Transcription
For the past year, I've been switching between my Apple Watch and my Garmin as my daily driver for running, strength training, and daily activity tracking. And there are a lot of things that I like and some things that I absolutely hate about both of them. So, I made this video because I want you to avoid the expensive mistake that I made.
I've trained around 30 hours per week for more than 15 years as a pro triathlete, and I've been through more watches than I can count. And Apple and Garmin are two of the biggest players in the game. Though these watches have a ton of gimmicks, the most important things in my opinion is how easy it is to start the workout, to lap the workout, to see the data you actually need to see during a workout, and then, of course, how easy is it to actually review your data once you're done with your workout. And then, of course, how does it fare in daily use?
Now, I'm not going to compare specific watches, but more the overall experience. So, first of all, can you easily track your workouts on the Garmin? You just press on the start button, and then you get straight to your workout. In the top, I have my favorites, and then I just press the start button at the thing I want to track, and it will start searching for GPS. When the GPS has been found, I can start the workout, and it gives off this nice sound and vibration that I can clearly feel and hear, even when I'm running with headphones on.
On the Apple Watch, I press the crown button, then navigate to the workouts app, and then choose my workout. If you have the Ultra, it will start to search for GPS, but with the Series, it will just start a countdown. Now, I really hate, hate this, because the fact that when I'm at the start line and I want to track my time, I have to wait three, two, one, so I can't time it precisely. It just annoys the freak out of me. I know it might only be a couple of seconds, but it makes my time less precise and my intervals less precise, which really messes with my head. Also, on the Apple Watch, there are no sound or vibrations, so you have to check the watch to see if you actually started the workout.
On both watches, you can set up custom routes, custom training plans, and even import training from something like TrainingPeaks.
Now, from a hardware perspective, I really like the screen on the Apple Watch. I like that it's square and it goes from edge to edge, and I feel like I can use it in any situation. Wearing a Garmin, on the other hand, gets you into the special club of people. When I was a pro triathlete, everyone would wear a Garmin in training, in competition, at work, and when you saw someone with a high-end Garmin, you just knew they are going training later. And to be honest, I just think they give off a special vibe, like, "Yeah, I'm training." The Apple Watch does not do that in the same way. I feel like it's more versatile. If I want to, I can make it look sporty, but if I want to go out and get all my activity tracking without displaying to the world that, "Yeah, I'm into fitness," then I can do that as well. Maybe it's just me. I do prefer the physical buttons on the Garmin, though. They just feel better.
Now, during your workouts, both of these are very customizable. Once you've started your workout on both the Apple Watch and the Garmin, you can pretty much set it up how you want. You have multiple different screens you can flip through on the fly, and there are a ton of different data points you could put in each one. One thing I hate about the Apple Watch, though, is that they call laps for segments. I mean, what is that all about? Come on, Apple, it's called a lap time, not a segment time. So, the way I like to set my screens is that I have my current lap time, my current lap distance, my current pace, and my current heart rate. Unless I'm working on something specific, like cadence, then I don't look at any other data until I get home. This allows me to just stay focused on the workout and the work that needs to be done. So, in daily training, I don't really use multiple screen setups. Both watches can sync with TrainingPeaks, so you can just import your training straight from there.
Now, if you also like to do strength training, one of the advantages of the Apple Watch, in my opinion, is the fact that you can have external apps connected straight to your watch. That means that you can sync your strength training from an app to your phone in real time. Now, I like to use an app called Strong, and I think it's really nice that I can just open the app on the Apple Watch. I don't need to carry my phone with me, and then I can track everything. The workout is already there, and when I go home, I can see exactly what I did on my phone. Actually, I think that external apps are one of the key points of the Apple Watch over the Garmin. I use mine for my meditation app and as a daily caffeine tracker. Daily, you can also track reps and strength training on the Garmin watch, but it just doesn't have all the external apps that the Apple Watch has. You have to go into the Garmin Connect app and then set it up from there, but I just think it's so much easier to have an app you really love and then just have that on the watch. But yeah, personal preference.
