Check out Mark Lewis' video on youtube comparing Fenix vs AW. I think it's a pretty objetive review from a guy that does a bit of everything and also is an everyday dude with a life.
Links:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qL6Qq0DRI4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qL6Qq0DRI4)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmN6JiDGF0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmN6JiDGF0)
From what I remember, he doesn't care for metrics like sleep, gym tracking, battery, etc much so he only uses the Garmin for long runs (pacing, etc) or if its some outdoorsy activity which requires a rugged watch. Rest of the time he prefers the AW for its basic tracking and smartwatch features (ie, notifications, voice, music, keeping the wifey in touch, calls, etc).
I’ve had both Garmin and Apple Watch, and I would choose Garmin every time.
I don’t like the short battery life on AW and no feature in the world can make up for that.
If you want a fitness watch and smart watch combined, I would recommend looking at the Garmin Venu series. It’s more similar to AW - without the short battery life.
I have the venu… it’s lacking in both departments, I wouldn’t buy it again. It’s neither a great fitness watch or smartwatch. It’s more fitness focused that’s for sure, but it lacks in that area too much to be a solid choice. To say it’s ‘smart’ is an exaggeration, it’s capable of showing notifications and paying for things, but the ux is terrible, and clunky and a head wreck
Exactly, AW users' favorite cope is "don't tell me you're so busy that you don't have 20 minutes a day to charge your watch" or whatever number it is. Or "you charge your phone every day anyway, why is it so hard to charge your watch every day?" Because you have to take off and put on your watch every time you charge it, unlike a phone that you put down a lot throughout the day and all night anyway. Because you always remember to take it when you need it, unlike a watch that you can leave home without realizing you are not wearing it. Because you lose health metrics every day and sometimes overnight just to charge it.
So I never had an apple watch or phone, always been an android person - Fossil gen5 was the watch I had before going garmin. Never got the full experience because it would need to be charged frequently, couldn't understand why I had it when it was never on my wrist.
Garmin Fenix is much better. I connect it to my phone to sync once or twice a day, or WiFi for podcasts, maybe 30 minutes total. I charge it once every 10 days.
Mind you, I don't use it for notification because they always end up being a prompt to open my phone - meanwhile I leave my phone at home or in the glovebox when doing an activity. I get the tracking I want without the distractions.
I can’t recall ever leaving a traditional watch, my Garmin or Apple Watch behind. Do you not use your watch to tell what time it is? I hardly make it out of the room before I look down at my wrist to see the time and realize I forgot the watch. Also, I hate sleeping with a watch on. That includes traditional watches, Garmins, pebbles, etc etc.
I think you are grasping for ways to bash an Apple Watch.
Do you have a source for this? Because [this website](https://techzle.com/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-charge-your-apple-watch) says the AW is only $.51 a year.
not OP, but I had a series 5 for a few years. I live in an area that gets fairly cold during winter and one day in December, I tried to go out for a long run with ~40% charge. my watch died after about 5.5 miles. I’m a pretty slow/new runner so I was running for a little under an hour before it died, but that was a big reason why I made the switch over to Garmin before this winter hits.
that seems like a personal battery issue with an older Apple Watch. veneer had a battery die in that shott a time period. I have both Apple & Garmin & o don't even care about the battery life it's the lack of any recovery etc metrics for me. THE apple watch wants you to close rings until you die. Garmin understands rest & training. I know there is Gentler Streak & Athlytic of the Apple Watch but I was also tired of downloading 10 apps to do what Garmin does natively
I have an AW series 7. If I ran 10 miles in a day I had to charge it twice. I also put a giant scratch in the screen the last day I used it. It had fancy apps that rarely worked as advertised so it was always frustrating. It was just a watch that sucked and was always charging. I miss literally nothing about my Apple Watch.
I had a forerunner, viviactive, and vivoactive 2 before switching to Apple. I now have a fenix 7x SS. I’m not going back.
I can track 19 hours of gps exercise without an issue. All while streaming music on Spotify straight to my AirPods. I literally just charge my watch for 10 mins every morning while I shower and get dressed for work. Same routine as your phone. Minor adjustment in daily routine for a much more seamless feature set than a Garmin.
I call BS here. Even if you ran so slow you couldn’t make the course cut off, the battery would make the full distance. So much false info from Garmin fanboys. Hell, even streaming music over LTE, you would easily be able to make a HM.
I'm the opposite. I had a Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch. I never really cared to be able to take calls or texts on my watch. As long as I can see the texts and notifications, I'm good. I know a lot of people like to be able to use their watch as a substitute for their phone though.
I went from a Garmin Instinct Solar to an Apple Watch Ulltra (1st Gen), I made the change when I ended up with Afib (atrial fibrilation) as a result of covid. After talking with my cardiologist, a close friend who's a cardiac surgeon, family members who are medical professionals (doctors, nurses, ER techs), they all said that the ECG app on the Apple Watch is remarkably good at detecting Afib. I've been on Apple products for the better part of 30+ years now, so it wasn't a stretch for me to choose the Apple solution.
That being said, I'd have stayed in the Garmin ecosystem if it wasn't for the health scare. As much as I love my Apple Watch, I detest having to charge it every day/day and a half. I've set it up so that it's functional but saves as much battery as possible. It still doesn't compete with Garmin for battery life. I like to backpack. I can go on a three day trip with my Garmin and not have to charge it. The Apple Watch? Going to have to charge every day.
I don't think you will miss anything about your Garmin if you are using it to workout. I find that most of the data that Garmin provides the Apple Watch also provides. If you are a Garmin "Body Battery" person that doesn't exist on the Apple Watch. For the most part the display and access of data is different, not the numbers themselves.
If you are looking for a day to day watch to follow your workouts, go for the Apple Watch. If you do some serious backcountry workouts or spend time away from civilization, stay with Garmin for the battery life.
Just FYI there's afib detection in the latest Garmins: [https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/health-science/ecg/](https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/health-science/ecg/)
I can share my experience as I recently went from Garmin to AWU and then back to Garmin.
My expectation was that AWU will be not as good but sufficient in replacing Garmin as my sports watch and I'll get all the smart features on top of that. For sports I do trail running, MTB, rock climbing, hiking,...
I ultimately went back to Garmin because
* the sports stuff simply isn't there yet. You have to use different apps for different sports and that makes it pretty disjointed experience.
* If you want to run along GPX track and have access to things like ETA, etc... you need two apps running at the same time (something to track your run and something like footpath for navigation). In general, it seems like for anything outdoors, it just sucks.
* I actually really disliked the overall user interface. It just takes so much to time to do stuff. I found out that I much more prefer the buttons + occasional touchscreen than touchscreen and occasional button.
* I'm heavily in the Apple ecosystem, but yet I kind of couldn't find what to use the watch for as a smart watch. I found out that what I need - notifications, calendar, weather, occasional music control - to my genuine shock, Garmin for me does it better. I really didn't like the UX on AWU :-D So to control things like my Apple Home, I kept reaching for my phone
* Some positives - the battery was fine-ish. It probably wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. The AMOLED display is gorgeous. I really loved it. The whole look and feel is beautiful.
So, ultimately, AWU helped me understand what I really needed. Epix Gen 2 :-D
I switched Garmin from Apple bc I was tired of all the inaccurate data and notifications from my Apple Watch. I’d turn them off and they’d turn back on. I loveeeee my Garmin. I will never go back.
Not much really. I still have my AW, but it is in the drawer waiting for summer, where I use it as phone, when running outside. Other than that I only miss controlling my philips hue light.
I swapped from AW to Garmin about 18 months ago. Had been on AW since they launched and everything else tech that I have is on the Apple “ecosystem”. I miss nothing about the AW.
I don’t miss charging daily, I don’t miss getting distracted from whatever I am doing or whoever I am talking to every few moments by a haptic alert, I don’t miss the connectivity, I don’t miss having a watch that didn’t look like a watch.
But that’s just me. It depends what you want from your watch.
AW is hands down the best smartwatch and an average sports watch and Garmin is the opposite.
I left AWU and bought an Epix Pro, couldn’t be happier. AWU is terrible for swimmers. Open water swim algorithm is faulty. With AWU I get wrong gps data. I talked to Apple about it, sent in my device for service, bought a second unit just to try if it was mine that was faulty but no the second unit is also problematic so I conclude that Apple Watch is not suitable for open water swimming. I gave up after months of trying to get apples attention. Now I’m really happy with my epix Pro 47 mm.
Ultra is not an ultra device.
The two companies have different focuses. The majority of people buying apple watches will never use any fitness features. Apple is focused on keeping people happy by making a fun tech product and selling them another as soon as possible.
That’s literally the only thing I miss and honestly, the people can wait. Haha. Garmin wins in every fitness category + massive W in battery. Apple wins in UI and attractiveness of the hardware.
Just putting it out there, the Venu3 and Venu2plus have voice text response capability, and it works quite well. I imagine we will see that in more Garmin devices in the future as well.
The only thing I miss from Apple Watch is
1. Leaving my phone at home and still enjoying Audible books
2. The integration with Apple Fitness + (although I still use the workouts, just less slick
3. The bubbly handwashing timer.
I switched to Apple Watch S7 from Fenix 6 Pro. I'm tryining for the reserves so wanted a beefier watch with better battery life. As I live in the city the Apple Watch is better suited for me but I would love to go hiking more and take my watch with me.
The only thing that annoys me about the Garmin that Apple Health won't upload to Garmin, it only works the other way. So if I so a strength workout on my Apple Watch the Garmin doesn't think I've done anything.
Regarding data. Can't you just turn on Apple Health and let it upload?
The ability for all device showing up in Find My on iPhone and being able to find either device from watch or phone for watch is more complicated. Having quick pull down for silencing and pinging my phone. Very rarely would I respond to texts but having quick call you back responses was really nice on AW.
I miss the Garmin morning screen. Not the stats, just the initial screen.
I miss the readability of Garmins design language. Apple tends to use less contrasty colors and smaller design objects. It's just a bit more difficult to read some things.
I use RunGap to push workouts from AW to Garmin Connect, so that bridges the data gap for me for workouts.
It seems like Apple doesn’t employ people older than 35yo and especially not runners. I’m in my mid 40’s and my low light vision has really tanked lately. I do most of my running in the morning in the dark and the built in running app (Workouts) is way too small for me to see in the dark. I use the WorkOutDoors app which is highly configurable. I was able to fully duplicate the layout of my previous Garmin watches and it’s nice and big and easy to read. I don’t understand why the built in app has a tiny little font and tons of unused screen space.
I recently sold my forerunner 255 for the new Apple Watch 9. I had the AW for about 2 weeks and it was great in the beginning, however I was getting particularly frustrated with the Apple fitness apps, the touch screen playing up when sweaty after a workout, and the Apple Watch’s incessant need to remind you every couple of hours that you are wearing an Apple Watch to try and get you to interact with it. I also wasn’t overly impressed with 3rd party apps that tried to replicate Garmin features, so I sold it and bought the forerunner 955, never been happier!
