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.
schinder, you are correct, you can do those things you mention on an Apple Watch, but for me, it simply wasn't worth it. I love having some kind of smart watch for notifications, but the things you mention are merely luxuries, and they're luxuries that I mainly get on my iPhone and with the cheaper Vivoactive 3.
You can get the AW Series 1 for $279 for the 42mm, but who wants to purchase a watch that is 2 generations behind? So really, you're looking at $359 for an Apple Watch that most people would want.
With the Vivoactive 3, you do have the ability to decline calls from the watch. You can't answer a call, but you can see who is calling and decline the call. Also, you can't scribble a text response, but you do have the ability to create canned text responses and use those to respond. I haven't used this feature yet, but it's there.
I had the series 2 Apple Watch and I did use the maps feature a couple of times, but it pulled up the location so slow that I finally just picked up my phone and used it.
Don't get me wrong, I like the Apple Watch, I just don't think for most people that it's necessary to have both the VA3 and the Apple Watch. Now, if you asked about having both the Forerunner 235 and the Apple Watch, I would say yes, because the Forerunner doesn't have as many smart watch features as the VA3. The Vivoactive has really come a long way and the touch screen is fantastic. But of course, all of this is just one person's opinion and definitely not meant to offend.
Used the aw for 2 years. when the "new" feeling was gone the watch frustrated me more than it gave me what I wanted.
After years still no sleep tracking fitness app is a joke Battery life is barely acceptable Replying from a watch sounds nice but try it. Much more than canned replies can't be done Picking up the phone was nice but that's about it Apple never fulfilled the promises of extra health options after filling circels and getting shinning trophies you can turn around for a few weeks the fun already stopped
Got the VA HR and now the 3 and that's what I expect. Proper sleep tracking. Proper fitness app. Proper intergration with cadance and heart rate monitor. And I see my strokes when rowing. Now also stress and vo2max
That's what a wearable should do. Apple is more focussed on stuff kids like. Like Disney watch faces and talking animoties than what their clients really need.
Could not have said it better! Apple watch is definitely not fitness focused, even with the new AW3. The novelty of the AW wears off pretty quick and your left with a waving Mickey Mouse or Toy Story characters to show off to your friends. It's sleek and pretty, but does it give you detailed fitness information like most of us on these Garmin forums want....definitely no!
I had a Garmin but didn't like the size and look. So, I sold it and got the AW2. Best thing I ever did...... By doing that, I realized I really wanted a fitness watch that had smart watch functions. Not a smart watch with fitness functions. So, I sold the AW2 and am back with Garmin. No looking back. I had a FR235 before the AW2 but now have the Fenix 5s. I Would have Gotten the VA3 had it been available.
Know what you want and buy the watch that provides it. Good luck with your decision!
I am currently testing/reviewing the Apple Watch series 3, Vivoactive 3 and Fitbit Ionic and my view currently (was before )
The Apple Watch is a smart watch first, it does this really well and its hands down better than anything out at the moment at being smart. When it comes to fitness, its going in the right direction but if you are serious about fitness, analysing data and getting on point accurate data then you will be left lacking with the AW. However one point to note, I have done an test of the HR sensor vs Vivoactive 3 and a Fenix 5x and then HR on the AW was more accurate when comparing it to a chest strap than the other 2.
As others have pointed out you need to ask yourself do you really need calling via a Apple Watch? if you take say 3, 5 min calls then on top of that do a 30 min bike ride or run. Then you may find the battery won't last all day. I have the non LTE version and I used it the other day for a 1 hour 30 min ride, 20 min run and then a pool swim and the battery was dead at 8pm, I put the watch on at 6am.... not great
When it comes to a Garmin fitness watch, in my view they are hard to beat.
If you choosing a fitness watch then in my view you need to consider the following
Well after tons of research, reading, going through these posts, buying apps for the apple watch that track health to test them (i bought like 10 apps lol), I have decided that the apple watch cannot compete at all with garmin for my fitness tracking needs. Its just not even close. Why do I need to use 10 apps to go from my run to sleep to heart rate and have none of them give me everything garmin does? I love garmin connect (the beta) and apple just isn't going to cut it. Having said that, I may still get the apple watch 3 for my nice/smart watch, mostly for the cellular as I am a person that forgets my phone all of the time and would love to have it for emergencies when surfing (I had an emergency surfing earlier this year). As of right now I have the nike version on preorder for a nov 8 delivery. I am also going to probably get the new vivosport and wear it on my other wrist as my activity tracker. It does all that vivoactive does (run, bike, HR, activity) just not some things I will never use like garmin pay. I currently have the vivoactive HR and my wife has the vivosmart HR so I know going from one to the other will do the same exact thing and I kinda had always wished I just had gotten the vivosmart as it was smaller than the active and did all of the same stuff.
I've seen a few of your YouTube videos, they're pretty good ! keep up the good work.
I'm currently looking at the AW3, VA3 and the up-coming Samsung Gear Sport. Now I'm not exactly the most active person in the world so my requirements aren't that big. I'm just starting to get back into running (after a 4 year layoff) and I'm working hard on my form. Part of my form, I'm looking into my running cadence, so this is one of the main features for me.
Do you know (or anyone else know) if the AW3 can show live and historic running cadence? or if there's an app for it ? if it can't, then that's a deal breaker for me. Another area I'm looking into is intervals & HR zone, can the AW do that ? If it's a no then I'll be looking closer at the VA3 and Samsung.
Download the apps (ie strava and such) to your iphone and see what kind of stats they display. Once I did this I was able to see that the AW wasn't going to tell me what I needed and I am far from a serious athlete. My gripe wasn't about running as much as it was for general fitness tracking and you needed like 10 apps to display what garmin does on just one.
That?s no indication of how the app will work on the watch. Doing more research & posting on the apple forum has turned up running cadence is a no no. Strava also can?t get it to work on the watch app.
I used to have another issue with my wife?s Samsung Gear Fit 2 while running outdoors, and I?d say AW should be no better. Their cool OLED is very inconvenient under the direct sun even when you set it to be continuously on during the workout, and even at the highest brightness setting. I needed to shade it and struggle just checking the stats trying to look closer. It got harder in case the screen was in normal mode. Turning it on with taps, swipes or gestures while running at a good pace was a frustrating hit or miss experience.
My VAHR is a totally different story with its always on and always perfectly visible screen. Especially helpful for on the water rowing - I wouldn?t even be able to tap the screen during the activity, while I read out all the necessary stats in between strokes from time to time with ease on the VAHR.
Since the VA3 screen is said to be better than that of Vivoactive HR, it should be one of the key advantages of the watch over both Samsung and AW.
