This is a exactly why I stay with Garmin and my Ultra is in a drawer. I would rather have the ACCURATE numbers than guesswork. It’s not just body battery but load and tons of other recovery metrics.
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Can an Apple Watch and a Garmin live side by side?
- Thread starter dj1891
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For me it’s the opposite. The sensors and all the rest is I much better than on my garmin fenix 7. The garmin is so 1980s. When I am going into my garden. Phone at home. No incoming calls. It’s so dependent on the phone. Useless smartwatch. The rest: The Stryd integration is so much better on the Apple Watch ultra. Now with Watch os 10: A bike computer for free. Even the GPS is better on the Apple Watch ultra. I can use Apple Music. Apple Pay. The only thing is you have to charge it every second day for 30 minutes. I can live with that. Therefore I have a „real“ watch on my wrist
I bought first the Apple Watch series 6 for daily use and then decided to do some sport. I am ok with it even if I have to rely on some third party app to improve usage, mainly Workoutdoors and Healthfit. Most of my running partners have Garmin devices, the sensation is that it is easier to follow a training schedule on Garmin rather than AW. But AW has sone improved smart functionality like taking calls answering to notifications or sending messages/emails, on the fitness side AW6 seems to have better sensors than older Garmins. I had to disable writing in Health to Strava to avoid duplicates when using 3rd party apps. I recently bougth a Garmin cycling computer (Edge 830) and I think the learning curve is a bit higher, still didn’t find a way to visualize maps and few metrics on the same screen as can be done easily with Workoutdoors. Apple Watch sensors are ignored. On the other hand it is comfortable to pair it with AW for example to take an incoming call safely while cycling.
I think heart rate and GPS is pretty equal these days. Both are good now.
I used to say that the AW needed to catch up on the battery, and while the Ultra is no where near the Garmin stuff, it's good enough that you can go do a hike and not have to charge immediately after. It easily does 2 days.
Now, I think Garmin needs to catch up on some of the AW features.
I used to say that the AW needed to catch up on the battery, and while the Ultra is no where near the Garmin stuff, it's good enough that you can go do a hike and not have to charge immediately after. It easily does 2 days.
Now, I think Garmin needs to catch up on some of the AW features.
What I used to like about the Garmin and Stryd is that it integrated with the running metrics on the watch face. I couldn't find a way to do that with the AW, although my Stryd broke, so I can't test that now.
I have an Epix Pro Gen 2 in 51mm and love the mapping experience on it (an area that Apple needs to massively improve on to be competitive). Battery life is stellar and the ability to show Stryd derived running power as a data point mixed with other items is pretty awesome.
My Ultra is fulfilling the one function that the Garmin doesn't possess- cellular for safety purposes and easier podcast/music streaming. I personally don't care for any of the Apple specific features as Garmin Pay is more than good enough.
The other saving grace for the Apple Watch is Stryd's excellent app and the ongoing development efforts centred around hot and/or humid weather and accounting for how those impact on running performance. Pretty cool stuff.
My Ultra is fulfilling the one function that the Garmin doesn't possess- cellular for safety purposes and easier podcast/music streaming. I personally don't care for any of the Apple specific features as Garmin Pay is more than good enough.
The other saving grace for the Apple Watch is Stryd's excellent app and the ongoing development efforts centred around hot and/or humid weather and accounting for how those impact on running performance. Pretty cool stuff.
You can also pair the Epic/Fenix with Garmin Inreach, for a reliable SOS/safety comms solution, that works anywhere even the remotest areas. I have found that works really well and gives everyone peace of mind for those off grid adventures.
Good point. Garmin releasing a 51mm Epix basically solved for all of my remaining wish list items, save for cellular connectivity. Win win
Apple Health is coming to the iPad this fall - might not solve it all, but at least a bit better.
I sync all my runs to Strava for the community and love to be able to look at it on my computer as well. Also it tracks shoes miles and you can put notes on it and track different types of run differently.
I watched WWDC and I am excited for Health on iPad.
I also use Strava and have begun using it to track my workouts as well. It’s great for equipment, social, and the metrics are more insightful than Apple Health.
Edit—
I track my workouts using either Apple Workouts on my Apple Watch or my Garmin bike computer, then upload to Strava.
I just returned my 51mm Garmin Epix 2 Pro. I did it for a couple of reasons.
One, the money, it just wasn’t worth it, and I got hit with some big bills this month. So, that was easy.
Second, because I can afford it, last night I wore it to see what it recorded my SpO2 as. I have lung issues and I wanted to see what it recorded because the AW has thrown some lower numbers recently. So, as I was trying to sleep I did their breathing exercise. At the end of it, it wanted me to save the workout, but I’d fallen asleep, so it sat there hung, didn’t record my sleep and didn’t record my SpO2.
Garmin gotta Garmin, and that sealed returning it, even if this is easily the best Garmin Fenix/Epix I’ve ever owned.
I’ve had some horrible experiences with Garmin. The F6 and the Marq would drop the headphones about 10 minutes into a run and the only way to get it to work, for another 10 minutes, was a full reboot. They never fixed it and probably couldn’t. The F6 had inaccurate GPS and heart rate. It once recorded me at 180 when I was walking up a hill, 240 when I forgot to turn the activity off and drove away. You had to buy a heart rate monitor to get an accurate heart rate. Their App Store is pretty useless too.
The AW had problems too. I started with the AW4 and it was pretty terrible at GPS acquisition at the start of an activity. It also digs into my wrist nerve, at least he heavier versions, so much so, that I’m wearing it on my right wrist for now. Battery life, jeez, who could have thought it was acceptable back in the day?
