Mountain bike ride today with AW and my Garmin

[Resqu2]

Took my new AW S2 on a 35 mile trip up Whitetop mountain in SW Va this morning and also snapped on my HR chest strap and my Garmin bike computer to really test out and compair the AW and my Garmin which I know is accurate. To my amazement the Watch was almost dead on with my chest strap HR the entire 4.5 hour ride. The distance and speed was exact also. I couldn't be happier with the Watch, I don't feel the need to take the Garmin and chest strap biking with me anymore.

This afternoon we used it on a 3 mile walk using the Watch outdoor walk exercise app and my battery is still at 55% with all this use, very happy on that part also. After all that exercise in one day I do think it's bed time lol.

 

[suzyj]

I'm hoping to get an improvement in HR monitoring with my Apple Watch (when it shows up - still waiting). I have nothing but problems with chest straps (tried polar and wahoo), which invariably crap out half way through a ride or run.

 

[Clint1583]

So your saying your AW2 HR reading is accurate with your chest strap monitor? As a daily jogger I found that my AW2 was giving me inaccurate HR readings so I paired a Polar H7 Strap with it and now get much more accurate readings. I simply use the AW2 HR monitor for everyday readings. Not exercise.

As for GPS/distance readings, when used with my iPhone, I find my watch gives the same exact reading's as my trusted Garmin.

 

[Night Spring]

So your saying your AW2 HR reading is accurate with your chest strap monitor? As a daily jogger I found that my AW2 was giving me inaccurate HR readings so I paired a Polar H7 Strap with it and now get much more accurate readings. I simply use the AW2 HR monitor for everyday readings. Not exercise.

As for GPS/distance readings, when used with my iPhone, I find my watch gives the same exact reading's as my trusted Garmin.

It just occurred to me that the watch might give more accurate heart rate readings while cycling than running/walking, because when you are on a bike, your hands are on the handle bar all the time, right? That would keep your wrist pretty stable through the ride, while when running you are moving your wrist quite a bit, which could interfere with reading heart rate. What do you think?

 

[zhenya]

In general it has been the opposite - wrist-based monitors have been less accurate when cycling because you are clenching your forearms to grasp the bars, especially when mountain biking, plus, in that case, all the vibration of riding off-road.

When you say the two monitors matched, do you have a time-based graph from each that overlay, or are you just talking about the end of ride average?

 

[Resqu2]

So your saying your AW2 HR reading is accurate with your chest strap monitor? As a daily jogger I found that my AW2 was giving me inaccurate HR readings so I paired a Polar H7 Strap with it and now get much more accurate readings. I simply use the AW2 HR monitor for everyday readings. Not exercise.

As for GPS/distance readings, when used with my iPhone, I find my watch gives the same exact reading's as my trusted Garmin.

Hey Clint, it was sure accurate on my bike ride and 1/2 of it is a good hard climb and HR hits from 140-170 on parts of the climb. I kept a constant check on it on both devices and it was just a few beats different.

I run 3 days a week and need to do the same comparison as I did on my bike ride. I wondered about how close it is when running, I'd say not as close due to all the movement. I seem to constantly adjust my watch while running.

 

[dallison13]

Took my new AW S2 on a 35 mile trip up Whitetop mountain in SW Va this morning and also snapped on my HR chest strap and my Garmin bike computer to really test out and compair the AW and my Garmin which I know is accurate. To my amazement the Watch was almost dead on with my chest strap HR the entire 4.5 hour ride. The distance and speed was exact also. I couldn't be happier with the Watch, I don't feel the need to take the Garmin and chest strap biking with me anymore.

This afternoon we used it on a 3 mile walk using the Watch outdoor walk exercise app and my battery is still at 55% with all this use, very happy on that part also. After all that exercise in one day I do think it's bed time lol.

I'm curious about a few things as a fellow Mountain biker and runner. Did you only use your Garmin to track distance and elevation? Did you use the native Workout cycling app? Personally, Im ok with Apple's native app.... You just can't export the data thats all.
Sometimes I wonder why I feel like I need the data so much. But I like at least having the choice. Thats possibly why I still keep the Garmin around.
The next time I MTB, I'll probably use Strava through the watch and phone.
Thanks for the post. It's always good to know you made a wise investment!

 

[BarracksSi]

I seem to constantly adjust my watch while running.

What strap do you use? I go one peg smaller on my Sport strap when going for a run.

 

[Long Run Nick]

I am impressed with the drain on your battery after 4/12 hours of biking GPS/ HR. I have run over 150 miles with my AW2 and it seems to pretty consistently eat nearly 20% per hour of running. To use for 4.5 hours, then walk 3 miles later and still have 55% is amazing to me. I look forward to your posting info on battery drain while running. I have also noted that the Nike+ app seems to burn a little higher battery than the AW2 activity app. Nick

 

[Resqu2]

I'm curious about a few things as a fellow Mountain biker and runner. Did you only use your Garmin to track distance and elevation? Did you use the native Workout cycling app? Personally, Im ok with Apple's native app.... You just can't export the data thats all.
Sometimes I wonder why I feel like I need the data so much. But I like at least having the choice. Thats possibly why I still keep the Garmin around.
The next time I MTB, I'll probably use Strava through the watch and phone.
Thanks for the post. It's always good to know you made a wise investment!

I have had a Garmin edge bike computer that I have used for years and it includes a HR strap. On my mentioned bike ride I used the Garmin setup as usual then used the native Watch app and did an open outdoor bike ride. On my phone I started the Strava app. All 3 gave me about the same info. Yep I have a data problem also, I have tracked every ride I have done for 15 years in a spreadsheet with ride time, miles, who went, avg speed, max speed and weather conditions. After seeing what my watch does I will only use it from now on.

I like the native app as it list ever exercise that you do and we walk, run, bike and this summer I will add swimming.
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I am impressed with the drain on your battery after 4/12 hours of biking GPS/ HR. I have run over 150 miles with my AW2 and it seems to pretty consistently eat nearly 20% per hour of running. To use for 4.5 hours, then walk 3 miles later and still have 55% is amazing to me. I look forward to your posting info on battery drain while running. I have also noted that the Nike+ app seems to burn a little higher battery than the AW2 activity app. Nick

I do always have my phone with me when biking, running, walking. I'm never without it if I'm awake so that may be why I'm getting the life out of it that I am. I'm assuming it's using the phone GPS even though the Watch has GPS. Does anyone know for sure which GPS my S2 Watch is using while exercising with my phone on me?
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What strap do you use? I go one peg smaller on my Sport strap when going for a run.

One tighter than normal would probable work, it is tight at that setting but not to uncomfortable. It's the sport band.

 

[Long Run Nick]

What strap do you use? I go one peg smaller on my Sport strap when going for a run.

+1. Seems to work ok that way. I do the same with my Garmin235 if I am using the wrist sensor. If I use the HR strap I leave it at my normal tightness.