25 in Fitness Trackers
Apple - Watch Series 1
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Mar 17, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
14
102
"the ultra 3s battery (especially with fast charge) is now good enough for most- certainly for my iron man and ultra endeavours."
"Upgraded from the regular Apple Watch because of needing the battery life for Ironman and marathon training and have been very happy with it."
"I am so glad I have the ultra, I never have to worry about running out of battery on the course even when using the auto shot tracking and in watch gps."
153
35
"It’s also pretty well established that AW has the best motion tracking which shows up when you use the swim feature for distance. ... In swimming, it’s not even close. 100% of garmins worn during our pool swims are incorrect, regardless of swimmer level. ... Every single Garmin incorrectly reported swim distance vs manual counting. Freestyle 4000m in 25m pool."
"I like the apple gives me the actual normal time but gives a score on level of intensity of the work out separately"
"The later AW is best in class for non chest straps. ... For daily fitness, Apple Watch is just better IMO. ... It being the most accurate heart rate tracker not a chest strap makes it the best fitness tracker to me. ... Maybe I should say it's the best workout recorder because it records the most accurate heart rate data. ... I just really like the AW for every day fitness more so than what Coros or Garmin can provide. ... Executing a training plan I've set out for myself and recording the results. Results being the duration and heart rate data during the planned workouts. I then upload that data to Training Peaks and use Training Peaks to keep up with my training load over time. So the every day fitness part is executing and recording my workouts. ... Apple Watch is data recording. Together they are tracking my fitness."
31
3
"the accuracy of the heart rate monitor. ... I compared both with a chest band and apple tracked more closely both on a daily basis and during workouts."
"they’re state of the art for HR monitoring on the wrist."
"superior HR tracking"
110
8
"I unlock my computer and phone with it."
"the fact that they integrate to the Apple Watch simply cannot be understated for me, I couldn’t go back to Garmin now, it is just so much part of my life now. ... Tracking weightlifting workouts, nutrition and other stuff, analysis of the data, send messages to HomePod, changing NC automatically, sending emails …."
"it's awesome to have everything perfectly working with my iPhone, being able to reply to messages. Having everything in sync. ... small things like it being in sync with your Focus. So when my phone is set to sleep, the apple watch goes dark (optional) and gets your ready for bed. ... the reminders app being able to be displayed on a watch face, and I can see how many reminders I have left on my iPhone. ... being able to remote start my car from the watch."
28
7
"never thought apple would let any 3rd party access the data their devices collect. ... That is a game changer"
"authentication apps ... doorbell camera where you can actually talk through your watch ... various email/chat apps ... todo list software"
"Combined with an app like Athlytic and its sleep / stress scores become much more accurate."
Disliked most:
1
163
"Mine kept dieing one me mid run ... after two years of using it twice hours was about all an aw had battery for when using music and gps! By the 2:15 mark it would be dead. ... When I started running for longer than 2 hrs my battery would die mid run"
"Also the battery life was trash, I’d leave my new series 10 in the drawer charged and it’d be dead the next day."
"The battery life is a literal joke. ... Do an activity? There goes 75% of your battery."
0
63
"My Apple Watch is terribly inaccurate. ... Misses laps and seems to only count part of a lap at times which in a pool is odd. ... I’m a former college swimmer and from talking to others who are efficient and take few strokes per lap it seems to be off as well for them"
"open water was a disaster"
"Apple Watch is hot garbage for swimming indoors. ... It’s like they designed a swim profile without ever consulting people who actually swim."
3
11
"The constant notifications on the AW were too distracting, I feel more zen now."
"I dont get overloaded with notifications like my apple watch"
"The AW is going to get in your face about instagram stories and text messages and email."
0
18
"That was a constant issue for me training in the UK, and I once missed the start of a race because I accidentally started recording a walk and couldn’t get my Apple Watch to stop that and start a run in time because the screen was wet."
"If you are in long sleeves in the rain, you need to lock the touchscreen to prevent accidental touches. But that prevents you from using the touchscreen without holding to unlock for a few seconds. So if you are doing intervals, it can be hard to end the interval quickly."
"the Apple interface being badly interfered with by water/and clothing contact in heavy rain. ... I lost a trail marathon stats and mapping etc mid run. ... It was frankly infuriating"
2
40
"one day I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep and I got a 95 sleep score on Apple lol the Garmin was correct in telling me I got shit sleep."
