Apple Watch Ultra 2 or Garmin Genix/Epix

[Simon123]

RE: connectivity.   I've never enabled the SIM on the phone, I dont want to take calls on my wrist and look like a knob doing it.     It's handy every now again though (was on roof recently and phoned my wife to throw me a hat 🤣).   But I've disabled all notifications unless from "VIP" in my phone book, and all WhatsCrap notifications.    

My smart house (all running Apple Homekit) has certain things come up like the front doorbell intercom (can see video feed and reply / talk off watch) and control lights / alarm etc...   I no longer take remote when riding and use watch when close to home to open gate / garage.

It's the 90% of my life that it just does better in every single respect than the "sports" watches that makes the difference.    And to be honest, there's not a single feature (maybe if I was doing an Ironman I'd be worried about battery life) in sport that I found the Garmin better at.  Especially since Apple has drastically improved the built in cycling app.

BUT DO NOTE:  if you use ANT sensors, you may need a Wahoo or similar heart rate monitor strap to bridge them to the watch.   I just use the watch these days and leave the strap at home.   Because everyone knows, only Garmin boys love strap ons.

[F@yino]

3 hours ago, patches said:

Yup, I use an iPhone and also don't also with a watch on, so charging nightly with my phone won't be too much of a hassle.

And in my life, make that 97% of the time I'm not exercising 😅

... so yeah, everyday functionality is probably more useful than being able to track my summit up Everest.

But as for the Garmin aesthetic... I quite like the G.I. Joe look.

I guess another pertinent question is, does the next level connectivity (basically a mini iPhone on your wrist) become a bit too much at times?

Why not just get the series 9 at half the price?

[patches]

5 hours ago, F@yino said:

Why not just get the series 9 at half the price?

I'd like to say because of my extreme activities... but I'm shallow and it's mainly about the look of the watch.

The bigger battery life is a factor too.

[ChrisF]

11 hours ago, nonky said:

A much bigger problem is Garmin's software, especially if you are an iPhone user. 

 

This is the crux of this age old debate .... what eco system are "you" bought into.

 

@nonky I replied to your post, but might as well have replied to a few others with the same eco.system centiment

 

 

Apple is good, as a product range.

 

PC/Android is good as a product range.

 

They DONT play nicely together !!

 

 

Mix and match and it will lead to some issues along the line.

 

 

I am a PC/Android USER ... hardly a fanboy.  I have used enough Apple products to know and appreciate some of its functions.  Just not going to swop out an entire eco.system.

 

 

Wearing a sports watch ... might as well track your metrics ... ALL your metrics.  That includes sleep data.  Now battery life and charge time DO become a factor.  I have a mid tier Garmin watch, with a 4 day battery life ... tracking more activities sometimes drop this to 2 days.  That said, a charge while showering is more than enough for thr day.

 

 

 

All things considered @patches it boils down to:

1. Ecosystem, and ease of use

2. The rugged looks ....

 

 

Heart vs brain .... rationally it has to be the Apple .... but somehow I believe it may well be .....

Edited December 19, 2023 by ChrisF

[patches]

2 hours ago, ChrisF said:

All things considered @patches it boils down to:

1. Ecosystem, and ease of use

2. The rugged looks ....

Heart vs brain .... rationally it has to be the Apple .... but somehow I believe it may well be .....

Heart says "buy expensive power tools", brain says "you'll only use them once a month, a watch will be used daily" 😅

As for ecosystem, is a mix based on work requirements. PC for BIM and engineering software. iPhone and iPad for LiDAR capability.

I've only been on iPhone for about 2 years. Had just about every Galaxy S before that and only moved for the LiDAR (sadly no Android options there). Initially I struggled but used to it now.

I guess the level of smart watch "connectivity" I'm after is pretty simplistic. Onboard Spotify and notifications for texts, calls, emails and calendar events. Being able to quickly reply to calls and texts with preset responses would be handy too.

My Fenix 3 does most of that, apart from the Spotify and preset response thing (it also doesn't onboard HR), so I could just continue life as is and wear it to death, but after 8yrs, I feel like a change and could probably benefit from some smarter watch features... if I train myself to use them.

At the end of the day, these are first world problems, but it's been good to hear the various thoughts on the matter 👍

 

 

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, patches said:

Heart says "buy expensive power tools" ....

I guess the level of smart watch "connectivity" I'm after is pretty simplistic. Onboard Spotify and notifications for texts, calls, emails and calendar events. Being able to quickly reply to calls and texts with preset responses would be handy too.

