Apple - Watch Series 7

From what I’ve seen on Reddit, especially on the running side of things, are people training for a half marathon or full marathon and have like a Series 1-4 and complain that the Apple Watch battery wouldn’t last the whole race. But they’ll go out and buy a brand new Garmin🤔 Like if you search Apple Watch battery in some running subs you’ll see people complaining about it and recommended Garmin. I’m biased because I’ve always had an Apple Watch and I have no plans at this time to replace it, but at the same time I feel people have these old series watches with terrible battery life and think the newer models are the same. The battery life definitely needs improvement though… I’m still on my Series 7 because I’m waiting for some major improvement to the form factor, health feature, and battery life. But after all of that, I can still make it through the entire day. I charge every morning for like 20mins and then it doesn’t need a charge until the next day and I’m a pretty active person.

My series 7 lasted happily through several ~7 hour ultras with AOD off, using workoutdoors to navigate. It could probably last a marathon with the display on, but that depends on your overall time of course. I always tended to turn the display off during long runs rather than risk it running out though tbh. Edit: thinking about it, it also lasted a lot of 10-12 hour hikes with the exact same settings. Just disable AOD and all’s good.

Had AW 6, 7, 10... Had Garmin Fenix 7 somewhere between AW... Now with Garmin instinct 3. ALl has pros and cons. none is perfect. For me it's great to switch from time to time... I would happily do the same between iphone and android, but the cost of switch in terms of software is crazy...

It all depends on your requirements. Recently bought a used series 7 and i am happy with it. Mostly use it for workout and sleep tracking.

Apple Watch 7 with dawn patrol. More than 400ish surf sessions. You need a real watch band :)

Yes, of course, I’ve run an ultra race with an AW7. If it doesn’t, train more and get faster! ;)

Hello guys.. I am using an Apple Watch serie 7 but the battery is now almost dead. I would like to buy something different and I am evaluating both Garmin and Coros. I know no solution is really precise for CrossFit, usually I also wear a polar h10 band to have more precise data. What I like is to collect data when we mix run section during the workout or also to have an overall overview during workout with also stress levels and health data, that is what is partially missing on Apple Watch environment. I was looking to the new garmin 570, but also evaluating coros. Garmin sounds to me more accurate with also new v5 sensors, I am not a pro so it would be just a new way of tracking activities with different approach on battery side and health parameters such as body battery, stress levels and so on. What do you think!? 570 could be a good option? Thanks

You need to ask yourself what the Garmin would be adding. A modern Garmin vs. a 4-year-old Apple Watch would likely be more accurate for GPS tracking, but you've stated that is not important to you. Garmin would add a 5-button interface that can be used without a touchscreen, better battery life, and a bunch of fitness metrics of dubious value. Meanwhile you would lose the following on-the-wrist features: Siri, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Home, phone calls, responding to messaging, full email client, etc. If I were you, I would keep the Series 7 or perhaps upgrade to a more modern Apple Watch. It doesn't sound like the Garmin would add much of value to your setup, and you would be losing a lot of features.

I have a 7 and have been out for 3.5 hours with Strava running no issues. Why do you need AOD on? The display will come on whenever you raise it to look at it

Moved about two months ago from Apple Watch Series 7 to Forerunner 965. I’m training for a triathlon and the metrics shared from the AW don’t work well with the platform I’m using with my remote coach (Tridot). And the pool swim distance being off when mixing styles and drills on the AW. Overall about the switch I have mixed feelings, neither of them is the perfect one. ##Where the Apple Watch stands out Being fully onboarded in the Apple ecosystem, there are some things I miss from the AW - unlocking the Mac, live video from my doorbell, picking up the occasional call, controlling the Apple TV, proper integration with focus modes and alarms, “Siri set a timer”, Apple Wallet integration being far superior to GarminPay, audio controls during a workout. Regarding fitness features - auto detection of workouts (bike, run, walk), the rings that are far more useful than Garmin active minutes or number of steps, auto detection of the swim style (including kickboard drills), treadmill and stationary bike integration (Lifefitness gym equipment) and the biggest one - Heart Rate monitoring. I tested my Garmin 965 against my Apple Watch and Polar H10 chest strap - the Garmin was off by 10-20 bpm depending on the workout. The trick to make it work is to wear it waaay above the wrist. So it’s more like an arm watch than a wrist watch. This is extremely frustrating from a device that’s puts fitness first. The Apple Watch was maybe a few (2-3) bpm off from the Polar h10 and had a bit of a lag (2-3 seconds) in registering the change during interval running for instance. Garmin support suggested updating the software, did that, got a bit better but still not as reliable as the Apple Watch. And it’s a series 7, so rather old. It’s mindblowing that the Garmin is so bad at wrist based HR monitoring. I was anyway relying on the Polar H10 chest strap, so not a huge dealbreaker for workout tracking. ##Where the Garmin stands out Workout planning and integration with other apps - I’m now using Tridot to train for my first triathlon, the workout is just sent to my watch seamlessly and I get proper cues to move from one stage to the other, my coach can see all the metrics. As soon as I save a running route in Strava it’s being sent to the watch. Maps and navigation are great for both running and cycling, it was an unexpected plus point for me. I expect the triathlon workout to also work fine, especially the auto switch between disciplines. As I’m using the Polar H10 chest strap, the connection to the Garmin is seamless, for the Apple Watch I had to fiddle around in the menus before every workout. But the Garmin user experience is a dumpster fire, it’s obvious that there is no craft of product experience built into their products. Feature piled on top of other feature, menus hidden behind other menus, I don’t believe anyone at Garmin ever took a holistic product experience approach. I’m watching videos of Garmin features breakdown and asking chatGPT how to do that on my 965. Same goes about the app and watch faces ecosystem, so so bad compared to AW. Lots of people mention the battery life of the Garmin - so far, I couldn’t care less about this. Wearing Apple watches for about 6 years I got used to taking it off while getting ready in the morning and gently placing on the magnetic charging puck. Absolutely fine to use it for the next 24h. To be honest, I don’t yet have a predictable charging pattern for the Garmin even after 2 months. This creates friction as there’s another thing to think about. Oh, and the Garmin charging plug is so fiddly… Predictability of daily charging with a smooth (magnetic) experience was superior to extended but unpredictable battery life. Other Garmin things I’m looking forward to experience where I expect it will stand out - Triathlon race experience - Training plans - running my 3rd marathon in October (ran two marathons with an Apple Watch + polar H10) - Hiking and using the maps In conclusion, I think that for training blocks the Garmin is a better choice, but its use outside of that is very limited. You could get a lot out of the AW if you’re willing to put in significant effort (like WorkOutDoors app to configure everything). I do somewhat wonder why I’m wearing the Garmin when I’m not working out.