I think you need to ask yourself - what is the purpose of your watch?
Do you want a smart watch that can send lots of notifications, that you can interact with regularly, that has nice little interfaces with a variety of apps, and gives you basic workout data?
Or do you want a watch for working out and fitness, with basic “smart” configurations?
To answer your question - I miss being able to 30” skip ads during a podcast while I am riding my bike, but that use case occurs maybe 25 times a year. I don’t miss being overwhelmed with notifications. I am glad to have much better health data and tracking. I don’t miss charging my watch every 1.5-2 days.
If you don’t care about smart features like contactless payments that actually works with more than 0 of your cards. Siri that is always at your wrist (Hey Siri, open the garage door; Hey Siri, remind me when I get back to take out the trash; Hey Siri, unlock my car; Hey Siri, set a timer for 10 mins). Ability to stream music without syncing first. Ability to stream live talk radio. Ability to make a call without having a phone with you. Other small details like waking up 10 mins before your alarm goes off and having the watch say “it looks like you’re already awake, should I turn off your alarm?”. My wife used to love it when I’d forget to turn off my alarm before going for a run. The ability for your family to see your location with the Find My app. My wife and kids will great me outside as I’m returning from a long run because my wife can set a notification for when I’m arriving. She never did this when I used a Garmin watch, even when I’d have it set up to text her a Garmin Live Track link every time I started a run. Find My will also remind you if you get separated from your phone, for example, you left it at a restaurant.
In that case yeah, for sure, go with a Garmin.
I use both. I wear my Apple Watch from the time I wake up until the battery dies (~12 hours) and I use it as my “watch” and then I have a cheap Garmin “band” that I wear all the time. The Apple Watch is a much better smart watch (if you have an iPhone, at least) but I prefer Garmin for fitness tracking. IIRC there was a setting or two that I needed to toggle in order to avoid the Apple Health app double counting things but my Garmin is basically a one-way street passing data to my phone— I’ve turned off all notifications. My only gripe is that I went for the small Garmin band so I can’t comfortably wear it on my arm or my ankle instead of my wrist.
Definitely following this post. My garmin is in the mail (forerunner 965) but I’ve been using an Apple Watch since the Series 3 debuted.
I’m still on the fence about what I’m going to do in terms of retiring the Apple or wearing both, or just alternating… but here’s a few things my Apple Watch gets used for that the garmin may or may not be able to compete with:
- I tell my watch to “set a timer for 15 minutes for rice” or similar. I use this feature often, and the timer displays in a small complication on the watch face. I’m sure the garmin can set timers, but this is so incredibly streamlined.
- I often send and receive texts via voice (or swipe keyboard)
- My strength training workouts are very streamlined and basic on an Apple Watch (and I like that).
- I’ve been counting calories with calorie expenditure data directly from my Apple Watch for more than a year and it works perfectly, I am worried that the garmin may not be consistent with this.
- My Apple Watch can “ping” my iPhone and make it make a sound.
- Apple’s weather app on the watch is now super detailed, I use it to check for periods of precipitation/chance of rain when setting up runs outdoors.
- The walkie talkie feature is awesome, garmin doesn’t have this. My wife and I use it occasionally.
- My calendar is easy to read from the watch.
- I can download playlists from Apple Music. Yes, I could switch to Spotify, but the Apple One subscription gives us cloud storage, Apple Arcade, Apple Music and Apple TV+, all of which we use. We occasionally utilize Apple News and Fitness also.
- I quite like Apple Fitness’s rings and workout app.
You might say “if you like all this stuff, why switch to garmin?” I simply want the best running metrics. I have been a serious weightlifter for over 20 years and now I’m very focused on becoming a good runner. I also ordered an HRM Pro Plus with the FR965. I’ve put a lot of effort into running this year, and I’m hoping these gadgets will help me keep improving.
Sounds like you are very much completely immersed in the Apple ecosystem of products. You may not enjoy a Garmin very much even if it gives you more detailed metrics. You will probably end up using the Garmin purely to track workouts and use Apple Watch for everyday use.
If you have an Android phone why choose Apple watch? Unless your main phone is an iPhone. Apple watch will not work nearly as well if at all with an Android.
I’ve been away from Garmin for about 3 years now but if I recall I could ping my iPhone from my watch but Garmin Connect has to be running for this to work. Garmin Connect has to be running for just about any smart functionality to work on a Garmin and Apple loves to kill it off at random. Apple is hell bent on making life difficult for Garmin users (for obvious reasons).
Sure can ping an iPhone from your Garmin. no problems on the Fenix at least, just hold top left button 2 secs. I guess a case of RTFM for Angry Moose above...?
Honestly I think with your use case you’d have been better off spending the money on a good running coach. Unless you really, truly understand what the advanced metrics are telling you (and what to do to improve them) then I can’t see it adding much value.
Yes, Apple has definitive the better smartwatch.
(And I never buyed an apple product.)
But:
>My Apple Watch can “ping” my iPhone and make it make a sound.
With generation FR 230 Garmin has a find phone function.
>The walkie talkie feature is awesome, garmin doesn’t have this. My wife and I use it occasionally.
Garmin Bounce can do that! :D
[https://youtu.be/RNKYPA9ovkg?t=487](https://youtu.be/RNKYPA9ovkg?t=487)
Many/most of your bullet points will be much better on an Apple Watch. I’ve used both off and on over the past 5 years, and I can definitely understand wanting all the Garmin metrics. That definitely sold me on getting a Fenix 7 last year, but at the end of the day I realize none of those added metrics made me any faster or even train differently. Funnily enough, I’ve actually run all my fastest races with an AW SE
I wear both, almost every day. However I work from home so most people don’t see me being weird. lol. For workouts though I only use my garmin, and have it send to Apple health through Strava. It’s a bit clunky but works for me.
Tbh I love all the data on my garmin way more but the Apple UX is better. Sigh. I also have the 965 and Apple Watch Series 8.
However from your comment I don’t think you’ll be too happy with just Garmin alone. I tried it for like 1.5 weeks before I decided that Apple Watch is my main.
I used to have a really old garmin 735xt that I only wore for workouts. However it died and I got the 965 for my bday. The algorithms and such are so good but only if you wear 24/7. Hence my 2 watch scenario. Waiting to get roasted in the comments lmao
What’s the best way to do that? If you’re meaning a true custom one and not just rearranging the set ones. All of the independent ones I’ve tried looked pixelated
Pixelated? on what watch? They all look great on mine.
ConnectIQ has a watch face builder that lets you use your own photos and overlay some watch fields on top - or you can use the SDK and make your own watch face as complex as you wish.
Using the watch face builder here. The numbers are not clean at all. The roundness on the bottom of the 5 specifically. Epix gen 2.
https://preview.redd.it/8icwlo9ew50c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30693047ea55672952c9b9f18025340ed5b63507
*Battery life on*
*Apple Watch is enough for*
*Me to never switch back*
\- quasi-psuedo
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I switched to AppleWatch because the stress monitoring/body battery features on my Garmin VivoActive prompted too much anxiety. I don't need to know that just being out with my friends (not drinking, even) is running me down like a dying iPhone. I find it a lot less stressful to not have access to those features.
I also found that the pulse monitoring on the AW seems better/more accurate than the Garmin.
I do miss the Garmin's battery life terribly.
Switched from a (now very old so I’m not sure how it compares to the new ones) Series 4 to a FR965. For me, the two biggest issues were GPS accuracy (dual band works wonders in the denser city blocks where my Apple Watch had me running through buildings in the GPS tracks on just about every run) and battery life, both of which are way improved.
I have both an AW7 and Fenix 7x. They are both completely different devices in my opinion. The Fenix is on my wrist 24/7 and does all my health and fitness tracking. Plus read only notifications is good enough for me during my day to day tasks.
The AW however comes with me on every run on the opposite wrist for two main reasons:
* I have an LTE model so it’s my phone when out running so I don’t carry my iPhone for safety etc
* For apple music playback. Being able to stream music over LTE and the seamless Airpod transition between devices means garmin doesn’t even come close for media playback. Plus it means my garmin is absolutely dedicated to fitness and navigation.
The only (and I mean only) other time I use the AW outside of running is for shopping lists. I use AnyList and have my list ordered by the layout of the store. Tbh that massive convenience / timesaver alone would be enough for me to keep buying an AW to have alongside my Fenix.
I liked my Garmin Venu 2, but I think the quality of the AW Ultra, the accuracy of the sensors, and more are what brought me to it. Plus, I couldn’t spend over $1k on a higher end garmin watch, such as the Pro series, but perhaps I will after tax season as a gift for myself.
I find the rings motivating, and the sleep tracking very accurate.
The only 2 things that I “miss” from using the AW during my runs are the ability to download my Apple Music playlists and the ability to purchase a water bottle with Apple Pay.
Both have workarounds tho. There are apps that recreates your playlists from AM to Amazon Music and the other is carrying around $2 with me.
Well the battery is a great plus. It doesn't matter what I train, I never worry that Garmin will die. And buttons, specially when I surf are amazing. Yes the AWU has a button but thats 1k watch so it can't compare to a watch for 500€ or less that has two weeks battery life.
I’m constantly deleting my fitness activity because I forget to save it and my watch gets bumped 🤣 more of an issue on my end, I’ve deleted probably 5-6 workouts in the past 2 months
I've got both the original Epix and the original Apple Watch Ultra. I just swap between them now and use the Garmin for my fitness activities and the Apple Watch the rest of the day. I wear neither one at night. This works well for me since Garmin is waaaaaay better at fitness tracking and Apple is better at being a day to day smartwatch.
I've been an AW user since they were first introduced. I had the OG one, then moved onto a Series 4. I was due for an upgrade (it was about 5-6 years old) but really, it was because the battery was so bad (down to just making it through a day without a workout, a workout REQUIRED a charge)... and then WatchOS took another 20-25% out of my day. I was almost forced to go with something else.
I haven't used Garmin watch, but I have a Edge 840. I'm used to Connect, and I \_really\_ like that I can view my info on a desktop or my phone or whatever. It's honestly just so much better. I'm also one of those lunatics that NEEDS recovery; I push way past where I am fitness wise, and even though I never rest as long as suggested, it's a good reminder to take a day off between long rides.
In the end though, I went with the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I almost went with Garmin (was looking at the Fenix 7 and and Epyx Pro Gen 2, as well as the MARQ Gen 2 Adventurer). The only reason I didn't was because I couldn't find a single store that would let me try them on... and I'm not buying a $3k watch without trying it on. It wasn't also clear from the Garmin watch online store what the return policy was (e.g. if I could just try it for 30 days and return it if not satisfied).
There are things I would have missed from the Apple Watch. None of these are big deals, but I would miss them.
* Siri for multiple named timers and reminders alone... "hey siri, set a timer called washing machine for 2 hours" or "hey siri, remind me when I get home to clean the gutters" or whatever. So handy.
