Could they? I think it's inevitable, they just need the apps. Hardware is close.

I was "this" close to getting an inexpensive forerunner last week, but then I figured out how to track everything I need to track with just the phone and an armband.. A nike + Apple Watch would come pretty close to doing everything I need especially paired with a wahoo bike sensor and a hr strap, and eventually a power meter of some sort.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yes. Or Samsung. Or LG. Or someone else.

Hardware needs to be waterproof. And the battery life needs to be 20 hours. Some people would prefer a physical stop and lap buttons too, but that's not a deal breaker. It could be done well enough on a touch screen. ANT+ also falls under would be nice category because the sensors are easily replaced with bluetooth variants.

That's it. The rest is just a matter of getting the right software. When the time comes Garmin would be smart to sell let's say a $100 app that mimics on a smartwatch what their sport watches are doing today. If they don't cannibalize their own sales then someone else will take those sales away.

Easily, it's already there for a lot of people. I bet they need only one or two more iterations to get it very close for more competitive athletes. My wife has the first and second apple watch the second one is significantly better. Them teaming up with NIke was one of the most intelligent thIngs to do. They cut down on the research needed to figure out what runners and athletes want by years.

They need ant+ and I bet a ton of people would make the switch.

I'm one of those people you were thinking of...if they add ant+, my 920 is gone...

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ishi no ue ni san nen | Perseverance will win in the end. | Blog | @nebmot | Strava | Instagram |

I bought the AW2 for my Mom because she likes Zumba classes and tracking her steps- AW is great for that. I'll keep my 735xt as it can do anything I need for multiple sports (much of which can also be done w/AW: HR, running metrics, custom workouts) but also a lot that AW doesn't do: talk to my power meters, give me swim metrics, and doesn't feature a touchscreen which I hate for sports watches. And I hate the aesthetics of AW myself (though that same hate didn't stop me from getting Airpods.)

i don't get it.

my garmin watch is for swimming and running.

for daily use, i have a few wristwatches. leather band (brown, black), titanium band.

what does an apple watch do, that i need?

not all of us have a garmin, or want multiple devices when we do get a gps watch. the idea behind the smartwatches is that you can have everything you might want in one device, from basic wristwatch to sports watch to activity tracker to phone / text messaging to music player / controller, etc. etc...

i'm fine with the lack of physical buttons, just record the data and do the analysis after the fact.

I almost pulled the trigger on a garmin this week, but glad I didn't.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Right now? Honestly nothing. It's just a frivolous accessory for an iPhone.

Soon however the smartwatches will have their own LTE connection, they will have an all day or more than 1 day battery life, and they will probably be completely waterproof. That's it. That will be the time to ditch garmin/timex/polar/suunto/whoever, and just go with a smartwatch.

My Apple Watch is my daily wearer, my running watch, and my music source for running. I wear my Garmin when exact pacing is important to me, which is only occasionally. The Apple watch is waterproof and I swim in it. It counts strokes and laps. I can leave the house and on my front step simply say into the watch “hey Siri start a 12 mile run” and the watch gets to work. If I’m interested in tracking a casual ride around town I can tell Siri to start an open bike. I rarely carry my phone with me when I run, taking only the Watch. I sometimes wear my Garmin at the same time and Apple Watch is consistent to .2 miles. I have never, not once, run out of battery life before I ran out of day. No question my multiple Garmin devices are more sophisticated and detailed when that kind of data is what I need but for the vast majority of my athletic life (never mind the conveniences of calendar reminders, messaging, just setting a timer for the grill) this thing is awesome and for me there’s nothing frivolous about it. A decade ago I was strapping a huge 305 on my wrist and waiting 5 minutes to find satellites. This thing is science fiction.

I went from a garmin 910 to an Apple Watch and now wear a fenix 5.

I won't go back, I can read it in full sun, I get a week on the battery, I still get phone control, notifications and I can't think of anything that I'm really missing. As a sports watch there is no comparison (IMHO).

I recognize that I'm trading one eco-system for another. But apple never seems to stick with a vertical market. And I did the whole Nike iPod system back in the day. Also apple would never go to a low quality display that multi day batteries need. (I.e. Matt displays on notebooks)

I'm done charging my watch daily or making sure I have a charging cable on trips. It's a nice change.

That's why I bought a fenix 3 titanium
a couple of weeks ago. I use it now as my daily watch and as my sport watch and as my bike computer. And I use it as stand-alone feature: I do not have to let it communicate with a computer or with a phone.