I currently have the vivoactive HR. I love it. I love the tracking and really like the new Garmin Connect Beta. Thus the vivoactive 3 should be a no brainer....BUT there are two things pushing me to AW3: LTE and Heart Rate Features (ie ability to detect heart abnormalities). I really don't know what I should do. The apple health app looks like garbage compared to garmins and the battery life is less than a day. But LTE on a watch would be awesome - no more taking my phone on runs, to the gym, to the beach, etc. I could have phone access when surfing (for emergencies and I had one surfing this summer). So LTE sounds awesome. If the vivoactive had LTE I probably wouldn't be asking this. The things I really need on a watch are the ability to track runs, track heart rate, and map my activity to my heart rate...all of which garmin does well and I am not sure apple does all of that.
lte is great. excpt that it burns through your battery fast. read the reviews of the apple watch 3. i think one of them talked about an hour. There's always a compromise. peesonally i dont like the idea of talking into a watch. my daughter has version 2 and its like having hands free caling on your wrist everyone around you can hear both sides of the conversation.
One other thing to keep in mind - based on reviews and various videos and such that are out there, it SEEMS like Apple doesn't <quite> yet have the LTE coverage aspect truly nailed, yet. Maybe. If you haven't already, you might run a quick Google search on "Apple Watch 3 LTE Connectivity" or something like that, and see what you get. Point here being that if LTE is the MAIN thing that is pushing you to the Apple Watch, you just want to make sure it's rock solid.
There's a bug that Apple is aware of and is going to fix which has to do with the watch joining WiFi networks. As I understand it, the AW can't join networks that require a click to join, like Starbucks. For some reason, that prevents it from using LTE (probably it won't use LTE if WIFi is available, but it isn't actually available).
As for which to choose, get them both if you can afford it. The AW is a much better smart watch than anything Garmin makes, while it's a lousy fitness device. I have an Epix and an AW series 3 LTE (just got it to replace a series 0). When I'm out on a bike or cross country skiing, I leave my AW at home (Epix for skiing, Edge 1000 for cycling). The rest of the day I wear and use the AW.
The Apple watch reminds me of the only Apple Computer I ever used - the Apple Lisa. It looked nice, but really didn't do anything well. All they are doing is making a cell phone that fits on the wrist with limited functionality.
The AW is a much better smart watch than anything Garmin makes
Apple make a smart watch with some fitness functions. Garmin make a fitness devices with some smart watch functions.
When I'm out on a bike or cross country skiing, I leave my AW at home (Epix for skiing, Edge 1000 for cycling). The rest of the day I wear and use the AW
This is what I do. My Garmin is for fitness, my AW (AW1 just upgraded to AW3 - non-LTE) is for the rest of the time.
Apple make a smart watch with some fitness functions. Garmin make a fitness devices with some smart watch functions.
This is what I do. My Garmin is for fitness, my AW (AW1 just upgraded to AW3 - non-LTE) is for the rest of the time.
So do you compile your data using an app or do you just keep it all separate? I guess my big thing is that I haven't found an app that takes the apple health data (which includes my garmin data) and is even close to as good as the garmin connect beta app.
In my case it gets compiled at Garmin Connect and Strava, and I use some macOS apps locally. But since I'm a cyclist and cross country skier, neither of which involves "steps", I don't care at all about "steps", and that and out-of-context heart rate is the only remotely fitness related thing that the AW is recording. I don't use the rings, and don't pay any attention to the HR recorded in the Health app. Everything actually important to me is in Garmin Connect and various other places.
I have had a Apple Watch since the first one in 2015. Upgraded to the Series 2 Stainless steel last year and had it up until a couple of weeks ago when I finally realized that I don't need a $600 watch on my wrist to alert me of notifications. I bought the Vivoactive 3 after having the forerunner 235 for a couple of years and would do like a few others have done; wear the forerunner when running and the apple watch the rest of the time. I've realized after having the Vivoactive 3 for a couple of weeks that I get the same notifications on the the VA3 as I do with the Apple Watch. I can read email, get Facebook/Twitter/Instagram notifications, check my calendar, get notified and cancel incoming calls, and many other things on the VA3, and it is also a MUCH MUCH better fitness/running watch! So why did I need the Apple Watch? I really didn't. There is simply no reason to have both except for the Apple Watch being a status symbol. The only cool feature that would make me want an AW Series 3 is that you will soon be able to stream music from the watch! Now being a runner, that is a feature I would enjoy, but I'm not sure it's worth paying an extra $10 a month plus another $10/month for Apple Music.
Unless you have a bad heart and are in real need of some type of monitoring, I don't see any real reason why you should have both a VA3 and an AW3.
Things you can't do on a VA3 that you can do (even on a series 0) Apple Watch: answer texts, using either Scribble or voice or canned responses, answer and converse as well as decline calls, use Siri to tell it to "take me to the nearest Starbucks" and have it happen, with maps and directions displayed on the screen and through haptics (and the series 3 screen is even legible in direct sunlight, although not nearly as good as a Garmin screen in sunlight), and when you get to Starbucks, pay with your watch using your Gold Card, in general pay using Apple Pay now (we've no idea if "Garmin Pay" will catch on, although there's no real reason for it not to). The VA3 is not remotely the smart watch that even the series 0 Apple Watch is, let alone the newer ones. And it's not a $600 watch on your wrist unless you want it to be; they start at $250.
And while I'm at it, I might as well do the reverse: things that make an Apple Watch a lousy fitness device compared to a Garmin watch (I have no experience with a VA3. I own an Epix and a Fenix 1). Can't connect with ANT+ sensors. Screen isn't great outdoors (series 0 was almost invisible). Screen isn't always on, so you have to arm raise or tap to even see it. Usefulness when there's no cell service is limited. Can't broadcast OHR via ANT+, so you can't use it as an HR sensor for, say, an Edge. Limited battery life. Not that easy to get data off unless you're running an app; certainly you can't get data to Garmin Connect (and onward from there) as easily as you can with a Garmin device. This is why my AW stays home when I'm outside cycling or skiing.
And for both: can't buy them without an OHR. I don't want or need an OHR sensor.
