I personally have no interest in the Apple watch, mainly because I don't want to be in the Apple ecosystem, and I already like my 945. I'm excited by the idea of competition though, and that hopefully Garmin will up their game to keep up

You may already be aware of this, but the AW Ultra Workout Low Power Mode does not reduce HR and GPS resolution (it stays at 1 second). This is the mode that they state can do an IM. (See DCRainmaker review for details)

The UPCOMING not released version of a lower power mode will reduce the GPS and HR resolution to 2 seconds.

Yes, I saw that in Apple’s updated marketing materials. And I have been testing their GPS accuracy, and it seems to be markedly improved. It does seem to have it’s occasional glitches, but when it does not glitch, it will be within 0.01 miles of a mainstream multisport watch.

I am seeing similar good accuracy compared to my Fenix 7S, but I am not seeing battery life drain consistent with expectations (yet).

Did my first tri with the Ultra at the Santa Cruz Triathlon this past weekend. Multi sport mode has a long way to go.
Somehow the watched pushed 3/4 of the way through the swim. I didn’t even realize you could pause it while it was locked for swimming. The auto transition didn’t work coming into T1 because of the previously mentioned pause.
The bike leg worked fine but immediately went into the running leg when I dismounted. Added like 2 minutes to my run time and messed up my splits.
Still better than switching watches for a race but my next race I’ll just do all three individually and ignore transitions.

I wonder if the orange button is too sensitive? I have seen a couple other similar comments.

I general, I think that Apple will need an option to disable the touchscreen during activities to get there. It is way to easy to accidentally trigger a touch action on any touch screen watch, and the Apple Watch is particularly sensitive. I have had a number of false touch actions with my Apple Watches during bikes and runs that I would not use it for an event I care about. (As much as I love what the touch screen can do on the new Garmin watches, I keep it off during activities.)

Until Apple can figure out how to make their watches last 1-2 weeks on a charge, I'll keep using Garmin. I was a long time apple watch user, but once I tried a Garmin it's hard to go back. My wife is the opposite though, and will likely end up going to the Ultra.

Coros has really pushed hard into the market as well with their Pace 2 model coming in at $200. Feature rich, lightweight, and super affordable. I’m
currently using a Polar Vantage M but am keen to try out the Coros as well. As long as there are watches like the Pace 2 out there, I won’t give an Apple Watch a second thought.

Slowtwitch is the land of early adopters. I was using stuff long before mainstream users did. Other stuff I waited until others Beta tested it and then I joined (still usually being an early adopter). Dan was an innovator and most of us follow that thread. I think the Apple watch advances have finally made the question "should I switch from Garmin?" a legit question. I'm a Garmin devotee and an Apple (non-watch) devotee so I'm curious as to whether the advances will make me switch. When I get a unit, I'll figure that out. But at the least, it a legit question as to which platform people will pick.

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"it's also a personal choice to remain ignorant" - Slowman

I prefer to use the best tool for the job. That still ain't Apple

Have you seen the Wahoo watch? That one also looks like a good value. About $100 less than the FR955 (I'm currently using one), and seems to have very similar features and battery life.

I have the Wahoo Rival and really like it. As you mention, the price is pretty reasonable.

My favorite features are the (editable) touch less transitions, hand-over to the Wahoo Bolt automatically and swim workout display fields like last interval time and interval rest time.

I also train with Apple Watch (now Ultra) and like the direction it is heading. Having said that, I think it is missing a few features before becoming a full-on competitor for Garmin, Wahoo and others. In my opinion the big missing features are:

• Importing structured workouts from TP and similar sources. I actually use Stryd for this which works out pretty well for those in the Stryd camp.
• Swim interval fields for workout and I still haven’t found a third party app to do this properly.
• Ability to adjust transition after a race (although I haven’t actually tried the multisport options yet so maybe this is better than I am expecting).

I think that with those features it would likely have an impact on sales for specialist sports watches (although I am not expecting AW to destroy the market for alternatives any time soon).

I scoped one out at the Augusta 70.3 race expo. They were 20% off if you purchased one at the expo. It definitely looked like a great watch and for $265 would certainly be a great value. My cheapo brain keeps reminding me that we are very close to Black Friday sales, so I am trying to hold off on any triathlon tech purchases until the bigger sales start.

