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

[Deep_Thought]

I have an Epix 2. Would love too use an Apple Watch instead (have tried - bought 3 apple watches since their release and always end up going back to my Fenix. I use the Garmin for sleep metrics, training and well as tracking my MTB activities 4-5 times a week lasting 3-4 hours a time. I charge my watch probably 15 minutes every 3-4 days and it doesn't run out. The day I can do that with an Apple Watch I will certainly buy one.

 

[tmoerel]

....and my Omega runs for ever without any power!

 

[adildacoolset]

As a general rule of thumb, when a company resorts to mocking its competitors, they are either scared or desperate.

 

[xyz01]

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.

No, but it does the workout things better and has a massively better battery lifetime.

Apple watch is a smart watch that can do some workout metrics, Polar/Garmin are workout watches that can do smart watch things.

If the Apple Watch ultra had a week of battery life, I'd get it in a heartbeat - fur now, I'll just stay with my series 6 and be annoyed yet again about Apple not introducing a more holistic approach to workouts, recovery, etc like the rest do. And the crappy battery lifetime.

 

[ossifer]

I measure my Timex's battery in years, not months.

 

[klasma]

A simple digital calculator also has months if not years of battery life... but on a smartphone with hours of battery autonomy you can do so much more.

It’s still a sad state of affairs that battery technology is so limited.

 

[jrlcopy]

Battery life is the star feature of the Enduro range and the 2 is a monster on this front, lasting up to 34 days in smartwatch mode (46 days with solar) or 110 hours of GPS-only tracking (150 hours solar).

Unless you need the GPS then they measure it in hours... still pretty good tho, and they have that whole solar feature too in the other model.

 

[xyz01]

As a general rule of thumb, when a company resorts to mocking its competitors, they are either scared or desperate.

Nah. Remember "I'm a Mac" ads?

 

[Benlurks1010]

“We measure MSRP in thousands. Not hundreds.”

 

[Fozziebear71]

I love my Apple Watch. Wear it daily. But if your a serious runner that trains for marathons the Ultra has a loooong way to go before it will even remotely come close to replacing a Garmin running watch. If you're someone who goes out for jogs the base model Apple watch would be more than enough and the Ultra would be overkill. If you just want the latest and greatest Apple Watch, get the Ultra. I thought Garmin's social media posts have been hilarious even though I think its two different use cases for their watches verses Apple watches.

 

[compwiz1202]

I refuse to buy the Endor 2 as the factory imposes horrible working conditions on the Ewoks.

Darn that C-3PO Overlord!

 

[Veraxus]

So the 1-week battery life of the Fenix would be... what, 1/4 of a month? 1/5 of a month?

Garmin way, way, way overestimates their battery life. If you are taking one backpacking, you'd better have a solar charger handy. And that's before we even address the disaster that is their software UX.

 

[iPhoneFan5349]

Garmin watches measure battery life in months because they don’t have to power Apple Watch level functionality.

What functionality?

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

They're really trolling a smart watch? 😂

They’re feeling the heat

 

[phillypharm]

But it's Garmin that is calling out Apple and comparing themselves to a general purpose smartwatch, that honestly, can do so much more than the Garmin can. Where do you get apps for the Garmin? The Garmin Store?

did you actually watch the event? Apple is specifically aiming for the high end adventure market, so the Ultra isn’t just a “general purpose smartwatch”. And yes, Garmin has their Connect IQ platform for apps.

That said, Apple can start to get a little market from Garmin just because of the button, but realistically, they have a long way to go to compete. I know a ton of people that will buy it to try it, but they already know they’ll return it since it doesn’t connect to power meters or have more specific focused metrics.

 

[DocMultimedia]

The Ultra is nice and all, but as someone who runs 60-80 miles a week, Apple can’t compete yet. 36 hours based on normal use and 1 hr of workouts and apparently 60 hours in an upcoming low power mode. Apple doesn’t say what is cut to get to 60hours. I’m guessing cutting GPS down, etc.

How long will the Ultra last connected to a power meter, plus live tracking, plus music? Can it make it through a 3 hour 22-24 mile run?

When I’m running, I don’t need constant notifications. Just emergency communication, which my 945 LTE has. Also, Apple Watches don’t work with prepaid plans and I’m not going back to post-paid plans.

Also, while some divers might get the watch, it can’t replace a dive computer until it can connect to an O2 tank and tell you how much air you have left.

Even a regular Apple watch has no problem playing music while running a five hour marathon (I was injured one year and had my worst time ever... shouldn't have run it), so I'm sure the Ultra would have no problem.

 

[Oscar_440]

“measure blood oxygen level, alerts for high and low heart rates, and a new body temperature sensor.”

Most Garmin watches can do this too, and they are really focused on sport. Not a 2h run, but a two or more days trekking, ultra marathons and more.
Garmin software is really, really simply but it shows you A LOT more sportive metrics than AW.

This ultra is really great, the best product on keynote, but software is the same as standard AW so it lacks many thinks.
An example is the recently added of “hr zones”, really? In 2022?! My girldfrend had in 2015 a $250 Garmin that had that information while you running.

Hoping they’ll focus further more in sport, surely these ultra it’s a great start.

 

[tmoerel]

No, but it does the workout things better and has a massively better battery lifetime.

True. Garmins are like Landrovers, Apple Ultra Watches are more like SUVs. What do you see more on the roads?

 

[antiprotest]

Casio: We measure battery life in years, not months.

Mechanical Watch: Battery life?

Me: You guys are comparing apples and oranges.

Garmin: We don't know and we don't care.

Apple: We know our battery life sucks so let's drop it.

 

[I7guy]

I don't know, if I'm hanging off the side of a mountain - the amount of days my watch will hold a charge seems to be more important than how bright the screen gets or how many complications I can fit on the screen at one time.

Sure, but you have to be able to use the watch. Using the garmin seems to decrease battery life substantially.

 

[1gadget]

If you want an Ultra watch, look no further. Buy Garmin!
The same goes for endurance…

 

[phillypharm]

If it was still 18 hour battery life, it would be a fair game comparison. But at 36 hours, and 60 hours with an update later this fall, I think you should focus more on comparing the features.

Meh, it’s 36 hours with standard use and 1 hour of activity. Endurance runners do at least 1-2 hours per day and 2-3+ hours for a long run. So it’s daily charging still.

 

[ct2k7]

I can probably guess that the majority of people buying an Apple Watch Ultra at this state of the market are people who the Garmin isn't aimed at - these people would rather wait.

 

[cocky jeremy]

And I'm sure all 150 of your users enjoy that.

 

[tmoerel]

Meh, it’s 36 hours with standard use and 1 hour of activity. Endurance runners do at least 1-2 hours per day and 2-3+ hours for a long run. So it’s daily charging still.

Sure, but endurance runners are a minority. Casual runners/hikers/etc. who want a rugged watch with a decent battery life combined with social and lifestyle functions are a much much bigger group!