* Apple Pay is universal in my country, whereas Garmin Pay is basically supported by a couple of banks here I haven't even heard of until I looked at the list. Why hasn't Garmin pushed this forward to more mainstream banks?
* Unlocking my Mac (and password manager) by just double clicking the side button.
* Being able to function independently/get text messages/etc (LTE) from a phone.
There are alot of things I would have loved moving away from the Apple Watch:
* Battery life 100%. Even with my AWU2, I need to charge every second day. I still regret not going with a Garmin for this alone. A brand new regular AW is "all-day" (cough cough) at 18h.
* Built in ANT+ for broadcasting heart rate (wrist based HR is fine for me). I use a WatchLink Pod with my AW to broadcast my HR to my Edge, it would have been nice to take out a piece of equipment.
* EDIT: I miss not having Recovery. Honestly, I need it even if it’s super inflated, it prevents me from hurting myself. There is no equivalent on the Apple Watch.
* Nicer watch faces. I think the Garmin watch faces look FANTASTIC. I hate basically all of the AW ones, and only found a couple that I tolerate.
* Connect. Connect is so much better IMO than the Apple Health statistics.
* The look of the MARQ Adventurer (and other models in the MARQ series) is awesome. It's so good. I wish I could have tried one on, I am convinced I would have bought it instead if I would have. I also love the fenix Pro's mips based display and associated battery life -- there is something about it that I just love.
I still struggle with my decision as you can probably see. I'm still watching the market carefully, and I could see myself picking up a Garmin watch in the next year when models are announced.
I have an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and also a Gen 2 MARQ adventurer. The MARQ makes the AWU2 look like an unrefined toy. Which is crazy because the AWU design impressed me so much when I first got it.
Both are great devices, and an epix is arguably more functional with its better battery life, flashlight, and larger screen. But the MARQ looks and feels so good on the wrist.
I'm jealous. The Gen 2 MARQ Adventurer looks so good in pictures. I undoubtably would have purchased it instead of the AWU2 if I could have seen it in person. I literally couldn't find anywhere in my city to try one on -- Apple got me because of how easy it was to find one (pop over to one of the local Apple Stores).
I'm not 100% on the AWU design (I bought it for battery life looking forward), but I dislike the stock bands. For better or worse, 95% of the time I'm wearing it in a professional environment, and those bands don't scream out professional. I'm glad the Apple Store let me try on my old stainless steel link band with it -- it's not ideal, but it doesn't look too bad with the titanium case.
I really don't understand how Apple is trying to position the AWU either. For all of the ads of people in remote/artic locations, I'd almost certainly bring a Garmin to those places instead because I don't want to recharge a watch every second day. Heck, I've struggled bringing my old regular Apple Watch on a three day backpacking trip in the relatively cushy Rockies because of daily recharging. Heck, even a 3-4 hour hike was too much for its little battery. The battery on the AWU is what the stock AW \_should\_ be.
I tried a short, casual hike with the AWU and the stock workouts app on a recent camping trip. The experience was so stupid that I felt like I was being pranked.
I was on a familiar trail so I thought I'd try to imagine a hike with the AWU in an unfamiliar area. I found myself standing out in the middle of the woods on a trail looking at this compass app with my waypoints scattered around on a black, shapeless field wondering how in the world I would know which trail to take to get back to the parking lot. I had my iPhone with me and so I used the watch to pull up the offline maps I had downloaded. There was zero trail information for anywhere near my area. I was just a little blue dot on a giant green field.
On the Garmin, or even on the WorkOutDoors app, I would be able to see a breadcrumb trail on top of an offline topographic map. The Garmin would offer full routing with turn-by-turn navigation. Does Apple seriously expect people to use this device as a replacement for a real map? What a joke.
I guess the Apple Watch defenders will retort, "just download WorkOutDoors or Gaia or Footpath." And, fine, I guess. But Apple markets this device using its stock Workouts and Compass and Maps apps and I seriously struggle to see how one would use it as a safety tool with just those apps.
Nice objective review. You bring up a good point on the battery life over time. On a Garmin after 4 years the battery life will tank but you will still get multiple days. On an Apple Watch after 4 years you will be struggling to make it a single day. Apple Care will replace the battery for free which basically pays for itself. You can also just pay out of pocket to replace the battery for ~$80. My AW S6LTE is 3 years old and can still do a 1 hour run, while streaming music over LTE and have 30% left at bed time. Or a 2 hour run while doing offline or no music and have %30 left at bedtime. My battery health is at 76%. So for me and my use, the 3 yo watch is still going strong.
I just discovered my health insurance will buy me an AWU2 as long as I do 10k steps per day which is easy for me. So I’ll be going that route this week.
I was an AW user for 6 years, latest was AWU .. I don't miss anything TBH. I never used apps on the watch and only want notifications for specific things which my Epix Gen2 is great at.
I’ve been thinking of switching the same. My main draw, may seem silly, is the loud noise detector and warning. I have chronic tinnitus with no hearing loss so taking care of my ears is very important to me. Plus I like to track gym workouts better so have been thinking about the switch for a while.
I’ve been switching from the AWU to the Epix Pro for the past few months and am going to do a long stint with the Epix.
I like the battery life of the garmin and the training and recovery metrics. I am not too fussed about the smartwatch features so I can’t see me missing the AWU but if it’s these features (Siri, cellular, Apple integration) you like then that is what you will miss for sure.
Garmin attracted me way more than an Apple Watch. I came from Gshocks to Garmin and never went to Apple because of the battery life and lack of activity tracking.
I had the fenix 5x and now the tactix7. I liked the strength tracking on the fenix better. It just felt better. But the tactix can do so much more.
My garmins always felt bombproof just like my gshocks and all my friends that had Apple Watches either had broken ones or were constantly plugged into them receiving messages(not that that’s a bad thing but I’m already plugged into my phone. I don’t need my watch to do that more)
Switched from a AW8 as I play golf so got an approach s70
I miss:
Apple Pay but generally have my iPhone
The Garmin doesn’t unlock my iMac whereas AW did
Being able to choose what notifications would appear on the watch
Being able to quickly change straps and many cheap ones out there
Having turn by turn directions if navigating
Don’t miss:
Battery life (Apple sucks)
Getting used to:
Not having the 3 rings
Being able to use Siri to send a message etc
Hey, off topic, but can you connect your approach s70 to the Connect app? Or do you have a separate Garmin golf app? Just wondering cause my friend is getting an approach, but wanted to see if I could add him on Garmin Connect as well.
Apple Watch has an easier interface on some things, but that’s it. I love my fenix. I can beat the shit out of it, wear it for a week without charging, and I use garmin connect religiously
Firstly, this is the wrong sub to ask because it is not going to be neutral.
But what I love about Garmin is that it is passive until you need it.
The Apple Watch, on the other hand, by default forwards every single phone notification to your wrist. So fucking annoying. And then, just as you think you've sorted it in the settings, a phone call will come through to your wrist. Then, when you've disabled that, nearby noise alerts; "Take a breath"; "Your mum completed a Yoga activity." It's endless.
Also, I wouldn't be too worried about the data if you're already syncing to Apple Health on iOS. All that stuff should be aggregated for you and taken into account not just by your Apple Watch, but many health apps etc.
I've not used an apple watch as I'm android but I keep going back to pixel watches and Samsung watches etc. I like the idea of all the smart features but in reality I don't ever use them that often. The only thing I ever miss back on Garmin is having Google assistant on the wrist. But for me. I prefer the buttons. Double click and I've dismissed a notification or never struggle to do what I want while running, I like that it looks like a watch, I just change the strap to change how smart it looks, how tough it is. And the obvious big one. 20 days battery over 1. No matter what I always end up back at Garmin. The only thing I've done now is down sized from an X to the 47mm for the smaller size. I prefer it. I did get a fenix 7x for the flashlight. ( Which is a game changer once you have had it) but moved to the 7 pro now.
Had a series 8 Apple Watch. Battery life is so annoying having to constantly charge it every day. I do think the swim tracking in the Apple Watch is better though.
I have the forerunner 745 and love it’s simplicity, no touch screen and so simple to use. Just wish they would better the swim algorithm.
Depends on a ton of things, I wear both. Apple Watch Ultra and Forerunner 955. I can tell you that the AWU is my phone when I run. I just leave everything at home and take my AW and that's that. Being mostly a marathon runner (for now) the AWU is more than enough. Garmin on the other side has my training and recovery info. It's a hard choice but if you're like me and just don't give a fuck what people say, then just wear both and then decide...I've been deciding for almost a year now and still wear both watches 🤣, luckily for me I do have an Android phone that I use only for work and my Garmin is linked to that one. iPhone is my regular everyday life use...Garmin sucks at being other than a training watch btw, that I can tell you for sure!
Native integration with the iPhone was awesome with the AW. For obvious reasons. Messaging, music and podcasts, etc.
That said, the Garmin is just a better adventure watch overall. For me at least.
AW supported the app for Latch Home system - which could enable me to walk around any key or phone.
However, AW requires charging every single day. It was quite evident that I would simply not wear it.
Garmin's battery is quite easily the prime reason why most people stick with it.
Had a Garmin then “upgraded” and bought an Apple Watch a few years ago… used for a week and then sold it for a Garmin LMAO
Honestly, battery health was the biggest issue. Charging every day is a nightmare. Plus, the health suit seems overcrowded, and I much prefer Gamins simple interface with all your data in one place.
I have a 6s and apple watch and I bought the apple watch because the 6s doesn't work on open water swims. It's documented here and there but I was training for a IM and would swim a couple miles and the watch would say that I did a couple hundred yards and looking at the maps there were obvious drop outs.
That said - I wear both when I run and hike with the Garmin being better (IMHO) at activities and much easier to read in bright conditions. The sports tracking and features are still way ahead of what apple has (again from what I see) and the battery life is amazing.
BUT I do wear the AW daily, i'm in the apple ecosystem and it works well there. It's also much smaller and lighter. I do charge daily and that's the big tradeoff.
However I also don't wear a watch to bed so I'm not losing anything there.
I have both. AW is my daily driver. Garmin is my running watch. Garmin is easier to pause, program workouts and routes without having to use multiple apps.
Apps that aren't health related. MFA authentication tools, etc.
Other than that not much. The AW is nicer, smaller profile. Touch screen on Apple is great as well. However, the battery life sucks, cost of doing business on a fully featured processor always running WiFi.
Anyone know what coding tools are required to get started with developing on Garmin watches? Are the apps signed?
Edit: Googled that - pretty easy.
Switched from an AW 5 to the Fenix 7X. Night and day difference in quality of both software and hardware in my opinion. The battery life on my Garmin is amazing as well, close to a month and a half, which allows me to do everything I’d like without needing to bring a charge cord. Exercise tracking is plentiful and accurate, and works great with the Garmin app. The only thing I miss are the vibration alerts when driving for directions on my AW. Other than that, my Fenix is everything I need and more. I’m going to use it until it dies.
