AMOLED Or MIP And Why?

Former Member
Former Member

I went with the I3 AMOLED 50mm for the following reasons...

  • Higher resolution
  • Bigger screen
  • Vibrant colors
  • More memory
  • No washed out look at certain angles (That really bugs me for some reason)
  • Lasting at least a full week between charges is fine for my use case
  • Watch faces look better

Wondering what other people choose, and why.

  • The basic function of a watch is to measure time and tell it as conveniently as possible. Now, from what you write, you are concerned about the Amoled display burning out :)

    MIP does not even light up, does not burn out and consumes minimal energy.

    I think that you are very focused on using the watch in such a way as to obtain the longest possible operating time at the expense of comfort and usability.

    Have you already talked to Garmin that their engineering department is wrong in stating the maximum runtime of Amoled? They will definitely be happy to hire you ;)

    From my side, this is the end of our conversation.

  • Now I'm almost at the end of the second round of battery of my AMOLED and it seems it will reach 15 days with the settings written in another post. But I ask one thing, what does it mean in the end if it lasts 15, 20 or 30 days if one evening when I get home I take it off at 1, 3 or 5% and put it on charge for 2 hours before putting it back on at 100? Is there really this need to gain a few days? I understood before when I was with other brands and the battery lasted 1 or 2 days, it was suffocating. But like this it is already more than enough... It's just curiosity eh, maybe there are reasons I don't think of or very extreme lifestyles. I come from the I2 Solar Tactical that lasted me on average 10 days but when I was in more active periods I had to charge it after 6 or 7, so even there it wasn't really a burden. Just to talk ^^

  • So is this true that one user told the Amoled version has a faster processor or is the memory the only thing which makes the watch faster? 

  • Since I did not disassemble the watches, I do not really know whether the difference comes from different CPU, or just different clocking, and doubt it is only due to the different memory, but since I have both the AMOLED and Solar models, I can compare them, and can confirm that AMOLED is much faster, and more responsive. No waiting for the Morning Report, for opening the Activities menu, for loading Courses, or for changing the sport, no delays while scrolling Glances,... I did compare and measure three examples:

    1. Loading a 27 km course with 12139 trackpoints:
      • I3 Solar 50mm - 10s to load the course after confirming Do Course, 16s delay after starting the course
      • I3 AMOLED 50mm - instantaneous load after Do Course, 5s after starting the course

    2. Change Sport (Treadmill to Walk Indoor, though it is the same for other combinations). There are two button presses needed after initiating the Change Sport function and selecting the new sport - GPS to confirm the selected sport, and once the new activity loads, you can start then new sport with the GPS button again. It takes:
      • ~8s on Solar
      • under 1s with AMOLED

    3. Time to mount the watch as an MTP drive on PC, after connecting the USB cable:
      • 33 - 45 seconds with Solar
      • 8 - 10 seconds with AMOLED

    If you are interested in other operations, let me know. I'll see whether I can test it.

  • Solar since it’s an instinct. The forerunner 965 is the much better AMOLED choice in that price range.