Garmin Reacts to Apple Watch Ultra: 'We Measure Battery Life in Months. Not Hours.'

[1rottenapple]

I'm in Switzerland and I barely see them. This is one of the richest countries in the world. In other parts of Europe - especially in the East - an Apple Watch is as rare as hen's teeth. Same in Asia, they sell a bit in Japan and that's about it.

It just hasn't been a runaway success. It's a very particular lifestyle product - a smartwatch with smooth animations (this is the strongest point), some apps and some health/fitness functions, mediocre battery life, a feminine smooth look and a rectangular shape, which is fine but hardly for everyone.

Now this Ultra is squarely aimed at the fitness crowd but doesn't deliver anything that special, they mostly added one physical button. Get a Fenix 7 instead, it's infinitely superior for extreme sports than a lifestyle watch with a sporty pretense and a one day battery life.

Don't get upset if I say that Garmin has a widely superior offering in this market segment. They do. Whenever someone else (Apple included) takes the crown, I'll be among the first to jump ship. I look at Polar and Fitbit and Suunto and Apple etc all the time and I call it as I see it.

But this Ultra ain't it. It's not the money either - my Epix 2 was a lot more expensive, add the titanium band, it was nearly double the price.

Ya I’m totally upset sitting on the toilet responding to this post haha and those countries you mentioned yes they aren’t rocking Apple Watches but are they all rocking garmin watches?

Smart watches are relatively new technology. Hell most people in Asian when I’ve visited are still on the smart phone/tablet phase. They still aren’t into wearables. I would guess rest of the world is buying smart phones and tablets. Many people in the USA have multi gen iPads in the house. hell my 70 yr old mom and grandma’s in the USA have iPads you know it’s mainstream and saturated. iPads are not special here and some people are getting into smart watches.

 

[I7guy]

They always had alternatives - Polar, Suunto. They have decent sports focused products. Garmin has just more and especially at the top end of features/battery life, but also more expensive.

Apple doesn’t punt, they evaluate and take measured steps.

If you want a good sports watch with good sleep tracking, Apple offers no alternative, just a headache with smooth animations that needs daily charging.

Yes and will sell well will be my prediction. What you call a headache (and is your opinion) will generate a fortune (imo) in revenue for apple because people will buy this watch for their own reasons. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[solq]

Apple doesn’t punt, they evaluate and take measured steps.

Yes and will sell well will be my prediction. What you call a headache (and is your opinion) will generate a fortune (imo) in revenue for apple because people will buy this watch for their own reasons. Different strokes for different folks.

I doubt it will sell well at this high price point. I am not getting one, it's ugly and I hate the "busy" Apple Watch experience with a lot of device handling and limited benefit.

I think Garmin nailed the 2022 smartwatches.

 

[Expos of 1969]

And sadly like Nokia Garmin will measure demise in months as well.

Best incorrect statement I have read in the past ten minutes.

 

[I7guy]

I doubt it will sell well at this high price point. I am not getting one, it's ugly and I hate the "busy" Apple Watch experience with a lot of device handling and limited benefit.

That’s up to you and I get it’s your opinion. (Which I do respect, though not agree with)

I think Garmin nailed the 2022 smartwatches.

Great, maybe they did.

 

[Uofmtiger]

Battery life is definitely the Achilles heel of the apple watch family.

Not having a complete ecosystem of products and services that work seamlessly across them is Garmin's.

Getting tracks off my GPS is essentially impossible in the field now - it no longer connects via USB to modern mac's (have to use a hub). I plan to retire it and move to using the apple watch to get a track to geotag my photographs (one of the reasons I got the Ultra).

What app are you using for this tracking from the watch? I know it’s possible, just curious which app you are using.

 

[agmr]

I do several indoor and outdoor activities a week and i’d never ever switch to a Garmin. The Apple Watch is so much more than the Garmin, it gives me podcast and music with cellular, i can even make calls while running, when i run out of juice and need a drink i can pay with the watch using Apple Pay. My wife sends me texts that i can answer from the watch not even getting my phone out. I can use a lot of apps directly on the Watch without using the phone at all.
And the ultra will do a lot of what the Garmin does with better software quality from the start. Plus, of course, it looks and feels much better than any Garmin out there.
It will hurt Garmin big time.