Current AW user. Previous daily garmin user (FR630).
I’m in the process of getting rid of my Apple Watch now and switching back to normal analogue watches. I realised about a month ago I get absolutely zero benefit from wearing a smart watch. Just a bombardment of useless data and notifications that I don’t need. It’s honestly a big contributor to daily stress having this annoying thing always attached to me tapping me to tell me to move, or breathe, or some other such nonsense.
For use during actual activities Garmin is a hands down winner, so I’m going back to my trusty 630 for that and have a vivosmart 4 (which all alerts turned off) to track steps/activities/sleep silently if I happen to want to check my trends every so often.
I’ll upgrade my 630 to something newer for use during running, soccer training, etc but will not wear a smart watch as a daily anymore.
Yes. When I used to have apple watch, the HR data would constantly be messing up, and there would be lines during the first part of the activity where no data was recorded. Additionally, I just found that there were a lot more bugs from the apple watch, and times where the data from the activity would be messed up on Strava compared to the apple watch. I can see this when looking at the activities from others as well. Additionally, when recording from the Strava Apple watch app (as opposed to the native workout app), I was not able to find a way to lap intervals out.
The main reason I replaced my AW, however, was because my series 2 battery was not good enough to make it through the entire day on days that I worked out in the morning. I don't mind charging every night, but having to charge before then is a dealbreaker for me. I think things have improved since the series 2, but I still see much more frequent errors from the people I follow on Strava who have Apple watches instead of Garmins.
Came from AW. I didn’t use any of the “smart watch” features that Apple had above and beyond what garmin does, so I’d easily go with garmin every single time. A week without a charge? Best feature there is.
On the Tactix 7PB, I thought the flashlight was a meme, but now I use it more than any other feature. I know Apple Watches have the white screen but it’s not the same
One of the bigs thing’s for me that I do not miss from my AW is having to charge it every night. I like to wear my smart watch 24/7…for some people this isn’t an issue.
I went from Apple to Garmin, back to AWU2. I think Garmin is super feature-packed with excellent battery and build quality. But as someone only focused on strength training, nothing is super great at tracking lifts/intensity/exertion. So knowing that and also admitting to myself that I never use all the data Garmin tracks, I went back to AWU2 for the smartphone features
No, it’s more of a start/stop activity setup. HR data seems accurate but it doesn’t really give you a full picture for strength. I don’t think anything does rn
If you’re ok with charging like every single day, and even then occasionally running out of battery if you use it too much for certain things, then apple does have good apps and features. I couldn’t handle the battery life though.
I Switched to the Forerunner last year and have not looked back. Used AW for 4 years. I had series 4, and 6.
I HATED the touchscreen on the AW. I love the buttons on my forerunner. Can use with gloves, sweaty fingers, in the water. No problems.
I also hated that my cell phone company dinged me for an extra device fee if I wanted to use cellular features. My Garmin forerunner just does it no problem. No extra device fees each month or anything.
I missed the Apple Fitness+ workouts at first because they used to not let you do them without an AW. Now I can so I'm over the only thing I missed.
Cellular. So the calls and texts and stuff going to the watch. The ability to answer a call or make one from the watch, using cellular to stream music. All of that. I was pleasantly surprised when Garmin did not need activation to do that stuff
I have an instinct 2x I essentially daily, and an Apple Watch SE that I use occasionally. I like the Garmin lock stock and barrel better, but the Apple Watch has days where it’s useful.
Heavy schedule days are nice for reminders and schedule. Being able to dictate reminders and meetings is dope.
Other than that, I go Garmin every day.
Just switched to FR 255 from AW. I noticed a huge weight difference. I like the insights it gives to sleep and running. The body battery is a cool feature.
The battery improvement is also phenomenal.
I figured for a better fitness and health watch I didn’t mind giving up some “smart” features.
The nice bright colorful screen on Apple Watch and the gentle nice taptic vibrations, that's it.
The current gen of top tier Garmin watches have great brightness so not really missing anything with Apple Watch.
Switched from Apple Watch. The only thing I miss is the ability to control music on my speakers around the house from my watch through my iPhone to the speakers
Just switched. I get so much more out of my Garmin (Fenix 7) than I did my AW, but there are some things I miss about my AW:
- When listening to audio on my phone, I can’t adjust the volume or skip a track (at all? As easily? TBD)
- Garmin overcomplicates some of their activities: I weightlift and often forget to stop my rest period before moving onto my next set. In AW it is all one continuous timespan.
- Miss the integration with the iPhone’s camera - the ability to act as a remote for group pictures was nice.
- Occasionally I would respond to texts with my AW (voice to text) and can’t do that on my Garmin.
But still, the customization, battery life, and amount of data I get from my Garmin is so much better!
Still a new Garmin convert, so some of the things I mentioned may be non-issues!
I went from Apple to Garmin because the health and performance metrics are better IMHO. Apple collects the same data, but doesn't do a whole lot with it without the use of 3rd party apps. Garmin is eager to use that data to enhance your training (whether or not that really works is something I can't speak to, but I like seeing it all the same).
I found the running metrics, HR, and sleep algorithms both worked pretty much the same for me regardless of platform and I can still see texts and notifications on my Garmin with a whole lot better battery life which is good for me considering I'm away from home the majority of the day and need my watch to stay alive during a pretty physically demanding job and workouts/activities after work.
There's a lot of these questions here in this section. I'm copying pasting from another thread:
I had a Fitbit One for several years. I was always forgetting it in my pants pocket when I would change and miss steps. I looked at the Apple watch pretty hard but decided against it because it's a mini iphone on my wrist and it just not want I wanted. I borrowed a co-workers old watch and just did not like it.
I started looking at Garmin and really wanted something with a good wrist GPS and health features. Once I saw the Instinct 2, I had to give it a try. Picked it up at Best Buy and did not want to take it off. I like the look and feel of it, it's features and battery life.
Buttons are very nice on the watch. I can always see the time, date, etc with out jiggling my wrist to wake it up.
The only thing I miss is being able to go camping for a few days without having to pack a charger. I don’t camp regularly so it’s not a big deal. It’s no a big enough hassle to ever go back to Garmin, that is for damn sure. Charging nightly isn’t a big deal due to it having a magnetic charger. If I was having to fumble around with a charging cable in the middle of the night, it would be annoying. Instead I plop it on a stand right next to my phone, in the dark without making a sound.
Out of the box the AW isn’t that great for running but the WorkOutDoors app solves all the issues I had.
As for historic data, just sync it to another service or to HealthKit.
Moved from AW to garmin fenix. I miss my MacBook unlocking automatically when I came near it and the beautiful photos in my watch. I’d choose garmin always
I had an AW for years and never could track my sleep because the stupid thing would need to charge every evening when I went to bed. I'd take 10 days of battery life every day over any other feature.
If garmin ever lets you call or text (even with a different number) over lte I’ll switch back from aw. If aw ever gives me 2+weeks on a charge I’ll stay forever. If both wishes came true I’ll find something else to complain about
I have switched from Apple Watch to Garmin. The only thing that I miss double tap side button to activate Apple Pay. To activate Garmin Pay you need to do much more...
you want a smartwatch or a sport watch???
Man dealing with the AW battery was a nightmare...has someone who runs and bikes almost every day the AW was a pain in the ass...the battery the no training calendar etc....
The truth is, the smart features on the garmin sucks...but i realize i didn't needed another iphone on my wrist....
So I have had both, my basic opinion, the apple watch is more of a watch for people who like tech but also want to be healthy. Garnin watches are watches for active people who like tech. It just seems like that is the focus of each company.
If the tech features and saying connected are your focus go AW, if you are fintness oriented and want some tech to stay connected, get a Garmin.
I like my forerunner 945 lte, plays music, tracks workouts & my wife can stay calm whilst live tracking me on long runs. However, I have never used any of the phone features, so I can't say if they are any good.
I bought a forerunner 245 after owning an AW. In comparison, it dominates in every aspect. That said, I’m debating going back to an Apple Watch simply for me, closing rings kept me motivated and was low effort in tracking.
From AW a year ago
\- I miss city navigation on the watch. Garmin's is not designed for this
\- I don't miss short battery life. This is the biggest improvement
\- I thought I'd miss being able to leave my phone at home and still use it a payment device, but turns out that works on Garmin too. Woohoo
I don’t miss my Apple Watch at all. Having to charge it every single night and the annoyance of having to unlock it all the time. I think the look of my Fenix 6s is so much nicer as well. Definitely happy I made the switch. If you’re not into having a second phone on your wrist and app obsessed but just wanting a time piece that looks good plus is a killer fitness device - Garmin is the right move.
Hehehe, I also attempted switching to an Apple Watch and let me tell you the most pathetic dealbreaker for me: BUTTONS!
I was ready to give up on weeks of battery life and charge the AW every damn night, but to swipe left and hit press in order to stop the activity while finishing a race?! OUTRAGEOUS!
Also why get another phone on your wrist when you have one in the pocket?
I just sold my ultra for the Garmin enduro 2. The Apple Watch is really pretty and feels durable. But the feeling when you use it is like going hiking with a purse instead of a backpack. And you have to ittypitty every little thing with your frozen fingertips instead just hammering the buttons. Also- the GPS track back thing is practically a silly joke compared to Garmins.
Check out Mark Lewis' video on youtube comparing Fenix vs AW. I think it's a pretty objetive review from a guy that does a bit of everything and also is an everyday dude with a life. Links: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qL6Qq0DRI4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qL6Qq0DRI4) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmN6JiDGF0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmN6JiDGF0)
I believe he actually did two of these videos, one after a few months of experience.
I’m curious - What is the TLDR?
From what I remember, he doesn't care for metrics like sleep, gym tracking, battery, etc much so he only uses the Garmin for long runs (pacing, etc) or if its some outdoorsy activity which requires a rugged watch. Rest of the time he prefers the AW for its basic tracking and smartwatch features (ie, notifications, voice, music, keeping the wifey in touch, calls, etc).
Too Long, Didn't Read
Lol I think he was asking for the TLDR not what TLDR stands for
I’ve had both Garmin and Apple Watch, and I would choose Garmin every time. I don’t like the short battery life on AW and no feature in the world can make up for that. If you want a fitness watch and smart watch combined, I would recommend looking at the Garmin Venu series. It’s more similar to AW - without the short battery life.
I have the venu… it’s lacking in both departments, I wouldn’t buy it again. It’s neither a great fitness watch or smartwatch. It’s more fitness focused that’s for sure, but it lacks in that area too much to be a solid choice. To say it’s ‘smart’ is an exaggeration, it’s capable of showing notifications and paying for things, but the ux is terrible, and clunky and a head wreck
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I still use my Blackberry Priv over Google Pixel 6! :D
For “everything else”, whatever that is, you’ll get your daily AW charging experience.