Now, from a software perspective, I prefer doing anything else than strength training on my Garmin watch. I just feel like it's more intuitive and it shows you exactly what you want when you want it. For example, if you want to pause your training on the Apple Watch Series, you have to use two fingers like this. Now, that is just extremely annoying when you're out there pushing yourself and you need to take a precise break. Then you need two fingers, and I've had multiple times where I just missed it by a couple of seconds. On the Garmin, you just push one button, you get the nice vibration and sound, and you know that you just paused. To stop your watch, and the same thing goes for lapping or segmenting on the Garmin watch. You just push the lap button, and boom, vibration, sound, all is good. Now, on the Apple Watch, you have to do a double tap on the screen, and it's just really annoying when it's raining or when you're sweating. Sometimes it just does not pick it up. And I don't know why they have to charge so much for the Ultra to get the lap button when you could just assign one of the buttons that is already there as a dedicated lap button once you are in your workout. Yeah, I really hate that.
Now, when it comes to reviewing your data after your workout, on the Garmin, you can just press up, find your latest workout, and then you can review all the essential data like heart rate, lap times, pace, and so on. On the Apple Watch, you need to either review it just as the workout ends, or you need to open the Fitness app on your phone, find your workout, and then review the data. Because I prefer to check out my data on the watch, often when I'm in the shower after my training, it's just so much easier to do on the Garmin. Now, of course, Garmin also allows you to check out everything you want on the Garmin Connect app or online, but being able to do it straight from the watch is just one of my favorite features.
Which brings us to the app experience. Both the Apple Watch and the Garmin will give you in-depth analysis of your training status, your sleep, your VO2 Max score, and your stress score. But on the Apple Watch, you have more options because you can get specific apps for specific purposes. So, for example, I have an app called AutoSleep for tracking my sleep and an app called Athlytic for tracking my recovery. Both watches will give you all the data you need and a bunch of data you didn't even know you needed, so you are pretty much covered either way.
So, let's talk battery life. If you are doing ultramarathons, I will not recommend the Apple Watch Series. You should at least get an Apple Watch Ultra. But with Garmin, you can choose pretty much every watch and you will have no issues. Generally speaking, I can get about a week's worth of battery out of my Garmin with daily use and about one to three hours of training every day. And with the Apple Watch Series 9, I can only get about 24 hours of battery, and doing workouts drain the battery a lot more than on the Garmin. However, both watches will do more than fine for most people. If you train and compete in less than five hours, then you are going to have no issues, even with the Apple Watch Series. But if you need it for anything more, then I would go with the Garmin. It's also nice that with the Garmin, you can just go about your day, you don't have to worry about charging all the time. With the Apple Watch, you have to have some sort of routine where you get it charged up every single day. And some of the newer Garmins could last for up to 21 days, which is just insane.
Now, let's talk about heart rate monitoring. Now, I don't find any of these watches to be accurate on my wrist, so I pair them up with an external heart rate monitor. Now, I used to wear a chest monitor called the Polar H10, which is like the gold standard, but I just feel like I get some rashes on my chest, so I switched it up to a Polar OH1, which is a bicep strap, and I feel like I get the same data, and it's just so much nicer to wear. And let's be honest, you also look kind of cool. Pairing an external heart rate monitor, even though it's not the same brand, is no issues whatsoever over Bluetooth on both the Garmin and the Apple Watch. Soon as I start my workout, it's paired up, and I'm good to go. Now, if you're looking for data on heart rate accuracy, I would recommend that you check out the Quantified Scientist here on YouTube. He does some very cool experiments. He even found that the Apple Watch is actually one of the best heart rate monitors on the wrist, but it's just still lacking behind external heart rate monitors, at least the best ones out there.
Now, both of these watches easily sync to the social training platform Strava, so if you're looking for segment hunting, then you are fine either way. Now, on the Apple Watch, you can actually download the Strava app and start the workout straight from there if that's more your thing.
So, here are my final thoughts. When my friends ask me what to get, this is what I say to them. If you are a serious athlete and want a fitness watch to help track your training, then get the Garmin. If you are more of a recreational athlete and want something that's an extension of your phone but also can help you with your workouts, then get the Apple Watch. Garmin is just specifically designed to help people with fitness goals, and it shows. It gives you all the data that you want when you want it, and it's just designed in a way that you can feel that it's an athlete who has designed this watch. If you mostly use it for strength training and want to have access to all the external apps and use it as sort of an extension of your phone, then get the Apple Watch. It's an amazing watch. This is where I made a huge mistake. Even though now that I bought the Apple Watch, I use it daily because I think it's an amazing smartwatch, it's just not ready to replace my Garmin as my training partner. And maybe it's not supposed to. But none of these watches will work for you unless you know how to structure your training to get the most out of your time. And I'll teach you exactly how to do that in this video right here.
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