Exactly. Like I explained in a previous post, my Fitbit is my watch. If a player want to track fitness data, then they can wear something under their jersey, i.e. heart-rate monitor, etc. Or, they could wear a wristband over it.
You missed my point. A referee needs a watch to perform his duties, a player does not. However no referee needs a fitbit to track his movement or calorie count, which is the primary function of a fitbit. If you can use your fitbit to also track time than great, otherwise you can get away with a simple $5 watch. This is coming from someone that uses a smartwatch on a daily basis which tracks my movement, calorie count and other data that I may or may not need. As to a response to a player that wants to wear a fitbit, I usually tell them, If I can't see it I don't want to know about it. If a player want to wear one he/she will usually find a way. Additionally players now are allowed to have a tracking device on them as long as it's not a safety hazard. "Where electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) are used (subject to the agreement of the national football association/competition organiser): • they must not be dangerous • information and data transmitted from the devices/systems is not permitted to be received or used in the technical area during the match"
Some seem to think we should avoid wearing something players are not permitted to wear unless we require it to perform our job, which is silly. We are not players and players are not referees (simultaneously, anyway). The law even specifies epts devices may be worn if they are not dangerous. A fitbit worn on a referee's wrist is not dangerous, and I would not hesitate to wear one even without watch functionality. On a player's wrist it is not safe.
Sorry to dredge this back up, but I did get a Fitbit Blaze for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and have worn it twice now doing indoor games. The facility has a scoreboard with a countdown clock and a buzzer, so it isn't really necessary (some other refs there don't even wear watches, but I have always worn a watch to back up the scoreboard after it went dark on me once). I set the Fitbit timer for 60 seconds less than the scoreboard...I like a little notice before the buzzer is going to go off. And I really like the vibrate feature. Nobody else knows my watch is going off. I know other watches have that feature, but that is really a plus. I will definitely be using it as one of my watches once outdoor season starts...with the correct time set on it, of course .
I like to start my vibrating watch before whistling the start of the half so it will vibrate a second before a running clock will end.
I'm going to use my Garmin 230, there's a soccer ref app you can download to it, you set up 1/2 times length of halftime etc... vibrates, lasts ages with GPS on, or you can turn that off. Testing has been really good.
Reporting back. Used the watch this weekend and been playing with it thios week. Garmin Forerunner 230. Using an app called "Soccer Referee" It's awesome. Set to vibrate at end of half, immediately starts counting up the half, then starts at correct time to start 2hlf. If you need extra time, you hit the action button, and it vibrates every 5 seconds to remind you your extra time keeper is running. All kinds of setups you can have. I use it without the gps on, it still tracks my steps. Battery lasts as long as it would were it just used as a watch. Should be available for use on any Garmin IQ connect wacthes. Use a $10 Target digital I bought for Basic Training 13 years ago as backup. Best $10 I ever spent. Not sure if other smart watches have ref setups. Worth a shot.
I'm considering one of these devices as a secondary watch. Since I've never owned one, I'm curious as to why the Garmin one's wouldn't be the more obvious choice? I would think the display would be #1 thing you'd look at in a watch. If you can't see how much time is left in the match, the other features don't mean a thing. The Fitbit Charge is tiny and numbers are harder to see (perhaps I'm getting too old?). The Garmin seems to have the largest display out there and still has the GPS and other bells and whistles folks look for. Am I missing something, or like everything else, it comes down to preference...and willing to overlook a small display?
Sounds like a decent substitute for a Spintso. All it needs to add is a vibrate to let you know halftime interval is over.
Same except for I use the Garmin Fenix 235, only difference which is that it has a wrist heart beat monitor.
I actually replaced my spintso watch with the Garmin. My spintso had a lot of issues towards the end.
So what's the least expensive Garmin watch that can download this app? Another question for those that use GPS watches for matches: I have seen a few posts of images of the GPS positioning superimposed on a map of the field. If you have done this, what brand of GPS watch did you use and was it easy or cumbersome to track your movements on a map? Do you think it's accurate?