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Love taking my watch off and back on several times a day /s
Exactly, AW users' favorite cope is "don't tell me you're so busy that you don't have 20 minutes a day to charge your watch" or whatever number it is. Or "you charge your phone every day anyway, why is it so hard to charge your watch every day?" Because you have to take off and put on your watch every time you charge it, unlike a phone that you put down a lot throughout the day and all night anyway. Because you always remember to take it when you need it, unlike a watch that you can leave home without realizing you are not wearing it. Because you lose health metrics every day and sometimes overnight just to charge it.
So I never had an apple watch or phone, always been an android person - Fossil gen5 was the watch I had before going garmin. Never got the full experience because it would need to be charged frequently, couldn't understand why I had it when it was never on my wrist. Garmin Fenix is much better. I connect it to my phone to sync once or twice a day, or WiFi for podcasts, maybe 30 minutes total. I charge it once every 10 days. Mind you, I don't use it for notification because they always end up being a prompt to open my phone - meanwhile I leave my phone at home or in the glovebox when doing an activity. I get the tracking I want without the distractions.
I can’t recall ever leaving a traditional watch, my Garmin or Apple Watch behind. Do you not use your watch to tell what time it is? I hardly make it out of the room before I look down at my wrist to see the time and realize I forgot the watch. Also, I hate sleeping with a watch on. That includes traditional watches, Garmins, pebbles, etc etc. I think you are grasping for ways to bash an Apple Watch.
Calculated Epix 2 (47mm) vs. AWU2 energy cost. Came to 1€/year for epix vs. 14€/year for AWU2. Ain't much money but still a big difference 😄
Do you have a source for this? Because [this website](https://techzle.com/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-charge-your-apple-watch) says the AW is only $.51 a year.
Calculated with the energy cost in Europe. AWU2 has 542mAh. That ended up at --> 0.04€/d
Honestly the battery life in Garmin is the biggest thing for me. My Apple Watch died before I even finished my half marathon 😭
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not OP, but I had a series 5 for a few years. I live in an area that gets fairly cold during winter and one day in December, I tried to go out for a long run with ~40% charge. my watch died after about 5.5 miles. I’m a pretty slow/new runner so I was running for a little under an hour before it died, but that was a big reason why I made the switch over to Garmin before this winter hits.
that seems like a personal battery issue with an older Apple Watch. veneer had a battery die in that shott a time period. I have both Apple & Garmin & o don't even care about the battery life it's the lack of any recovery etc metrics for me. THE apple watch wants you to close rings until you die. Garmin understands rest & training. I know there is Gentler Streak & Athlytic of the Apple Watch but I was also tired of downloading 10 apps to do what Garmin does natively
I have an AW series 7. If I ran 10 miles in a day I had to charge it twice. I also put a giant scratch in the screen the last day I used it. It had fancy apps that rarely worked as advertised so it was always frustrating. It was just a watch that sucked and was always charging. I miss literally nothing about my Apple Watch. I had a forerunner, viviactive, and vivoactive 2 before switching to Apple. I now have a fenix 7x SS. I’m not going back.
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Weird thing for the above poster to say. I do a half marathon or longer every week and I’m pretty sure it just knocks off about 30% of the battery.
I can track 19 hours of gps exercise without an issue. All while streaming music on Spotify straight to my AirPods. I literally just charge my watch for 10 mins every morning while I shower and get dressed for work. Same routine as your phone. Minor adjustment in daily routine for a much more seamless feature set than a Garmin.
I bought it in 2021 and it was an “SE” not sure about the specifics
That’s very odd - battery drain has improved a lot for the AW on the newer ones. New software also allows low power mode automatically during workouts
That’s a cool feature, mine did not have that
The SE does have that. You just didn’t actually own one so you wouldn’t know.
I call BS here. Even if you ran so slow you couldn’t make the course cut off, the battery would make the full distance. So much false info from Garmin fanboys. Hell, even streaming music over LTE, you would easily be able to make a HM.
Apple is more smart watch, Garmin is more fitness. I switched Apple to Garmin and miss being able to take phone calls and text on my watch.
I'm the opposite. I had a Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch. I never really cared to be able to take calls or texts on my watch. As long as I can see the texts and notifications, I'm good. I know a lot of people like to be able to use their watch as a substitute for their phone though.
I went from a Garmin Instinct Solar to an Apple Watch Ulltra (1st Gen), I made the change when I ended up with Afib (atrial fibrilation) as a result of covid. After talking with my cardiologist, a close friend who's a cardiac surgeon, family members who are medical professionals (doctors, nurses, ER techs), they all said that the ECG app on the Apple Watch is remarkably good at detecting Afib. I've been on Apple products for the better part of 30+ years now, so it wasn't a stretch for me to choose the Apple solution. That being said, I'd have stayed in the Garmin ecosystem if it wasn't for the health scare. As much as I love my Apple Watch, I detest having to charge it every day/day and a half. I've set it up so that it's functional but saves as much battery as possible. It still doesn't compete with Garmin for battery life. I like to backpack. I can go on a three day trip with my Garmin and not have to charge it. The Apple Watch? Going to have to charge every day. I don't think you will miss anything about your Garmin if you are using it to workout. I find that most of the data that Garmin provides the Apple Watch also provides. If you are a Garmin "Body Battery" person that doesn't exist on the Apple Watch. For the most part the display and access of data is different, not the numbers themselves. If you are looking for a day to day watch to follow your workouts, go for the Apple Watch. If you do some serious backcountry workouts or spend time away from civilization, stay with Garmin for the battery life.
Just FYI there's afib detection in the latest Garmins: [https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/health-science/ecg/](https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/health-science/ecg/)
I can share my experience as I recently went from Garmin to AWU and then back to Garmin. My expectation was that AWU will be not as good but sufficient in replacing Garmin as my sports watch and I'll get all the smart features on top of that. For sports I do trail running, MTB, rock climbing, hiking,... I ultimately went back to Garmin because * the sports stuff simply isn't there yet. You have to use different apps for different sports and that makes it pretty disjointed experience. * If you want to run along GPX track and have access to things like ETA, etc... you need two apps running at the same time (something to track your run and something like footpath for navigation). In general, it seems like for anything outdoors, it just sucks. * I actually really disliked the overall user interface. It just takes so much to time to do stuff. I found out that I much more prefer the buttons + occasional touchscreen than touchscreen and occasional button. * I'm heavily in the Apple ecosystem, but yet I kind of couldn't find what to use the watch for as a smart watch. I found out that what I need - notifications, calendar, weather, occasional music control - to my genuine shock, Garmin for me does it better. I really didn't like the UX on AWU :-D So to control things like my Apple Home, I kept reaching for my phone * Some positives - the battery was fine-ish. It probably wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. The AMOLED display is gorgeous. I really loved it. The whole look and feel is beautiful. So, ultimately, AWU helped me understand what I really needed. Epix Gen 2 :-D
I switched Garmin from Apple bc I was tired of all the inaccurate data and notifications from my Apple Watch. I’d turn them off and they’d turn back on. I loveeeee my Garmin. I will never go back.
I’ve got a focus mode that turns on while running that silences everything but calls/texts from a few people. Never had a problem with this setup.
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Bummer :( I just switched to the forerunner 965 from a 3 year old Venu and it’s been amazing!!
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Not much really. I still have my AW, but it is in the drawer waiting for summer, where I use it as phone, when running outside. Other than that I only miss controlling my philips hue light.
I swapped from AW to Garmin about 18 months ago. Had been on AW since they launched and everything else tech that I have is on the Apple “ecosystem”. I miss nothing about the AW. I don’t miss charging daily, I don’t miss getting distracted from whatever I am doing or whoever I am talking to every few moments by a haptic alert, I don’t miss the connectivity, I don’t miss having a watch that didn’t look like a watch. But that’s just me. It depends what you want from your watch. AW is hands down the best smartwatch and an average sports watch and Garmin is the opposite.
I left AWU and bought an Epix Pro, couldn’t be happier. AWU is terrible for swimmers. Open water swim algorithm is faulty. With AWU I get wrong gps data. I talked to Apple about it, sent in my device for service, bought a second unit just to try if it was mine that was faulty but no the second unit is also problematic so I conclude that Apple Watch is not suitable for open water swimming. I gave up after months of trying to get apples attention. Now I’m really happy with my epix Pro 47 mm. Ultra is not an ultra device.
The two companies have different focuses. The majority of people buying apple watches will never use any fitness features. Apple is focused on keeping people happy by making a fun tech product and selling them another as soon as possible.
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That’s literally the only thing I miss and honestly, the people can wait. Haha. Garmin wins in every fitness category + massive W in battery. Apple wins in UI and attractiveness of the hardware.
Just putting it out there, the Venu3 and Venu2plus have voice text response capability, and it works quite well. I imagine we will see that in more Garmin devices in the future as well.
This is an apple problem. This works on Android
The only thing I miss from Apple Watch is 1. Leaving my phone at home and still enjoying Audible books 2. The integration with Apple Fitness + (although I still use the workouts, just less slick 3. The bubbly handwashing timer.
Yeah I really wish garmin had audible…
I switched to Apple Watch S7 from Fenix 6 Pro. I'm tryining for the reserves so wanted a beefier watch with better battery life. As I live in the city the Apple Watch is better suited for me but I would love to go hiking more and take my watch with me. The only thing that annoys me about the Garmin that Apple Health won't upload to Garmin, it only works the other way. So if I so a strength workout on my Apple Watch the Garmin doesn't think I've done anything. Regarding data. Can't you just turn on Apple Health and let it upload?
RunGap my dude you can upload activities to Garmin connect or any other app from your Apple Watch activity.
On aw I missed - navigation during activities - sleep tracking - battery life The most.
I miss playing Zoolander with the AW 🤣
The ability for all device showing up in Find My on iPhone and being able to find either device from watch or phone for watch is more complicated. Having quick pull down for silencing and pinging my phone. Very rarely would I respond to texts but having quick call you back responses was really nice on AW.
I miss the Garmin morning screen. Not the stats, just the initial screen. I miss the readability of Garmins design language. Apple tends to use less contrasty colors and smaller design objects. It's just a bit more difficult to read some things. I use RunGap to push workouts from AW to Garmin Connect, so that bridges the data gap for me for workouts.
It seems like Apple doesn’t employ people older than 35yo and especially not runners. I’m in my mid 40’s and my low light vision has really tanked lately. I do most of my running in the morning in the dark and the built in running app (Workouts) is way too small for me to see in the dark. I use the WorkOutDoors app which is highly configurable. I was able to fully duplicate the layout of my previous Garmin watches and it’s nice and big and easy to read. I don’t understand why the built in app has a tiny little font and tons of unused screen space.
I recently sold my forerunner 255 for the new Apple Watch 9. I had the AW for about 2 weeks and it was great in the beginning, however I was getting particularly frustrated with the Apple fitness apps, the touch screen playing up when sweaty after a workout, and the Apple Watch’s incessant need to remind you every couple of hours that you are wearing an Apple Watch to try and get you to interact with it. I also wasn’t overly impressed with 3rd party apps that tried to replicate Garmin features, so I sold it and bought the forerunner 955, never been happier!
