No.
It is not a sport watch. It is a "smart watch".

No built in GPS (must have phone with you) and it is not fully waterproof.

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Group Eleven – Websites for Athletes / mikael.racing / @mstaer

^^^^^This.

Fine for the gym set, not for triathletes. I'm bummed; hoping they at least waterproof the next version.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

It's also not out yet- April 24th ship date.

Not waterproof, but "able to withstand immersion in water up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes", so you wouldn't want it on the swim but it sounds like no problem with sweat, rain, etc.

Yeah, fine as long as you don't swim with it. The big problem is that you'd have to run with your iPhone to get GPS (which is not waterproof w/o a case). It's also unclear if the optical HR will be good enough for running (for example, today Mio is Fitbit isn't).

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Curious about that too, I'd love a non chest strap heart rate monitor. From some video apple released of their fitness testing, it sure seemed like they intended it for running (lots of treadmill shots anyway).

It likely will be a serious option by about the third generation - right now it's on par with Nike+ with added optical HR. Apple want to divorce you from reliance on the handset, but not just yet.

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That was ABC News' video:
"Secret" lab? Not so much when it's blasted all over national TV. :)

If you could make calls/text without needing your iPhone right next to it then I'd buy it. Could be a nice alternative to luging around a heavy smart phone for a long run/bike.

The heart rate monitor was one thing that sparked my interest. Also typically, Apple products are very versatile and easy to use. I currently use the Nike+ and it pretty much is crap.

At this point, I view its training value equivalent to: if you currently run or bike and record it with strava (or maybe some other app) on your phone, this will give you a more convenient display for that. That's it. If the optical HR works well for running and cycling I'll be impressed (and pleased, there's a lot of improvement to be made in that area).

Last I heard, the optical HR sensor was scratched. I don't think it does any HR monitoring.

But it's not a sport watch.

Heart rate is part of the watch. Here is the official page on Apple.com.

There is no way this can be a competitive offering from Apple with the competition of Garmin, Suunto, etc.

It isn't waterproof and I'll paraphrase DCRainmaker from his blog; "even if it is water resistant, that doesn't matter because sweat will destroy the electronics faster than any water could." And I would have to agree. This first model offering is going to be for a casual athlete, may use it for a short run, exercising, and to be stylish at the gym. A more serious athlete will go with an offering that will enhance their training, giving metrics that would actually be useful instead of a device that is simply tracking data, daily steps (useless), etc.

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< Quitting Isn't An Option >

This was basically my take on it. Just wondering what other serious athletes thought.

Of course this isn't a competitive offering from Apple. It's a fancy watch for the average Joe. Just like the first iPhone was a fancy "smart" phone for the average Joe.

It isn't intended for the serious athlete. It isn't intended for any sort of "athlete". It's for the uber geeks, early adopters and "trend setters" with more cash than sense. Just like the first iPhone!

However, I fully expect that come version 3 or so (maybe sooner, but probably not), there will be an "athlete" version which will be their move into the Garmin/Suunto/Polar/etc market. Just like when the iPhone took 3 or so revisions to become the all conquering consumer & business device that it is now.

An Apple Watch isn't a 920XT, and it doesn't look like it wants to be. However, an Apple Watch + iPhone + BTLE sensors will give a "serious athlete" enough data to work with (see: Wahoo; BTLE power meters; …) If you haven't enabled RR/HRV on your Garmin and don't use Firstbeat for analysis, then that's not really being "serious" about enhancing your training. Would you use an Apple Watch in a race? Probably not, esp. when you cannot carry the phone… Still, "serious athletes" train with data and race by feel, so this wouldn't be a big loss. ;)

BTW, there is no "Apple Sport Watch": the device is called "Apple Watch", with three "tiers", "Apple Watch Sport" being one flavour.

it will come, eventually, but how soon, i say another 12-24 months

I can't wait to see some jackass wearing the $17k Apple watch

The active battery life of the watch is only 2-4 hours. Might work if you are going for a run, but maybe not so much if you are running Strava on you long ride.

http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple-targets-for-apple-watch-battery-life-revealed-a5-caliber-cpu-inside/

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Superfly Coaching
http://www.superflycoaching.com/eric

IL PIRATA VI GUARDA

I think we won't know a lot of things until the watch is out- sweat resistance, heart rate accuracy during runs, battery life, etc. Everything posted on the rumors sites or various iOS blogs is mostly conjecture. Since Apple doesn't give out review units pre-shipping (except for a few trusted journalists that are embargoed from talking about it until launch day), pretty much everything we are hearing is gleaned from the info on Apple's website, the apple announcement events, and random things like Tim Cook interviews or Turlington blog posts.

Since they are taking pre-orders Friday, what's the latest info? I'm curious, and reading the apple web site doesn't really answer anything about using this watch for fitness activities, except I think it said there is no GPS on it.

Reviews have started to show up from pre-release versions: http://www.imore.com/...watch-review-roundup. I'm digging through them to see if anyone actually used it for real running tests. Software sounds like it is a little shaky in the early versions, but given 2 more weeks till ship I won't be surprised to see a zero day update to resolve some of the performance issues.

So far the one blurb I've seen on the heart rate sensor isn't great: "I found that the heart rate sensor struggled during my workouts, especially when I was really sweaty; it consistently measured about half my correct heart rate instead of my full 148bpm." That doesn't sound good.

No GPS, no ANT/ANT+. So you would not be able to get any speed data, be it through GPS or via speed sensor. Couldn't pair other devices like cadence or power meter (on the bike). Shaky (at best) HR sensor (as another poster noted). IMO/From a sports perspective, it is a fashion accessory without any real value (for use in fitness/sporting activities). Much more functionality can be had for considerably less $s from other, sport-oriented offerings.

Not trying to bash Apple, this message brought to you by my MacBook Pro. But their watch is not a sports watch, or close to it. Appears it never was intended/designed to be.

My .02 ;)

Thx, S