can overlay that data to video later, so I can do a better job at telling the story of races on youtube (see below). POV and onboard shots are great at getting the in boat action, but can be very disorientating, so having an overlay with position on course, speed, heading and heart rate I think adds a little. 

Do I use strava for post sailing analysis? Well, not really. The interface is excellent, and it works so much better and easier than anything else. Within seconds I can see top speed, average speed, where we went on the course and heart rate. But that alone doesn't really give you anything to analyse in any meaningful way.

The sailracer and https://www.beat-racing.co.uk/" rel="nofollow - beat racing apps are trying to handle the GPS data in a more sailing relevant way. But, they're no where near as polished as strava.  

But, what it boils down to, and is still kind of true with the sailing specific apps, is that I don't think GPS alone is a great tool for sailing analysis. I can't say I've really learnt anything from it, after using it extensively. Camera's on the other hand I find invaluable. 

I am really liking the the trickle down load sensing technology of the likes of https://www.trusail.com/" rel="nofollow - trusail (bespoke load sensors and high frequency GPS) and  https://www.cyclopsmarine.com/" rel="nofollow - cycolops (generic, micro and transferable load sensors) making it's way to dinghies. Dinghy sailing channel has a review coming up of https://sailmon.com/max/" rel="nofollow - Sailmon Max which uses gps and inclinometers. 

For me an ideal dinghy training computer would be
1) High frequency gps
2) TWA /AWA + wind speed
3) heel and pitch

4) bluetooth to load sensors

5) ping location
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[TUBE]https://youtu.be/w44vcOoYO-c[/TUBE]

Back on topic, I have bought a Vivoactive 3 and am finding the Garmin Connect app an absolute nightmare.... TBF I've been exclusively Apple for about 10 years and brief forays into Android have not been a succes. But a long web chat with Garmin support has proved fruitless trying to make the damn thing work as I would have expected. I can record 'activities' and store them in the cloud but they default to metric and changing them on the watch doesn't change them in the phone or web apps, there is not an app for Windows/OSX so you have to use 'Garmin Express' as an intermediary. Lots of other things that don't do what I expect to. I'm pretty good with tech but this is driving me up the wall 

On the plus side it seems to work ok with RaceQs

Garmin express on the PC is a pile of crap. 

To be honest, garmin software, apps and website is awful. I only use it to get the info to strava via blue tooth. 

I have rapidly reached that conclusion. But yes I do have GC on the iPhone, still struggling with it TBH it simply doesn't have some of the options you'd expect, or they are very well hidden.

They seem obsessed with Golf too which doesn't help, about 60% of the user guide talks about Golf and the rest is pretty useless. I think when I get to grips with it and, in particular RaceQs it'll do nicely, I only want it for sailing, cycling and walking so once I can get the units right (pace in mins/km for walking? WTF is that all about ) and work out how to export track data to the Macbook I'll be fine.

TBH I bought it as a more convenient replacement for my very old Etrex handheld...

It sounds like you were trying to load Sail2WIN into an iPhone.

Sail2WIN is an app for Garmin watches, not for the iPhone.

If I misunderstood the issue you ran into please let me know.

Garmin's software certainly isn't wonderful but they have been making improvements over time and I just checked with a Mac user who sails with my app. He tells me that downloading tracks works fine through the Garmin Connect web site and you can download in several formats. He also uses Garmin Express on the Mac and Garmin Connect on his phone. All apparently work as well as they work on the PC. Express sometimes wipes out app settings which is a pain but in general they work for Mac users these days.

As for the apple watch, I considered supporting it.

The key reasons that I decided not to are: