Smart watches / Charging / Sleep tracking / Whoop etc

i’d prefer the smart watch features of the apple.

Other than Apple Pay, what features of the Apple Watch will a Garmin not give you?

I usually wear my Fenix 6 at night and it's not a hassle but I don't think I'd enjoy having to charge it every day. Sometimes I'm not even near a charger.

I have an Instinct Crossover and an Apple watch 9.  I wear the Garmin on the bike and the Apple the rest of the time.  Garmin battery life obviously in a different class, and the notifications are pretty good.
Apple watch as a smart watch is much more fluid and if you are used to an iphone it all just works, screen much better for reading alerts, mails etc,  I swim a fair bit and the Apple is much more reliable on length count and stroke data than the Garmin.

Personally, I don’t wear a watch in bed, so daily charging is no issue ‘for me’

but it does mean I don’t get the sleep data, apart from how long it’s been off my wrist. <br />AW ultra here. <br />AW in general is handy AF though, if you’re already invested in aapple ecosystem. 

Other than Apple Pay, what features of the Apple Watch will a Garmin not give you?

TBH i've not even used apple pay on my iphone - just like the idea 🙂

As mentioned by others here i think its just the similarity to my other devices that appeals - my old garmin (it was old) was very clunky.

I'd also like to be able to leave my phone well alone  at home in the evenings but the nature of my work means i have to reply to the odd message - as i understand the Fenix is not so suited to this.

I wear a vivoactive band on my right wrist permanently for sleep tracking etc, and normal watches on the left swapping to a Fenix during sports activities.  

I don’t enjoy wearing watches in bed. 

Whoop is very good, but the cost is obstructive, i had one for 4 months for a sports science a friends lad is doing.

The Apple watch is great, because it can be what you want it to be, as you can download whatever app you want, including some great HRV, sleep and exercise trackers, plus the Apple watch is the only wrist worn device that has ever been within 5% accuracy consistently of a chest worn HR monitor, BUT battery life means it needs charging every day.

Garmin watches do have a lot of features, but they are still Garmin software, so there will be swearing when things don't upload, or don't talk to other devices.

And avoid the Wahoo watch at all costs!

So just my opinion but they all have their faults,

I'm happy with my Apple Watch (still on a series 5). If you take it off at night then charging not a problem - just drop it on the charger and wake up with it full. Lasts the day fine.

I mostly use apple pay on the watch for public transport, saves getting a phone or wallet out. Use it a lot on my phone too, hardly ever get a physical card out these days.

I wore it at night when we were camping as no pockets by our bed and it was handy to be a torch if the kids were up in the night. I've kept it up since for the sleep tracking - I tend to wear it during the day until activity rings are filled up then put it on the charger until bed. Since a few years back they do a 45 minute charge from 0-80%, a friend just sticks it on the charger first thing when he gets up, by the time he's had a shower and got ready to leave for work there's plenty for the day and the next night. Another friend kept an older AW and just swaps at bedtime, the sleep tracking doesn't use much battery so even an old one with an ailing battery is fine for it.

Looked at the garmin fenex 7 whist battery life is epic i feel it leans toward the mapping and endurance side, which is not the basis of my training and i’d prefer the smart watch features of the apple.

not taken the plunge yet myself but the Ultra 2 looks ace & has a bigger battery than the normal Watch.

If you really want the sleep tracking & have cash to burn, the Withings sleep mat is very good.

Other than Apple Pay, what features of the Apple Watch will a Garmin not give you?

Having recently swapped from Android to iPhone I’m a little disappointed I can only dismiss notifications on my Fenix 6. Using an Android phone I had the option to delete emails or mark messages as read. I’m assuming apple let the Apple Watch do that stuff and more but 3rd party watches are hamstrung. Unless I’ve missed something in the set up?

