Apple Watch vs Garmin: Which is better?
Apple Watch vs Garmin: the top smartwatch brand takes on the marathon runner’s favorite.
Apple and Garmin are two of the very best mainstream health and fitness watch brands. The classic advice when shopping with these two in mind is something like: buy a Garmin if you want to train for a marathon, an Apple Watch if you want a smartwatch.
It’s not really that simple, though, when an Apple Watch is ideal for run tracking, and used by countless marathon runners, making it one of the best fitness trackers around in its own right.
We have used multiple generations of iPhones, and countless Garmin watches. Below you’ll find what we’ve found out about these two tribes of wearables. One of the key questions: are you going to be able to get on with a watch you have to charge every day or every other day? on that later.
Available models
Apple Watch vs Garmin: What models are available?
Picking an Apple Watch is much easier than choosing a Garmin. There are only three key models you can buy new from Apple, the Ultra, the Series 8 and the Watch SE.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is the default, the Ultra has superb water resistance, scuba diving features and longer battery life. And if you want to save some money, the Watch SE is your perfect partner. It just lacks a few features like ECG, blood oxygen saturation, temperature readings and fast charging. However, it can track regular exercise just fine.
Garmin’s approach is to try to make a watch for every eventuality. There are far too many individual models to dig into them all here, so let’s stick to the key families.
Start off looking at Garmin’s Forerunner watches. They go from affordable to flagship, and offer a good spread of enthusiast features without usually looking too bulky.
Look at the Instinct range for extra toughness without spending a fortune. Or the Venu watches for more of a smartwatch flavor.
Up at the top of the range you have the Garmin Fenix, generally considered the all-rounder flagship watch from Garmin. And the Epix, which combines a bold and colorful OLED screen with Garmin’s most advanced and expensive features.
There are also Marq watches, Garmin’s luxury models. However, they are so expensive they don’t really factor into this comparison, and aren’t fundamentally all that different to a cheaper Garmin Epix bar the outer casing.
Which is the best smartwatch?
Apple Watch vs Garmin watch: which has more smartwatch features?
Apple Watches are much better smartwatches than Garmin watches. While both have access to an app store, Apple’s is the best smartwatch store in the world while Garmin’s is much smaller and simpler.
You can download some basic apps, and countless watch faces. But the software here is limited not just by the more sporty demands of Garmin users but the power of the watches themselves.
Apple’s Watches are a lot more powerful than any Garmin, allowing for more visually rich and complicated apps. That said, the smartwatch app scene hasn’t blown up in the way we hoped it might almost a decade ago.
A lot of the basics are shared across brands. Garmin and Apple watches will receive notifications from your phone, many Garmins can be used for wireless payments, just like an Apple Watch and its Apple Pay feature.
However, an Apple Watch also lets you talk directly to Siri or make calls using the built-in mic and speaker. Garmin has only tried these kinds of feature in one watch so far, the Venu 2 Plus. And talking to Alexa through it just isn’t as slick as interacting with Siri through an Apple Watch.
If you’re here for the classic smartwatch experience, there’s no contest. Get an Apple Watch, because even the most expensive Garmins don’t stack up in this area, they’re far more suited as running watches.
Which is the best fitness tracker?
Apple Watch vs Garmin: Which is better for tracking workouts?
Apple Watches and the best Garmin watches set the standard for accuracy in both heart rate and location tracking. But until last year Garmin was clearly the better option for any form of serious workout tracking.
Apple’s stat handling was pretty light, causing the more enthusiastic exercisers to use third-party watch apps at times. However, Apple improved things dramatically for all Watch series when it announced the Watch Ultra in 2022.
We got features like custom workouts, the option of way nerdier workout stat views, running power, heart rate zone alerts and recovery insights to let you know when your body is ready for another pummelling. It was a huge software upgrade for the runners and gym rats.
However, Garmin still has greater depth here than Apple. Its workout creation tools are near encyclopedic. The Suggested Workouts feature for runners and cyclists is brilliant, powered by a statistics algorithm engine that can tell what your body is up for, and what you need to make progress.
