apple watch itch..

been considering a new GPS smart watch for swimming / gym / indoor classes use.

garmin haven’t released a new swim watch for 4 years, my current vivoactive 4, isnt great in water, touchscreen, rolling through screens and misscounting lengths, (always under counts etc) its 2 year old and scratched up , battery good, but i’ve had 4 or 5 garmins that have packed up around this age.

I’ll continue to use garmin for more risky bike rides etc.

anyway, been considering a Watch SE (non cellular) £220 are these good for swimming, gym, pilates/ classes etc

do you use apple tracking and then load to strava / garmin ?

the only disadvantage i see is battery length. but i’d more likely wear it for best or indoor only.

i like the payment tap function, which is a must, so good

i’d more likely wear it for best or indoor only

I do the opposite. My Apple Watch goes on for mountain biking and going out…. for tracking rides (not Strava though) and paying for beers.

how do you find the screen @ Kelvin

I’m sure i’ll eventually use it on the bike, but whilsts its new, probably not, i have previous on 2 or 3 garmin broken screens

The couple of times my watch has given me an itch it has cleared up again by itself, thankfully.

I switched to an Apple watch some time ago and I’m glad I did – it is just so much easier to track exercise (I had a Fitbit before and half the time it would hang when trying to start recording exercise and I’d end up having to ‘forget’ and reconnect the device). Weirdly I end up doing it in different ways though, depending on what I am doing – if I am walking, running or cycling, I track directly from Strava (the app is on the home screen so it’s a doddle to do. However, some exercises are better tracked via the Apple Tracking (Strava doesn’t seem to like exercises that don’t involve moving) so if I am at the gym on the exercise bike or doing a class or whatever, I use Apple Tracking and I can select the specific exercise I am doing (they have a huge list of exercise-types to choose from). Occasionally though, the connection between Strava and Apple seems to be forgotten (probably after iOS updates) but it’s a quick click or two to re-connect.

Regarding battery life – I don’t have a problem with it – I am desk-based during the day so just stick it on charge for a bit each day.

how do you find the screen @ Kelvin

I’ve got an old titanium edition one with the tougher “sapphire crystal” screen. The metal is scratched up, but the screen is flawless still. Wish I had a phone with the same screen tech. No idea which version of the current watches have that tougher screen, but I’d pay the extra for it again.

I have a very old Apple watch and currently considering upgrading to a newer one with cellular. I like the idea of heading out for a run or ride without taking my phone, but I still need connectivity.

Like most Apple stuff, their watches just work easily.

I have a cellular one, so I can leave the phone at home when out. If you use it for tracking on its own, it chews through battery FAR faster than if your paired phone is with you. Not really up to the job if doing big remote rides (on my old watch that is, newer ones might fair better). For going to the pub, or shopping, or any non tracking situation, it works on its own really well… all day.

Anyway, dug on the Apple site for screen info… cheaper ones still don’t have the tougher screens, that’s a shame:

Ion‑X front glass (aluminium cases)
Sapphire front crystal (titanium cases)

I am on my second Apple watch (series 9 now) and use it for daily wear and swimming, yoga etc.  I also have a Garmin Epix Pro 2 which i wear on the bike. I find the Apple watch to be much better in the pool, never misses a count and very easy to read in the water.  If you are using iphones and ipads it is totally seamless and IMO much better as a smart watch for mail and notifications etc.

I find the Garmin has better body battery, health, sleep tracking functionality and the Epix 2 does have touch screen and colour and it’s not far behind Apple on smart watch functionality.

perfect thanks all, Great tips and advise , I’ll go have a look at the nike sports watch strap at the weekend.

think i’ll stick to the basic SE for now and look at the premium ones in the future..

I’ve had the same, had an epix gen 2 for a year, just taken delivery of a used apple watch ultra so I can pick and choose. Wondering whether the ultra was the right move, might return it for a stainless 8 or 9

Ive fot the latest gen SE.  battery life is anything from 24-36 hours but if you are desk bound its easy to charge.  does all the connectivity nice n easy – I like the whatsapp alerts as i use the Ipad for whatapp and that doesnt have the push functionality of the watch/phone.

for £220 its good value IMO.