Having recently swapped from Android to iPhone I’m a little disappointed I can only dismiss notifications on my Fenix 6. Using an Android phone I had the option to delete emails or mark messages as read. I’m assuming apple let the Apple Watch do that stuff and more but 3rd party watches are hamstrung. Unless I’ve missed something in the set up?

thats my understanding yea.

where as the Apple Watch has a little keyboard where you can reply Yup, no, cool etc - which is about the limit of my texting

I switched from a fenix 6 to an Apple Watch Ultra 1. It is a much more useful smar****ch and sleep tracking seems more accurate. The issue you have is that you need to purchase an app to give you the metrics that Garmin connect or Whoop give you. I paid for Athlytic and it’s a great app but it’s around £25 p/a
Also the standard workout app isn’t great for Mtb, there’s no map or anything so you would probably need to purchase an app like WorkOutDoors which is a great app but it’s another paid for app
I’m charging the battery every other day and more often if I’ve used it to track a ride or workout. I’m not that confident that the battery would last if tracking a big day out, so I’ve ended up buying another garmin watch which I use for riding (pop the Apple Watch on charge when I head off and it’s fully charged when I get back) or if I’m away for the weekend.

I've tried most of them apart from Apple as the charging frequency would annoy me.
Didn't like the whoop pricing and wanted a watch.
Didn't like earlier Garmin watches as their screens were just too dull. (a bit petty as functionality they are superb)
Settled on a Withings scanwatch (large one) and their sleep pad that goes under the mattress. Combined with their scales it gives a load of information without having to wear a watch in bed - and functions as a watch nicely too.
However, I've recently bought a Garmin Fore runner 965 and am mighty impressed. The screen is now OLED and awesome and the feature count etc is far greater than I really need.
I also use it to broadcast HR to trainers and an edge 530 for biking, as my previous strap has more or less given up.
All in all, I'd go for Garmin with the OLED screen, choosing a model that suits.
This is my watch face, which I think looks great on the screen and satisfies my 'look like a watch' weird requirements 😀

EDIT - should have mentioned battery life. So far I use it to track weight training 3 times a week, around 4 hours of cycling a week and it is on 24/7. Battery use it is about 25% per week and a 20 minute charge takes it back to 80% ish, so no problem at all.

Thanks everyone!

Think i'm still going for a AW series 9 and a whoop

Going pay the whoop up front and hope fitbit/amazon/mi band etc can come up with somthing to match for cheaper within a year!

Goodmans Elite Pro Smart Watch from B&M

Works like a treat for £30.

Only thing I can do is have a custom ( created by myself) with hands.

#goodmans #goodmanssmar****ch #elitepro

https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/goodmans-elite-pro-smart-watch-black-3993761

Other than Apple Pay, what features of the Apple Watch will a Garmin not give you?

Accurate HR and sleep tracking ?

also covers the Ultra 2 :

If you want the smar****ch features and are an iphone user applewatch is the only way to go. But if you want the same data that you get from Garmin or whoop you also need to pay for Athlytic (sp?) which is another couple of quid a month subscription.

You do get used to charging it, luckily it doesn't take long so I used to charge mine once I'd got up and before I set off for work.

I miss the smart watch features but to me the improved data, better battery and rugged built means I'm kind of stuck (happily) with Garmin. I've got a fenix 6 pro at the moment bout would like a 965 for a bit of lighter weight.

No doubt at somepoint I'll get another apple watch though, I always do, probably will have a look around black friday and get a used 7 or 8. to play with.

Unless a watch actually replaces a phone I can't see the benefit of a smart watch for me. 

Currently at wearing a Garmin .... Used today to see the time that's it. 

Use it when I ride to track rides but now got a Garmin for the bike shop that's not required now. 

Notifications annoy the hell out of me on my wrist so they are off 

Weather data I look outside 

Steps not overly arsed

Floors climbed wtaf

Sleep data did my head in as did the stress thing so that's ignored

What bog basic Casio to replace this!! 

