Apple Watch as a fitness band?

[terreos]

So I've started up a workout program this week to improve my overall health. I use Jefit to keep track of weight training routine and how long I've done cardio. And also most out of the blue I thought it would be nice to have something to help track calories that I burn, steps I take, and heart rate. Now I know that apple watch is very capable of doing all of these tasks, but I've read through a few reviews and they aren't completely convincing me.

First thing that bothers me is how much does the battery drain while using it for exercise tracking? What I would like to do is take it off the charger in the morning, go to work for 8 1/2 hrs, and come home a do my excises for 45 min- 1 hr. Another is since the battery life isn't likely long enough to make it through the night I wouldn't be able to use it for sleep tracking. Though I don't know how useful it is to look at a graph that tells me how many hours of deep sleep I've gotten? So maybe someone can let me know if I'm missing out without that feature?

So any thoughts from anyone that uses their watch for fitness purposes?

 

[andrwstw]

In my experience, a 30 minute workout (biking) has cost me about 10% battery. I usually have my watch on all day (7am to 10pm) using it extensively at work (calendars, to-dos), and with a workout, I have around 45% battery left at night. I love the fitness features of the watch and work out more with it. I got an Up Move for sleep tracking, but I stopped using it after a couple of weeks because the info wasn't that valuable to me. There are sleep tracking apps for Apple Watch (see here), and the developer has suggestions for how to wear the watch while sleeping and charge when you shower/get ready in the morning. The watch charges pretty quickly in my experience. Those are my thoughts!

 

[terreos]

In my experience, a 30 minute workout (biking) has cost me about 10% battery. I usually have my watch on all day (7am to 10pm) using it extensively at work (calendars, to-dos), and with a workout, I have around 45% battery left at night. I love the fitness features of the watch and work out more with it. I got an Up Move for sleep tracking, but I stopped using it after a couple of weeks because the info wasn't that valuable to me. There are sleep tracking apps for Apple Watch (see here), and the developer has suggestions for how to wear the watch while sleeping and charge when you shower/get ready in the morning. The watch charges pretty quickly in my experience. Those are my thoughts!

That's probably going to be close to what my day will look like. So here's a fun question. What exactly do a sleep track app do for you? I get that seeing how you slept at night might be helpful, but how would they help you sleep any better? Lol.

 

[CrzyP]

Glad I found this thread. I've been looking heavily at the Garmin Forerunner 235 for a running watch. I'm on the fence between the Garmin and the AW. I like the look, GPS, limited smart watch features, and battery life of the Garmin. I like the better integration of the Apple Watch with my iPhone. Decisions...

 

[andrwstw]

That's probably going to be close to what my day will look like. So here's a fun question. What exactly do a sleep track app do for you? I get that seeing how you slept at night might be helpful, but how would they help you sleep any better? Lol.

That's why I stopped using the Up Move. I couldn't get any value out of the sleep tracking!

 

[andrwstw]

Glad I found this thread. I've been looking heavily at the Garmin Forerunner 235 for a running watch. I'm on the fence between the Garmin and the AW. I like the look, GPS, limited smart watch features, and battery life of the Garmin. I like the better integration of the Apple Watch with my iPhone. Decisions...

I have some friends using the Garmin bands, and they love it for the GPS and dedicated fitness features. Just get both! lol

 

[terreos]

Glad I found this thread. I've been looking heavily at the Garmin Forerunner 235 for a running watch. I'm on the fence between the Garmin and the AW. I like the look, GPS, limited smart watch features, and battery life of the Garmin. I like the better integration of the Apple Watch with my iPhone. Decisions...

Funny how there only seems to be three of us even remotely interested in this topic.

And I'm not going to lie I've been looking at garmin watches myself. I'm more interested in the Garmin 630. More because it has a touchscreen and I'm spoiled by touchscreens. lol

Here are two reviewers that look at the apple watch as a fitness tracker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA9RG-9nx2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qbbSzNQ58

Both them say they are good fitness trackers. But, they both say that they are incomplete and lacking if you want to do something more than cardio exercises. At which case you would need a chest strap if you wanted to do crossfit training with it.

My vote as of right now is Garmin because I want fitness features first and smart watch features second.

That's why I stopped using the Up Move. I couldn't get any value out of the sleep tracking!

Just woke up one morning and asked yourself "Why am I doing this?!"

 

[CrzyP]

Funny how there only seems to be three of us even remotely interested in this topic.

And I'm not going to lie I've been looking at garmin watches myself. I'm more interested in the Garmin 630. More because it has a touchscreen and I'm spoiled by touchscreens. lol

Here are two reviewers that look at the apple watch as a fitness tracker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA9RG-9nx2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qbbSzNQ58

Both them say they are good fitness trackers. But, they both say that they are incomplete and lacking if you want to do something more than cardio exercises. At which case you would need a chest strap if you wanted to do crossfit training with it.

My vote as of right now is Garmin because I want fitness features first and smart watch features second.



Just woke up one morning and asked yourself "Why am I doing this?!"

I'm also considering the Garmin Fenix 3 HR for the hiking and ski/snowboard modes. I just don't know if I want to spend that much.

The 630 is super nice, but I kind of wanted the built in 24/7 HR monitor, even though it is not as accurate as a chest strap HR monitor.

One thing that concerns me about the Garmin is the negative Garmin Connect App reviews on the App Store.

But yeah, I'm also leaning toward the fitness first and smart watch second setup.

