I was planning on swapping my Garmin Vivoactive HR (it’s going back under warranty and JL are going to do an exchange if I want) for the incoming Vivoactive 3, but at £300 it’s very close to Apple Watch territory. Never really considered a AW before, but I do have an iPhone and it seems people are getting nearly 2 days of battery off the non-LTE 42mm version. Which is relevant as battery life is one of the biggest barriers after being used to getting a week off the Garmin.

I know the Garmin will be better for the sports side of things, but build quality, usability and smartwatch functions probably sees the AW blowing it out the water…..and for not much more.

Sooooo. Anyone bought one already? Any good? Battery life?

I got a S2 Apple Watch (the 38mm one) a couple of months ago, which replaced a Vivoactive (pre-HR). I think the S3 without LTE is much the same as the S2.

Battery life definitely isn’t as good for day-to-day but it’s convenient to charge every night so I do – could not bother for an overnight trip but any longer and you’ll be packing a cable. Not that much different for GPS tracking though, a long ride will eat most of the battery of both (although I usually rely on a Garmin Edge for long rides anyway).

I really like all the other stuff – notification stuff is way better, more useful watch faces, daily activity tracking and it’s a much nicer thing to have on my wrist and look at than the flat square Vivoactive.

Oh, and if you do use Apple’s own activity recording stuff (for runs, cycles, etc) now with iOS11 other apps have access to data including the GPS track. So there’s a few good apps like RunGap that can take that and push to Strava / MapMyRun / Garmin / etc if you also have too many places to put things like that.

Thanks for that Simon.

Bumo for the evening crowd. Really interested in v3 real world experience on the battery. Effusive posts on r/AppleWatch saying 3 days, but they’re all Apple fanboys,

I’ve a 42mm s2 so not much help. Battery life is pretty decent. I find it very useful not having to be glued to my phone as much. Some of the apps are quite cool.

Only negative so far has been how easily the screen scratches but my old watch had sapphire glass and was near indestructible

Bookmarking as was just about to jump for a VA3 (as can’t stomach the Fenix 5 price!) when it’s released this week but like Jamie said, it’s very close to the AW s3……so interested in other’s opinions!

A

I currently have a VA3 on my wrist if you have any questions, Andy. JL had them on the website, so picked one up to test/have a look at.

Summary…it’s alright, but not sure it’s £280 alright. Usual Garmin syncing headaches all there still. Just running it against my Vivoactive HR, and having to add/remove, sync turn off and on again more times than I would like.

Ooh – didn’t realise they were out yet? Thought it was end of the week?

What colour did you go for? Shame the gunmetal is another £20!

How is it size wise? Any pics of it on for scale (I’ll be ordering blind (online!))

Ta,

A

The silver/black and silver/white are on JL’s website. No ETA for slate. Slate does look better, but £20 more for a coating that will look like shit if it rubs/scratches.

I have ladies wrists.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/LLJovMk.jpg[/img]

Nice one Jamie – cheers!

A

I’ve had an AWS2 since Christmas and it’s been great. Battery life is fine, can last a few days. It if you run a gps app like strava then gay eats into the battery life but so hassle to charge overnight.

Not compared specs so not sure what the difference between the S2 and S3 is, but if it is only the ability to make calls stand alone then I personally wouldn’t bother. I’ve used mine to take calls when at home and can’t be bothered to retrieve my phone rom another room and it’s not that great and I wouldn’t even wanting to make calls from it in public.

But good for playing music via BT earphones when in the gym, good for swimming etc. It’s a nice bit of kit.

then gay eats into the battery life but so hassle to charge overnight.

Heh.

Not compared specs so not sure what the difference between the S2 and S3 is, but if it is only the ability to make calls stand alone then I personally wouldn’t bother.

That’s the LTE version, I am looking at non-LTE. I believe the differences are a CPU speed bump and a few other bits and pieces.

Also interested in this. Trying to decide on whether to buy an Apple Watch (S3 or S2 – I don’t need the LTE bit), or a Garmin Fenix 5. I’m sure the Apple will ‘do’ more stuff, but the Garmin has a much longer battery life. However, experiences with previous Garmin watches does put me off somewhat…

Any experiences of either/both?

Nick

All I can do is point you at this guy, Nick:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2s2xfZF5pc[/video]
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTeFfJMN3Eo[/video]

what connect IQ watch face is that? or is it a built -in one?

It’s Line by Stanislav.Bures, who seems to do most the decent watch faces.

Linky: https://apps.garmin.com/en-GB/apps/8f8adabf-8cb1-4ffd-b40e-283350d47601

Read the description if you want to add weather data from DarkSky like this:

…probably nails the battery, not tested it enough yet.

Thanks Jamie – interesting, and helpful. I suspect the Apple Watch will be a good option for me – too many bad experiences of Garmin devices!

Hi all I’m in the same position here. I have a Forerunner watch currently on which I’ve broken the screen. The battery life and durability is putting me off the AW3, I mean that protruding glass face is asking for trouble! The VA3 looks like a logical upgrade over the current watch, would maybe stretch to the Fenix but it seems so dam bulky in comparisons! Let’s have some more opinions on the AW2 or 3 please…

Got my Apple S3 watch on Friday. Not been riding with it yet. So far its fantastic. Did my 20 min calibration run tonight whilst listening to music via bt headphones on apple music. Battery so far is holding up well. Not used the cellular features much yet but I have enabled it.