I got the Ultra. I returned it the next day. It's pretty heavy and thick. I think they need to strip out all of the diving capabilities and offer that in a separate dive capable watch. The 49mm screen is a great direction to go in, but the edges of the Ultra watch face don't have that smoothness. The Ultra is just overbuilt in my opinion from a hardware perspective.

I got the 8 instead and its great (previously had the 5). Screen view is bigger than the prior versions. I got the cheapest model so it was $399. Battery life is still a challenge so that is the negative. Lot's of internet hype on the Ultra watch but I didn't see any negative reviews.

I was interested in Wahoo, but was turned off by the plastic buttons. I have a Coros, but the tech on it feels third world. It is light, cheap and has good GPS. I travel with it often because the battery last 2 weeks.

Which watch do you use for racing and training? I was seriously considering an Ultra to replace my Series 7 and 955 (I hate wearing two watches while training/racing, but here we are), but can't get over some of the features that I take for granted on a Garmin device (like, I don't know, buttons). I might stick with my hybrid approach...works for my wife, and she doesn't agonize over these things like I do. :D

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- John
"Have courage, and be kind."

I own and wear lots of crap, because I like data. I have had almost every AW series and currently have the AWS8.

The Apple Watch is my daily wear. I take it off for any kind of exercise (workout, race, etc.). I wear a Fitbit 24/7 on my other wrist for routine activity tracking. This is my best of breed approach. The Apple Watch is still a distant last for fitness and activity tracking compared to about any other dedicated device. The Apple Watch is by far the best daily wear business companion device. Though the Garmin is closing that gap.

ANT+ won’t ever be on Apple Watch, but you can use any BTLE sensor right now with Workoutdoors and a few other apps. Mapping too. All of it will native by generation 3 of the Ultra, if it even takes that long.

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The list of cadence sensors, power meters, speed sensors, running power sensors, running dynamics sensors, body temperature sensors, etc. that work together in a single app is the worlds shortest list. Each that is supported, and it is only some of them, requires its own app today. No sensors except HRM work with workout today. Seems like apple would add cycling power soon, but I’m surprised it has been this long. Cadence on the bike is a huge gap. Stryd is cool, but that requires its own app and is incompatible with multisport. In summary, none for a triathlon.

http://www.workoutdoors.net/Sensors.html

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That app looks promising. Have you used it? Is it stable? It does not look like it does Triathlon yet, but people have been asking for the feature.

My comments above were mostly oriented toward Apple's Workout app. I have had poor personal experiences with 3rd party fitness apps on the Apple Watch, so I would not recommend any that I have used. (A Wahoo, Suunto, Garmin, etc. glitches or crashes during an activity extremely infrequently. Apple Watch 3rd party workout apps, by contrast, seem to crash far more often.)

Sure, I guess. Garmin is the standard of multi-sport GPS and you have wacky fans of every different challenger that create threads of OMG the Garmin Killer is coming.

When it never comes. It's probably good because it keeps Garmin forward thinking and having to be competitive.

I think the biggest thing that Garmin needs to assess is all the things Whoop says they do, Whoop has spent a lot of money in the marketing space with MLB and PGA. But I'm not sure that has actually helped their bottom line...but I've started seeing more people wearing them. But you hit Garmin pricing inside a year and a half and get no watch functionality.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

As unluck would have it I dropped my Apple Watch 6 on a tile floor and cracked the screen. Might as well get the Ultra. Got it earlier this week.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

You clearly want a phone and not a multi-sport watch on your wrist. Great thing about a Garmin is you won't crack the screen from a random drop on the floor. So do you want a multi-sport rugged watch or a phone that is fragile?

Most people already run with their phones.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I have the Apple Watch 6 and updated to watchOS 9. I’m planning on getting the Ultra. The new WatchOS update does almost all of what Garmin does except for cycling power. I can even see running power.

The Ultra will steal Garmin market share and will rapidly close any gaps. It’s very convenient to be able to use a voice assistant and respond to texts while running or take a call if you have to.

Garmin has the advantage on battery life. The Epix should be compared to the Ultra instead of a Forerunner or Fenix because of the Epix screen.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

I do have it - yeah, it’s very stable. Athlytics also provides all the recovery metrics you’d ever need. I hear you on the Garmin challengers, but this is a little bit different. When Apple comes into your space, you’re going to have to either dramatically up your game in terms of reliability, quality of user experience and presentation and everything else, or you’re going to get steamrolled year by year. The Ultra as it stands right now is v1. By v3 I’m willing to bet this market is going to look very, very different.

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