Garmin watches do have a lot of features, but they are still Garmin software, so there will be swearing when things don’t upload, or don’t talk to other devices.

Do people really have these issues on a regular basis? I can only think of maybe once or twice that my watches have failed to upload data to Strava, and I've been wearing Garmin watches 24x7 for at least 6 years now. And of course the issue might have been on Strava's end, too.

Do people really have these issues on a regular basis?

I've had multiple problem-free Garmins going back to my old Gecko. I think all you're seeing is that a tiny percentage of Garmin buyers have issues, but they sell so many devices and have such a large user base.

If I was to report on every time I used a Garmin without any issues then I'd be banned for spamming the forum.

I wear a vivoactive band on my right wrist permanently for sleep tracking etc, and normal watches on the left swapping to a Fenix during sports activities.

I tried that for a bit but it got a bit old, I now basically have an oversized watch (Instinct) permanently strapped to my left wrist, but appreciate that the bulk and looks won't appeal to lots of people but the battery lasts ages.

I still can't quite fathom how Apple Fans accept such shitty battery life, but there you go, lots of people seem to have nice things to say about the Garmin Venu SQ if you want a dinkier, square shaped watch with sporty and smart watch feature but also better than apple battery performance.

Other than Apple Pay, what features of the Apple Watch will a Garmin not give you?

Fenix 7 Solar is great, I'm really happy with it. Apple Pay seems a moot point, Garmin Pay works really well.

But... I'm envious of a few things that Apple Watches do; I'd love notifications from my phone just by being on wifi (so I still get notifications in the house even if I'm out of Bluetooth range), being able to enter freeform responses would be useful, and voice calls on them seem epic.

On the other hand, even if I wasn't on Android, I just couldn't live with the battery life of them - the two weeks that I get out of a Fenix is a bit overkill[0], admittedly, but anything which I couldn't get a long weekend out of at a minimum is just a non starter. Even charging a phone every day is really annoying.

[0] but I do some long distance cycling things, and having the Fenix as a back-up GPS is really useful, and so getting 2 weeks battery out of it isn't *totally* overkill.

Apple are not about to suddenly do a black friday 25% off are they?!!? 🙂 🙂

John Lewis have £20 off a series 9 at the moment which i think will be about as good as i get.

As my main health data will come from whoop (waiting for black friday on that one) i could probably just get an Apple watch SE but only getting the series nine as i hope i can use it in low power mode and get the 36 hours of battery, and i'm intreagued by these new gestures.

watch apple drop a SE with the s9 chip next week 🙂

thanks for the advice/opinions

I went from Garmin Fenix 5 to Apple and then back to Garmin (Fenix 7x).

Garmin metrics are much better than apple IMO, especially performance metrics. They've got a lot better, and much more detailed since my Fenix 5. Battery life is incomparable, 25 days + on the Garmin, less than 1 on my apple.

Apple watch as a smart phone is obviously much much better than the Garmin, so I turned off notifications on my  Garmin, haven't missed it one bit. also haven't missed apple pay, because I always have my phone with me.

Don’t have any issues with Garmin stuff either. I have an Instinct watch and an Edge Explore unit.I like the way the two combine on Connect, so that you get a good idea on recovery and stress.

The sleep tracking is dubious though. It often reports that I was sleeping, when I was lying in bed reading.

I've got an Apple watch 7, I get around 36 hours of use out of it before it needs charging - this is typically tracking 2 1/2 hour commutes a day and maybe a walk at lunchtime., I changed the obvious settings like always on display and Siri to off .

Interestingly the low power mode on my 7 doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference to the battery life.

I've a Garmin Venu, I really rate it, it does sleep tracking. It's quite eye opening how little actual sleep it records after a few beers, definitely has made me change my ways a little with my alcohol intake.

More info here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GarminWatches/comments/12fok2n/sleep_score_and_alcohol/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/12/garmin-venu-smar****ch-sports-review.html