"my sleep was very fragmented which the Apple Watch didn’t pick up. ... The difference is the garmin should a lot of awakenings which is what I really had. This is the effect of alcohol being metabolized."
"Because what's the value of the score if it doesn't correlate to real-world experiences? It's meaningless to get a high score and be told you slept great just because you slept a long time, but it was restless and low quality and you feel like garbage. ... My Oura gives a much more accurate picture of my sleep then Apple Watch unfortunately. ... I'm not sure there's much I can do short of sleeping for 4 hours to get my Apple Watch score to drop below 90."
Born_Bicycle316 1.0I work at home and am not exactly an outdoorsman but I got the UW2 for the large screen and battery life and I love it. I had the Series 1 AW and have used most of them along the way. The Ultra has been my hands down favorite one.
SarcBey 1.0Running. Exercise tracking in general. Quick text replies. Checking the weather. Setting reminders. Music. AirPods are a great addition. Checking calendar. Health tracking. I def use my iPhone a ton. Have had a watch since the series 1. I love tech of all sorts so I just find it nice to wear and have. I def miss the Watch when I wear regular watches. I run without my phone but I almost NEVER don’t have my iphone on me, except for the short time that I run haha
cisco1971m 0.5I have iPhone and had Apple Watches from the beginning. Apple Watch 1, Apple Watch 6 and just got Apple 11 for Christmas. I have ran 4 marathons with them no problems and training with the free Nike Run Club app on my iPhone. Has real Olympic coaches for the training programs.
Material-Spare-6791 0.5Went from Apple watch 1 then 3 then SE 2nd gen to Garmin to Balance 2 XT. The XT is the best watch for me. I'm not an exercise nut, but I walk, cycle some and and indoor row. I'm more interested in health metrics. The Balance 2 XT gives me real time HR, SPO2, steps all in real time on the watch face. Apple cannot do that. And then there's the excellent battery life, 8-10 days with everything on (no AOD) 24/7.
bbcjbb 0.3I have the smaller Apple Watch and bought a thin silver band on Amazon that looks like a ‘normal’ watch. It has removable links and everything so I was able to get it to fit perfectly. Most people don’t even realize I’m wearing an Apple Watch! I like that it has features unrelated to fitness that sync with my phone also
Mine is a 38mm size, I think it’s available in most models. [This is the band I wear most of the time](https://a.co/d/0aBfzyYA) and I [got this one for working out](https://a.co/d/007ytIiE) since it’s slimmer than what came with my watch
I love the Apple Watch because it’s so seamless with my phone and I love the competition/social aspect of it. It really helps me and my friends stay accountable
andymc1816 0.2Haha, I did the same thing about 6 months ago. I still had both so I wore the AW for a few days and got frustrated with the battery. It was 90% charged and died on a long 4 hour hike. Went home, formatted the watch, and gave it to my mom so she could replace her 5 year old AW.
Aware-Speech-2903 0.2Yes BUT I am a woman and switched because the smallest Apple Watch size looks like a phone on my wrist. I hate how the activity counter is not accurate. I hate the subscription fee. I hate how there’s really no customization options like engraving or anything compared to an Apple Watch band.
NextSuggestion7200 0.1I bought the aw1 till aw7 because I startet running I bought the forerunner 165, the battery life was cool, the body battery and hfv was very interesting so I upgraded to forerunner 570 this year… but the point is, statics like body battery etc is more or less just a rough calculation and drives me crazy sometimes :D so I think I will go back to aw some days
TheBuenasTardes 0.1Had AW 1 thru 7. Switched to Epix Gen 2 for a few years then Fenix 8. And did try the AW Ultra and Ultra 2 but sent those back. Garmin has been SO much better for battery, fitness tracking (running, cycling, etc) and not worrying about the battery while doing so. Super durable. And the flashlight on the 51mm. Chef’s kiss. I do miss *some* of the Apple integration but won’t be going back soon.
BillieEyed 0.1If you’re looking for something closer to the Whoop experience but using an Apple Watch, [Stresspal AI](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stress-tracker-stresspal-ai/id6749589149) is a solid alternative. It tracks stress throughout the day, monitors HRV, and even gives you a daily recovery score, so you get insights on how your body is handling strain and recovery without needing a separate subscription device. Pair it with the Watch’s built-in health metrics, and you get a pretty complete picture without paying for Whoop’s subscription. Plus, it comes with a 7-day free tria**l** so you can test it out before committing.