Mainly for running & keeping metrics. Anyone know if it pairs well with Stryd etc? I do like the tracking feature. I’m assuming I can wear it in a race? Thanks for any help.
Read this article: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...atures-detailed.html
Pre-update, as a sports watch, it was very basic. I barely used the sports functions, I don’t know how much the update has changed in the below: you have to use a touchscreen, grapple with a clumsy interface, you have little flexibility in setting up what you see, etc. It was a wearable but not a sports watch. Might’ve used it for an easy run once or twice when numbers weren’t crucial.
An Apple Watch is mediocre at best for activity tracking and fitness tracking. If you want a device that you can precisely start and stop as you cross race start & finish lines, then that is nearly impossible with the AW. And its GPS accuracy is probably the worst on the market. Using a touch screen when you are sweaty sucks. Stryd has an app that people like. The main workout app is very limited and not very customizable. Accessing your data for analysis is clumsy at best.
The Apple Watch meets the minimums, but it does nothing well.
I have had almost every generation Apple Watch since introduction. It is a fantastic daily-wear smart watch. But I replace it with a real sport watch when it is time to exercise.
I run with my Apple watch only for listening to music.
I use a Coros Pace on my other wrist for metrics.
An Apple Watch is mediocre at best for activity tracking and fitness tracking. If you want a device that you can precisely start and stop as you cross race start & finish lines, then that is nearly impossible with the AW. And its GPS accuracy is probably the worst on the market. Using a touch screen when you are sweaty sucks. Stryd has an app that people like. The main workout app is very limited and not very customizable. Accessing your data for analysis is clumsy at best.
The Apple Watch meets the minimums, but it does nothing well.
I have had almost every generation Apple Watch since introduction. It is a fantastic daily-wear smart watch. But I replace it with a real sport watch when it is time to exercise.
What he said. I often wear it running just to listen to music. I wear it cycling for tracking/phone calling purposes in case I have an accident. From a metrics and workout usability standpoint it sucks ass compared to something like the Garmin 945.
I used an AW (3 series) for a few years as a general + fitness watch, and didn’t realize what I was missing because I hadn’t owned a proper fitness watch before. I actually would use two watches while running track intervals because the AW was unusable for taking interval splits. Then the touchscreen cracked (rendering the watch unusable) about 18 months ago and I got a Garmin Forerunner 55 last summer, which has been better as a fitness watch in all regards (plus can double as a heart rate sensor for a Garmin bike computer, good luck getting an AW to broadcast data to another non-Apple device…).
Apple watches are NOT designed for the following conditions:
- Cold (touchscreen no good with gloves)
- Wet/rainy or very sweaty (touchscreen not good under wet conditions)
- Any situation where you want precise splits (you need to double-tap the touchscreen at speed… good luck)
(notice a recurring theme here?) - If you want to be quite sure you have GPS pickup at the start of your activity
Anyhow, +1 to the other commenters who have said it’s a nice smart watch, but a mediocre (at best) fitness watch. IMO most of the AW problems as a fitness watch could be solved if they would 1) indicate whether GPS reception was active upon workout start, and 2) use the button on the side of the watch to allow people to take splits, rather than using a touchscreen-only control system to solve the nonexistent problem of how to start and stop an activity on a watch. Maybe some of these issues have since been addressed by later AW models, but weigh your other options seriously before getting one.
edit: A third major drawback was that battery life was quite bad relative to other GPS fitness watches. I had to charge mine pretty much every day.
Does the Forerunner 55 tell GPS location? Say I’m on a run, will someone be able to track me?
Does the Forerunner 55 tell GPS location? Say I’m on a run, will someone be able to track me?
I haven’t used it for this – it does have the “LiveTrack” feature available but requires you to have your phone with you to broadcast out a cellular signal (I typically take my phone but then use phone-based location tracking rather than going through the watch). I think there’s a higher-end Garmin watch that has the capability you want without needing to tote a phone along.
I should add that cellular connection was an appealing aspect of the AW for me and I got one with cellular coverage, but didn’t use it a ton. Making or receiving calls from the watch was nice, but text-based communication was quite slow, and not really feasible while on the move. Text alerts getting pinged from phone to watch was also good, but behaves similarly even on a bottom-of-the-end Garmin watch (and IMO may be easier to navigate while moving because … you guessed it … the Garmin uses its buttons).