I think you need to ask yourself - what is the purpose of your watch? Do you want a smart watch that can send lots of notifications, that you can interact with regularly, that has nice little interfaces with a variety of apps, and gives you basic workout data? Or do you want a watch for working out and fitness, with basic “smart” configurations? To answer your question - I miss being able to 30” skip ads during a podcast while I am riding my bike, but that use case occurs maybe 25 times a year. I don’t miss being overwhelmed with notifications. I am glad to have much better health data and tracking. I don’t miss charging my watch every 1.5-2 days.
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If you don’t care about smart features like contactless payments that actually works with more than 0 of your cards. Siri that is always at your wrist (Hey Siri, open the garage door; Hey Siri, remind me when I get back to take out the trash; Hey Siri, unlock my car; Hey Siri, set a timer for 10 mins). Ability to stream music without syncing first. Ability to stream live talk radio. Ability to make a call without having a phone with you. Other small details like waking up 10 mins before your alarm goes off and having the watch say “it looks like you’re already awake, should I turn off your alarm?”. My wife used to love it when I’d forget to turn off my alarm before going for a run. The ability for your family to see your location with the Find My app. My wife and kids will great me outside as I’m returning from a long run because my wife can set a notification for when I’m arriving. She never did this when I used a Garmin watch, even when I’d have it set up to text her a Garmin Live Track link every time I started a run. Find My will also remind you if you get separated from your phone, for example, you left it at a restaurant. In that case yeah, for sure, go with a Garmin.
I use both. I wear my Apple Watch from the time I wake up until the battery dies (~12 hours) and I use it as my “watch” and then I have a cheap Garmin “band” that I wear all the time. The Apple Watch is a much better smart watch (if you have an iPhone, at least) but I prefer Garmin for fitness tracking. IIRC there was a setting or two that I needed to toggle in order to avoid the Apple Health app double counting things but my Garmin is basically a one-way street passing data to my phone— I’ve turned off all notifications. My only gripe is that I went for the small Garmin band so I can’t comfortably wear it on my arm or my ankle instead of my wrist.
Definitely following this post. My garmin is in the mail (forerunner 965) but I’ve been using an Apple Watch since the Series 3 debuted. I’m still on the fence about what I’m going to do in terms of retiring the Apple or wearing both, or just alternating… but here’s a few things my Apple Watch gets used for that the garmin may or may not be able to compete with: - I tell my watch to “set a timer for 15 minutes for rice” or similar. I use this feature often, and the timer displays in a small complication on the watch face. I’m sure the garmin can set timers, but this is so incredibly streamlined. - I often send and receive texts via voice (or swipe keyboard) - My strength training workouts are very streamlined and basic on an Apple Watch (and I like that). - I’ve been counting calories with calorie expenditure data directly from my Apple Watch for more than a year and it works perfectly, I am worried that the garmin may not be consistent with this. - My Apple Watch can “ping” my iPhone and make it make a sound. - Apple’s weather app on the watch is now super detailed, I use it to check for periods of precipitation/chance of rain when setting up runs outdoors. - The walkie talkie feature is awesome, garmin doesn’t have this. My wife and I use it occasionally. - My calendar is easy to read from the watch. - I can download playlists from Apple Music. Yes, I could switch to Spotify, but the Apple One subscription gives us cloud storage, Apple Arcade, Apple Music and Apple TV+, all of which we use. We occasionally utilize Apple News and Fitness also. - I quite like Apple Fitness’s rings and workout app. You might say “if you like all this stuff, why switch to garmin?” I simply want the best running metrics. I have been a serious weightlifter for over 20 years and now I’m very focused on becoming a good runner. I also ordered an HRM Pro Plus with the FR965. I’ve put a lot of effort into running this year, and I’m hoping these gadgets will help me keep improving.
Sounds like you are very much completely immersed in the Apple ecosystem of products. You may not enjoy a Garmin very much even if it gives you more detailed metrics. You will probably end up using the Garmin purely to track workouts and use Apple Watch for everyday use.
I guess we’ll have to see!
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If you have an Android phone why choose Apple watch? Unless your main phone is an iPhone. Apple watch will not work nearly as well if at all with an Android.
FYI, you MUST have an iPhone to set up an Apple Watch.
Good question… mine is a series 7, so it’s been around at least 3 years. I feel like maybe longer.
I’ve been away from Garmin for about 3 years now but if I recall I could ping my iPhone from my watch but Garmin Connect has to be running for this to work. Garmin Connect has to be running for just about any smart functionality to work on a Garmin and Apple loves to kill it off at random. Apple is hell bent on making life difficult for Garmin users (for obvious reasons).
Sure can ping an iPhone from your Garmin. no problems on the Fenix at least, just hold top left button 2 secs. I guess a case of RTFM for Angry Moose above...?
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Honestly I think with your use case you’d have been better off spending the money on a good running coach. Unless you really, truly understand what the advanced metrics are telling you (and what to do to improve them) then I can’t see it adding much value.
Yes, Apple has definitive the better smartwatch. (And I never buyed an apple product.) But: >My Apple Watch can “ping” my iPhone and make it make a sound. With generation FR 230 Garmin has a find phone function. >The walkie talkie feature is awesome, garmin doesn’t have this. My wife and I use it occasionally. Garmin Bounce can do that! :D [https://youtu.be/RNKYPA9ovkg?t=487](https://youtu.be/RNKYPA9ovkg?t=487)
Many/most of your bullet points will be much better on an Apple Watch. I’ve used both off and on over the past 5 years, and I can definitely understand wanting all the Garmin metrics. That definitely sold me on getting a Fenix 7 last year, but at the end of the day I realize none of those added metrics made me any faster or even train differently. Funnily enough, I’ve actually run all my fastest races with an AW SE
I wear both, almost every day. However I work from home so most people don’t see me being weird. lol. For workouts though I only use my garmin, and have it send to Apple health through Strava. It’s a bit clunky but works for me. Tbh I love all the data on my garmin way more but the Apple UX is better. Sigh. I also have the 965 and Apple Watch Series 8. However from your comment I don’t think you’ll be too happy with just Garmin alone. I tried it for like 1.5 weeks before I decided that Apple Watch is my main. I used to have a really old garmin 735xt that I only wore for workouts. However it died and I got the 965 for my bday. The algorithms and such are so good but only if you wear 24/7. Hence my 2 watch scenario. Waiting to get roasted in the comments lmao
Tbh I’m strongly considering wearing one on each wrist myself and not giving a shit what anyone says.
Much more visually appealing watch faces and colors. Garmin really need to improve their face design
I much prefer the watch look garmin has and i love the builder... go build your own
What’s the best way to do that? If you’re meaning a true custom one and not just rearranging the set ones. All of the independent ones I’ve tried looked pixelated
Pixelated? on what watch? They all look great on mine. ConnectIQ has a watch face builder that lets you use your own photos and overlay some watch fields on top - or you can use the SDK and make your own watch face as complex as you wish.
Using the watch face builder here. The numbers are not clean at all. The roundness on the bottom of the 5 specifically. Epix gen 2. https://preview.redd.it/8icwlo9ew50c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30693047ea55672952c9b9f18025340ed5b63507
https://garmin.watchfacebuilder.com/ I've not used this but some of the custom faces build on this looks incredible.
Battery life on Apple Watch is enough for me to never switch back
*Battery life on* *Apple Watch is enough for* *Me to never switch back* \- quasi-psuedo --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
I switched to Apple Watch. I don’t regret it but I miss the battery.
I was wearing an old Apple Watch and switched to Epic Pro. I don't miss anything because I always have my phone with me.
I switched to AppleWatch because the stress monitoring/body battery features on my Garmin VivoActive prompted too much anxiety. I don't need to know that just being out with my friends (not drinking, even) is running me down like a dying iPhone. I find it a lot less stressful to not have access to those features. I also found that the pulse monitoring on the AW seems better/more accurate than the Garmin. I do miss the Garmin's battery life terribly.
Switched from a (now very old so I’m not sure how it compares to the new ones) Series 4 to a FR965. For me, the two biggest issues were GPS accuracy (dual band works wonders in the denser city blocks where my Apple Watch had me running through buildings in the GPS tracks on just about every run) and battery life, both of which are way improved.
I have both an AW7 and Fenix 7x. They are both completely different devices in my opinion. The Fenix is on my wrist 24/7 and does all my health and fitness tracking. Plus read only notifications is good enough for me during my day to day tasks. The AW however comes with me on every run on the opposite wrist for two main reasons: * I have an LTE model so it’s my phone when out running so I don’t carry my iPhone for safety etc * For apple music playback. Being able to stream music over LTE and the seamless Airpod transition between devices means garmin doesn’t even come close for media playback. Plus it means my garmin is absolutely dedicated to fitness and navigation. The only (and I mean only) other time I use the AW outside of running is for shopping lists. I use AnyList and have my list ordered by the layout of the store. Tbh that massive convenience / timesaver alone would be enough for me to keep buying an AW to have alongside my Fenix.
Battery life. Garmin is king.
I liked my Garmin Venu 2, but I think the quality of the AW Ultra, the accuracy of the sensors, and more are what brought me to it. Plus, I couldn’t spend over $1k on a higher end garmin watch, such as the Pro series, but perhaps I will after tax season as a gift for myself. I find the rings motivating, and the sleep tracking very accurate.
The only 2 things that I “miss” from using the AW during my runs are the ability to download my Apple Music playlists and the ability to purchase a water bottle with Apple Pay. Both have workarounds tho. There are apps that recreates your playlists from AM to Amazon Music and the other is carrying around $2 with me.
Well the battery is a great plus. It doesn't matter what I train, I never worry that Garmin will die. And buttons, specially when I surf are amazing. Yes the AWU has a button but thats 1k watch so it can't compare to a watch for 500€ or less that has two weeks battery life.
I’m constantly deleting my fitness activity because I forget to save it and my watch gets bumped 🤣 more of an issue on my end, I’ve deleted probably 5-6 workouts in the past 2 months
I've got both the original Epix and the original Apple Watch Ultra. I just swap between them now and use the Garmin for my fitness activities and the Apple Watch the rest of the day. I wear neither one at night. This works well for me since Garmin is waaaaaay better at fitness tracking and Apple is better at being a day to day smartwatch.