Another vote for the SE. Great for the money and if you are already in the Apple ecosystem then it’s a no-brainer.

yeah got two iphones and an ipad, WFH desk based too, so fully engaged in that world, the SE sounds like the good choice,

i’m a little watch kind of guy is the 40mm big enough, is the 44mm too big..

think i’ll go have a look so i can decide , also watch strap S/M or M/L

 Size S/M fits 140mm to 180mm wrists. Size M/L fits 165mm to 205mm wrists

wrist is circa 175mm, definately a M/L then..

The 44mm isn’t very big, I’m wearing an Ultra now (49mm) and I don’t think it’s that big, more comfortable than my Earmin Epix anyway, which was stainless steel so this is probably lighter

I’m having similar thoughts but had moved away from idea of apple watch and was looking at the Garmin Venus sq2 – but this has tempted me to look at SE or series 9.

I like the idea of linking up to iphone/ipad.

But I’m also falling for the fitness tracking of the garmin – most notably fitness body battery and stress levels – but not sure if that is really just a nice feature and will actually impact what I do. Also expect I can get the Garmin cheaper than the apple (will be going down 2nd hand route for both).

Just a note from what I’ve read (Samsung user, but fancy a Garmin watch)

Apple works well with Apple

Everything else works well with Android – Garmin included

I’ve had various wrist based HR systems, from Garmin, Wahoo watch (don’t touch!) through to Whoop band, the Apple watch had by far the most consistent HR reading of all of them (when wearing chest strap as well for comparison).

If the battery life was better it would be first choice every time

Everything else works well with Android – Garmin included

Been using Garmin with apple since I got a vivoactive 3 years ago.

Works flawlessly. Integrates fine with health and other device apps. I cannot see how it would work any better (or worse) with android.

Apple may have preferred propitiatory systems ten years ago but these days they deal with other devices just fine.

The couple of times my watch has given me an itch it has cleared up again by itself, thankfully.

If not, there’s a few ointments available…

Regarding screen durability, you can get screen protectors for the Watch, so if that gets trashed it’s easily replaced.

Apple ultra that’s been flawless so far. 2 to 3 days on battery and gets day in day out use with a screen that’s perfect. Goes MTB, motox and enduro (moto version) and survived it all.

I upgraded from a three to a stainless steel and sapphire six. It’s been excellent. Not sure why they bother with sleep tracking though. Mine spends every night on a charger. My six is cellular enabled but I like my phone for photos so always take it on rides. The integration with phone is excellent and I’m sure I use only a fraction of its potential. I use it for Strava for walking and rides on the folder when I don’t take the Garmin with me. It’s very good. And small for my little wrist.

It’s worthwhile getting the cellular option.

if you’re ever on swimming on holiday and drifting out to sea…

I tried an Apple Watch on in the shop and the HRM was shocking. Couldn’t get a credible reading out of it, it was consistently about 10 beats too high.

It used to be that Garmin produced fitness watches with smart features and Apple produced smart watches with fitness features.

The Apple Watch Ultra is the best of both. I love mine after years of Garmin ownership. The only niggle is the battery life, but I charge it every night and it works ok.

duplicate

Regarding screen durability, you can get screen protectors for the Watch, so if that gets trashed it’s easily replaced.

I used one of those at first as I was worried about crashing when riding. It worked great in the dry but as soon as it got any water under it the touch screen wouldn’t work and would self select buttons. You had to take the straps off, wrestle the protector off and dry it off. Would be awful if you swam regularly. I’ve had my old SE three years and it still looks good despite mtb use. Like others have said, Apple fitness app is the best one to use for general fitness use. Only use the Strava app for mtb tracking.

