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Advice on using Garmin connect and Apple Watch together

JS91
over 4 years ago

So like many I have an Apple Watch. I really like it as my daily watch. It’s slim, comfortable, works well with iPhone, can use it for smart control of house etc.  

Separately, I’ve just upgraded from an edge 800 to 1030 plus and for the first time and getting serious about running.

So I use the edge for cycling, the Apple Watch for strength training (which is terrible on Garmin watches), and the Apple Watch for running. I have power meters coming for the bike and want the same for running.

Is there any way to get training load, body battery and those types of firstbeats features from Apple Watch data? What if I paired a running app with say a Garmin hrm-dual + garmin rd-pods or Stryd?

Even if it’s not perfect as I’m getting older I like the idea of something that provides some guidelines. I tend to try and push things and a couple years ago screwed up my Achilles which sidelined me for a long time...

Even if I bought a Garmin Watch for running, would I be sabotaging the firstbeats stuff by not having a Garmin device looking at hrv and sleep etc throughout the day and only wearing during exercise?

thoughts on the best way to keep my Apple Watch in the mix but get full data collection and analysis options in Garmin connnect?

thx

  • 0 over 4 years ago
    JS91 said:
    Is there any way to get training load, body battery and those types of firstbeats features from Apple Watch data?

    Garmin connect is specifically only for Garmin devices.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    As per training load

    https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=apva7Th82K6Mm0zY4shzD6

    "NOTE: Activities uploaded via Zwift will not populate Training Status and Training Effect in Garmin Connect. This training information requires a compatible Garmin device. "

    The reasoning being, the algorithms would be tailored to Garmin's device and sensors

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    What I do is use my Fenix 6 for running, Edge 830 for cycling, and wear my Apple Watch for daily use.  I get all of the Garmin stats.  I bought the RunGap app and use it to import my Garmin workouts and share them to Apple Health so they count towards my Apple rings.  The only thing I don't get is the daily things from Garmin like Body Battery since I don't wear the Garmin all day.  I still get numbers since I wear it for sleep, but I'm sure its not totally accurate since I'm not wearing it all day.

    Also, steps all add up in the Apple Health app, but Garmin steps stay on Garmin and Apple Watch steps stay on Apple Watch, but they all add together within the Health app.  Not ideal if you're bit on counting daily steps.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to rbrussell82

    But you’re getting training load etc? Do you feel like the absence of Garmin heart rate and hrv data throughout the day is making the numbers there less reliable (and I get they’re not perfect in the first place)?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to JS91

    Yes, I still get training load, vo2 max, etc. since I'm using my Garmin's for the workouts.  I don't think the lack of all-day data makes them less reliable.  Right now my training status is between productive/peaking.

    I think the only thing less reliable is the body battery.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to rbrussell82

    Ok cool. That’s the sort of answer I was hoping for. I think I’m going to pull trigger on a Fenix 6 pro then. Thanks!

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    I'm looking at this the other way round.  I had a first series Apple Watch and had a seperate running Garmin.  I replaced both with a Fenix 5 a few years ago.  I now want an Apple Watch again.  Not for anything fitness related, but for the phone intergration.  But I want to keep the Fenix for everything fitness, plus steps and sleep.  I also had an Edge 830 for cycling so don't want to move away from Garmin.

    I presume I'll look like an idiot wearing 2 smart watches but I'm seriously considering it.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to rbrussell82

    So you were successful in getting the imported RunGap workout to update your rings? I've imported my workout that shows up in RunGap from Garmin and into Health but in the Fitness app, it shows the workout from RunGap but doesn't add to the calories to the Move and Exercise ring.

    In this particular case, I had 182 Move calories before I went on my run. My RunGap outdoor run shows 158 active calories (in the Apple Fitness App) but it still shows 182 calories and not the 336 I would expect.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to JS91

    Hi , I know this is over a year old but have you had good results using both devices and rungap ? I looking for the best way to work with both AW7 and epix , possibly using apple health as my main repository 

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Richny

    I don't really use RunGap anymore except as basically a back-up repository to pull all my data from Garmin and Apple Health. As stupid as it may sound I just wear both watches during my activities and my Apple Watch is my "daily wear". That way, I have all my stats in Health from my Apple Watch and my activity details as well in Garmin. I like the data that the Garmin provides more than I can get from my Apple Watch (though with WatchOS 9 some of the gap is being made up with running details but there is a huge lack of data for cycling, e.g. support for power meters).

    I have read that some people have had success with pushing Garmin activities into Strava and then Strava pulling them in to the phone and registering them with Apple Health and contributing to the activity rings. I have not tried this.

    By the way, pushing info into Garmin from Run Gap will store the data in Garmin but Garmin connect doesn't recognize it as native data and it won't count towards any challenges or goals like daily step count, FYI.