The new Apple Watch appears to be waterproof and has a built in GPS. Will it soon be replacing some of the Garmin/Suunto market share? I'm curious on battery life on long runs and how accurate the GPS is. If they have both of those issues worked out it'll be tempting. Although I'm pretty happy with my Garmin 920XT. I'm curious where Garmin goes next to fight back. I'm sure they'll be stepping up their game.

I scoffed at the idea of the first apple watch, but after my fitbit broke by accidentally hopping in a pool with it I'm a lot more inclined to go with this version.

It does have a larger battery but its life may be the same due to the screen brightness they are boasting and the GPS. If we are able to adjust settings maybe it will get up to 2 days of life if we are lucky. They really didnt address the battery life at all, just know that it has a larger battery.

I've been missing my fitbit for the past few months and I held off on the blaze, so I'm going to give AW 2 a shot. It is funny how much you miss having an electronic wearable once you get used to it. I never took my fitbit off except to shower and loved tracking my steps/sleep/HR (although usually inaccurate).

I think it might get some of the casual runners but I can't see it making much inroads to the endurance community. I just don't think the battery will last with gps for a full marathon or HIM unless that battery is light years ahead of the previous one. Have a coworker with one and it barely lasts the day with his heavy use.

I think for runners garmin is better, but to be honest I don't think for other activities that any fitness wearable has really shown through as being superior for heart rate monitoring other exercises such as HIIT or weight lifting.

My fitbit was particularly bad at picking up heart rate changes in T25 and insanity, but that seems to be a common complaint across the board for all current watches. The blaze is supposed to be a lot better and does have better ratings/cheaper price on amazon versus the garmin vivoactive. However I do believe the garmin has stand alone gps which makes it massively better for runners versus the blaze that still requires a connection to your phone.

To be honest I'm not sure why I want the apple watch 2 over blaze/garmin other than better water resistance/aesthetics. It really bothers me I trashed my fitbit just by accidentally jumping in a pool. I think I'm just hoping the heart rate accuracy is improved because it is newer .

If my 920XT broke now I'd replace with another Garmin-the Apple Watch is an unknown commodity to me, and since my fitness watch isn't my daily watch, the apple doesn't offer me anything. Yet. But a few years from now, if Apple Watch really does seem to be comparable to Garmin on fitness tracking, I'd consider it. I'm certainly open to the idea that a smaller slimmer more attractive fitness watch could become my every day watch, but no rush to make it so.

It's not on my shopping list, but they'll sell a bunch of 'em. I left Apple a long time ago and haven't looked back (much).

DCR is saying 5 hrs of GPS time.


From the DCR writeup:

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I don't expect it to have a dramatic impact on either the low-end fitness tracker market, or the high-end endurance GPS market. Where it may definitely have an impact is that ~$250-$350 mid-range fitness GPS watch market.

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Had the first version had built in gps I may have gone with it. But it didn't so I got a garmin and I love it. Don't see myself switching.

I still think it's a generation behind garmin even with GPS and water resistance.

1. Battery life is horrible. The apple watches barely last a day without gps. Reporting 5 hours with GPS so count on 3-4. And no way you can depend on the watch a full day.

2. Is it just gps? Not glonass?

3. Still hate the heart rate moniter on Apple watches. It's not continued monitoring unless you are using a specific app. For regular fitness tracking it only checks a few times an hour. Obviously battery related. My garmin lasts 10 hours with GPS and almost a week on a regular charge. And it has full tracking with text notifications.

Anyway I'll just pass once again. Very happy with my garmin.

Coolaidwade what Garmin sport watch do you have?

Do not buy the Apple Watch. Just got one just to see the hype but it really is horrible. It adds nothing, and even with almost zero use it doesn't last a full day. I returned it and got the new Fitbit charge 2 instead. How Apple gets away with selling a watch with that kind of battery life is beyond me. It's heart rate monitor isn't even continuous unless you start a workout so I have no idea what is eating the battery.

I don't have one, wife does. It was free from work, but I don't think it's that bad. Doesn't hold a charge worth a ****, but she just charges it every night with her phone. Doesn't have gps (hers is an old one). So definitely not the watch for me or a good specific running watch but it's good for the casual jogger, walker, etc. She likes it enough to keep putting it on every day.

ETA: And its about 100x better than my garmin as far as interaction with and usability with your phone. I don't necessarily care about that but a lot of people do.

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Coolaidwade what Garmin sport watch do you have?

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Vivoactive HR. Love it. Only negative is the display is very dim which they did to extend battery life. Outside in full sunlight the display is awesome.

Just got back from mt. biking in Tahoe for three days. Left with a full charge and had about 25% when I got back home. And that is using GPS for about six hours up there. It also supports a chest HR monitor which I prefer when I bike because I can utilize the watch better on my handlebars vs wrist. Everything else I wear it and use the built in HR monitor.

The Fenix and forerunners are better running watches but I really like the vivoactive as a do it all watch. I can't wait to use it this winter when I'm snowboarding. The snowboarding app measures your 3-D speed by calculating the speed and distance on an incline versus latitude and longitude. I'm not sure what that means but that sounds badass.