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Apple Watch Series 3 Can Now Track Skiing and Snowboarding Activity

lunarworks said:
Yup. No one cares about run times and stuff.

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Yes, pretty much a cute novelty. I once had a watch (one of the original smart watches from years back) that tracked this stuff. I'm an avid skier and the information was cool the first day, but I quickly realized it is not really useful or all that accurate. Pros won't use an iWatch to track their training.
 
MarkB786 said:
Yes, pretty much a cute novelty. I once had a watch (one of the original smart watches from years back) that tracked this stuff. I'm an avid skier and the information was cool the first day, but I quickly realized it is not really useful or all that accurate. Pros won't use an iWatch to track their training.
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Which watch did you have? It probably wasn’t useful because it was a garbage watch.
 
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theAuthenticBlackfrog said:
Series 3 only, because of the altimeter? Annoying. Altitude can be determined w/ GPS. Just a ploy to push upgrades? Booo.
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I have a series 2 and use the Strava app and it gives me elevation gain for my cross country skiing workouts. I usually have my phone with me, so that may be where the elevation data is coming from.
 
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erinsarah said:
I'd kind of like to know a bit about the math on these data points. I'm no skier and, correct me if I'm wrong, but does standing on two slabs of wood and sliding down a hill, for a change of X number of vertical feet, count as exercise and therefore burn calories? Okay I'm being a little sarcastic here, but seriously - how do you measure calories burned when downhill skiing?
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Skiing and snowboarding actually require a good amount of energy, since you are not standing still but constantly balancing and turning. Skiing consumes approximately 55 % of what running does (and it's a LOT more fun than running). Same goes for snowboarding. The consumed calories readings you get are quite rough estimates (rougher than swimming, since I doubt they ran an experiment with 700 participants like Apple did for swimming), but they are useful in summarising how much activity you did.
 
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It was time nearly 6 months after announcing the feature when presenting the watch. And after the season is well advanced ...


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lunarworks said:
Yup. No one cares about run times and stuff.

A3GivQL.png
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Yup. Olympic judges care about specialized metrics such as

[*]Total vertical descent and horizontal distance
[*]Number of runs
[*]Average and maximum speeds
[*]Total time spent
[*]Calories burned

and will base scores off data from an Apple Watch vs their own equipment.

Thank God the Apple Watch 3 can capture all this data. How Olympic judges managed all this time without the Apple Watch is amazing.

:rolleyes:
 
truthertech said:
Interesting question. Yes, you can use GPS with Series 2, but it is getting it from your iPhone. There may be an issue with responsiveness of using GPS from other device, versus accelerometer, types of measurement, etc., but using GPS would also be a significant battery drain issue.
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no, the series 2 added gps. But altitude information from gps is not acurate enough for this kind of purpose.
 
Tapiture said:
Ah yes! I've been waiting for skiing capability! Too bad I have a Series 2 :(
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You can probably use these features if you bring your iPhone with you, as the Apple Watch can fetch additional information (e.g. altitude, course) from an iPhone, when it's in range. I say probably because that's how it normally works, but it could be not all of those apps support this functionality.
 
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theAuthenticBlackfrog said:
Series 3 only, because of the altimeter? Annoying. Altitude can be determined w/ GPS. Just a ploy to push upgrades? Booo.
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GPS altitude is, as far as I know, only typically accurate to around 10-20 metres whereas I'd expect the AW3's altimeter to be much more accurate than that given it can track you climbing a couple of metres of stairs. I suspect if you tried to use the GPS altitude to do this sort of tracking the data points would vary wildly and you'd end up with pretty inaccurate results at the end.
 
Apple adding more capabilities means they’re expanding the attraction to the Apple Watch which appeals to everybody differently. And with Apple Watch, there are so many capabilities, there is something for everybody and the watch can be used in so many ways. It really is a multi-tool.
 
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0837990 said:
One app to track that, a different app to track that, a third app to track that, an app or two to be able to export/import to popular PROPER health-oriented websites and services, and then use the integrated workout app for certain things. Oh and figuring out which apps works best for certain activities takes forever, and costs a lot more money than what the watch initially costs. And the ease of navigating a touch-screen, and tiny not-so-very tactile buttons with ski/snowboarding/winter gloves on... Which is something that many people wear 4-5 months out of the year. Yes, this is exactly why I am dumping my Series 3 42mm for a Garmin Fenix 5.

The Apple Watch is a nice iPhone remote, but it can't stand on it's own. The day it can, with proper battery life, I will reconsider it. As of today it's a nice city watch for people that live in an office or a gym though, as long as they have an iPhone.
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I love my Fenix, it goes the distance and takes a beating in the process. I won't use an apple watch until it reaches parity with the battery and ruggedness of the Fenix series.
 
Marcpek said:
You can probably use these features if you bring your iPhone with you, as the Apple Watch can fetch additional information (e.g. altitude, course) from an iPhone, when it's in range. I say probably because that's how it normally works, but it could be not all of those apps support this functionality.
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Yeah! Good idea.
 
deanthedev said:
Which watch did you have? It probably wasn’t useful because it was a garbage watch.
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Wish I could recall the name (maybe 20 years ago!). It was excellent (except for the battery life, which was abysmal). It was durable and waterpoof and could be worn over the sleeve of your coat for easy access. Would never do that with my iWatch or Samsung Gear.
 
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BTW, there are plenty of apps that do this already on iOS and Android, and do it very well. If you are a skier, you would know that digging for your watch under layers of clothes and gloves is a PITA. Your phone, meanwhile, can be accessed from your coat's waterproof front pocket. This functionality on the watch is nothing more than a novelty with little real world value.
 
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Okay, now I want one. Of course, I would only use it on days I'm skiing, and with how crappy the past couple season have been here in CO, it wouldn't get a ton of use.
 
Man, what’s with you poeple complaining about spring? Winter comes every year, you know, and the features will still work next year.

That said, I live in the Alps, and the season is far from over. :p
 
Applebot1 said:
Still not bought on the iWatch. Just not sure if offers anything compelling apart from the usual fitness tracking and notifications.

Also think the battery life needs to improve. How are people finding it in real life usage?
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i am getting 30-36 hours per charge on my Series O watch. Normal set up.
 
Great timing, when ski season is almost over... Could have used this when I went in January.
 
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Applebot1 said:
Still not bought on the iWatch. Just not sure if offers anything compelling apart from the usual fitness tracking and notifications.

Also think the battery life needs to improve. How are people finding it in real life usage?
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Battery is fine. I never run out during a single day and if I didn't do runs on it (i.e. burning GPS, etc) I can make it to bedtime day 2. I got one of the Speck bedside stands and it works great. Others wear it overnight and charge at their desk; takes less than an hr to fill.

As for utility, I like the fitness much more than I thought. Not needing to strap a phone to my arm when running (I have cellular model) is great. I like quick messages on it, the ability to voice-to-text or scribble replies, quickly check weather, get misc notifications. When snowboarding, the watch is under my coat but I can raise my arm and somewhat loudly say "Hey Siri, what time is it?". Generally works if it's not under too many layers.
 
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