We’re also big fans of Garmin’s Training Load feature, available in its high-end watches and some mid-tier ones. This looks at the collected exertion of your exercise over time, and is one of the quickest and more digestible ways to see how hard you’ve been working over the last few weeks.
Some Garmin features just aren’t found in an Apple Watch either. Garmin watches can broadcast your heart rate data to other equipment — something devs have managed to patch into the Apple Watch in third-party apps. And more feature-rich Garmin watches can even control bike Smart turbo trainers. You can set out a route, and your watch will make your trainer emulate hill contours, no other software needed.
A Garmin watch is also a great pairing for the company’s Varia bike lights, some of which have a “radar” to warn you of nearby vehicles.
While we think most people will be more than happy with either an Apple Watch or Garmin watch for workout tracking, the amount of stuff packed in Garmins continues to blow minds. The top Epix, Forerunner and Fenix models can also store continents’ worth of maps on the watch themselves, and find routes to places without an internet connection. Handy.
Features
Garmin vs Apple Watch: which one has more features?
We’ve already covered some of the feature disparities of Apple and Garmin Watches. Apple does the Smart stuff better, Garmin still has the edge for in-depth, or nerdy, fitness stuff.
There’s more too, though. Despite being ideal for sport and fitness tracking, Apple excels on the health side.
Two of the three Apple Watch models, the Ultra and Series 8, have an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor. This monitors the electrical activity of your heart to analyze your sinus rhythm. This is a more precise measurement than the rear optical heart reader can manage, and it is used to look for signs of arrhythmia.
This can be a symptom of certain serious heart conditions. One of these readings involves placing a finger on the crown and waiting for around 30 seconds. However, Apple Watches can also look for these arrhythmia signs throughout the day, using the standard optical heart rate reader.
Only one Garmin watch currently has ECG hardware, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. And passively recorded irregular heart behavior is limited to your heart beating faster than expected.
Both brands offer menstrual cycle tracking, but again Apple’s Watch Ultra take on it is more advanced. Apple uses a pair of temperature sensors to calculate your basal body temperature to estimate when ovulation occurred, just a little after the fact.
Garmin’s health features come across a lot more general purpose, best represented by Body Battery. This is a score that balances things like your sleep against your stress and exercise, and ends up being used as a hint as to whether you should exercise hard or not. And, in our experience, it’s an alarm to tell you to go to bed earlier.
It’s useful, but lacks the laser-like FOCUS on the possibilities of the tech Apple mines. If you’re not sure how accurate are fitness trackers, or how fitness trackers monitor your sleep, we’ve investigated.
Design
Garmin vs Apple Watch: which design is better?
People will often assume you’re wearing a Garmin if you own any clearly enthusiast-level fitness watch. But there’s nothing in the Garmin line-up as recognizable or iconic as an Apple Watch.
Garmin also makes far wider use of practical but prosaic “resin” plastics in almost all of its watches. Apple’s Watch, even the Watch SE, is a self-consciously luxury product. Lower-end models are aluminum. Higher-end Series 8 watches have a steel casing. Plastic is more-or-less banished.
The Apple Watch Ultra has a titanium shell — super tough and super light.
Sure, there are aluminum, steel and titanium Garmin watches too. But nothing is quite as slick as the Apple Watch design.
However, many of you may think the Apple Watch is so well established, it’s kind of boring these days. There’s a greater diversity of designs in the Garmin line-up, particularly if you are willing to take a look at the models that are definitely not a direct rival to an Apple Watch.
Take the Garmin Lily, for example, a dainty little fitness tracker with a 25mm watch face. Or the Vivomove series, which hides the LCD display behind a translucent top layer so the bands look just like traditional analog watches when the screen is not lit.
With Garmin you also have the option of an OLED or MIP screen. All Apple Watches have OLED displays. MIP screens show content 24/7 by design because they don’t use significant power because the pixels aren’t lit. Very practical for fitness tracking, just less glossy than OLED.
Battery life
Garmin vs Apple Watch: which has better battery life?
It may seem the Apple Watch has the upper hand so far. It has better apps, better health features, and you can make up some of the few fitness shortfalls with third-party apps. But there’s no getting around the battery life disparity here.
