6 years of garmin - Now switched to AWU3 for the last two months.
Now as people mentioned, the extra insights and easy to go features of the Garmin are nice. You get your body battery, stress levels, heartrate every second recorded and so on is a big plus for a lot of athletes.
Running features are also more developed with pacepro and so on, adding a HR strap enhances that even further. And don’t get me started in the flash light, best feature ever.
Then again, I realized with the AWU3 that I less focus on metrics which in the end is just a algorithm made by the company to measure how you feel. It’s not always accurate and many people have said it plenty of times that things like body battery isn’t even close to being on target. At times it is, sometimes far off, same thing goes with sleep metrics.
I run a little, 2-3 times a week then I do other activities and I hit the gym regularly.
Bevel and Athlytic is enough for now, and I’d assume a running app will do things even better.
Sleep metrics are far better on my AW3 then my old Fenix 6 or Tactix 7 pro.
Seamless connectivity is by far the best feature with Apple, it just syncs automatically on the fly with health, your phone and other devices.
Health is also better then expected, you can pull out plenty of metrics by diving in, trends and so on. The community is currently waiting for a major update to health, Apple has been teasing us so that could be a good step towards being a better tracker then it is.
No HR strap needed, AirPods Pro 3 measure HR. Same goes with their Beats by Dre 2 earbuds, testing shows very good accuracy. In with the buds and start activity, it’s all working in the background seaminglessly.
Lastly charging, I was an big advocate for Garmin due to their battery life. Switching to AWU3 is different, two days with daily exercise is what I can expect battery wise. Though what no one seems to mention is that the watch charges fast, 30 min before sleep or during showering will top up the watch easily. My Garmin charged for two hours, and the updates made the watch in the end to drain battery more and more.
Quality wise both are fairly equal, but I do think apples AWU3 is a step up. Avoid black DLC coatings, it’s just as shit on both. My tactix lost its carbon black DLC on the edges with first 3-4 weeks, pissed me off.
If you are only doing marathons, pacepro running, ultras.. I guess you should stick with a Garmin. Plenty of people still do marathons with their ultras, but then you need to charge more often. Your choice, whatever you pick enjoy it!
Ima be honest with you… don’t for a second believe the Garmins are super durable.
It’s half garbage promotion portraying their build quality like it’s supposed to be all that but it’s like any other brand.
Buttons stop working and hang up, I’ve had 3 watches exchanged through warranty due to that, a Fenix 6, and two Tactix 7 pro.
Their DLC coating is hot garbage, the Tactix which was supposed to be their military applicable watch is made with such a light coat that edges just by touching them shine through of metallic silver within weeks. Any minor hit, grain or ding is an instant scratch that won’t go away on the DLC coating. Regular titanium is vastly better.
Software is hit and miss, it’s the same hardware since 2001, maps and other things might bugg out due to not having enough processing power to handle all things at once even on their top of the line watches. Updates are regular but comes with buggs and massive battery drains at times. My tactix never recovered to last 28 days as it should after their updates. Certain 3rd party watchfaces drain battery even more so it just doubles down completely.
And don’t let me start with their wrist bands and quality, 4 Tactix bands gone to shit, they start yo peal from the edges, Velcro just gives in after a few months…
After 6 years and seeing them just adding premium on top of premium with all the issues they have is as of now a true banana fest. HQ has no idea wtf they are doing and what the audience wants.
I have a fenix 6x pro (not solar) that I've used constantly for skiing, MTBing, hiking, etc. for like 5 years now.
I can't imagine needing a screen protector for it. It's fine.
Prices are getting insane. My next watch will probably be an Amazfit. The active 2 now has golf support which I've been waiting for from them. Once my F6 sapphire dies, I think it's gonna be goodbye Garmin for me.
I've had the 6x for years now. It's great but the battery isn't what it used to be. Used to last around 27 days in smartwatch mode, now it's like a week and a half.
I may get the next OnePlus watch if they improve battery life even more.
FR645 is what's on my wrist, I like the screen color and contrast. I also own a 6x, but the screen was lacking, although the golf function is much better on the Fenix.
I have an F6 Pro with the MIP screen, and with apx 1ht exercise per day with GPS etc (at the very least) it’ll hold a full charge - even now - of about 7-10 days. Garmin appear to be dipping their toe in the subscription models (Connect+) and likewise for some of their more enhanced mapping (Maps+) and their InReach subscriptions.
All this for a £1100-£1730 device that’s likely to stop receiving feature updates as soon as the next model comes out 12-18 months later. (It’s not like the watchOS updates).
Oh yeah, but you’ll get maybe 6-10 days battery for that.
It’s difficult for me as I’m deeply into the Garmin ecosystem, and I enjoy the level of metrics and data, but I’m finding it really difficult to see past Garmins increasing weaknesses - and prices.
D-C-N-N