 

[newyorksole]

Awesome! Apple Watch Ultra stole the thunder!

This is an Apple Watch we are talking about. Garmin doesn't do more than half of the things Apple Watch can do.

I just love your comments so much lmaooo there’s something about them. 😂🔥

 

[Fozziebear71]

can anyone show me a serious endurance athlete that uses an apple watch to train for their upcoming events? Im being serious not joking really want to know one.

There aren’t any. That‘s what many of us who still love Apple and the Apple Watch are saying. I have an Apple watch that I love. Wear it daily. There is just no way that it replaces what a Garmin can do for serious training. It’s not a slam. I will probably eventually get an Ultra in an iteration or two. It still won’t be capable of what I need it to do to train for marathons where my Fenix 7X SS excels. It’s simply the truth.

 

[I7guy]

There aren’t any. That‘s what many of us who still love Apple and the Apple Watch. I have an Apple watch that I love. Wear it daily. There is just no way that it replaces what a Garmin can do for serious training. It’s not a slam. I will probably eventually get an Ultra in an iteration or two. It still won’t be capable of what I need it to do to train for marathons where my Fenix 7X SS excels. It’s simply the truth.

My son used his Apple Watch to train for the NYC marathon. To each their own.

 

[DMG35]

Apple's response:

"We measure unit sales in millions, not thousands".

Wow, excellent burn. Maybe the best I've ever seen on here.

 

[DMG35]

What was the blackberry forum phrase they would use.

Tools not toys?


How'd that work out Blackberry.

LOL, that takes me back. I remember when that saying was on the lips of every member over at CrackBerry. It was as comical then as it is now.

 

[bwl2006]

There aren’t any. That‘s what many of us who still love Apple and the Apple Watch. I have an Apple watch that I love. Wear it daily. There is just no way that it replaces what a Garmin can do for serious training. It’s not a slam. I will probably eventually get an Ultra in an iteration or two. It still won’t be capable of what I need it to do to train for marathons where my Fenix 7X SS excels. It’s simply the truth.

Just curious what I’m missing as a marathoner as well that an Apple Watch won’t do

 

[agmr]

Just curious what I’m missing as a marathoner as well that an Apple Watch won’t do

You’re not serious enough!

 

[bwl2006]

You’re not serious enough!

Apparently. I’ll be transparent - all Apple Watches before this, I would not give up my Garmin.

However with the battery life, updated metrics, physical button, etc. I’m not sure there’s a case anymore. But I’m genuinely curious what I’m missing

 

[Expos of 1969]

My son used his Apple Watch to train for the NYC marathon. To each their own.

My cousin did the same. As he left his house for his run he glanced at the time and upon his return he glanced at the time. With some basic math he knew the time duration of his run.

 

[Mr.Sharp]

Comparing Garmins 150hrs in GPS mode vs Apple Watch ultra that gets only 8 hours in actual GPS mode only!!! Apple show numbers “up to” if you’re always with your phone + 60 minutes in “LTE” mode and never GPS only. Garmin is for people that don’t have to rely on a phone for “LTE” or GPS for weeks. Apple needs to stop pretending it’s something it’s not. Notice Apple never shows what the battery life is in ONLY GPS mode which is the biggest drain. When charging that watch everyday ruins the battery cycles and you’ll be ready to buy another Apple Watch in a year $$$ due to battery degradation if it’s being used the way it’s advertised. Garmins are owned for many many years before battery degradation. So Apple spare us the marketing backdrops of being in the mountains, in the desert etc where you only have access to GPS. You can’t have it both ways. But people today are distracted by shiny objects and status and clever bait n switch marketing. Apple should be ashamed of itself but profits and lies come before it’s consumers in the time of Tim Crook. And there’s a difference between GPS and multi band for accuracy but thats another paragraph to get into details. Garmin watches are tools for serious athletes. I own both for many years and several models and I like my Apple Watch for dress and minor workout and don’t like Apples b.s. watch advertising like it’s a garmin competitor.