 

[terreos]

Yeah I was really surprised with the Fenix 3 when I first saw a review for it. Bar none I think that's the best fitness watch there is right now. But, no touchscreen is a no no for me. Don't ask me why. I just have to have that as a feature.

And I didn't even look at the app. YIKES! It's got alot of bad reviews. That's making me second guess going with garmin. Though alot of those bad reviews seem to be complaining about syncing features and not the functionality of the app itself. So it maybe worth finding a review of the app on youtube. That way we don't get the keyboard warrior "It sucks because this one thing doesn't work!" And they don't try to figure out why it's not working.

 

[eyecrispy]

I just got my AW today. Gonna wear and compare with my Fitbit surge for a few days and can report back.

 

[bamf-hacker]

I am an avid fitness enthusiast and quantificator. I track all my fitness actives and sleep. The Watch is great for both.

I wake up at 3:30am and my watch battery is around 95% when I go to the gym. I track my workout on the Watch, usually about an hour and a half. Then I put my watch on the charger in my car when I drive to work (45m-1h drive). Work all day until 5:30ish then I charge my watch again on the way home. When I get home the battery is at 100%. I go to bed around 9:30 and start the SleepPulse app to track my sleep.

Watch always has enough juice and works great to track everything.

BTW, I use the watch all day long to track my water intake, set timers, read messages etc. When I am heading home from work its usually at around 75%.

 

[eyecrispy]

I am an avid fitness enthusiast and quantificator. I track all my fitness actives and sleep. The Watch is great for both.

I wake up at 3:30am and my watch battery is around 95% when I go to the gym. I track my workout on the Watch, usually about an hour and a half. Then I put my watch on the charger in my car when I drive to work (45m-1h drive). Work all day until 5:30ish then I charge my watch again on the way home. When I get home the battery is at 100%. I go to bed around 9:30 and start the SleepPulse app to track my sleep.

Watch always has enough juice and works great to track everything.

BTW, I use the watch all day long to track my water intake, set timers, read messages etc. When I am heading home from work its usually at around 75%.

What are you using to track water intake on the AW?

 

[Trees]

I think the Apple Watch works quite well for a general purpose fitness band/tracker with the added bonus that comes with the smartwatch capabilities and features. I've used it for outdoor hikes, runs, bike rides, and indoors tracking gym workouts (elliptical, treadmill runs/walks).

The higher end Garmin smartwatches do look compelling for some of the more advanced features like ABC, and GPS; and the fact that the watch works with more than just iOS. I'd probably go for one of those - if only I could find more time to be outdoors and actually use the features.

So for now, the Apple Watch is quite good for my use cases and lifestyle; and is one reason that keeps tugging at me to stay on iOS full time.

 

[terreos]

I just got my AW today. Gonna wear and compare with my Fitbit surge for a few days and can report back.

Please do. Think that would be very helpful to know how they stack up.

I am an avid fitness enthusiast and quantificator. I track all my fitness actives and sleep. The Watch is great for both.

I wake up at 3:30am and my watch battery is around 95% when I go to the gym. I track my workout on the Watch, usually about an hour and a half. Then I put my watch on the charger in my car when I drive to work (45m-1h drive). Work all day until 5:30ish then I charge my watch again on the way home. When I get home the battery is at 100%. I go to bed around 9:30 and start the SleepPulse app to track my sleep.

Watch always has enough juice and works great to track everything.

BTW, I use the watch all day long to track my water intake, set timers, read messages etc. When I am heading home from work its usually at around 75%.

Now that's impressive. Sounds like the Apple Watch actually can be very useful as a fitness tracker. And do you manually input your water intake?

 

[bamf-hacker]

What are you using to track water intake on the AW?

Please do. Think that would be very helpful to know how they stack up.

I use the WaterMinder app for water intake.



Now that's impressive. Sounds like the Apple Watch actually can be very useful as a fitness tracker. And do you manually input your water intake?

 

[eyecrispy]

Thanks. I guess it'd be helpful if I read more carefully. I'll have to look into that app.

 

[bamf-hacker]

Thanks. I guess it'd be helpful if I read more carefully. I'll have to look into that app.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/waterminder-water-hydration/id653031147?mt=8&at=10l3Vy

 

[eyecrispy]

Please do. Think that would be very helpful to know how they stack up.

Ok, here is what I got from my workout this morning. I wore my Fitbit Surge on my left wrist and my AW on my right wrist. Results were reasonably close. See pics and explanation below.

First, I did Insanity Max 30 Friday Fight Round 1 video workout.

You can see that my Fitbit measured my calorie burn higher by 50 calories than the AW, and the AW measured my avg heart rate a bit higher than the Fitbit.

Next, I ran 5K on my treadmill.

You can see that estimated distance was off on both as was the pace, but more off on the AW. Avg heart rate was close. Fitbit said I burned 366 cal (not pictured) and AW said I burned 330 cal.

I'd say that margin of error is acceptable between the two devices. I'll keep using both for a few more days to compare, but I was pretty happy with the results I saw on the AW.

 

[bamf-hacker]

Just wondering, have you calibrated the Watch yet?

 

[eyecrispy]

Just wondering, have you calibrated the Watch yet?

Nope! I've had it less than 24 hours. How would I go about calibrating that? I guess I could look that up. I never calibrated my Fitbit either, though. I don't really care about distance on my indoor runs bc the treadmill has those stats.