Apple Watch

Things Apple Watch is good for: listening to music without carrying a phone while running; getting/sending texts while running

Things Apple Watch is bad for: anything else involving running.

Pace is awful, distance is inaccurate, it’s impossible to read while running, it stops functioning the moment you raise your wrist to read it…I use it for music on easy runs. That’s it.

It was the worst running watch for me. The lack of a phsyical on/off button made it weird when stopping and starting on streets. I run a mixture of places but having to look down to start and stop on a run was no productive. Accidentally resetting my run mid-run was annoying too and it happened more often with the touch screen.

Go with Garmin or anything with phsyical start/stop buttons.

I bought an Apple Watch after 20 years using Garmin.

If all you want is a running watch, go Garmin.

But the Apple Watch is not bad for running. I use an app called workoutdoors that is the most configurable thing I've ever seen. Basically you can build your own screens... font sizes... colors... even a map right on your wrist.

The lack of buttons took a little getting used to. But I configured that workoutdoors app to pause/restart on 2 screen taps so I can do it without looking. Or have it auto pause. The button thing is not a reason to avoid the Apple Watch IMO.

The GPS issue is tricky. I have the wifi (no cell signal) version. If you have your iPhone with you, it will tether to the iPhone GPS. If you carry the phone in a waist pack, the GPS can be less clean than I'd like. Without the iPhone, it uses it's onboard GPS and, because the watch has a better view of the sky, I get an accurate GPS track. I also set alarms sometimes for hi/lo pace: Garmin does this better overall, but under an unobstructed sky they're about the same.

Having the iPhone with you means that you can use Siri right on your wrist to be your running DJ.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. Feel free to ask for specifics.

(I ultimately chose the Apple Watch when my Garmin died because I have a Mac and an iPhone, the AppleWatch does a lot more for me than a Garmin when it comes to other things.)

Former Garmin user here now converted to Applewatch. The following things were really instrumental in the switch:

- realizing that you can pause a run by pressing both buttons together. Simple solution, but once I realized that you don’t have to swipe around to pause, it made the most difference. Plus I can’t stand the auto pause on any watch, so an easy pause function is key

-WorkOutDoors: already described above, but by far best running app on the watch. Custom screens and actions to see pretty much anything you want. Plus- ability to download maps and trace routes real time, without the phone is great for trails or travel runs.

- integration with apple health. Ok- maybe this just applies to those in the Apple ecosystem.

- good GPS. Tried several runs with both garmin and Apple- no difference in mileage between the two.

It’s definitely not impossible to read during runs. Im not sure if you mean that 1) the energy saver screen doesn’t switch back on when you raise and turn your wrist to read it or 2) that the physical screen and UI is not easy to read.

I had an Apple Watch 2 and upgraded to a garmin purely because of battery life. But..

1) I never had a problem, the screen always switched on almost instantly every time I raised my arm. Maybe this is to do with technique.

2) the UI design is infinitely better than garmin. The high res screen and and colour contrast coupled with properly designed typographic metrics was the best thing about it (especially with my Nike’s annoying app) Much bigger, brighter and thus visible when running. You can also configure this to your preference.

Pros:

-comfort of Watch

-ui design

Cons

-battery life (although this has improved). This was the dealbreaker for me. So many times I didn’t have enough battery to monitor my run. also it wouldn’t last a mountain marathon.

GPS. I mainly run trail and i found that in anything longer than 20km the Apple Watch was within the margin of error of all the rest (garmin, suunto etc).

I hate alerts on my watch. Very annoying so I don’t really value theses things. Other things I like about the Apple Watch but that are now common to most : music/Spotify and payment.

Alavisca Mob wrote:

It’s definitely not impossible to read during runs. Im not sure if you mean that 1) the energy saver screen doesn’t switch back on when you raise and turn your wrist to read it or 2) that the physical screen and UI is not easy to read.

...

1) I never had a problem, the screen always switched on almost instantly every time I raised my arm. Maybe this is to do with technique.

With applewatch v5 and above, the "always on" display alleviates the need to raise your wrist to turn the display back on. I was annoyed with this feature on v3, but no longer a problem with v5.

I will admit the battery life remains a challenge- I haven't worn for marathon training, so I can't comment on this specifically.

Having been out of the Garmin market for several years now, I would ask Garmin users what features they find on the Garmin that are absolutely essential for Garmin over Applewatch? Just curious how the Garmin tech has evolved.