I have a used 735xt which is about a $80 watch probably nowadays. I also have the newest Apple Watch that I got from my son. I like the Apple Watch for some things like afib tracking and sleep metrics. It is not a very good exercise watch, does not seem to pair very well with my Bluetooth power meter on the bike, does not seem to want to upload to Carmen Connect or Strava. Maybe it can do all of these things and I’m too dumb and lazy to figure it out but I just grab the other watch instead.
When my daughter goes off to college I will probably just give her the Apple Watch, it is kind of fun to do things like buy a Slurpee and pay for it by tapping my wrist on the cash register, but beyond that it seems kind of pointless and silly. I’m just going to go back to using my watch with hands.
Does the Forerunner 55 tell GPS location? Say I’m on a run, will someone be able to track me?All the Garmin watches do live tracking through a phone. So, yes if you have your phone with you. But then, if you are carrying your phone, people can track you anyway.
The Garmin 945 LTE also has a cellular chip, so people can track you without carrying your phone. If you want cellular connectivity on a sport watch, the Garmin 945 LTE is tough to beat. (It will not do phone calls, like an Apple Watch with cellular.)
Get a Garmin Fenix. Best decision you’ll make.
Get a Garmin Fenix. Best decision you’ll make.
Yeah, but crazy pricy. I just upgraded to the FR 945… love it… but pricy. Prior to I was using the Garmin Vivoactive. I think that would check all the OP’s boxes. It’s a solid choice. (And screen works well w/sweat etc.)
Get a Garmin Fenix. Best decision you’ll make.
Yeah, but crazy pricy. I just upgraded to the FR 945… love it… but pricy. Prior to I was using the Garmin Vivoactive. I think that would check all the OP’s boxes. It’s a solid choice. (And screen works well w/sweat etc.)
Wife and I both use Vivoactive. Just works for the price point.
Get a Garmin Fenix. Best decision you’ll make.
Yeah, but crazy pricy. I just upgraded to the FR 945… love it… but pricy. Prior to I was using the Garmin Vivoactive. I think that would check all the OP’s boxes. It’s a solid choice. (And screen works well w/sweat etc.)
Wife and I both use Vivoactive. Just works for the price point.
I find that it’s not a robust as the FR but yup, at that price point, it’s perfect for most. AND you can still customize your screens for the activity apps. Bonus!
Get a Garmin Fenix. Best decision you’ll make.
Yeah, but crazy pricy. I just upgraded to the FR 945… love it… but pricy. Prior to I was using the Garmin Vivoactive. I think that would check all the OP’s boxes. It’s a solid choice. (And screen works well w/sweat etc.)
Wife and I both use Vivoactive. Just works for the price point.
I find that it’s not a robust as the FR but yup, at that price point, it’s perfect for most. AND you can still customize your screens for the activity apps. Bonus!
I upgraded from the vivoactive to the fenix5…no regrets.
Check to see if the vivoactive will support Stryd. Many don’t support PMs (basically to force serious athletes to the 7XX/9XX/FenixX lines).
For emergency tracking an AirTag (in a ziploc baggie) might be sufficient.
Just got an email from Stryd that they have a new Apple Watch app.
The Apple Watch meets the minimums, but it does nothing well.
It’s Apple so it does really well on the sales side of things I’m guessing. However, if you are even moderately serious about tracking the basic and key metrics for endurance sports training - Heart Rate, GPS, perhaps power on the bike, then you will want to look into a sport specific wearable.
The thing these days is that you need to book and buy into the whole ecosystem of THAT particular brand - and all the big names are VERY good. I’ve used Polar for years - since we only tracked and recorded Heart Rate, and for me, it still does a great job. With the H10 Chest Strap and the Vantage M ( rated as one of the best value’s in the mid-priced market) unit on my wrist it does EVERYTHING I need it to do for my cycling (that’s all I do). Not interested in power - so all I track now are HR and us the GPS to track distance, speed, time etc. and that syncs with Strava easily
Never used an apple watch, my wife and I both have fenix 6 Sapphires. It is the only watch I have worn daily for 2 years and never put a scratch in the face.
They cover everything I need on the cycling side (road, MTB, CX and trainer). My wife is a swimmer and runner and do that well for her.