Totally agree with this post. I’ve owned many Garmins and ALL of them had horrible HR accuracy during workouts. Read the Garmin Forums, they are full of software compliants. Apple’s HR seems much more reliable during workouts..
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The AW Ultra suddenly seems like a bargain now with Garmins silly pricing
- Thread starter dj1891
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It’s not only the heart rate sensor. Garmin is using SATIQ during workouts. Saves a lot of battery but is not really good when running trough a city or when you have big trees. In general it should work good but I’ve lost again gps in the woods on my garmin. No way. The oxygen sensor is bad too. The sleep detection is bad. And now think about all those metrics they are providing. It will not make any sense when the data is bad
totally agree... 15 days with the ultra 2 from fenix 7x and i see big difference in hr monitoring and sleep data
oh, you'll be back to Epix, I'm sure
as good as having GSM module on you wrist is, it's everyday charging and touch-based interface, that pushed me back to Epix Pro
oh, you'll be back to Epix, I'm sure
as good as having GSM module on you wrist is, it's everyday charging and touch-based interface, that pushed me back to Epix Pro
The addition of the action button has solved the touch-only thing for me. In the long-sleeve-season I usually select my run (open or a custom) and press start and then lock the display. Precision start locks on to GPS and I can get outside and get ready before pressing action and running. I can select next section if my custom run has open warm-up (running to the track for example) and pause/resume and pause at the end - and even scroll through pages of information - all without unlocking/using the display
The last 6 years i had the fenix 5,5 plus,6x and 7x(ex long distance triathlon)... i moved to ultra 2 almost a month and i am very pleased...the only concern is the battery vharging every 2 days...on fenix 5 and fenix 5 plus i was charging every 4 days... so ok until now and i am not looking back to fenix 8(especially with all the unsolved problems 3 months after the release)...i used to get day 1 all the fenix watches and every time i was a beta tester for their watch the first 6 moths...oh, you'll be back to Epix, I'm sure
as good as having GSM module on you wrist is, it's everyday charging and touch-based interface, that pushed me back to Epix Pro
It’s possible that could happen. Thankfully the AWU2 does charge very fast, so having to charge every other day isn’t disruptive of my schedule. One thing that neither Apple nor Garmin have been good at is creating great looking functional faces.oh, you'll be back to Epix, I'm sure
as good as having GSM module on you wrist is, it's everyday charging and touch-based interface, that pushed me back to Epix Pro
Battery is an issue if you need to run (or any other activity) more than the battery life.oh, you'll be back to Epix, I'm sure
as good as having GSM module on you wrist is, it's everyday charging and touch-based interface, that pushed me back to Epix Pro
If you run UTMB or La diagonale des fous, you need something more durable than an AWU.
If it's for running a marathon, it's not an issue.
You can now do everything with buttons and an AWU if you choose the right app
Garmin are not perfect, my wife has a Garmin, and there's no way to make autopause work correctly, she's forced to manually pause every time, and when I ask to other Garmin users, they confirm it doesn't work.
For example it's pausing when she walks in an hard part of a trail ...
She never has this issue with an AW.
My thinking is Garmin has realized that the sports watch game is starting to become very crowded. Apple is now a player. The amount of purists who only want a sports watch are becoming more niche. As there is little to no chance of Garmin taking over Apple in the smartwatch game, Garmin has decided to add more "flex" to their watches. Watch companies do this often. Take your brand, make it more exclusive by raising prices and hope to turn it into a flex item. They are hoping that C Suites will no longer flash a Rolex but instead flash a Garmin. Why ? Because it shows that C-Suite is active, athletic and not just rich.
> Battery is an issue if you need to run (or any other activity) more than the battery life.
not in my case though, as I was charging AWU every 1,5-2 days while having a cheat day or two - and every night, if I had 1 hour in a gym.
with Garmin - I don't even look at the battery before going on a hike or having a multi-hour trail. peace of mind for me.
> You can now do everything with buttons and an AWU if you choose the right app
I honestly don't know what you mean by that. I prefer to use stock apps on both AW or Garmin alike, and factually, Garmin has 5 buttons, AWU has 3 (that orange button, crown press down and actual button). In Chicago winter, I had quite a hard time operating AWU in gloves. Garmin wasn't a breeze either, but way comfier.
That's not to belittle AWU convenience, and GSM module in it (I really *really* want Garmin to implement that). But for me (and my circle of hikers, multi-days campers) Garmin is absolutely better. I'm not even talking about included maps and so crazy useful integrated flashlight.
Battery is a peace of mind, you never charge it and go for a multi hour of trail ...
OK ...
One side you have a super smooth OS, with a nice and clean UI (but requires a touch screen for some operations), on the other side, you have a "button" OS, but with an incredibly bad UI ...
It depends on you usage, but with Ultra, you have more than enough battery for 95% of runners ...
OK ...
One side you have a super smooth OS, with a nice and clean UI (but requires a touch screen for some operations), on the other side, you have a "button" OS, but with an incredibly bad UI ...
It depends on you usage, but with Ultra, you have more than enough battery for 95% of runners ...