My old Garmin (which was OK but kinda cumbersome in operation) died this weekend so I just got this replacement as a refurb for only 100 bucks. (Brand new is $165.) It looks brand new and carries a full warranty. It's pretty basic but so far I really like it. It's miles ahead of my old one. Tonight I used it as a simple countup while it was tracking GPS (same way I always used my old one). I still use my classic Casio ref watch as the primary countdown. It syncs with my phone via Bluetooth, finds the GPS signal almost instantly (the old one took forever), and even looks halfway decent. I just downloaded that app (I think the right one--is it the "Referee Watch" by winder1987?) but it looks to me like it's a simple timer and is not using the GPS function. Is that right? @threeputzzz this watch does all that stuff. EDIT: Whoops, no, the one I downloaded is the "Referee Timer" by Gofasterdjh. The other one has a trial version and a "Pro" activated version, the latter being 2,50 Euro. Looks like that one does have the option to use the GPS.
My old timex could do that after uploading to a PC, my new Garmin automatically syncs with my phone and I can watch my run on Google maps which is built in. Here is a map from the other night, it gets inaccurate if you go indoors. As I never went left of that building on the left side. Due to the direction of the wind, not too surprising to see I favored one side of the field apparently. Edit: apparently image was to big for big soccer. I will upload to Google drive later and link since screen caps.
I believe the one the OP was initially referring to was Referee Watch from winder1987 - the Pro version appeared between Friday and today, and it looks like the non-pro version is going to be crippled. I'm looking forward to testing out the original one this week: if it works as well as described, I'm happy to pay for it.
@Spencedawgmillionaire Are you using the Pro version? I'm thinking about watches, and while I was planning on just getting a timex that counts up and vibrates, I'm tempted -- but it looks like the site that sells the pro version only accepts german addresses?
Another question for anyone who has played with the ap -- how hard is it to set for different game lengths? Can I have them pre-programmed for different age levels, or would I have to set up for each game? And can it be programmed to vibrate part way through? (For those who don't do AYSO, the referee finds a natural break about halfway through each half for the subs as part of how "Everyone Plays" is monitored. So I'd love to be able to set a vibrate command 14 minutes into a 30 minute half to remind me to catch a sub opportunity.)
Just leave Germany in that picklist. The PayPal payment still went through fine, and the unlock code arrived almost immediately.
My mistake, it IS "Referee Watch", I didn't pay for it, was unaware of a pro version coming out. That's a bummer, I just got it figured out and really like it. The Garmin 230 will vibrate when time is up at the end of halves. I think almost any Garmin watch that uses Connect IQ will be app friendly for these apps. here's the actual link: https://apps.garmin.com/en-NZ/apps/e0c262ea-6ccf-49ba-99b0-02195a965386#0 It does appear that it will be changed so you can only use 45 minutes halves and only one period at a time for original version. That blows, but I'll pay for it as I think it's really, really good and easy to use. You can turn off the GPS by choosing spectator mode or futsal. "And can it be programmed to vibrate part way through?" You can actually choose the number of periods, so you could split your halves into quarters and go that way.
I think the Vivoactive can be had refurbished on Amazon for $97...lemme find a link... https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Vivoa...TF8&qid=1489163142&sr=8-5&keywords=vivoactive I saved my bday and xmas money for a FR 230 and love it more than I thought I would. I'm seeing that Garmin has an app that allows you to keep score as well, I'll download that one and report back once I've played around with it.
While recording all match info like kickoff direction, goals, cards electronically sounds like a cool thing I wouldn't take that risk. Electronics can fail unexpectedly or be reset (data cleared) accidently.
That's my view as well -- a solution looking for a problem. As quickly as I can record on paper, I can't imagine that it could possibly be faster on a watch. Not everything that can be done electronically is better.