 

[I7guy]

Comparing Garmins 150hrs in GPS mode vs Apple Watch ultra that gets only 8 hours in actual GPS mode only!!! Apple show numbers “up to” if you’re always with your phone + 60 minutes in “LTE” mode and never GPS only. Garmin is for people that don’t have to rely on a phone for “LTE” or GPS for weeks. Apple needs to stop pretending it’s something it’s not. Notice Apple never shows what the battery life is in ONLY GPS mode which is the biggest drain. When charging that watch everyday ruins the battery cycles and you’ll be ready to buy another Apple Watch in a year $$$ due to battery degradation if it’s being used the way it’s advertised. Garmins are owned for many many years before battery degradation. So Apple spare us the marketing backdrops of being in the mountains, in the desert etc where you only have access to GPS. You can’t have it both ways.

Yes they can and they did.

But people today are distracted by shiny objects and status and clever bait n switch marketing.

Another person who believe apple consumers are ignorant, save for themselves?

Apple should be ashamed of itself but profits and lies come before it’s consumers in the time of Tim Crook.

When you have to result to insults to make a point you have no point.

And there’s a difference between GPS and multi band for accuracy but thats another paragraph to get into details. Garmin watches are tools for serious athletes. I own both for many years and several models and I like my Apple Watch for dress and minor workout and don’t like Apples b.s. watch advertising like it’s a garmin competitor.

Garmin has different capabilities. If you need those capabilities then get the garmin. The ultra is marketed toward the athlete who needs more ruggedness but not to those who won’t need to interface their Watch to this phone for three months.

 

[Mr.Sharp]

Yes they can and they did.

Another person who believe apple consumers are ignorant, save for themselves?

When you have to result to insults to make a point you have no point.

Garmin has different capabilities. If you need those capabilities then get the garmin. The ultra is marketed toward the athlete who needs more ruggedness but not to those who won’t need to interface their Watch to this phone for three months.

lol ”for people that need more ruggedness“ And I am an Apple consumer. Just not a fool for their marketing on everything they sell every year. And its getting worse.

 

[Alan Wynn]

That’s not the point. You were never going to buy a Garmin because you don’t need one.

Sorry, you have missed the point. I did own a Garmin Bike computer (and three sets of sensors for the three identical bikes I bought in the three locations I spent the most time so that I would not have to recalibrate it when I moved from city to city). I often considered getting one of the Garmin running watches even after I got my Basis Band and my Series 0. Unfortunately for Garmin, they were never compelling enough to get me to get one. When Wahoo came out with its first Bluetooth-connected bike sensors, I retired my Garmin bike computer.

The people that do buy Garmins because they need one are it going to suddenly buy an Apple Watch

With the introduction of the Ultra, a whole group of people who previously might have thought they needed a Garmin watch, will no longer feel that way. That is about as sudden as one can get. The day before, they were looking at Garmin products and the day after they were not. We have seen people post on this very thread that they were switching, so we have existence proofs that what you are saying is false.

Life is all about trade offs. Would I love a watch that had all the functionality of an Apple Watch with one year battery life, worldwide satellite communications for voice and data even underwater, with support for air integration for when I dive, and that weighed less than one ounce? Absolutely! Unfortunately, that product does not exist.

When the Series 0 came out there were people for whose needs it did not work and they bought other products. As Apple iterated on the product the people for whom the watch was “good enough” grew. It is now selling hundreds of millions. The Ultra moves that line further. Garmin’s problem is that each time that line moves further up the food chain, it hurts not just for those sales, but for all the people who will never enter the ecosystem that will move up as their needs grow.

Garmin’s clear fear is that Apple is moving that line faster than Garmin can add high end functionality to keep a differentiation at the high end.

