They do blood oxygen, so there’s that. Not sure what you’re referring to that people genuinely use on their watches? Apple have a bunch of stuff most folks don’t care about, but this discussion shows most would prefer better battery life. Given how huge the AWU is compared to Fenix 8 I’d expect it to last at least as long.
24x7 health tracking is better if it’s 24x7. Also, Garmin watches work in the shower as they have buttons
I’ve used them extensively. My Fenix 7 solar lasted 45 days on average with regular activity. The Fenix 8 averages 10 days or so due to the bigger brighter screen. Even my ancient Fenix 3 lasted a week or so. Garmin are one of the few companies who underestimate battery and their numbers are quoted with all features enabled.
Fitness algorithms. I’ve not looked at it once on Garmin but it measures it 24x7 and it makes various other features incredibly accurate. The body battery and training guides for instance are able to understand when to push you harder and when you need to rest due to overtraining. Garmin, Polar etc. have a bunch of white papers on the subject. It’s not just a number on a screen, some watches are training tools as well. Apple is getting there but if they can’t use blood oxygen (and are too tight to licence it properly from those who developed and patented it, despite being the richest company on the planet) then the Apple Watch will never have those more advanced features.
My battery lasts a day although I dont have an ultra. I don’t need more than that. I don’t know what people genuinely use on their watch, but I like the ability to answer texts, track my sleep and exercise, turn in the climate control in my car, etc. my use case is not one of a hardcore trainer and then everything else after. I exercise and happily take all that comes with the AW.
I like that too. Sadly on Garmin it only works on Android because Apple are anticompetitive and lock out the functionality to anyone but themselves. The rest of that stuff works fine (and in many casss better) on Garmin.
Intel laptop owners say that too, as a tear rolls down their cheek
if I turn of AOD on the Fenix it lasts longer too but a couple of weeks is good. When I had the Fenix 7 solar I often forgot it needed charging by the time it came around a month and a half later 🤣
The AWU is hardly an “expensive watch” by watch standards.
My son had its Apple Watch for over 5 years before getting a new one. Not worried about battery life on AW.
You should use your garmin. You obviously like it. I like my AW.Intel laptop owners say that too, as a tear rolls down their cheek
if I turn of AOD on the Fenix it lasts longer too but a couple of weeks is good. When I had the Fenix 7 solar I often forgot it needed charging by the time it came around a month and a half later 🤣
I suppose that's true, but I don't want to wear a watch while in the shower. I think tracking for 23 hours and 45 minutes is sufficient
The poster you're replying to just can't stand for any other company to have a good product. But yes. Can confirm, there's Garmin and then there is rest. I have an Edge computer for my bike, their dual HRM, and a Fenix. I also use my watch to record rides (sometimes I leave the cycling computer at home) and workouts in addition to trail hiking. I easily get over a week with heavy GPS usage (and unlike an Apple watch my Fenix can connect to all my cycling gear). I could get over two weeks if I disabled some stuff like constant VO2 and pulse ox. But I keep looking at how Apple has a broad but shallow approach to fitness and it's really more casual in nature which is fine. No one in my cycling club uses an Apple watch because Apple doesn't have the deep metrics and insights about fitness level, race readiness, body battery etc. For athletes it's a must and Apple still can't approach what's on offer from Garmin and that's before mentioning how awful Apple watch is if you want to seriously cycle. No Ant+ which means limits to device connectivity like power meters, cadence shifters etc. It's a shame really that Apple is advertising the Ultra as this amazing multi sport watch when really it's just an aspirational step counter.
These watches are meant for different markets. Apple Watches are the overall champion in the smartwatch category. If you are interested in specific watches to support specialized training competition is great and pick your watch. I personally don't care about deep metrics. I want my watch to be able to pay for things, reply to messages, turn the climate control of my car on. The AW Ultra has it's audience, it's just not garmin crowd. The hypertension detection seems like an awesome feature.
Garmin devices can't do much because of restrictions of Apple's APIs. It's not Garmin's fault - it works just fine with Android. The main difference though is lack of cellular network support on Garmin. I'm pretty sure battery life would be much shorter if they added it.
People keep saying this but seem unable to provide any actual examples of what’s better. I’ve never seen anyone use a feature on an Apple Watch that a Garmin doesn’t have. Cellular is an exception, but since every Apple Watch user always has an iPhone in their pocket it’s not really a useful addition.
Forerunner 945 LTE was 2 weeks and 20 hours gps + lte mode. 10 hours with GPS, LTE and music all used in activity. So no, Garmin still crushed it when they added cellular but it just wasn’t popular because most people have their phone next to them the whole time.
I’m certain there are people who use it, but there’s a reason Garmin didn’t roll it out more broadly as they clearly have the capability to do so. Low sales figures suggest that most people had a preference for other things. Perhaps they’ll add it back in the future, although given Garmins other ranges like InReach I’d imagine sat comms would come first to the adventure line, they have decades of experience there as well as their own rescue coordination centre so calling for help is far more effective.
The only Garmin with LTE was released four years ago. At that time, most cellular providers in Europe didn’t support eSIM. Now, the market looks very different - eSIM is accessible to most customers, and in my opinion, it’s time to bring it back, at least for their flagship Fenix lineup.
I’ve twice provided some examples of what imo, I like the Apple Watch.
So because you don’t deem a feature useful we can just throw it out the door? That seems a bit biased.
Which is fair, but if it’s you and 20 other people it won’t happen. InReach solves the problem for now for those who truly need to summon help when away from civilisation. I’m not opposed to them adding it, but adding diving was definitely a priority for me and the bigger screen is awesome