• madjo@geddit.social
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    1 year ago

    I’m thinking of switching to an Apple Watch from a Garmin Vivoactive 4. But I’m not sure if that’s a good move.

    • abhibeckert@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you have an iPhone, it’s a good move.

      There are a few small things Garmin watches are better at, but there’s a massive list of things Apple Watches do better than Garmin ones. It’s not even close.

      I’m pretty sure the Series 9 is mostly unchanged because there’s basically nothing left Apple can do to improve the hardware… it’s just a waiting game for batteries that hold more power - which will allow more features.

      On battery life… Garmin advertises “8 days” for the Vivoactive 4 but that’s only if you don’t use certain features. It’s exactly the same with an Apple Watch… real world battery life depends what is active, how many notifications you receive, how often you check the time, how often you are out of bluetooth range of your phone or a wifi network, etc etc.

      Generally because Apple watches can do more than Garmin watches, you’re likely to get less real world battery life. But it’s easy enough to charge them once a day (20 minutes or so on the charger is enough. Doesn’t have to be overnight).

      The lowest power mode an Apple Watch can run in (it will only tell you the time) will last a full month on a charge.

      • doctorcherry@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I would say the battery life on Apple Watch vs Garmin is totally different. The difference between charging every 5+ days vs every day is a huge qol difference. In my experience even if I turn off most of the Apple Watch features I still don’t get even close to 48 hours and that’s after losing most of what made the Watch feel smart. What it boils down to is if you want a smart watch or a fitness watch. If you want a smart watch then the Apple Watch is the obvious choice, but if you’re more interested in fitness tracking and stats then I think Garmin is probably the better choice.