I find myself hankering after an Apple watch for the first time, and I know that in reality, I don't need one. But I would like one.
I'm back in the gym now, starting to work towards next year after a super mixed year on the bike - and I have become obsessed with the idea that an Apple watch (or something like a decent (oxymoron alert) Garmin) would help me out with tracking, measuring recovery etc.
How disappointed am I going to be if I part with the cash?
i've just moved from a garmin to an apple watch.
better in every way except battery life, but even that is acceptable. i put it on a 7am yesterday, did a hour run on GPS yesterday and its currently on 46%. I'll run again tonight and it'll probably be on 25% by the time I go to bed when I'll drop it onto the stand and it'll be charged in the morning.
I have a garmin 920XT I use when running, swimming or cycling. Its no use in the gym, but I dont think any fitness track would be for weights etc unless you are just tracking heat rate. I did pick up an Apple watch, it wasnt as good as the Garmin for sports and not really that good for much else other than showing notifications, still need to use your phone for replying. I found I just developed a new habit of looking at something for no reason ie look at the apple watch to see if I have a text when I havent heard the message alert!
New Garmin range is looking pretty good certainly what I'm looking at again as Apple Watch doesn't quite offer enough over them.
https://newsroom.garmin.com/press-release
I have used Fitbit devices for several years and like them - currently using a Blaze. And the battery life makes it more useable than an Apple watch - especially for sleep tracking/RHR tracking. Although I could be tempted with an Apple Watch if they ever get close to matching the Fitbit for battery life as I usually like Apple products.
Apple watch is a very good smar****ch that can do exercise tracking, but it's not great at it. Garmin watches are very good activity trackers that can do very basic smar****ch functions.
You'll have to decide what best suits what you are after.
i was a little dubious about the battery life but in reality its turned out to be absolutely fine. I charge it at night on a stand so I don't get sleep tracking but I had that on my garmin and it was almost meaningless data.
if I were doing ironman's then it wouldnt cut it, but I don't.
if I were away from civilisation for weeks at a time it wouldnt cut it but i'm not.
I don’t get sleep tracking but I had that on my garmin and it was almost meaningless data.
But it does help the application get a better overall picture of your hearth fitness. And it can also help provide a warning sign if you are about to be hit with a bug (ie, I normally notice an increase in my RHR a day or so I start getting symptoms). Perhaps not entirely useful, but then again many features of smart devices aren't exactly important and I would miss having that data if I swapped to an Apple watch.
I must be on about my 10th Garmin smart watch/fitness tracker and all the family have them. I'm currently sporting an Instinct. I do keep thinking about swapping it for an Apple watch though.
Not tried an Apple watch, but I do like the 24/7 HR and sleep tracking on my Garmin Fenix 5 and would miss it. The week-long battery life is great too, one less thing to take with you when you head off for a weekend away.
But this pretty much sums it up:
Apple watch is a very good smar****ch that can do exercise tracking, but it’s not great at it. Garmin watches are very good activity trackers that can do very basic smar****ch functions.
You’ll have to decide what best suits what you are after.
I have a Polar Vantage which I bought for pretty much the same reason. I use the 24 hour HR tracking, which is quite interesting as I find lowest sleeping HR a good indicator of recovery level (for me).
It also does something called Orthostatic Test which is a combined HR / HR variability measurement, from which it infers how tired you are. I find the raw numbers useful, it's built in conclusion thing less so.
e.g. here is my HRV trend (high is good ie fresh, low is bad ie drained)..
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48742913538_2f2e601e32_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48742913538_2f2e601e32_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2hgfb21 ]Polar HRV results[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Battery life is superb, 24 HR measurement on and it only uses about 14% battery life per 24 hours.
This, basically.Apple watch is a very good smar****ch that can do exercise tracking, but it’s not great at it. Garmin watches are very good activity trackers that can do very basic smar****ch functions.
Personally I'm of the opinion that fitness trackers, etc, in the gym are very gimmicky. Great for encouraging "casual" users to be more active. If you are even slightly serious you'll have a better method of assessing improvement, recovery etc