Any questions fire away…

Thanks doubleu..be interesting to hear about battery life namely. I have a garmin edge so main use of gps would be walking…so maybe 4-6 hours max in a given day.

Oh it will easily do that. The killer battery feature is making / receiving calls on it (cellular version)

Which ironically is one of the main reasons I bought it. When I now go riding the usual trail centres I no longer need to take my phone. If I did need to call because of an emergency then the watch will do it. One thing to note – it only works on the 4G frequency. EE do have great coverage though.

Now I just realised you’re after the non-LTE

Anyway my first apple watch and I’m very impressed with the information it can give. After the run tonight it’s even given me an estimate v02 max. Strava, Mapmyrun, MyfitnessPal, Gymaholic apps all seamlessly integrate and speak with each other now so I literally have so much data to play with.

Thanks. I’m not specifically after the GPS only version…you make a good point about at least having it for emergency scenarios. I believe the LTE version has more storage and slightly larger battery too..

How many trail centres (or other riding spots) have 4G though? That seems like a dealbreaker for those planning to use the watch as a phone in an emergency.

I’m torn by these. I like gadgets but I’m just not sure I see the point.

Too my other point..would you be happy wearing the watch on the trail? As with iPhones they look nice in the shop but to be practical everyday need a case.

How many trail centres (or other riding spots) have 4G though?

Probably the same number as have 4G for your phone…probably.

To some its a dealbreaker the 4G thing and I get that. The usual riding spots I go to do have 4G so for me its fine. I guess for others it may not be.

Wearing it on the trail – yes its a risk. You can buy ‘ruggedised’ cases for them on Amazon. I’ve yet to decide whether to try one but they are available.

The LTE does have 16gb storage as opposed to 8gb

I’ll be buying an LTE in January.

This seems the best AW case..

http://actionproof.com/bumper/

Just took the plunge on an Apple Watch. Went for the Series 2, 42mm aluminium – John Lewis had a few left in stock for £299 (reduced from £399, although the new S3 is £369), so I thought it’s worth a try. Currently installing Watch OS4 – will let you know how I get on!

Nick

I’ve have the 2 and the 3.
Upgraded to the 3 last week purely to spend less time with the phone nearby.
No issues so far, 4G works fine although obviously it’s not as powerful as an actual phone.
Battery life no real world different – still 2 days between charges, 3 occasionally.
Additional apps are a bonus over the 2

I’m not knocking you all, but I consider myself well paid and do wonder – what with the constant mortgage/what car/savings threads how you all afford the merry go round for these trinkets!

Ive had the LTE since launch day, its typically at about 70% when I put it onto charge at night.

Its the first AW I have had, and waited until it could go phone-less.
Im a bit fan, it is really useful having a computer on your wrist, surprisingly!

As to cost, its pretty cheap in the world of watches….
(my other car is an omega)

One thing I have found with my AW2 is that the battery life with the GPS depends on if you have your phone with you.

I believe that when the watch is connected to the phone, then for tacking it will use the GPS location/tracking from the phone, and only uses the internal GPS when the phone is either flat or not connected/nearby.

I often use the watch to log rides with the phone in my pocket, and the phone battery runs down much faster than the watch.

Really love my Apple Watch series 2. The GPS is not as accurate as a Garmin but it is close enough to not be an issue.

Battery life is good. Did Parkrun on Saturday, using it (without phone) and a Wahoo Bluetooth HRM, and it made it all the way until Sunday night before needing another charge.

The fact that the glass protrudes doesn’t seem to be an issue with regard to damage. I’m an extremely clumsy person and I haven’t damaged it yet!

Oh – and for the motorbike it is a godsend – being able to take off just my left glove, fill up and pay for my petrol without needing to get anything out of pockets is so easy.

Rachel

you mean like a spare laptop to run zwift 😉

To be fair its more like

you mean like a spare laptop to run zwift

As I don’t want to use £3ks worth of MacBook which isn’t mine on top of a stepladder in a sweat box.

Does anyone use the spotify app on their apple watch? How does it work in terms of downloading songs to the watch?

I’m thinking about what my options would be if I got an AW3 (non-cellular) for running, and leaving the phone at home.

I’m not knocking you all, but I consider myself well paid and do wonder – what with the constant mortgage/what car/savings threads how you all afford the merry go round for these trinkets!

1 mark for self aggrandisement and another for passive aggressive condescension… 2/10 must troll harder

Can’t comment on spotify I’m afraid as I ditched it in return for the free 6 months apple music subscription for joining EE. From what I can see though the Spotify app doesn’t allow you to download to the watch for offline playback – you must have your phone nearby.

Thats where apple music differs – you can download the songs/playlists to the watch.

Apple music interface in general isn’t as slick as Spotify, but I’ve got used to it now.

On another note, was in the gym last night with just my watch – I had the watch app gymaholic running whilst listening to apple music over bluetooth. The other half called me, and I was able to take the call perfectly. I was amazed how it all worked so seemlessly. Its great!

Battery life yesterday 7am-11pm with 1.5h workout, some music and a 15 min call – 60% remaining.

#bully 😉

There isn’t an app for Spotify on the watch – the “Now Playing” will work from the phone but no standalone app