You're right of course; no expedition will make itself dependent on an Apple Watch whatever the battery run time.
(I admit just having ordered one, for the improved battery life, and it's basically "only" USD/EUR 50.-- more expensive than a stainless steel Apple Watch).Thanks, that is honestly pretty poop! dont forget at low power mode, it will shut down various sensors/bluetooth/brightness/AOD etc, making the device a lot less appealing/useful in time of actual need such as a triathlon.
Agreed. Between kids and work I rarely get two nights camping. But two days out, with all these features and (apparently) no need to charge, is a win.
This is the feature I miss most from my old garmin gecko. That thing was a basic breadcrumb / compass GPS unit and may be the most useful piece of tech I’ve ever owned. Being able to either follow your trail home or at least orient with the compass makes true exploration safer and less stressful.
Exactly. I’d assume those kinds of people bring a way to charge some gear. Maybe this watch isn’t for the super hardcore adventurer but should be good enough for most.
Apple is large enough that they could solve the issues of trails. They could give the watch for free to pay hikers to map things for them.
How often are you talking on the phone when you're climbing a mountain or forging a new trail through the Amazon?
People get lost in the Rockies pretty frequently. Often enough that for a while (and maybe still) if you need to be found by search teams they might charge you if they deem you as being overly reckless as the reason for getting lost or stuck. Officially in 2021 1600 people in North America were presumed missing in National Parks and in undeveloped areas in the US. Many more people are just "missing" and may have gone to nearby areas like Mt Rainier or the Black Hills in South Dakota and just didn't tell anyone where they were going and got lost or hurt. Even in non-mountainous areas if there isn't a nearby cell tower then having a phone doesn't do you any good if you get lost or your car breaks down. And that describes large areas in the northern plains, the American Southwest and the Rockies and probably a huge percentage of Alaska.
I have the instinct 2 Solar and normally get 9-10 days without a charge (at least one hour of walking with GPS each day). Turned off oxi-measurement during the day but have it enabled during the night for advanced sleep tracking.
It's an outdoor watch. It's meant to compete against Garmins and Suuntos, which have similar price points. You're making fun of the battery life but not all athletes that are in the market for one of these need more than what it's offering. Stop acting like you know what you're talking about.
I mean I expected it to be a little higher too but you are still spending close to a thousand dollars for a watch that will be obsolete in a few years. That’s a lot of money for a disposable watch.
$1500 NZD for a watch that will last at best 3 years, before becoming largely just a digital watch.
I don't know why people compare a mechanical watch or a simple digital watch with an Apple Watch in terms of how long it will last. I don't think a regular watch has fall detection, communicates with your phone, can dial emergency services...etc. Of course a old style watch will be functional much longer. You can keep an Apple Watch longer than 3 years so 'at best' isn't close to accurate. You may want to upgrade after 3 years and most do but this Ultra watch I'm sure would be usable after 3 years. Might need to replace the battery but that's it.
I agree - but if we are simply comparing longevity vs price, then the standard watch will always win. Much like a Nokia 3210 will always win on battery life against an iPhone.
The functional life of these watches is still short at around 6 years. Apple could probably improve this but might be a larger watch. And they'd rather sell a new one. But maybe they could release a version of WatchOS meant for outdated devices that turns it into simply a digital watch with some minor features.
I think ultimately, they want us all to upgrade on a semi-annual basis.
Doesn’t the first one basically work like it did when it was new… other than battery life? I have one around here but haven’t picked it up since I got the AW4. I might try it out since you peaked my interest.
I don't have an older one anymore but at a certain point, you can't upgrade the software anymore. I think Apple just dropped support for Apple Watch 3 from WatchOS 9 if I'm right about that. But should still work.
If it basically did the same stuff it did when you bought it, it already tells time and does basic functions. I think you would need to switch out the battery eventually if you decided to never update, though.