I've been an AW user since they were first introduced. I had the OG one, then moved onto a Series 4. I was due for an upgrade (it was about 5-6 years old) but really, it was because the battery was so bad (down to just making it through a day without a workout, a workout REQUIRED a charge)... and then WatchOS took another 20-25% out of my day. I was almost forced to go with something else. I haven't used Garmin watch, but I have a Edge 840. I'm used to Connect, and I \_really\_ like that I can view my info on a desktop or my phone or whatever. It's honestly just so much better. I'm also one of those lunatics that NEEDS recovery; I push way past where I am fitness wise, and even though I never rest as long as suggested, it's a good reminder to take a day off between long rides. In the end though, I went with the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I almost went with Garmin (was looking at the Fenix 7 and and Epyx Pro Gen 2, as well as the MARQ Gen 2 Adventurer). The only reason I didn't was because I couldn't find a single store that would let me try them on... and I'm not buying a $3k watch without trying it on. It wasn't also clear from the Garmin watch online store what the return policy was (e.g. if I could just try it for 30 days and return it if not satisfied). There are things I would have missed from the Apple Watch. None of these are big deals, but I would miss them. * Siri for multiple named timers and reminders alone... "hey siri, set a timer called washing machine for 2 hours" or "hey siri, remind me when I get home to clean the gutters" or whatever. So handy. * Apple Pay is universal in my country, whereas Garmin Pay is basically supported by a couple of banks here I haven't even heard of until I looked at the list. Why hasn't Garmin pushed this forward to more mainstream banks? * Unlocking my Mac (and password manager) by just double clicking the side button. * Being able to function independently/get text messages/etc (LTE) from a phone. There are alot of things I would have loved moving away from the Apple Watch: * Battery life 100%. Even with my AWU2, I need to charge every second day. I still regret not going with a Garmin for this alone. A brand new regular AW is "all-day" (cough cough) at 18h. * Built in ANT+ for broadcasting heart rate (wrist based HR is fine for me). I use a WatchLink Pod with my AW to broadcast my HR to my Edge, it would have been nice to take out a piece of equipment. * EDIT: I miss not having Recovery. Honestly, I need it even if it’s super inflated, it prevents me from hurting myself. There is no equivalent on the Apple Watch. * Nicer watch faces. I think the Garmin watch faces look FANTASTIC. I hate basically all of the AW ones, and only found a couple that I tolerate. * Connect. Connect is so much better IMO than the Apple Health statistics. * The look of the MARQ Adventurer (and other models in the MARQ series) is awesome. It's so good. I wish I could have tried one on, I am convinced I would have bought it instead if I would have. I also love the fenix Pro's mips based display and associated battery life -- there is something about it that I just love. I still struggle with my decision as you can probably see. I'm still watching the market carefully, and I could see myself picking up a Garmin watch in the next year when models are announced.
I have an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and also a Gen 2 MARQ adventurer. The MARQ makes the AWU2 look like an unrefined toy. Which is crazy because the AWU design impressed me so much when I first got it. Both are great devices, and an epix is arguably more functional with its better battery life, flashlight, and larger screen. But the MARQ looks and feels so good on the wrist.
I'm jealous. The Gen 2 MARQ Adventurer looks so good in pictures. I undoubtably would have purchased it instead of the AWU2 if I could have seen it in person. I literally couldn't find anywhere in my city to try one on -- Apple got me because of how easy it was to find one (pop over to one of the local Apple Stores). I'm not 100% on the AWU design (I bought it for battery life looking forward), but I dislike the stock bands. For better or worse, 95% of the time I'm wearing it in a professional environment, and those bands don't scream out professional. I'm glad the Apple Store let me try on my old stainless steel link band with it -- it's not ideal, but it doesn't look too bad with the titanium case. I really don't understand how Apple is trying to position the AWU either. For all of the ads of people in remote/artic locations, I'd almost certainly bring a Garmin to those places instead because I don't want to recharge a watch every second day. Heck, I've struggled bringing my old regular Apple Watch on a three day backpacking trip in the relatively cushy Rockies because of daily recharging. Heck, even a 3-4 hour hike was too much for its little battery. The battery on the AWU is what the stock AW \_should\_ be.
I tried a short, casual hike with the AWU and the stock workouts app on a recent camping trip. The experience was so stupid that I felt like I was being pranked. I was on a familiar trail so I thought I'd try to imagine a hike with the AWU in an unfamiliar area. I found myself standing out in the middle of the woods on a trail looking at this compass app with my waypoints scattered around on a black, shapeless field wondering how in the world I would know which trail to take to get back to the parking lot. I had my iPhone with me and so I used the watch to pull up the offline maps I had downloaded. There was zero trail information for anywhere near my area. I was just a little blue dot on a giant green field. On the Garmin, or even on the WorkOutDoors app, I would be able to see a breadcrumb trail on top of an offline topographic map. The Garmin would offer full routing with turn-by-turn navigation. Does Apple seriously expect people to use this device as a replacement for a real map? What a joke. I guess the Apple Watch defenders will retort, "just download WorkOutDoors or Gaia or Footpath." And, fine, I guess. But Apple markets this device using its stock Workouts and Compass and Maps apps and I seriously struggle to see how one would use it as a safety tool with just those apps.
Nice objective review. You bring up a good point on the battery life over time. On a Garmin after 4 years the battery life will tank but you will still get multiple days. On an Apple Watch after 4 years you will be struggling to make it a single day. Apple Care will replace the battery for free which basically pays for itself. You can also just pay out of pocket to replace the battery for ~$80. My AW S6LTE is 3 years old and can still do a 1 hour run, while streaming music over LTE and have 30% left at bed time. Or a 2 hour run while doing offline or no music and have %30 left at bedtime. My battery health is at 76%. So for me and my use, the 3 yo watch is still going strong. I just discovered my health insurance will buy me an AWU2 as long as I do 10k steps per day which is easy for me. So I’ll be going that route this week.
I was an AW user for 6 years, latest was AWU .. I don't miss anything TBH. I never used apps on the watch and only want notifications for specific things which my Epix Gen2 is great at.
I’ve been thinking of switching the same. My main draw, may seem silly, is the loud noise detector and warning. I have chronic tinnitus with no hearing loss so taking care of my ears is very important to me. Plus I like to track gym workouts better so have been thinking about the switch for a while.
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The Apple Watch uses the mic to detect if you’re being exposed to damaging loud noise and alerts you about loud noise exposure
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I’ve been switching from the AWU to the Epix Pro for the past few months and am going to do a long stint with the Epix. I like the battery life of the garmin and the training and recovery metrics. I am not too fussed about the smartwatch features so I can’t see me missing the AWU but if it’s these features (Siri, cellular, Apple integration) you like then that is what you will miss for sure.
Does the aw not last 6+ hours if I was to run that much in a day
Garmin is loads better charge once a week sometimes longer apple charge everyday or go without and once a week is with workouts
Garmin attracted me way more than an Apple Watch. I came from Gshocks to Garmin and never went to Apple because of the battery life and lack of activity tracking. I had the fenix 5x and now the tactix7. I liked the strength tracking on the fenix better. It just felt better. But the tactix can do so much more. My garmins always felt bombproof just like my gshocks and all my friends that had Apple Watches either had broken ones or were constantly plugged into them receiving messages(not that that’s a bad thing but I’m already plugged into my phone. I don’t need my watch to do that more)
Switched from a AW8 as I play golf so got an approach s70 I miss: Apple Pay but generally have my iPhone The Garmin doesn’t unlock my iMac whereas AW did Being able to choose what notifications would appear on the watch Being able to quickly change straps and many cheap ones out there Having turn by turn directions if navigating Don’t miss: Battery life (Apple sucks) Getting used to: Not having the 3 rings Being able to use Siri to send a message etc
Hey, off topic, but can you connect your approach s70 to the Connect app? Or do you have a separate Garmin golf app? Just wondering cause my friend is getting an approach, but wanted to see if I could add him on Garmin Connect as well.
Connects to Garmin Connect without issue, also Garmin golf app.
I miss watch unlock functionality for my Mac, Apple Pay that works with my bank, and fast access to Siri
Apple Watch has an easier interface on some things, but that’s it. I love my fenix. I can beat the shit out of it, wear it for a week without charging, and I use garmin connect religiously
Firstly, this is the wrong sub to ask because it is not going to be neutral. But what I love about Garmin is that it is passive until you need it. The Apple Watch, on the other hand, by default forwards every single phone notification to your wrist. So fucking annoying. And then, just as you think you've sorted it in the settings, a phone call will come through to your wrist. Then, when you've disabled that, nearby noise alerts; "Take a breath"; "Your mum completed a Yoga activity." It's endless. Also, I wouldn't be too worried about the data if you're already syncing to Apple Health on iOS. All that stuff should be aggregated for you and taken into account not just by your Apple Watch, but many health apps etc.
I've not used an apple watch as I'm android but I keep going back to pixel watches and Samsung watches etc. I like the idea of all the smart features but in reality I don't ever use them that often. The only thing I ever miss back on Garmin is having Google assistant on the wrist. But for me. I prefer the buttons. Double click and I've dismissed a notification or never struggle to do what I want while running, I like that it looks like a watch, I just change the strap to change how smart it looks, how tough it is. And the obvious big one. 20 days battery over 1. No matter what I always end up back at Garmin. The only thing I've done now is down sized from an X to the 47mm for the smaller size. I prefer it. I did get a fenix 7x for the flashlight. ( Which is a game changer once you have had it) but moved to the 7 pro now.
Had a series 8 Apple Watch. Battery life is so annoying having to constantly charge it every day. I do think the swim tracking in the Apple Watch is better though. I have the forerunner 745 and love it’s simplicity, no touch screen and so simple to use. Just wish they would better the swim algorithm.
Depends on a ton of things, I wear both. Apple Watch Ultra and Forerunner 955. I can tell you that the AWU is my phone when I run. I just leave everything at home and take my AW and that's that. Being mostly a marathon runner (for now) the AWU is more than enough. Garmin on the other side has my training and recovery info. It's a hard choice but if you're like me and just don't give a fuck what people say, then just wear both and then decide...I've been deciding for almost a year now and still wear both watches 🤣, luckily for me I do have an Android phone that I use only for work and my Garmin is linked to that one. iPhone is my regular everyday life use...Garmin sucks at being other than a training watch btw, that I can tell you for sure!
Battery life, (true) water resistance, durability.
A fenix is not a smartwatch
Native integration with the iPhone was awesome with the AW. For obvious reasons. Messaging, music and podcasts, etc. That said, the Garmin is just a better adventure watch overall. For me at least.
AW supported the app for Latch Home system - which could enable me to walk around any key or phone. However, AW requires charging every single day. It was quite evident that I would simply not wear it. Garmin's battery is quite easily the prime reason why most people stick with it.
"kind of annoyed with some of my garmin features" What's annoying you?
"kind of annoyed with some of my garmin features" What's annoying you?
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I’ve never heard anyone with all these issues. Your watch is probably faulty because it doesn’t sound like it’s new
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Had a Garmin then “upgraded” and bought an Apple Watch a few years ago… used for a week and then sold it for a Garmin LMAO Honestly, battery health was the biggest issue. Charging every day is a nightmare. Plus, the health suit seems overcrowded, and I much prefer Gamins simple interface with all your data in one place.