Still, today, the Ultra is as good as it gets for my needs. And wearing it on the right side is good practice. I also can’t use the heavy fitness tools anyways. It’ll be awhile before I even walk fast, much less run, so there’s just no need for it.
One, the money, it just wasn’t worth it, and I got hit with some big bills this month. So, that was easy.
Second, because I can afford it, last night I wore it to see what it recorded my SpO2 as. I have lung issues and I wanted to see what it recorded because the AW has thrown some lower numbers recently. So, as I was trying to sleep I did their breathing exercise. At the end of it, it wanted me to save the workout, but I’d fallen asleep, so it sat there hung, didn’t record my sleep and didn’t record my SpO2.
Garmin gotta Garmin, and that sealed returning it, even if this is easily the best Garmin Fenix/Epix I’ve ever owned.
I’ve had some horrible experiences with Garmin. The F6 and the Marq would drop the headphones about 10 minutes into a run and the only way to get it to work, for another 10 minutes, was a full reboot. They never fixed it and probably couldn’t. The F6 had inaccurate GPS and heart rate. It once recorded me at 180 when I was walking up a hill, 240 when I forgot to turn the activity off and drove away. You had to buy a heart rate monitor to get an accurate heart rate. Their App Store is pretty useless too.
The AW had problems too. I started with the AW4 and it was pretty terrible at GPS acquisition at the start of an activity. It also digs into my wrist nerve, at least he heavier versions, so much so, that I’m wearing it on my right wrist for now. Battery life, jeez, who could have thought it was acceptable back in the day?
Still, today, the Ultra is as good as it gets for my needs. And wearing it on the right side is good practice. I also can’t use the heavy fitness tools anyways. It’ll be awhile before I even walk fast, much less run, so there’s just no need for it.
I’ve owned an AW and a Garmin. The AW is a great smartwatch with fitness features and the Garmin is a great fitness watch with smart features.
My take: If you’re mostly a casual runner, then one of them is redundant. Apple has been steadily adding exercise features into newer models and watchOS versions, and the Apple Watch is now encroaching into the territories of entry-level fitness watches at this point.
If you are more enthusiastic and/or serious about running, then I think having both is not redundant at all.
My take: If you’re mostly a casual runner, then one of them is redundant. Apple has been steadily adding exercise features into newer models and watchOS versions, and the Apple Watch is now encroaching into the territories of entry-level fitness watches at this point.
If you are more enthusiastic and/or serious about running, then I think having both is not redundant at all.
1 thing I don't understand. After the breathing exercise, it asks you to save the work out and you said you fell asleep. it asks you right after breathing exercise. That is not Garminms fault.
I've had both since the original AW was released, and I agree.
The one caveat is that to take full advantage of Garmin's training and recovery metrics you (kind of) need to wear it 24/7, which makes switching back and forth less than ideal.
Well, it's a design choice, and it is Garmin's fault. It should auto-save in this case, or not save, or really sleep tracking shouldn't care if you are running a breathing exercise. It's designed to help you go to sleep afterall all. Locking it after the exercise stops the sleep tracking. It's a minor thing in the grand scheme of watches, but I'm not the first to be annoyed by it.
There have been other things like this, strength training that force counted reps based on movement but was never right. Trying to build strength workouts is miserable, or was as I don't use it anymore. Strong is super easy and intuitive.
The interval piece is counter-intuitive when done by heart range (I always get it backwards), I've had Garmin's since the F5 and it's a mistake I've made every time, and I've never made it once with the WorkOutDoors app.
The issues with headphones in the Marq G1 and the F6. The issues with heart rate accuracy. The limitations on the number of custom workouts you can create. The way using audio turns it's battery life into an Apple Watch (the 51mm Epix is better because the battery is bigger).
This isn't the watch but the Index scale. It's supposed to measure by impedance, but the algorithm changes based on weight and other parameters. OK, but it's a high end scale based on price, and they hacked it like it was a Renpho.
I've had the F5, F5+, F6X, Marq Athlete, Epix 2 and Epix 2 Pro. This is, by far, the best watch they've made, but I'm just done with it, especially since my situation also doesn't warrant having one.
And you assume they're accurate. Most of the metrics depend on your heart rate, or HRV to calculate these items. I think that today the sensor is pretty good but in older watches it was pretty bad, so the metrics were bad. Heck, they listed me as a VO2 of 44 at one point, not impossible, and said I had, forget what they call it exactly, a fitness age of 18. I was 55 at the time.
Note: I don't think Apple is particularly accurate either with the VO2. Note, Garmin might be better in the newer stuff as I think they retooled a lot of the metrics.
I wear a HR strap for everything but recovery runs, so I'm assuming the data is fairly accurate. And when I switched back to the Forerunner 9xx series from the Fenix I found that HR with the lighter watch seemed more accurate for me.
In general, I've found the training and recovery metrics introduced with the Forerunner 955 (and now on the 965) helpful. I particularly like the adaptive training suggested workouts you get when you use the Race Day widget. I'm self-coaching this training cycle for two fall marathons and the watch is offering a good variety of workouts during the base phase.
I have the Ultra and the Epix 51 pro, which I just recently got. I agree the older Garmin watches, had a lot of software problems, which is why I got the ultra I decided to take a chance on the epix pro and Garman has fixed a lot of their problems.
I’ve never gotten them to sync once. Some folks have said they were able to but I never did. It never worked for me once.
I use RunGap. You just have to make sure to edit the calories number to active calories. By default it imports total calories to your Move ring.
It's been awhile since I used Garmin but I was able to get my Forerunner 230 to sync every single time. However, if my memory is correct my Garmin was synced with Strava which then synced with the AW rings. Hope this helps.
Garmin fixed this issue a few months back, my runs and cycling are adding to my rings , as long as you put your Apple Watch on for a few min for it to update.