....

 

Follow your heart .... tools are NICE .....  Just as well I am out of space ....

 

 

Work and PC ... this set the corner stone for my eco system.  Each time the smart functions of an Apple system lures me I get stuck at this point.  In truth, there are many smart functions in the PC/Android system I dont use ... so the Apple itch is just that, just an itch .... 

 

 

i can do the preset reply to calls from my watch.

 

Pretty sure it can be setup for messages.  I set it up to show the number of new messages on the watch screen.  The screen text is too small for reading the messages, and I gave up trying to get it any larger.  Let's hear what others say on this one.

 

Garmin has "music" versions of their watches, at least in the mid tier. Wonder how this is dealt with in the range you are looking at.

 

Onboard heart rate is a given today.  Good enough for us mortals.  Ironmam athletes require better data, thus they still rely on a chest strap. (At least for training data)

['Dale]

Both are sufficient for your needs and metrics, man. The very face that you ask the question and have even created a poll suggests to me that you desire the Ultra 2.

I have a Garmin Fenix 6. My next purchase will definitely be the Ultra. The other Apple watches are great design profiles for women.

[Danger Dassie]

Noticed that Polar have been making a big push lately, which is encouraging to see. 

Haven’t done a deep dive at all, but maybe their specs will fit in with what you’re looking for. 

[patches]

15 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Both are sufficient for your needs and metrics, man. The very face that you ask the question and have even created a poll suggests to me that you desire the Ultra 2.

I have a Garmin Fenix 6. My next purchase will definitely be the Ultra. The other Apple watches are great design profiles for women.

Yup, you're on the money there!

Each year my wife asks me if I want a new Fenix for my birthday, and each year I say that I don't really need one and my old Fenix 3 is still ticking along.

But when I saw the Ultra it caught my attention as it's vastly different from what I have.

But I also thought that I might be missing a trick and as it's a costly purchase and I'm not 100% sold on the Apple aesthetics, it may be worth revisiting the Fenix or Epix, hence the poll.

Any YouTube reviews just concludes with "it depends" and the reviewers use both watches. As I don't plan on buying both, I came here for some hardcore opinions, hub style! 😂

 

 

 

[patches]

13 hours ago, Danger Dassie said:

Noticed that Polar have been making a big push lately, which is encouraging to see. 

Haven’t done a deep dive at all, but maybe their specs will fit in with what you’re looking for. 

I remember when they were THE fitness watches, but I guess they've fallen behind over the years. Good to hear they're upping their game!

[NotSoBigBen]

3 hours ago, patches said:

I remember when they were THE fitness watches, but I guess they've fallen behind over the years. Good to hear they're upping their game!

I remember a simpler time .... Ja ja ja there were ox wagons 😜 .... If you wanted heart rate you used Polar and if you wanted navigation you used Garmin. If you wanted both well you had to use both!

These kinds of decisions are a lot more difficult now like many others.

In my day you drove what your Dad drove, if he was a Ford man well then so were you. Easy peasy 😎

[ChrisF]

56 minutes ago, NotSoBigBen said:

I remember a simpler time .... Ja ja ja there were ox wagons 😜 .... If you wanted heart rate you used Polar and if you wanted navigation you used Garmin. If you wanted both well you had to use both!

These kinds of decisions are a lot more difficult now like many others.

In my day you drove what your Dad drove, if he was a Ford man well then so were you. Easy peasy 😎

 

Come on .... we hail from an era where we had to stop and open the map for navigation ...

 

Heart rate .... finger on the pulse, and count for 15 seconds ....

 

 

A much simpler time

[Danger Dassie]

Didn't mean to Polar'rise the topic ........ 

[gerriemtb]

13 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

Didn't mean to Polar'rise the topic ........ 

Your suggestion was ultra helpful

[patches]

After inner turmoil, internet polls, and hours of YouTube research...

I finally accepted that I'm not some avid adventurer, top tier athlete or GI Joe, but a desk jockey who occasionally does active stuff and might want some info on it...

...so I bought the Apple.

Here it is next to my old faithful Fenix 3.

I also ordered a bunch of 3rd party watch bands from Amazon to dress it for various occasions.

 

So yeah, sorry to disappoint the majority that were voting for the Fenix 7x... maybe one-day when I find my competitive spirit again 😅

[ChrisF]

Congrats 👍

 

ENJOY