WILD Battery Life: Apple Watch Can't Come Close to Garmin | All Things Mobile

0:00 I have won a Garmin watch on my left wrist every single day for almost a decade.

0:03 Over the years, I've been tempted many times to switch to an Apple Watch.

0:07 Apple watches have a lot of cool features,

0:09 with tons of apps to download, the ability to call and text people.

0:13 But despite having lots of features I'm

0:14 jealous of, I have never switched from Garmin.

0:16 And if you've been trying to decide on which device to wear on your wrist,

0:19 I am going to tell you exactly why.

0:21 Running is my main hobby.

0:22 I just finished my second marathon about two months

0:24 ago and at least have the Garmins I've used.

0:27 They are fitness trackers first with quite a few smart features,

0:30 and the Apple Watch is a smartwatch with really nice fitness tracking features.

0:34 The number one factor that keeps me with Garmin is battery life,

0:37 and the battery life enables all of the amazing

0:40 health and fitness tracking features I currently,

0:42 where the Garmin Forerunner 965,

0:44 which is on the higher end the performance and price for Garmin watches,

0:48 and it has since been replaced by the forerunner 970.

0:51 On average, I get two weeks of battery life on single charge of this watch.

0:55 It's more than two years old at this point and I use it a lot.

0:58 The only time I take this watch office

1:00 for charging so it's constantly measuring my heart rate.

1:03 The fitness tracking functions,

1:04 especially ones that use GPS like outdoor running and cycling,

1:08 do drain the battery much faster than standard use.

1:10 But even tracking runs on average five days per week.

1:14 The battery life still last weeks.

1:16 If there's a window where I don't use the GPS very much.

1:18 I have had this thing last for up to three weeks.

1:21 I should specify that I always keep the watch in wake

1:23 mode instead of having to display on all the time.

1:26 I know some people dislike this setting on all types of watches,

1:28 but this particular Garmin is super responsive.

1:31 I don't have any issues getting the display to turn on when I want it.

1:34 My first Garmin watch was the forerunner 935,

1:36 which came out a little over nine years ago.

1:39 When I upgraded to the 965, I gave my 935 to my spouse,

1:42 and that thing still gets up to a week of battery life, depending on usage.

1:47 The current Apple Watch Series 11 is

1:49 officially rated for 24 hours of battery life, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3,

1:53 which is Apple's most high end wearable device, is only rated for two days.

1:57 Those ratings are with the ozone display,

1:59 and users have found that turning off the always-on display

2:02 can squeeze another half day out of the series 11,

2:05 and another full day on the ultra three.

2:07 The 935 display is very barebones compared to any

2:11 Apple Watch and the AMOLED display on the Foreunner 965,

2:15 but even very old Garmin beats the ultra on battery.

2:18 For reference, the Forerunner 935 came out

2:20 six months before the Apple Watch Series three.

2:23 Series three.

2:24 The Foreunner 965 is more in common with the ultra in terms of price,

2:27 but even the entry level forerunner 165,

2:29 which is the same price as the Apple Watch SE,

2:32 is rated to have 11 days of battery life.

2:35 Might be thinking, sure, the battery life is way longer,

2:38 but Apple Watches have fast charging and I can just top it off whenever I want.

2:41 And yeah, that is true.

2:43 But in order to get the most out of these wearable devices,

2:46 sleep tracking is huge.

2:47 Pretty much all of your best recovery metrics like heart rate variability,

2:50 resting heart rate stress, pulse ox,

2:52 and respiration are best measured during sleep.

2:55 And yes, you can put your Apple Watch to charge before bed

2:58 and put it on again right before you go to sleep for tracking purposes.

3:01 But for me, that is not an inconvenience I want to deal with.

3:05 I know I would forget to charge it and I would miss out on my sleep data,

3:08 or I would remember to charge it,

3:10 but then I would need to charge it in the morning

3:12 and it won't have enough juice to track my next run.

3:14 And to really reap the benefits of sleep tracking,

3:17 you need to do it consistently, because long term sleep trends are way more

3:21 important than how you slept on any given night,

3:23 and sleep tracking is the most important

3:25 factor in my favorite Garmin feature training readiness.

3:28 I run a lot, and how hard I

3:30 go is usually dependent on my training readiness score.

