I’d also like to point out that the Apple Watches do something that Garmin watches do not (exception to the 945 LTE): Live Tracking without having to be tethered to a phone. Both for race purposes and safety purposes. It’s also super easy if your family/friends are in the Apple ecosystem. Click ‘Find My’ and away you go. No shitty Garmin app for other people to download and use.
I can also make phone calls on it in case of emergency while I’m out cycling or running. Can a Garmin watch do that without being connected to a phone? Also rhetorical.
I’m not saying the Apple Watch or Watch Ultra are as good as Garmin when it comes pure training and racing info and functionality. They’re not. But the Apple Watches do things Garmin watches cannot. Apple is also a company that’s worth nearly 90x what Garmin is so watch (pun) how quickly the Ultra line closes the gap.
This is so very true. I have many friends and family newbies, and all of them already have an AW. Its just a no-brainer for them. My nephew (sophomore at UT) is getting more “hard-core” and has talked about getting a Garmin…none of the rest will ever switch off the AW—but, it uploads to strava just fine for them.
So what does Garmin do now that Apple does not? (serious question). Ant+ for sure, but most devices are dual bluetooth and Ant+ these days, so less of an issue. I’ve had Garmin’s so long it would take quite a bit for me to switch. I’m also married to Apple though, so the Iwatch is intriguiging, especially if it meant I didn’t need to carry a phone when training. I use a Garmin 830 Edge on the bike regardless, even during races, so I really only use the watch for running and swimming.
I’m the biggest Apple fanboi (pre-Mac, since Apple IIc; I’ve never owned a Windoze box; only iPhone, AirPods, iPad…).
Owing a nice bit of Apple stock for a (long) while will allow me to retire early.
And I’ve a friend in Cupertino, who’s on the Watch hardware dev team.
But at this point: never Watch.
I just dont think Apple’s wearables pace with Garmin for for sport-performance use case(s).
The Watch battery life is meh (I really dont want to have to charge my watch daily or even every other day).
GC ecosystem is as good for sport-specific application as Apple iCloud is for backing up and using all my non-sports-data content across multiple devices. All my data from all my devices and integrations goes into the funnel; I get usable intelligence.
The Watch GPS can be as good as Garmin. Sometimes.
Garmin’s warranty/replacement policy is peerless. You have a problem? Garmin replaces it at low- or no-cost. Apple: not so much (and they just dialed back coverage of Applecare this week…).
Also, did I mention the cute little battery in Apple Watch that needs to be charged a few times per week?
For non-sports people, weekend warriors, or gym-goers, the Watch is probs more than enough.
I’m at a large dotcom here in Silicon Valley. Probably 90%+ of people wear an AW (from the CEO to just -out-of-school). This includes people who might do an event like the MS150 or a Rock 'n Roll Marathon as a goal. The roughly 5% that wear a Garmin are the folks who can tell you their FTP.
Huh, I wear my watch when going for a run then take it off. The only time you’ll see me wearing a watch is if I’m going running or I just recently went running (or maybe a hike or some other fitness activity I want to track).
Reasons not to always wear the watch:
The watch tan isn’t a thing of pride
Contact dermatitis is a thing with the materials in these things and can develop over time with unnecessary frequent wearing
Even though emf radiation is low, no need to compound all that we are surrounded by with more immediately on our wrist all the time.
Batteries aren’t replaceable, so why drain/charge the thing more than needed
A question. The (cheap)smart watches I’ve tried have a long battery life because their screens go blank after about 20s and have to be restarted for current info. Can the HR on an Apple Watch (and Garmins, for that matter) stay on permanently? On some of the watches, in the 10 seconds it took to reach the HR screen, my HR had probably already gone down 20 beats.
If Apple wants to be competitive with Garmin, battery life needs to improve. You can’t do a 2 hour run and need to charge your watch overnight and not get sleep data etc
But as someone mentioned its UI is alot better and more sleek than Garmin. If Apple wants capture this market, it has the resources to do so
I had a Coros Pace 2, but as seems increasingly common, it failed to live to see it’s third birthday. Unwilling to buy another, and with the Forerunner 255s unavailable in my market, i went with the Google Pixel Watch 2, as per the previously mentioned Quantified Scientist’s YouTube channel. With recent updates, it’s on a par with the Pixel 3, and almost equal with the Apple Watch (don’t have an Iphone). The noticeable thing that stands out, is when calculating load, it doesn’t just rely on tracked activities, it takes into account everything you do (if you have the watch on). Looking at this week, 20-30% of my cardio load has come from general activites that would, obviously, be missed if I just relied on actual tracked workouts. Also, compared to the Coros, HR ‘appears’ way more reliable. The Coros would constantly get lost, whereas the Pixel only ever has a moment just when you start, and that usually just means you need to tighten the strap.
Battery life is a hassle, but knowing how inaccurate all these watches are with sleep tracking, I don’t bother with that, so it’s easy to charge it then or when having a shower. Likewise, as for all the other metrics, I don’t really care, as (as is often said) how accurate is that information you are relying on, and how much actionable information do they provide?
If your week is consistent then this doesn’t matter. If your weeks are wildly inconsistent then there would be a benefit, but adding your a M-F walk from parking lot to office to training load isn’t a value add, IMO.
All watch heart rate readings during real workouts are sad compared to a dedicated heart rate monitor. It’s not even close in my usage and I’ve tried a lot.
In the calm resting state the watch hrm is fine but once you are really moving you get all sorts of major errors.
Huh? Where do you get 90% when the majority of the US pop have an iphone. Rest of World is a different story where Android dominates but even then, not 90%. This is easily verifiable info.