You can put HRVForTraining, Trainnow or Athlytic (or all 3 which is what I do) which just look at you HR stress and HRV to get your a daily training score, happy with my AW, use it daily for my sub sports (Yoga / Running) and have no issues, main reason for getting was the Dexcom app and as a T1 diabetic being able to see my blood sugars when cycling is a major bonus, I have no intention of using the AW over my 1040 for cycling though
Just think about your use case, and sure you will be happy with either watch (That was for OP)
PS . I was a Fenix owner before swapping (my secondary device) to AW
What I dislike a lot about Garmin in general is their whole âso much dataâ, yet 95% of it is just rubbish numbers that make some people go âoh my new V02 Max is XX, wow, this must really work, your Apple Watch canât do thisâ.
If you want a great smartwatch experience, in and outside of training, Apple Watch is the way to go.
If you just want a watch to keep in the drawer to put on when youâre training, get a Garmin.
Short answer, no. Its as valuable as you looking into the mirror and asking it for advice.
Get whatever watch has the features that you value to most overall
Why would you say this? The Garminâs make a great âeveryday wristwatchâ. They have very long battery life, look like a traditional and rugged sports watch, keep accurate time, alarms, music, and do all the basic things most people want for health (like step counting and sleep monitoring). I see zero reason you would keep it in a drawer and only pull it out to exercise.
Sure, if you want the latest cool device or want dozens of widgets and prefer to do things in your watch instead of your phone, are willing to pay for a cellular connection, and donât mind daily charging, the Apple is a great watch.
They both have their uses and are both fantastic at what they do. There is zero reason to âkeep it in a drawerâ when it comes to either of these. Itâs just a matter of âhorses for coursesâ.
I had an Apple Watch, but having to charge it daily was a drag. Switched to a forerunner 255s and love it. Battery lasts almost 2 weeks, pairs with power meters, and has my music on board. The only thing it doesnât do is have a map. If Iâm riding in an unknown area, Iâll also use my head unit, so not a big deal. Most of my rides are on courses I know very well, so most days I donât even bring the computer.
I think some folks enjoy the novelty of a really integrated smart watch to answer calls or see notifications. Iâm looking for less notifications and interruptions with my watch and phone these days.
I only allow a really small set of notifications to the watch because I just donât want them. I donât need to know a package has been delivered, a friend has texted mid-workout or when Iâve walked away.
HRV, pulse ox, and body battery have been incredibly useful training indicators for me while cycling but only if gathered while off the bike.
Novelty? LOL, I could just as easily say the novelty of integrated body battery, however I think these comments sum it up:
FWIW in my humble opinion the iPhone app Athlytic is a very good alternative to Garminâs Body Battery.
Having tracked RHR and HRV over several different seasons, I find them to simply be additional data points that sometimes (when trended) can inform decisions about modifying load and/or the need for taking a week off. However for myself, on a day to day basis they usually offer excuses to not do work that I can actually absorb. Same thing with on the bike HRV, which I find useful for trends but rarely (once or twice a year) find useful on the bike.
i personally do not use spotify i use qobuz so i donât know. for OP music seems important⌠not that you should be listening to music while cycling unless indoors
I have the forerunner 965, and had 945 and 645 previously. I enjoy the lighter weight of the forerunner series at least compared to other main watches from Garmin like Fenix series. The music and podcasts work fine through Spotify (I havenât used other apps). The screen is a nice upgrade from the previous models. I just now have had long enough for the HRV to give a reading so I canât really comment on that. The training readiness is one of those things thatâs nice to have but Iâm the end Iâm going to just listen to my body. The VO2 max estimate and training load is nice. VO2 is close between Zwift and intervals.icu. Also if you expand to doing triathlon, this has you covered for swimming and long battery life.
In short, Iâm a Garmin fanboy and love my 965 lol
Not touching that blatant attempt to divert the thread into 1000 posts of opinion disguised as âdebateâ - more than enough of that in other threads. Back to the Garmin discussion.
Ex Garmin watch owner here who is very happy with the AW and the running stats etc I get from it. Just replied on another thread, but add in an app like this for routing and maps (worked great for long hikes in unknown areas and runs in new areas). workoutdoors.net
The stats you get from an AW have come on leaps and bounds, this is from a run last week with my Apple Watch Ultra. I tend to need to charge it every two days, most days Iâll do a 30 min dog walk with GPS on and 2 runs a week of around an hour or less.
I use rungapp to sync any bike rides recorded on an external head unit back into Apple Health.
I can relate to @Elma, as I am sure many others here do too: The Garmin Edge (or Wahoo Elmnt) is the main platform, and sometimes we run/ski/hike/etc and need another unit.
I have a long record of using various Garmins (many versions of Fenix and Forerunner) and recently also the Apple Watch Ultra. I really tried to love the Apple Watch, and as a smart watch it really shines - I ended up using my iPhone less and thus reducing screen time, basically having the phone on my arm is brilliant, some of the smart watch features really impressed, and the battery capacity was satisfactory (charging every two days, and it worked well for an ultra marathon that lasted 7 hours) - but at the same time it fell through as a sports watch. The main reasons were that there was no easily accessible lap button (neither on Strava, Stryd nor on the native running app) which is extremely annoying when doing intervals, but also that RHR under 40 is simply reported as âunder 40â, and I also missed some of the other Garmin metrics (HRV, sleep, etc.). I ended up selling the AW Ultra and bought a Forerunner 965, and I do not miss the AW at all.
The best observation in this thread comes from @timb34; Garmins are great sports watches that also work as smart watches, while Apple Watches are the opposite.
It is indeed the problem. I use my edge 830 multiple times a week and it is great.
A watch would do exactly what you mentioned: occasionally a run or a hike.
Plus: Music, Podcasts, Payment would probably be my main use cases.
I ordered a refurbished Apple Watch SE1 to figure out if I could live with it. But I already have the same thoughts on missing out on a âsports watchâ like the forerunner 965. But still, the Apple Watch is one third of the price, since 965 is pretty new.
(on the other hand, I could also imaging a âhow could I live without itâ-feeling when using the Apple Watch for a couple of days.)
You will no doubt find the Apple Watch to be great for every day use. The great frustrations will appear once you start doing serious training sessions (intervals/laps) and/or you recognize a need to track body metrics in one place. But these are certainly first world country issues!
The app supports both manual and automatic laps. By default laps are automatic and use the same interval as distance notifications (which default to 1 mile or 1 kilometre). There is a âLapsâ option in the Workout menu of the Settings that allows you to choose between Manual or Auto laps. If you select manual laps then you should configure a shortcut (for example pressing both side buttons) to start a new lap. Although if necessary then you could include a ânew lapâ button on the screen.