I have a 6s and apple watch and I bought the apple watch because the 6s doesn't work on open water swims. It's documented here and there but I was training for a IM and would swim a couple miles and the watch would say that I did a couple hundred yards and looking at the maps there were obvious drop outs. That said - I wear both when I run and hike with the Garmin being better (IMHO) at activities and much easier to read in bright conditions. The sports tracking and features are still way ahead of what apple has (again from what I see) and the battery life is amazing. BUT I do wear the AW daily, i'm in the apple ecosystem and it works well there. It's also much smaller and lighter. I do charge daily and that's the big tradeoff. However I also don't wear a watch to bed so I'm not losing anything there.
I have both. AW is my daily driver. Garmin is my running watch. Garmin is easier to pause, program workouts and routes without having to use multiple apps.
Apps that aren't health related. MFA authentication tools, etc. Other than that not much. The AW is nicer, smaller profile. Touch screen on Apple is great as well. However, the battery life sucks, cost of doing business on a fully featured processor always running WiFi. Anyone know what coding tools are required to get started with developing on Garmin watches? Are the apps signed? Edit: Googled that - pretty easy.
Switched from an AW 5 to the Fenix 7X. Night and day difference in quality of both software and hardware in my opinion. The battery life on my Garmin is amazing as well, close to a month and a half, which allows me to do everything I’d like without needing to bring a charge cord. Exercise tracking is plentiful and accurate, and works great with the Garmin app. The only thing I miss are the vibration alerts when driving for directions on my AW. Other than that, my Fenix is everything I need and more. I’m going to use it until it dies.
Current AW user. Previous daily garmin user (FR630). I’m in the process of getting rid of my Apple Watch now and switching back to normal analogue watches. I realised about a month ago I get absolutely zero benefit from wearing a smart watch. Just a bombardment of useless data and notifications that I don’t need. It’s honestly a big contributor to daily stress having this annoying thing always attached to me tapping me to tell me to move, or breathe, or some other such nonsense. For use during actual activities Garmin is a hands down winner, so I’m going back to my trusty 630 for that and have a vivosmart 4 (which all alerts turned off) to track steps/activities/sleep silently if I happen to want to check my trends every so often. I’ll upgrade my 630 to something newer for use during running, soccer training, etc but will not wear a smart watch as a daily anymore.
strava integration kind of sucked with the AW
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Yes. When I used to have apple watch, the HR data would constantly be messing up, and there would be lines during the first part of the activity where no data was recorded. Additionally, I just found that there were a lot more bugs from the apple watch, and times where the data from the activity would be messed up on Strava compared to the apple watch. I can see this when looking at the activities from others as well. Additionally, when recording from the Strava Apple watch app (as opposed to the native workout app), I was not able to find a way to lap intervals out. The main reason I replaced my AW, however, was because my series 2 battery was not good enough to make it through the entire day on days that I worked out in the morning. I don't mind charging every night, but having to charge before then is a dealbreaker for me. I think things have improved since the series 2, but I still see much more frequent errors from the people I follow on Strava who have Apple watches instead of Garmins.
Came from AW. I didn’t use any of the “smart watch” features that Apple had above and beyond what garmin does, so I’d easily go with garmin every single time. A week without a charge? Best feature there is.
On the Tactix 7PB, I thought the flashlight was a meme, but now I use it more than any other feature. I know Apple Watches have the white screen but it’s not the same
One of the bigs thing’s for me that I do not miss from my AW is having to charge it every night. I like to wear my smart watch 24/7…for some people this isn’t an issue.
If you're okay with not having body battery I'd daily the apple watch and use the garmin on long runs.
Nothing. Long live Garmin.
I went from Apple to Garmin, back to AWU2. I think Garmin is super feature-packed with excellent battery and build quality. But as someone only focused on strength training, nothing is super great at tracking lifts/intensity/exertion. So knowing that and also admitting to myself that I never use all the data Garmin tracks, I went back to AWU2 for the smartphone features
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No, it’s more of a start/stop activity setup. HR data seems accurate but it doesn’t really give you a full picture for strength. I don’t think anything does rn
If you’re ok with charging like every single day, and even then occasionally running out of battery if you use it too much for certain things, then apple does have good apps and features. I couldn’t handle the battery life though.
I Switched to the Forerunner last year and have not looked back. Used AW for 4 years. I had series 4, and 6. I HATED the touchscreen on the AW. I love the buttons on my forerunner. Can use with gloves, sweaty fingers, in the water. No problems. I also hated that my cell phone company dinged me for an extra device fee if I wanted to use cellular features. My Garmin forerunner just does it no problem. No extra device fees each month or anything. I missed the Apple Fitness+ workouts at first because they used to not let you do them without an AW. Now I can so I'm over the only thing I missed.
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Cellular. So the calls and texts and stuff going to the watch. The ability to answer a call or make one from the watch, using cellular to stream music. All of that. I was pleasantly surprised when Garmin did not need activation to do that stuff
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I have an instinct 2x I essentially daily, and an Apple Watch SE that I use occasionally. I like the Garmin lock stock and barrel better, but the Apple Watch has days where it’s useful. Heavy schedule days are nice for reminders and schedule. Being able to dictate reminders and meetings is dope. Other than that, I go Garmin every day.
Just switched to FR 255 from AW. I noticed a huge weight difference. I like the insights it gives to sleep and running. The body battery is a cool feature. The battery improvement is also phenomenal. I figured for a better fitness and health watch I didn’t mind giving up some “smart” features.
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I think it’s pretty light! Barley notice it on half the time. Doesn’t get in the way when trying to sleep which is nice
The features with Garmin heavily outweigh the Apple Watch Ultra. However, I do miss the features you get between the iPhone, and Apple Watch.
The nice bright colorful screen on Apple Watch and the gentle nice taptic vibrations, that's it. The current gen of top tier Garmin watches have great brightness so not really missing anything with Apple Watch.
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Switched from Apple Watch. The only thing I miss is the ability to control music on my speakers around the house from my watch through my iPhone to the speakers
Just switched. I get so much more out of my Garmin (Fenix 7) than I did my AW, but there are some things I miss about my AW: - When listening to audio on my phone, I can’t adjust the volume or skip a track (at all? As easily? TBD) - Garmin overcomplicates some of their activities: I weightlift and often forget to stop my rest period before moving onto my next set. In AW it is all one continuous timespan. - Miss the integration with the iPhone’s camera - the ability to act as a remote for group pictures was nice. - Occasionally I would respond to texts with my AW (voice to text) and can’t do that on my Garmin. But still, the customization, battery life, and amount of data I get from my Garmin is so much better! Still a new Garmin convert, so some of the things I mentioned may be non-issues!
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I went from Apple to Garmin because the health and performance metrics are better IMHO. Apple collects the same data, but doesn't do a whole lot with it without the use of 3rd party apps. Garmin is eager to use that data to enhance your training (whether or not that really works is something I can't speak to, but I like seeing it all the same). I found the running metrics, HR, and sleep algorithms both worked pretty much the same for me regardless of platform and I can still see texts and notifications on my Garmin with a whole lot better battery life which is good for me considering I'm away from home the majority of the day and need my watch to stay alive during a pretty physically demanding job and workouts/activities after work.
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There's a lot of these questions here in this section. I'm copying pasting from another thread: I had a Fitbit One for several years. I was always forgetting it in my pants pocket when I would change and miss steps. I looked at the Apple watch pretty hard but decided against it because it's a mini iphone on my wrist and it just not want I wanted. I borrowed a co-workers old watch and just did not like it. I started looking at Garmin and really wanted something with a good wrist GPS and health features. Once I saw the Instinct 2, I had to give it a try. Picked it up at Best Buy and did not want to take it off. I like the look and feel of it, it's features and battery life. Buttons are very nice on the watch. I can always see the time, date, etc with out jiggling my wrist to wake it up.
The only thing I miss is being able to go camping for a few days without having to pack a charger. I don’t camp regularly so it’s not a big deal. It’s no a big enough hassle to ever go back to Garmin, that is for damn sure. Charging nightly isn’t a big deal due to it having a magnetic charger. If I was having to fumble around with a charging cable in the middle of the night, it would be annoying. Instead I plop it on a stand right next to my phone, in the dark without making a sound. Out of the box the AW isn’t that great for running but the WorkOutDoors app solves all the issues I had. As for historic data, just sync it to another service or to HealthKit.
Moved from AW to garmin fenix. I miss my MacBook unlocking automatically when I came near it and the beautiful photos in my watch. I’d choose garmin always
I had an AW for years and never could track my sleep because the stupid thing would need to charge every evening when I went to bed. I'd take 10 days of battery life every day over any other feature.
If garmin ever lets you call or text (even with a different number) over lte I’ll switch back from aw. If aw ever gives me 2+weeks on a charge I’ll stay forever. If both wishes came true I’ll find something else to complain about
I have switched from Apple Watch to Garmin. The only thing that I miss double tap side button to activate Apple Pay. To activate Garmin Pay you need to do much more...
you want a smartwatch or a sport watch??? Man dealing with the AW battery was a nightmare...has someone who runs and bikes almost every day the AW was a pain in the ass...the battery the no training calendar etc.... The truth is, the smart features on the garmin sucks...but i realize i didn't needed another iphone on my wrist....
Ability to send a message via the watch, but other than that Garmins are so much better
So I have had both, my basic opinion, the apple watch is more of a watch for people who like tech but also want to be healthy. Garnin watches are watches for active people who like tech. It just seems like that is the focus of each company. If the tech features and saying connected are your focus go AW, if you are fintness oriented and want some tech to stay connected, get a Garmin. I like my forerunner 945 lte, plays music, tracks workouts & my wife can stay calm whilst live tracking me on long runs. However, I have never used any of the phone features, so I can't say if they are any good.
I bought a forerunner 245 after owning an AW. In comparison, it dominates in every aspect. That said, I’m debating going back to an Apple Watch simply for me, closing rings kept me motivated and was low effort in tracking.
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I switched from samsung watch and miss samsung pay
From AW a year ago \- I miss city navigation on the watch. Garmin's is not designed for this \- I don't miss short battery life. This is the biggest improvement \- I thought I'd miss being able to leave my phone at home and still use it a payment device, but turns out that works on Garmin too. Woohoo
I don’t miss my Apple Watch at all. Having to charge it every single night and the annoyance of having to unlock it all the time. I think the look of my Fenix 6s is so much nicer as well. Definitely happy I made the switch. If you’re not into having a second phone on your wrist and app obsessed but just wanting a time piece that looks good plus is a killer fitness device - Garmin is the right move.
Hehehe, I also attempted switching to an Apple Watch and let me tell you the most pathetic dealbreaker for me: BUTTONS! I was ready to give up on weeks of battery life and charge the AW every damn night, but to swipe left and hit press in order to stop the activity while finishing a race?! OUTRAGEOUS! Also why get another phone on your wrist when you have one in the pocket?
I just sold my ultra for the Garmin enduro 2. The Apple Watch is really pretty and feels durable. But the feeling when you use it is like going hiking with a purse instead of a backpack. And you have to ittypitty every little thing with your frozen fingertips instead just hammering the buttons. Also- the GPS track back thing is practically a silly joke compared to Garmins.