 

[Alan Wynn]

I'd take Garmin UX over Apple's Watch any day and at 10x price difference in Apple's favour. It's quick, clean, functional, I suspect you have no idea what Garmin has actually accomplished as of September 2022.

What is great about the Apple ecosystem is that there are a million apps that provide options for special needs. Granted, very few people agree with you that Garmin’s UI/UX is better than pretty many anyone else’s, as that is a frequent from Garmin users on sites such as DCRainmaker.com.

I think Apple Watch UX is generally fussy and more eye-catching than meant to effectively solve your use case,

You are entitled to your opinion. I find it solves my problems quite effectively, for my actual use cases.

and most things you mentioned (such as replying to messages) are an unnecessary gimmick on the watch, and poorly done on Apple Watch -

I routinely run/jog/walk without my iPhone. Having the ability to receive and reply to messages on my Apple Watch (and even better, sometimes make phone calls) is something I use all the time. Often I can reply with a canned response (easily settable for the most common responses for my personal style), and when I cannot, I find that scribble and Siri handle the other cases very well.

along with every other implementation that tried to do this kind of activity which is simply unsuitable to a watch, where you cannot really edit or type, dictation is unreliable, it's an unholy frustrating mess that looks good only in a carefully directed presentation and is basically unusable in normal life.

I love that someone who does not use the product can explain to someone who does that it does not meet the user’s needs. I reply to iMessages from my watch either directly or using dictation many times every day. That is in actual “normal life”, not your fantasy of what it might be like.

I mean, at least half the time Siri messes up voice search with the actual iPhone, doing it on the watch is a joke...

Like autocorrect, Siri is about 90% accurate. She works great on my Series 6, and with the new microphones on the Ultra, she is likely to be even better, meaning I will have even fewer cases where I will want to have my AirPods Pro paired for that function.

 

[Realityck]

I do several indoor and outdoor activities a week and i’d never ever switch to a Garmin. The Apple Watch is so much more than the Garmin, it gives me podcast and music with cellular, i can even make calls while running, when i run out of juice and need a drink i can pay with the watch using Apple Pay. My wife sends me texts that i can answer from the watch not even getting my phone out. I can use a lot of apps directly on the Watch without using the phone at all.
And the ultra will do a lot of what the Garmin does with better software quality from the start. Plus, of course, it looks and feels much better than any Garmin out there.
It will hurt Garmin big time.

I doubt it, the usage you describe is more akin to someone that keeps busy using a phone in the wilderness. Why keep your self busy when you are enjoying the outdoors?

 

[dojoman]

Garmin forgot to mention it costs $1100 Enduro 2 vs $800 Ultra.

 

[msackey]

When the Series 0 came out there were people for whose needs it did not work and they bought other products. As Apple iterated on the product the people for whom the watch was “good enough” grew. It is now selling hundreds of millions. The Ultra moves that line further. Garmin’s problem is that each time that line moves further up the food chain, it hurts not just for those sales, but for all the people who will never enter the ecosystem that will move up as their needs grow.

Garmin’s clear fear is that Apple is moving that line faster than Garmin can add high end functionality to keep a differentiation at the high end.

I agree. I remember when the Series 0 came out, it was not the kind of watch I could use to keep track of my workouts. When the AW4 came long, it changed the ratio enough such that I was willing to ditch my Garmin Forerunner and use the AW4 and Apple software eco-system to keep track of my workouts.

 

[Realityck]

Garmin’s clear fear is that Apple is moving that line faster than Garmin can add high end functionality to keep a differentiation at the high end.

I think it was a humorous jab at smartwatches being generally not designed to go for long periods without needing to recharge. Most of Apple devices are that way. Even the improved Apple Watch Ultra has its limits.

Per the below videos author:

I’ve been testing the Enduro 2 over the course of the summer, putting it through its paces. Both day-to-day workouts and regular 24×7 activity tracking, but also the epic 170KM Tour du Mont Blanc, with the aim of trying to complete it on a single battery charge (while still using all the features at full-tilt). Which, is a great way to get this review cooking!