Apple Watch is not terrible. It's definetly not as accurate when it comes to GPS. In fact, it seems like it was always a bit too fast compared to my 'running watches'.

The worst part for me, as others have said, is the fact that it has no physical buttons. I sweat a lot and I have cursed more than once when I could not stop the run until I got something to dry my fingers with or twist the dial on the watch to release water from it.

It's fine if you have one already and don't need to be really specific in your training though. But no, not as good.

Here’s my experience :

+Music

+Easy Integration

+Gets general mileage correct

+Better for everyday activities

-Touch screen stops functioning in humidity or when sweaty. This makes intervals/stopping and going at lights a major pain

-Heart rate CAN be pretty inaccurate

-doesn’t judge acute/tight changes of speed well. You won’t get an accurate pace for anything 400m or under, and your pace graph on Strava will always be wonky and unhelpful

-I’ve found recently that it’s very common for uploads to corrupt.

Here’s what I say:

If you want a serious running watch, get a garmin or coros. If you want a watch that’s great for daily activity that also has the ability to track mileage, go with the Apple Watch.

Skyler wrote:

So I was set on updating my GPS watch and was set on Garmin. Recently, I read that Apple Watch has most of the basic running functions with updated GPS that no longer rounds corners. I run about 45 miles per week in my half marathon training. I am pretty sure that besides basic GPS functionality and paired to my chest HRM, I would only really lack PacePro. I follow my own training plans so no need for training suggestions. As long as I can upload to Strava, I don’t think I would use Garmin connect. Now I am leaning towards an Apple Watch. What am I missing?

I use AW on one wrist and and Coros on the other. The former is for music, payments, urgent phone calls, Apple TV control etc, and the latter for running although I usually measure the run on AW as well just for the heck. The combination serves me well and is actually less expensive and superior for the features compared to Garmin or Polar watches with all of the combined features.

Here are some reasons only runners can really appreciate for why AW isn’t a good running watch:

1) It needs a double tap touch to start, end, or pause a lap. This is the single most frustrating usability feature. It is difficult to double tap correctly while running, so I have to try a couple times. If I’m wearing liner gloves, it’s even harder, and unless you wear a fancy winter running shirt like On’s with a watch slit, touch is a nonstarter interface for running. Every runner will tell you they want to press buttons with confident tactile feedback.

2) Only shows you four or so metrics while running on the watch face with some but very little customizability.

3) Cant see average HR or lap HR or previous lap HR or any other HR than the current one.

4) No features like pace alerts, HR alerts etc to stay within a range.

5) Hardly any running analytics even after the run. You have to upload to Strava and use a desktop computer to get a scroller to even see what pace/HR/cadence you were at at any given point. The default workout app on the phone is terrible and there is no web dashboard supported by apple itself. No long term training metrics like threshold HR, threshold pace, VO2Max etc. Actually no long term trends at all except what you can see by uploading to Strava.

6) Doesn’t measure stride length (but you can compute it from the average from average cadence, total time, and total distance).

7) I personally don’t find readability of the watch face that problematic but sometimes it doesn’t wake up as expected or wakes up but sleeps again, so you have to jiggle your wrist to freaking read the watch face. This is not a problem if you don’t need to look at the watch while running and just run by feel.

I’d say most of the above quibbles about running metrics (except the first) are just that: quibbles. Running analytics are mostly for fun anyway, but the first complaint about the unusability of the touch interface makes AW not a running watch for me.

I love my Garmin...Costco sold a Marq Edition for $800 last year and yeah it is stupid to pay $900 for a watch, but I just love it still. Hate how it charges though.

I’ve logged over 10,000 miles with my two Apple watches and have no qualms. Granted, they are the only smart/running watches I’ve ever used. But the integration with Apple’s health suite is very good, and I haven’t had any debilitating issues pop up along the way. GPS seems to be very accurate too, contrary to what every non-Apple watch wearer claims for whatever reason… Gets the job done. Will continue to use Apple watches in the future most likely.

Most of your disappointment (2-6) seems to come from the running app, rather than the AW itself. There are better apps that do all of the things you say the AW doesn't do.

I hadn't thought about runners in cold weather with gloves, though. That would be an issue.

To me, the double tap felt very natural after using it for a short period of time.

FWIW, I live in an extremely hot/humid climate and I haven't had trouble with the sweat issue (AW 6).