Would be awful if you swam regularly

Knowing the Samsung’s have a water lock, just done a quick Google and it appears Apple do too

The Apple Watch puts swim lock on automatically as soon as you start a swim workout.

My partner is looking at going the other way, Apple to Garmin. No sleep info because it’s on charge overnight, every night, and it’s often running out of battery by the end of her working day. TBF she’s a head teacher so she does have a very long working day, but clearly my pisstaking (I’m Garmin and it gets charged once a week) is starting to take effect. ?

I wouldn’t want to have to choose one over the other. I am fortunate to have both, so best of both worlds.

Knowing the Samsung’s have a water lock, just done a quick Google and it appears Apple do too

I was referring to the screen protector. Water clearing function is really easy, just rotate the crown in the right mode and it clears itself.

I’m also debating a Garmin (Forerunner) after years of Apple Watch-ing.

I think I’m mainly just curious how the other half live, and slightly bored of the same watch face. I don’t have any complaints about how the Apple Watch records activities but I quite fancy training readiness/body battery/sleep tracking. I think I’ll miss the notifications and using Siri.

If you go Apple Watch track workouts with the “WorkOutDoors” app, it has great support from the developer.
http://www.workoutdoors.net/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/workoutdoors-new-workout-features.2134687/

Is it a really watch old Del? My other half’s watch is worn day and night, with a 30 min charge morning and evening when in the shower etc. She uses the sleep tracking all the time.

2 years old and it cost ~ 400 quid at the time. she’s neither the sort of person to think to put her watch on charge during the day nor in the sort of role that allows one to think about things like that. she bemoans in built obsolescence but i just think she’s an edge usage case of such devices.  i can’t deny that my choice of garmin was reinforced by the battery life. despite riding three times a week and running 2-4 times a week my fr255 only goes on charge about once a week.

I’ve just changed from a Garmin forerunner 935 (second one replaced under warranty as the case cracked) to an apple watch ultra. I like the ultra, it’s got lots more day to day functionality and seems to be fine for cycling and running, walking etc. It doesn’t seem to be as good as my Garmin was at swim length tracking. I swim a few times a week and tend do do 1km in a 16 m pool and my Garmin was pretty accurate at recording lengths/ distance, so much so I stopped counting myself and relied on it. My Apple Watch undercounts by about 30% it seems. I was going to sell the 935 but have kept it now and use it to swim in. Also the waterlock on the ultra is a pita when compared to physical buttons on the 935. I guess I could set the action button to start/ stop workouts, if I can get it to reliably count the lengths I’ll try that.

Having apple pay on your wrist is a game changer along with scorecards such as your club card etc. also answering and responding to texts with the double tap thing is great, also answering the phone on your wrist!

Had Apple Watches for years then went from an Apple series 9 to a Garmin 265 now back to an Apple series 10. My only 2 gripes with the Garmin and only one of them is actually Garmin is that it felt really cheap for a £430 watch, I’ve had £50 watches that seemed better quality. The other gripe is not Garmin direct but Apple, as it can not use I tunes. I do miss the daily report from Garmin

It used to be that Garmin produced fitness watches with smart features and Apple produced smart watches with fitness features.

The Apple Watch Ultra is the best of both. I love mine after years of Garmin ownership. The only niggle is the battery life, but I charge it every night and it works ok.

Sorry but that’s way more than a niggle in my book, a very expensive “fitness” device that can’t stray too far from a leccy socket isn’t really a fitness device (IMO of course).

I get why Apple are the aesthetic and aspirational purveyors of wrist rectangles, and Garmin products are are far from perfect themselves, but functionally they do piss all over apple in this one (key?) area. Daily watch charging (more than twice a week even) in 2024, cannot be acceptable to most users Shirley?

I’m with @cookeaa, a daily charge is woefully bad. It does a lot of stuff, but the idea of a daily recharge is madness nowadays.
Each their own, but it just doesn’t make sense to me and to my mind carrying a power bank around with you doesn’t solve the issue either.