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Apple Watch - Worth it?

P

puke

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 30, 2007
354
95
Sweden
Hello!

I'm thinking about making a purchase - but i'm asking myself if it's worth it to get the Apple Watch since it's lacking GPS? I'd like to be able to go out for a run/walk without my bulky iPhone 6+ and still have it record my movement. Has anyone heard if the Apple Watch 2 will have this feature?

Thanks in advance,

//Johan
 
I'm a runner and while yes you can leave your phone behind, I certainly prefer not to - love using RunKeeper and having maps and history of where I've run. Map may be less of a big deal if we get a native app that does what the built in app does. The pacing and everything works great, but too invested in RunKeeper to stop using it. I am loving the heart rate tracking - end up tracking both with built in app and on iPhone with RunKeeper.
 
puke said:
I'd like to be able to go out for a run/walk without my bulky iPhone 6+ and still have it record my movement. Has anyone heard if the Apple Watch 2 will have this feature
Click to expand...
Apple has not revealed anything about the timing or features in the next watch release. Furthermore, there are no substantive rumors about either. So, if I were you, I would buy a watch today based on your needs today.

The AW is a decent approximation of distance. But, if you are looking for detailed running analytics like you get with the iPhone running apps, then the AW cannot provide any of that. It only gives you total distance, time, pace, and average HR. It gives you time splits, but not average HR by split.
 
I will add I'm 2 weeks into using Apple Watch and am really enjoying it - the fitness stuff is nice, but its the whole package of the other features that I'm digging - makes life more convenient on many different levels
 
musicpenguy said:
I will add I'm 2 weeks into using Apple Watch and am really enjoying it - the fitness stuff is nice, but its the whole package of the other features that I'm digging - makes life more convenient on many different levels
Click to expand...

Would you mind giving me a few examples? :) I'm digging it for the most part (the things i've read about it) except for the no-gps-issue.
 
puke said:
Hello!

I'm thinking about making a purchase - but i'm asking myself if it's worth it to get the Apple Watch since it's lacking GPS? I'd like to be able to go out for a run/walk without my bulky iPhone 6+ and still have it record my movement. Has anyone heard if the Apple Watch 2 will have this feature?

Thanks in advance,

//Johan
Click to expand...

Chances are most likely it will get a Facetime Camera before a GPS module because you know, people LOVE to facetime on a 1.5" screen. :rolleyes:
 
Sure ... here's some of the things I'm enjoying

1. Controlling Things: much more convienent to control Apple TV, Hue Light Bulbs, August Smart Lock, iPhone music/podcasting apps - now playing glance is super convienent
2. Phone Calls: surprised to say but phone calls work great on Apple Watch - microphone better than my headset I've been using and the speaker volume is just right so its just me that hears the conversations
3. Texting: Replying to texts with dictation, or common ones that I use is pretty great - the dictation on the watch is more accurate and patient with me waiting to figure out what I want to say
4. Glanceable Info: Love glancing at my watch and seeing temperature (was warmer the other day than I expected it to be and went for a run because of that data I wouldn't of checked otherwise)
5. Heart Rate Monitoring - something I'm learning to appreciate is having an automatic HR check every 10 minutes - pretty neat to open up health and notice trends and if things do go out of the ordinary I'll know
6. Days I don't want to run that circle makes me want to crosstrain to get my exercise in for the day
7. Apple Pay - even more convienent and easy to use on the watch, had some issues with the phone sometimes with me hitting the home button and cancelling out - using Apple Pay a ton more with the watch.
8. OmniFocus - task input away from phone - handy being able to add things to OmniFocus without my iPhone handy
 
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puke said:
Hello!

I'm thinking about making a purchase - but i'm asking myself if it's worth it to get the Apple Watch since it's lacking GPS? I'd like to be able to go out for a run/walk without my bulky iPhone 6+ and still have it record my movement. Has anyone heard if the Apple Watch 2 will have this feature?

Thanks in advance,

//Johan
Click to expand...
I just bought my wife on for her birthday. As I was reading through the user guide to help her figure out some of the functions and came across this on page 57:

"Your iPhone GPS allows Apple Watch to achieve even more distance accuracy. For example, if you carry iPhone while using the Workout app
page57image13400
on a run, Apple Watch uses the iPhone GPS to calibrate your stride. Then later, if you’re not carrying iPhone, or if you’re working out where GPS is unavailable (for example, indoors), Apple Watch uses the stored information about your stride to measure distance."