The Apple Watch SE and Series 8 tend to last a day to a day and a half. Use them for outdoor exercise tracking and you’ll probably need to charge them every single day to avoid the dreaded blank screen of a drained watch.
Apple’s Watch Ultra is better. It can last a couple of days, or even longer in its Low Power mode.
However, this still looks terrible next to even the least long-lasting Garmin. Five days is about the minimum to expect from a Garmin watch, while there are models made specifically for long battery life.
The Garmin Enduro 2 lasts up to 46 days between charges. The Instinct 2 Solar has “unlimited” basic use battery life, thanks to its relatively large solar charging panels. If you want a watch that doesn’t come with a potentially annoying upkeep cycle, get a Garmin.
Today’s best Apple Watch SE, Garmin Venu, Apple Watch Series 8, Garmin Fenix 7, Garmin Instinct 2X Solar, Apple Watch Ultra, Garmin Forerunner 965, Apple Watch Series 7 and Garmin Forerunner 265 deals
Garmin‘s latest Apple Watch Ultra rival comes with ‘hybrid’ functionality and a reasonable price
While rugged smartwatches have been around for. roughly as long as regular smartwatches, aiming to not only keep up with your active lifestyle but enrich your adventures by tapping into the latest (wearable) technologies, the product category is undoubtedly receiving unusual mainstream attention now that the Apple Watch Ultra is here.
Like any first-gen iDevice, of course, that muscular bad boy with extra-long battery life is not perfect, allowing Garmin to capture the limelight and possibly appeal to a broader audience than ever with products like the Instinct 2 and hot new Instinct Crossover.
Analog digital = 500 and up pricing
The Android and iOS-compatible Instinct Crossover appears to have been discreetly released recently in a number of markets around the world. Stateside, the hybrid smartwatch costs 499.99 in a Standard Edition available in black and blue granite colors, with graphite and tidal blue Solar versions fetching an extra 50 bucks a piece and a Tactical Edition coated in a black hue only setting you back 599.99 (with solar charging also supported).
Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar
Garmin Instinct Crossover Solar Tactical Edition
Because those price tags are obviously not comparable with how much the Apple Watch Series 8 normally costs (at least in an entry-level GPS-only aluminum model), it definitely makes sense to pit this thing against the rugged Apple Watch Ultra instead.
Then again, that’s not really a fair comparison either given that the Instinct Crossover sports a relatively modest (by mainstream smartwatch standards) monochrome display with a resolution of 176 x 176 pixels.
Somewhat ironically, that component is advertised as high-resolution, which is an accurate description when you view the new outdoor-friendly smartwatch through a hybrid lens.
The digital screen is paired with luminescent, bright, easy to read, and incredibly reliable analog watch hands to bring the best of both worlds together, helping the Instinct Crossover look like a traditional timepiece (more or less) while also delivering precious information, notifications, and alerts from a connected phone, and perhaps most importantly, maximizing battery life.
The Instinct Crossover can last. how long.
Up to 25 hours in GPS mode (31 hours with solar charging), which may not sound that impressive. until you hear all of Garmin’s other battery endurance claims. Specifically, up to 28 days (or 70 days with solar) in smartwatch mode and up to 71 days (that’s two months. ) in battery saver watch mode, which can jump to an unlimited rating when also considering the solar charging functionality that, remember, you’ll have to pay extra for.
That’s right, you might not have to plug in your Garmin Instinct Crossover. ever if you play your cards right and don’t mind spending at least 550 bucks, which is starting to feel more and more reasonable.
That’s 250 lower than the Apple Watch Ultra’s regular price, mind you, and Cupertino’s decidedly non-hybrid rugged smartwatch can barely promise up to 36 hours of battery life in normal usage or 60 hours on Low Power settings.
The Instinct Crossover is unsurprisingly built like a tank too, surviving not only water immersion up to a depth of 100 meters with ease but also extreme weather conditions and various shocks, presumably including drops on hard surfaces.
In addition to standalone GPS connectivity, the extensive list of sensors offered at 500 and up also includes a barometric altimeter, compass, thermometer, blood oxygen saturation monitor, and heart rate monitor, not to mention Glonass and Galileo support guaranteeing reliable activity tracking even in the most remote places you can imagine, as well as in-depth sleep tracking and so-called body battery energy monitoring.
