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01jeremy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 6, 2015
4
0
We all know that without GPS, the Apple Watch is inferior to Garmin and Fitbit and Suunto for running and cycling. And without swim capabilities, it's inferior for swimming.

But I used to have a Suunto and now have a Garmin and where those watches come up short is when it comes to recording yoga and weight training and stair machines...all those activities non-triathletes do. I've tried to record those activities as "Other" and they're mediocre workarounds at best. For instance, calorie calculations are often very different depending upon whether you're using an HR strap or not.

I can see the Apple watch being better for those activities because it has the optical HR built in, so the calorie calculations should be better. The question is, will the Apple workout app care about those activities? Or will there be other apps that care about them?

If not, it's better to stick with a Garmin, Suunto or Fitbit, wouldn't it be?
 
If you use the Fitness/Workout app on the watch, I believe that it activates the heart rate sensor for the duration of the exercise/activity. That should provide you with a reasonably accurate(hmm?) measurement of the intensity of your workout. So, it's not directly related to measuring the activity(say, like running - think step counter), but it should provide some good feedback on the activity you've done - whether weight lifting or yoga or....
 
Yeah, I guess so. I guess there should just be a big graph of exercise intensity and maybe that's what one of the rings does. Garmin and Suunto aren't great at that...right now I have the data going through to Training Peaks which seems to measure intensity.

What I'd like to see is intensity day to day, and also comparing like activities, today's weights vs the last weights session, etc.

Nobody seems to do that well. And I'm not sure the little colorful rings on the Apple Watch are a good way of comparing data. They seem kind of gimmicky, as much as I'd like to get the Apple Watch.
 
I can't remember where I saw it - might have been watch aware, but I think that the watch gives you the rings for current data, but the historical data - graphs, etc. are all on your phone and you can view by day, week, month, etc.

I guess it all centres around the Apple Health app and there are plenty of apps that interact with Health.

Depending on the activities you do, I would suggest that the other devices may be good enough/if not better - especially if they are waterproof.
 
It really should count your reps when lifting and keep track of your sets, but I doubt it.

There is another tracker that does this, man we are going to be loaded down with all kinds of sensors in the future:eek:

I love it when siri tells me how fast I'm going on a run or walk, and when I reach 1/4 mile, and even tells me to slow down:D

Hopefully soon siri will count reps.
 
It really should count your reps when lifting and keep track of your sets, but I doubt it.

There is another tracker that does this, man we are going to be loaded down with all kinds of sensors in the future:eek:

I love it when siri tells me how fast I'm going on a run or walk, and when I reach 1/4 mile, and even tells me to slow down:D

Hopefully soon siri will count reps.

You mean like this https://www.atlaswearables.com/? One of the developers for this watch was hired by Apple, hopefully there are plans to incorporate some of this functionality.
 
You mean like this https://www.atlaswearables.com/? One of the developers for this watch was hired by Apple, hopefully there are plans to incorporate some of this functionality.

That's a good band for workouts - but not a watch you can wear outside your workouts.
Atlas-wristband-640-screen.jpg
 
We all know that without GPS, the Apple Watch is inferior to Garmin and Fitbit and Suunto for running and cycling. And without swim capabilities, it's inferior for swimming.

I don't agree. Not with cycling. The Apple Watch can use GPS from the phone. When I'm cycling, my iPhone is in my bike bag.

Given this scenario, the Apple Watch is much MORE than the Fitbit, Garmin and Suunto in that I can now answer calls while riding without worrying about dropping my phone, I can listen to my music on bluetooth earbuds, I can see texts and alerts.

The Apple Watch is so much MORE useful than FitBit, Garmin and Suunto when cycling.
 
You mean like this https://www.atlaswearables.com/? One of the developers for this watch was hired by Apple, hopefully there are plans to incorporate some of this functionality.

Interesting, no I was talking about the push band, http://www.trainwithpush.com/push-band/

Push has a ton of exercises that it records reps, sets, and also velocity, speed and power.

I have no idea how good it is, but it's not a bad price point, and seems like a lot of athletes are on board. I hope Apple adds these features, I can't see why not.
 
We all know that without GPS, the Apple Watch is inferior to Garmin and Fitbit and Suunto for running and cycling. And without swim capabilities, it's inferior for swimming.

But I used to have a Suunto and now have a Garmin and where those watches come up short is when it comes to recording yoga and weight training and stair machines...all those activities non-triathletes do. I've tried to record those activities as "Other" and they're mediocre workarounds at best. For instance, calorie calculations are often very different depending upon whether you're using an HR strap or not.

I can see the Apple watch being better for those activities because it has the optical HR built in, so the calorie calculations should be better. The question is, will the Apple workout app care about those activities? Or will there be other apps that care about them?

If not, it's better to stick with a Garmin, Suunto or Fitbit, wouldn't it be?

I agree 100% with not trusting the apple watch with the heart rate monitoring. The sensors on all wrist worn devices have proven to be mediocre at best when not doing any physical activities and VERY inaccurate while working out. I have a Suunto Ambit 3 and as a Tech/Workout fiend I ordered the new Fenix 3 from Garmin (will be here monday) IMO using the apple watch as a fitness device is like a need for expensive workout clothes. They cost a ton but do nothing to actually help your performance.

PS- The Suunto is AMAZING at its GPS mapping. I will keep the Fenix 3 if it seems superior but if not then ill send it back.
 
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