Apple

Watch Series 0 (1st generation)

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Overall

#40 in

Fitness Trackers

according to Reddit Icon Reddit

Sentiment score47% positive
33
11
26

Top Pros

Top Cons

Last updated: Apr 17, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit Icon673NoshMyBollocksAve
7 months ago

Same. I was exclusively Apple Watch since the very first one in 2015 so switching felt weird but man am I glad I did.

7 months ago

Yeah, I always had better luck with the sleep tracking on the Garmin after switching from Apple Watch. My Apple Watch sleep tracking was so basic and I felt the duration times were so off. And I’m hearing from the new videos on Apple and their sleep scores say that it factors in less things like it doesn’t counter HRV while you’re asleep it goes off consistency, duration, and that’s it. I set my Garmin to sync to Apple health and I got a sleep score and it was so wildly far off. It was insane lol 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. Definitely happy with my decision to stick to Garmin.

7 months ago

For me, my Apple Watch never knew when I woke up or did anything and the timing was always off. Where is my Garmin is dead on with pretty much everything. Idk 🤷‍♂️

6 months ago

🤷‍♂️ came from Apple Watch last spring. It might be cheaper but it doesn’t seem better. Sleep tracking (for me) was far worse on the Apple Watch, fitness tracking is better on garmin, calorie burn, calculating tdee, etc. just everything is better for me. So meh

5 months ago

Personally, i had Apple Watch only since the very beginning. That’s 10 years of being stuck on one platform. Same watch faces. Slow to roll out features. But the biggest for me was: sleep tracking sucked ass on my Apple Watch and the calorie burn was just laughable. The calorie burn on a totally lazy day on my AW put me in the “moderate exercise” category. It was just silly. My wife got a garmin last spring and i got jealous. It had a lot more features that i considered health centric that i liked. The calorie burn made sense. The metrics it gave were just plain cool to look at. It integrated well with the loseit app. The watch face store is just amazing. Makes my garmin feel new all the time. Everything i wanted out of the Apple Watch needed an app and usually a subscription to do. Sleep tracking? Have fun with the pillow app. Subscribe to premium to unlock basic features even the garmin has for free! Calorie tracking beyond some rings? Download bevel. Subscription though! Hydration tracking? Water minder app. Like there’s apps to do stuff, but i just find the functionality on the base garmin experience to be preferable. I just like it. It’s nice.

4 months ago

I wear both an Apple Watch and a Garmin. But honestly, if I had to choose one, it would just be the Garmin. For health data and hell even just telling time the Garmin is miles ahead of Apple. Great thing about Garmin is that they hit pretty much every price point. You can get one of their fitness bands for as low as $150 or more expensive watches.

Reddit IconfragileNotFragil
11 months ago

It’s faulty or you’re leaving context out. I kept my first Apple Watch for 5 years and even at year 5 it went all day. I only needed to charge it before sleeping to track sleep otherwise it would have run out somewhere around 2AM

11 months ago

Must be. The only times I had to charge during the day would be the days I did GPS stuff for a while. I think even 2 hours was enough to run it down.

Reddit IconFun-Jellyfish2232
6 months ago

I had the first Apple Watch and switched to Garmin when it died years ago. Never looked back. The features fit my needs much better - track activities, although initially some like swimming and indoor rowing weren’t supported by the FR I purchased. That’s no longer an issue. I really, really hated the Apple Watch form factor and still do - it’s utterly ugly 😅. Battery life 1000%!!! Yes, notifications can be disabled on the Apple Watch but that’s one of the main selling point. I really disliked all those interruptions. My Garmin gave me piece of mind and over the years, they’ve added lifestyle functionality that I value (Garmin Pay, Music - which has improved with more recent watches). As others mentioned, the focus on being a sports watch first with all the features included, although some can be a bit tricky initially to set up. Frankly, I’ve just loved all the Garmin FRs I’ve owned (currently on the FR 570).

Reddit IconInfinity-onnoa
7 months ago

For a moment I thought Woooow now it can compete with Garmin, 42 days is a long time 🤣, until I started reading slowly again 😂🤌 42h!!!! Well, quite an achievement for Apple, I gave the 1st AW to my wife, the battery doesn't even last 12 hours xdd the worst money invested in the apple along with a macmini m2. They are covering themselves in glory.

Reddit Iconjimkolowski
7 months ago

I did exactly what you plan to and it took 2-3 days to completely forget about the AW. I don’t miss it. The times when I have to wear it (sometimes I MUST be ready to wake up in the middle of the night when I am called) it feels weird wearing it. I’ve been sleeping with an AW since the very first version but now it just feels clunky and uncomfortable. But I also wear an Oura ring which is good to fill the gaps of Whoop, especially step tracking (Whoop is hilariously bad at it).

Reddit IconKellieBean11
3 months ago

I was in a similar boat - I had an Apple Watch from version 1 when they released it. I started triathlon last year and it just wasn’t cutting it (especially for swimming and cycling). I got a Garmin 965 and it was one of the better investments I’ve made in my health and training. I will never go back to the Apple Watch universe! One suggestion - check out www.dcrainmaker.com. He does unbiased and unsponsored reviews and comparisons of pretty much every fitness device and product under the sun. There’s a tool where you can compare versions to one another based on what you’re looking for. It really helped me understand what each watch brought to the table and what I needed vs. what’s nice to have.

Reddit IconMadameL77
7 months ago

Oui j’ai été utilisatrice de l’Apple Watch depuis la toute première et cette année je suis passée à Garmin (en janvier) et je n’ai aucun regret ! Après, il faut garder en tête qu’une montre Garmin est une ne montre de sport avant tout, l’Apple Watch est une montre connectée qui a d’autres fonctionnalités que le sport. La raison qui me fera ne jamais retourner chez Apple est la batterie : une semaine entière sans la recharger (avec pourtant au moins 2 enregistrements d’activité par jour !) 🤩

Reddit IconMikeMavic
4 months ago

This is my problem. I love watches and have always dreamed of owning something like a Rolex or Brietling, however, having had an Apple Watch since the first generation, I just can’t imagine not wearing it. Even the thought of the missed health data makes me uncomfortable.

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