In short, you’ll get everything you could possibly need from a health and fitness tracking standpoint plus an undeniably elegant and ingenious design plus stellar battery life for your money here, which makes this value proposition pretty much irresistible, at least for certain fans of rugged wearable devices.
How does Garmin’s Apple Watch Ultra competitor stack up? I tested both to find out
Garmin gives its popular Fenix 7 line of smartwatches a Pro upgrade. Here’s how it fares against Apple’s best.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over two decades to helping users get the most from technology.- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get.
- Mac, iOS, hardware, diagnostic, repair, battery tech, drones and cameras, videography and photography, Adobe Creative Cloud
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over two decades to helping users get the most from technology.- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get.
- Mac, iOS, hardware, diagnostic, repair, battery tech, drones and cameras, videography and photography, Adobe Creative Cloud
Mention smartwatches and most people will instantly think of the Apple Watch. But there are many more smartwatches out there, and one of the biggest names in that arena is Garmin.
Earlier this month I took a look at the Garmin Fenix 7X Solar Sapphire, pitting it head-to-head against the Apple Watch Ultra. And the Fenix 7X gave Apple’s flagship smartwatch a real run for its money.
Now Garmin has refreshed the Fenix line, releasing the Fenix 7 Pro.
Garmin Fenix 7 Pro
When it comes to multisport GPS smartwatches, the Fenix 7 Pro lineup offers the ultimate feature set, combining rugged design, solar charging, heart rate and pulse ox monitoring, and battery life that’s measured in weeks and not days.
The Fenix 7 Pro line consists of two models: the Pro Solar and Pro Sapphire Solar. each offered in three sizes: 42mm Fenix 7S, 47mm Fenix 7, and 51mm Fenix 7X.
The sizes are pretty easy to understand.- think small, medium, and large.- and they’re available in two crystal options: glass and sapphire.
The Fenix 7S and 7 are also offered in silver alongside the matte black DLC (diamond-like coating), and there are a smattering of different Band colors, too.
While six different offerings might seem awfully complicated, it’s a lot simpler than before. Now all the models come with solar charging, all come with a built-in white/red LED flashlight, and all have 32GB of storage.
Apart from physical size (and corresponding battery life), all the Fenix 7 Pro versions have the same array of features.
Note: The review unit I have for testing is the Fenix 7X Pro.
Fenix 7X Pro tech specs
In the run-up to this review, I’d been wearing the Fenix 7X for a few weeks. And when I switched to the Fenix 7X Pro, there were a few things I noticed straight away.
First, the heart rate/pulse ox sensor is an updated module. It’s a bigger unit, spacing out the LEDs that take the readings; the update’s goal is to offer more accurate readings under conditions where the wrist is being bent and flexed. I never had much of a problem with the previous heart rate/pulse ox monitor, but I do find that this suffers fewer dropouts, both at night and when hiking with walking poles.
I’ve only been testing the Fenix 7 Pro for about a week, but I can already tell that this is a winner. It builds intelligently on the Fenix 7 platform, streamlining the lineup in such a way that buyers only need to think about the size of the watch (or, put another way, price).
Fenix 7X owners can probably ignore this upgrade as they have most of what this model offers. And those who went for the Fenix 7S or Fenix 7 and feel they are missing out on solar charging or a flashlight, well, now those features are available. But those who’ll benefit most from this update are the users of earlier Garmin models.- or those coming from another smartwatch brand even the Apple Watch.
As a long-time Apple Watch owner, the Fenix 7X Pro’s big display.- dwarfing even that of the Apple Watch Ultra.- and the weeks of battery life are the things that I appreciate most about this smartwatch. The use of buttons rather than the heavy reliance on a touchscreen is also super handy, making this much easier to operate in wet weather. And the built-in maps mean that I can go totally off-grid and still know where I am, wherever I happen to end up.
Apple Watch solar charging
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Product Description
The perfect mini charger for your Apple Watch
Recharge your Apple Watch anywhere with this super compact mini charger. It’s small size makes it perfect to take with you on the go. It can easily be plugged into the side of a MacBook, Power Bank or a wall charger so you can charge your Watch anywhere you are.
