Apple Watch?

[JetSedgwick]

Was thinking about an Apple Watch mostly for biking info like directions and heart rate, etc. Is it useful? Better suggestion?

 

[levity]

The Apple Watch is great for monitoring your health and fitness, but a Garmin is better for monitoring your ride. It’s fun to look back at your heart rates on the watch/phone as well as keeping track of all types of workouts or playtime. If you get a watch with cellular you can also send/receive messages and calls if desired (remote work?).

The newer watches with ECG can alert you to health issues (e.g., AFib) and now oxygen sat levels (maybe good in Covid times).

Fall detection can also be important in emergency situations! My watch has sensed all, of my crashes (too many, sadly) and asked if I fell and if I was OK. You can set it up to contact emergency services and friends. It’s pretty darn good at detecting falls - I’ve had a few false alarms, but it’s easy to reply that you’re OK or did not fall.

 

[highpeakrider]

If you go Apple Watch get an app called WorkOutDoors, it syncs with Strava and Apple health but gives you mapping of ride, heart rate zones and much more.

http://www.workoutdoors.net

 

[RickBullotta]

In my experience *ALL* smartwatches suck for directions. The screen is just too small, and since it's on your wrist it usually requires taking a hand off the bars. I went back to an Apple Watch for use with Strava and GPS Tracks, and since it is a great device for quickly seeing notifications (rather than having to get your phone out). It also allows you to easily make quick text responses and even handle phone calls without getting your phone out. Most other smart watches are notification only.

I did break quite a few Apple Watch screens, but I switched to a stainless/sapphire version, and it's been very solid. Keep an eye on eBay for a used Apple Watch 4 or 5 with that screen.

 

[Cavi]

I honestly moved to a kyocera Duoforce pro that cost me 120 plus a arm band HR monitor. The reason for this was one week my wife fell and broke her Iwatch. The cost to repair was almost as much as the watch. A couple of weeks latter she did the same to her iphone. With the android phone if I break it I will not cry and it costs less than even one screen replacement on an iphone, and less than an Iwatch.

 

[04fuxake]

I use an Apple Watch 3 and it's fine for my needs. Tracks my health stuff and also my ride (built in GPS means it also doesn't use the phone battery). I use an iPhone app called HealthFit to sync my workouts to Strava and it works seamlessly. I don't use it for wayfinding. I stash my phone in a seatbag and I can take calls, dictate messages etc all from my wrist.

 

[Doug Stampfer]

A customer of mine was diagnosed with heart arythmia from his apple watch. Ended up having to buy an Ebike -so happy ending!

 

[7869hodgy]

If you go Apple Watch get an app called WorkOutDoors, it syncs with Strava and Apple health but gives you mapping of ride, heart rate zones and much more.

http://www.workoutdoors.net

You can run Strava on an Apple Watch. It captures heart rate, mapping etc. You can also set a “beacon” contact so you can keep your partner abreast of where you are on the route. You can also setup “SOS” feature so you can alert contacts/emergency services if you fall off badly. It also has fall detection. My mate uses that for his elderly Mum so he’s alerted if she falls.

Have a read - Use fall detection with Apple Watch

 

[Christurbo]

I switched from Garmin to Applewatch due to the Beacon feature in Strava.

Invaluable when out on the trails on your own. Amazing tech.

Also when comparing GPS data against Garmin users on the same segments / trails it seems pretty much the same.

 

[Howz]

I use an Apple Watch 7 and have a garmin edge 530 on my bike, I wanted to be able to see my heart rate on the garmin edge, but Apple and garmin don’t like each other and won’t sync, the solution was this:

heartbeatz Connect

NPE heartbeatz Technology unleashes your Apple Watch, enabling it to be used outside the Apple ecosystem. Whether it's at home, on the road, in the gym, or virtually, heartbeatz enabled devices unleash your Apple Watch.

npe.fit

I just keep it in by backpack, so the Apple Watch sends my heart rate to this which in turn sends it to my garmin edge so I can see my heart rate at all times……220 minus your age is supposed to be the max heart rate you should go to, although I’ve been told it’s ok to exceed this occasionally, but not for long periods of time…..it’s great getting old eh

 

[Growmac]

I use Apple Watch for ride and heart tracking and it does a great job. Accurate recording, as far as I can tell, of everything, and since the last update has HR zones etc. Also has simple, reliable integration with Strava etc.

A watch SUCKS for navigation. It's pretty good if you're walking, Pedometer++ will let you upload routes and follow along on a map, but it's really hard to use on a bike.

I use a Garmin 530 for Nav, it's visible on the bar and just far easier to follow. I was interested to see Howl's recommendation of heartbeatz above as I'm not a fan of my chest strap for HR on the Garmin (tho it's super accurate), but the reviews on the App Store suggest that some people find it very buggy?

 

[Semmelrocc]

I use both an Apple Watch and a Garmin Edge 130 Plus, depending on the kind of riding I do. Garmin mostly for all kinds of tour riding, because its battery lasts longer, but the Apple Watch is indispensable for bike park and downhill, where the Garmin isn't able to measure sports activity accurately (calories etc.), since it has to rely solely on my pedal input, which of course is barely given if you ride downhill and use a shuttle for uphills.
Plus, of course, the Apple Watch's benefit of emergency calling, if necessary.

 

[Arminius]

In the long gone past I used a Suunto T6 for running, with GPS pods on arm or on bike. Helped a lot to improve fitness when understanding the software that came with it.

Last year I started looking for a new smart / fitness watch. Having a IPhone the Apple Watch would be nice but no go to charge battery every day like a tamagotchi.

Don’t like Garmin GPS for car but ended up with a Garmin Venue 2, said to be as accurate on HR like a belt sensor. Battery lasts about a week with lots activity. O2 sensor is so la la. GPS recording is very good and amazing for such a small device.
HR zones and compatible with Edge Explore I have on my bike..
It can navigate but not really useable.

Example GPS recording - loading hay manually on the field to trailer, recorded just for the fun of it but surprised how many miles done. Could show also walking speed and table of times in specific HR zones.