She runs with her phone, but I've got the 6 plus and definitely would not run with it if I also had the AW. From this, it looks like you could carry the phones for a few runs, let the AW learn info about your stride and then run without the phone and still have it measure the distance. I wonder how accurate the distance tracking is when running without the phone? If it's relatively close....that may me good enough....at least for me!

I'm considering one also and lack of GPS for accurate distance tracking was one of my main concerns!
 
Some have said it is still not accurate enough for them, but I did several calibrations with different speeds and it has since been very accurate (within 1%). Before I calibrated it was off by about 8-10% so I went to a track and did 30 minute calibrations while walking, jogging and running. I think I did 6 total over a week and I ran a 5k and the watch registered 3.09 so I call that close. I have since ran the same track several times and each time it is within 1-2% of the measured distance - max.
 
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DSTOFEL said:
I wonder how accurate the distance tracking is when running without the phone? If it's relatively close....that may me good enough....at least for me!
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Ditto above. Apple's minimum calibration time is 20 minutes with the phone. Maybe put in a little more, but after that, the watch will be within about 2% of actual distance.

This is fine if you are a recreational jogger. However, if you are into performance, then you will want a true GPS watch that is accurate within about 0.2%.
 
exxxviii said:
Ditto above. Apple's minimum calibration time is 20 minutes with the phone. Maybe put in a little more, but after that, the watch will be within about 2% of actual distance.

This is fine if you are a recreational jogger. However, if you are into performance, then you will want a true GPS watch that is accurate within about 0.2%.
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Agreed. I am definitely recreational but I appreciate the accuracy as now I run with the watch and Bluetooth headphones that always stay in place. It is so much nicer than an armband or carrying anything or cords that can get in the way.

I love Bluetooth headphones for mowing and yard work as well. I used to knock the cord or get dirt in my phone.
 
BlueMoon63 said:
Agreed. I am definitely recreational but I appreciate the accuracy as now I run with the watch and Bluetooth headphones that always stay in place. It is so much nicer than an armband or carrying anything or cords that can get in the way.

I love Bluetooth headphones for mowing and yard work as well. I used to knock the cord or get dirt in my phone.
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If I could get 98% accuracy, that would be good enough for me. I run for fitness and just like to track roughly how far I've gone. If the AW registered 4.9 miles on a 5 mile run, that would work for me. My wife and I have Garmin GPS watches too. Both of ours rigister a lap around a 400 yard track as .23 miles....instead of .25 miles. That's much worse than 2%.
 
I do wonder how the tracking works with different styles of running? Wonder if the tech works better for heel strikers vs forefoot strikers, long strides, vs short strides. I'd imagine the person with the most consistent stride would get the most accuracy. I don't move my arms much when I run and have found it to be fairly accurate so its tracking something more than just your arm moving while running, wonder how this all works.
 
DSTOFEL said:
If I could get 98% accuracy, that would be good enough for me. I run for fitness and just like to track roughly how far I've gone. If the AW registered 4.9 miles on a 5 mile run, that would work for me. My wife and I have Garmin GPS watches too. Both of ours rigister a lap around a 400 yard track as .23 miles....instead of .25 miles. That's much worse than 2%.
Click to expand...
ScottNWDW said:
Glad to see I am not the only one using Omnifocus.
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Ive been interested in Omnifocus but the price scared me away. Thinking I probably wouldn't get enough use out of it.
 
OmniFocus is a fantastic application priced appropriately where new features and continued development is able to be funded - App Store wouldn't be such a mess if other developers had the confidence that software is valuable
 
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musicpenguy said:
I do wonder how the tracking works with different styles of running?
Click to expand...
It is totally simple, and is probably independent of running style. The device simply counts steps-- devices have different approaches, but they all generally count steps pretty accurately. Then, it just divides the number of steps over a measured distance to get an average stride length. After that, it just multiplies steps times the calibrated stride length to get to distance and pace. Most folks are going to have a pretty consistent average stride length over a long distance, so it works out.
 
musicpenguy said:
OmniFocus is a fantastic application priced appropriately where new features and continued development is able to be funded - App Store wouldn't be such a mess if other developers had the confidence that software is valuable
Click to expand...
Totally agree and totally love Omnifocus. It is by far my main task app. It does have a learning curve, but once you get it all up and going the way you like it, you'll find it's well worth the price. I've been using it for years on my iMac, MacBook Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini and now the Apple Watch. If you are after a great task app, then it's well worth it.
 
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