Get ready for the future
The use of a USB-C connector means this mini Apple Watch charger is ready for the future. All new iPhones and other Apple products already come with a USB-C charger and/or cable, and this trend will only continue going forward.
Always ready to go with PowerStream
All products in the Xtorm PowerStream series have been designed with one thing in mind: to bring you the easiest and best wireless charging experience for all of your Apple devices and accessories, so you’re always charged up and ready to go.
Small size is perfect for on the go
Recharge anywhere, simply plug in a Power Bank, MacBook, or wall charger
Future proof thanks to USB-C
Note: The wattage of the device you want to charge must be lower than the wattage of the product you are using to charge it. Devices with higher wattage, cannot be charged with this.
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Apple Watch Ultra 2 could arrive this fall, experts say – here’s what we want to see
Apple could soon unveil the Apple Watch Ultra 2, according to the latest Power On newsletter from Bloomberg’s resident Apple expert Mark Gurman. Although Gurman’s sources aren’t always 100% reliable, he has a solid track record and generally has a good sense of what’s happening behind the scenes thanks to his industry contacts.
As Gadgets Wearables reports. the second-generation adventure watch could launch alongside the Apple Watch Series 9, which CEO Tim Cook will almost certainly announce in September.
Details about potential features are scarce, but apparently we shouldn’t get our hopes up for a microLED display. Although this would offer improved viewing angles and lower power consumption compared to AMOLED, rumors suggest it’s not ready to land on our wrists just yet.
Built-in flashlight
Garmin has clearly realized it’s onto a winner with flashlights. The Fenix 7X was the first watch to feature an LED torch built into the top of the watch housing, and was soon followed by the even brighter Enduro 2. The Garmin Instinct 2X Solar came next, and now we have the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix (Gen 2) Pro series, which come in three sizes, all with lights.
It’s one of those things that’s much more useful than you’d expect, whether you’re looking for the zipper on your sleeping bag, peering under the couch for that pen you just dropped, or running through a dark, mile-long tunnel. You can even use it to signal for help in an emergency.
The Apple Watch Ultra has a loud siren that you can use to signal distress in an SOS situation, but no flashlight. It would be a great addition to the Apple Watch Ultra 2, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Improved battery life
The Apple Watch Ultra can deliver up to 60 hours of battery life with power-saving mode enabled, which is much longer than the Apple Watch Series 8, but nowhere near as long as most sports-focused GPS watches. In fact, when the Ultra launched, Garmin decided to poke fun on social media with photos of the Garmin Enduro 2 and a claim that We measure battery life in months. Not hours.
Of course, the Enduro 2 doesn’t offer features like cellular connectivity and uses a memory-in-pixel screen rather than AMOLED, so it’s hard to compare the two directly. However, the point remains that if you’re going to be off-grid for a while camping and hiking, you’ll appreciate a watch that doesn’t need charging every couple of days.
We measure battery life in months. Not hours. #Enduro2 piccom/OcTLdpvHV6September 8, 2022
Solar charging
Apple certainly won’t want to reduce that Apple Watch Ultra’s functionality to help it last longer between charges, but it may be able to boost battery life with solar charging. At the time of writing there are no Garmin watches with AMOLED screens and solar charging, but the company has registered a patent for a technology that would allow it to combine the two without dulling the appearance of the display.
It’s an interesting concept, but has yet to make it into production. If Apple can devise a different way of achieving the same thing and get it to market sooner, it could be onto a winner.
Larger screen
We might not get microLED tech this time around, but early rumors suggest that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 could have a larger screen than its predecessor. The original Apple Watch Ultra certainly isn’t small, but when it comes to maps and navigation, the bigger the better. I certainly wouldn’t be averse to giving up a little more wrist space for easier navigation.
Redesigned crown
Apple redesigned its Digital Crown for the Apple Watch Ultra, making it chunkier and easier to operate while wearing gloves. However, I found that it’s actually a little too large, and rubs slightly against my skin when turned. Offsetting it slightly so that it doesn’t touch the skin would be a small change, but one that would make it much more comfortable to use on the trails.