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Fthree

macrumors 65816
Mar 14, 2014
1,309
505
GPS battery life is a pathetic 5 hours max. That's not nearly good enough. I have a Suunto Ambit3 Vertical that is considered poor in the battery performance arena (compared to the Ambit3 Peak, for example) because it gets only 10 hours with GPS in its best performance setting and 100 hours in its worst performance setting. The Ambit3 Peak goes from 20 hours to 200 hours, depending on GPS performance. 20 hours. It also goes an entire month on a single charge when using it like a watch. At best I got a day and a half with the first Apple Watch when I had it. Series 2 will be no better.

Out of curiosity, I just checked my recent activity and found where I hiked Yonah Mountain. The entire round-trip took 5 hours and 4 minutes to complete including stopping at various landmarks. That means that if I didn't top off the Apple Watch right before setting out, it wouldn't have lasted the entire hike. That also means that if I did top off the Apple Watch right before setting out, it still likely wouldn't have lasted the entire hike considering that I would have received notifications, activated the screen, interacted with the watch, etc.

A 5 hour hike is nothing. I have been on bike rides that last longer than that, and once again, the Apple Watch wouldn't be able to keep up. Maybe one day it will, but right now... nope.



My Ambit3 Vertical is 15mm. The Ambit3 Peak is 18mm. The Garmin Fenix 3 is 16mm (and that doesn't include the HR bump on the HR model). The Garmin Epix is 17.8mm. The 42mm Apple Watch is average at best and not something I would call "one of the thickest watches out there."
Loved my ambit 3 peak still have it need to break it out! Is the software still supported?
 
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