Which sports watch do you need for a triathlon?
Which data do I want to measure?
Sports watches have integrated sensors that measure, for instance, your speed and distance. You can see this data during your workout on the watch, and afterwards in the accompanying app. Most apps process your data into graphs, showing you at 1 glance where you started and where you are now. You often have the option to link external sensors via ANT+ or Bluetooth.
Does the watch have different sports profiles?
If you practice different sports like, swimming, cycling, and running, you prefer to track your progress per sport. To do this, the watch needs to have different sports profiles. A sports watch with pre-installed sports profiles are often called a multi-sport watch. Are you going out for a run? Select the running sports profiles. Are going to swim? Start the swimming sports profile. You can often also adjust per activity which data you want to see on the screen when you exercise.
Can the watch switch between activities?
Because you perform different sports after each other during a triathlon, you want to be able to register different sports as 1 training. The option to switch between sports profiles at the push of a button makes a sports watch suitable for a triathlon. The watch also tracks the time it takes to switch sports automatically, so you can see how long it took to switch from one activity to the other.
Conclusion
The common brands like Garmin, Polar, and Suunto have sports watches that have the discussed functions. These watches are specially designed for for triathletes. For example, choose a Garmin Fenix, Garmin Venu, Polar Vantage, Polar Grit, or Suunto smartwatch.