3:32 If I trained hard the previous day and slept poorly,

3:35 Garmin Coach will say I should take it easy.

3:38 And the workout the watch suggests will just automatically based on this score.

3:42 While I'm not actively marathon training and following a specific plan,

3:46 this feature makes my life much easier.

3:48 Having to think about what I should do on any given day weigh less.

3:51 Sleep tracking also benefits the training status metric,

3:54 which is a long term measure of how productive your workouts

3:57 are like if you're getting faster or able to run for longer.

4:00 And if you're not recovering from training well,

4:03 your training status is also negatively affected.

4:05 And having a battery life that's measured in days

4:07 and weeks instead of hours enables all this important data collection.

4:11 If you don't have that data, the training,

4:13 readiness and training status don't really work.

4:15 There are too many training tools to cover in this video,

4:17 but if training is a big priority for you,

4:19 a Garmin watch is an incredibly useful tool.

4:22 If training isn't a big priority.

4:24 Apple watches do have a lot

4:26 of exclusive health measurements that Garmin doesn't have.

4:28 One big thing it has is the electrocardiogram feature.

4:31 While this isn't perfect and it shouldn't be a substitute

4:34 for a medical diagnosis when it comes to your heart,

4:36 it can be a useful tool for detecting issues.

4:38 Apple watches also have sleep apnea detection features,

4:41 and it even has a new feature

4:43 that can help detect hypertension and high blood pressure.

4:45 But one thing to note is that you have to make sure

4:48 you're tracking your sleep consistently

4:49 for these detectors to be most effective,

4:51 and battery life is obviously a limiting factor

4:54 when it comes to actual location tracking accuracy.

4:57 The consensus is that Garmin used to be the clear winner,

4:59 especially way back in the day when Apple Watches

5:02 used to piggyback off the GPS signal from your phone.

5:05 Apple has closed the gap significantly in this regard,

5:08 but it is model dependent.

5:10 The Apple Watch Ultra line features multiband GPS for improved accuracy,

5:14 but the S and series 11 don't.

5:16 Garmin's series of very expensive adventure watches,

5:19 like the Enduro or the tactics, are designed for serious,

5:21 trail based ultra running and are known for incredible GPS accuracy.

5:24 But even the more affordable forerunners like

5:27 the 165 and 265 feature multiband GPS.

5:30 When I get to go on a run, I can go into the settings and change the GPS

5:33 signal for improved accuracy at the cost of some battery life,

5:36 or I can do the opposite and sacrifice accuracy for lower battery usage.

5:41 But 99% of the time I just leave it in the auto settings and have no problems.

5:45 Runners and cyclists obviously care a lot about tracking accuracy,

5:48 because even if it's a little bit inaccurate,

5:50 your per mile pace can also be inaccurate,

5:52 which will negatively impact your training.

5:54 For me, the reason I want to wearable device is for health and fitness tracking,

5:57 and I don't want to think about it very much.

5:59 It just lives on my wrist and I have to charge it 2 to 3 times per month.

6:03 The Apple Watch is just a different experience.

6:05 It can do more thanks to cellular connectivity.

6:07 It has more smart features and way more third party accessories and apps,

6:10 and it can function as an extension of your iPhone.

6:13 And this is another key point if you're an Android user.

6:16 The Garmin Connect app actually has a few more features than the iOS version,

6:20 and you'll be deciding between a Garmin and the Google or Samsung wearable.

6:23 Bottom line if fitness tracking is your main priority like it is for me,

6:27 I would get a garment.

6:28 If you're a runner or a cyclist you want to train better,

6:30 it'll help you out at all, enabled by the battery life.

6:33 If fitness tracking takes more of a backseat to the other features,

6:36 then the Apple Watch makes a ton of sense.

6:38 Again, I am jealous of a lot of the things the Apple Watch can do,

6:41 but running is my hobby.

6:43 That is to say, you can't be a runner and use an Apple Watch,

6:45 but Garmin just suits my needs better.

6:47 But what do you think?

6:48 Are you an Apple Watch fan or a Garmin fan?

6:49 Or is there a different wearable device that you swear by?

6:52 Let us know and be sure to check out all

6:53 of our wearable tech reviews and comparisons on this site.

6:56 Thanks for watching.

6:56 I'll see you in the next one.