It's not that stupid an idea. Garmin has a good reputation as being the default sports watch (warranted or not). If your competitors are nipping at you from all sides and you already have this reputation, coming out with more exclusive expensive watch makes complete sense. It's the only place to go.
We'll see going forward if they keep putting out cheaper and middle of the road watches or just focus on being exclusive.
We'll see going forward if they keep putting out cheaper and middle of the road watches or just focus on being exclusive.
Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder - but what health functions are you lacking on Garmin watches? Only metric where it's lackluster compared to AW (from my experience) is sleep/nap tracking, and everything else is head and shoulders above anything Apple has to offer.
Including, ahem, O2 blood measurement.
I am living in Europe. I have O2 measurements 😂. And the better ones. Garmin tells me 87% 😎. Wow. What a crap. ECG: what a crap. Accurate On wrist Heart rate measurements. Sleep stages. Afib. Fall detection without a phone. And so on. Btw: I use bevel on the Apple Watch which is miles ahead of garmins body battery.
If you need some „not influencer insights“ for sleep:
And again: The most ugly watch I’ve ever seen 😂🤣
In my experience, I like Garmin's high end watches MUCH better than the Ultra. HOWEVER the problem I had with Garmin is the software. The heart rate tracking during a workout is atrocious. Than the next software update breaks 2 or 3 other things. This FORCES me to use the Ultra.
Just goes to show how different watches work for different people.
I get multiple heart rate dropouts with the AWU 1/2 but none with my Garmin 965. I also prefer the look of the higher-end Garmins (and even my 965) but the AWU Modular Ultra watch face is easily my favorite of any of the watch faces I’ve used on a smart/sports watch.
I’ve got an Epix pro 51mm. With the launch of the Fenix 8 they’ve effectively cut off the Epix line. No new features or watch faces. Just like that. I had it six months. Based on that alone Garmin will never get another cent out of me. And I’m very seriously considering selling it, getting a series 10, and pocketing a few hundred leftover dollars.
But the hardware is magnificent. Striking, masculine, carbon greys and blacks. Tactical band. LED flashlight including a red light for night time. The hardware looks like a million bucks. Hard to give it up. Apple is like a Ferrari. Sleek, sexy. Garmin is like a hum-v (the real ones). Rugged, tough, etc.
But the hardware is magnificent. Striking, masculine, carbon greys and blacks. Tactical band. LED flashlight including a red light for night time. The hardware looks like a million bucks. Hard to give it up. Apple is like a Ferrari. Sleek, sexy. Garmin is like a hum-v (the real ones). Rugged, tough, etc.
That is Garmin’s version of their Hermes types watches. At least they actually provide premium materials rather than just some watch faces and bands.
They’ve not cut it off. They’ve simply consolidated it. Garmin has too many variations on the same watches. It is akin to back in the day where you would have a Pontiac, Buick and Chevy cars all the same but different badges and trim models from “different” companies within the same company. It’s confusing.
Fenix 8 is OLED and MIP SOLAR now. For many that is less confusing than Epix and Fenix being the same in every way but the screen.
I’m sorry I’m not sure what you’re saying. Sure of course they consolidated it under the much stronger Fenix brand. What does that have to do with shutting out all watches they put out before it?
They all run the same chip. It’s silly they won’t push a slightly changed looking OS to an epix pro.
Now my watch still does what I paid for it to do. No issues at all with performance or reliability. It’s a tank and for my arm it’s accurate. I love it. But this launch has soured me beyond repair with Garmin.
The lastest software update for your watch dropped like four days ago. Saying they aren't going to push the updated UI features from the Fenix 8 to it is not a your device being "shut out".
Apple regularly rolls out OS updates but simply chooses what features to include or not include on a device by device basis and people complain in the same fashion. They even do this with brand new devices as well. For example reviewers have noted that the newest Apple Watch 10 is not allowed to show as many fields on the workout screen as the Ultra 2 even though the screen is LARGER. Apple just reserves that for the Ultra 2. That is also true with red shift for night vision, having an ability to start a workout with precision start using a screen or button combo vs the action button or even nonsense like playing podcasts and music through the onboard speaker.
Is anyone seriously supposed to believe that an Apple Watch 9 couldn't play music or podcasts through the speaker on the watch?
Those watches are "shut out" using your criteria. They still did everything they were previously able to do and honestly could even easily do now but Apple makes their decisions based off more than just hardware clearly. So does Garmin.
Garmin has a series of luxury watches that literally use exotic materials and they charge for those materials. It isn't my cup of tea but the watch options for the Marq series are fully carbon fiber which is that watch there, titanium and then Damascus Steel.
I'll admit I have no need for such exotic materials but I'm not a millionaire who's wife needs to get him a watch no one else will have at the golf or yacht club.
Apple meanwhile does not even offer really anything special with their Hermes branding. You get a basic Apple Watch 10. They sell all manner of titanium watches but will only offer this color variant with Hermes aka silver titanium. You pair it with the Satine band and they will charge you $1950.
You decide to by the Hermes Ultra 2 which is just a regular natural titanium Ultra with the Hermes band and you are at $1300 for basically adding some watch faces and a specific watch band.
If you don't need exotic materials, just go buy the Forerunner 965 right now for $500.