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Garmin's –$40B Pivot

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Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#31

Post by KeplerBoy »

LandR wrote: post #29
KeplerBoy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the sleep tracking and resting heart rate tracking is one of the most important features of a smartwatch. pretty sure most garmin users wear them at night for these reasons.

I always thought resting heart rate while sleeping was a pointless metric ? YOu can have a resting heart rate while sleeping in the 30s, yet your real resting heart rate in the 60s. I don't need a watch to tell me if I was sleeping or not, I was there, I know if I was sleeping... I also don't see the point if it telling me if I got enough sleep or not. Again, I know if I didn't get enough sleep as I'm tired... I also…

I guess most metrics are pointless if looked at in absolute terms and isolation, but trends might still be interesting.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#32

Post by salviati »

rob74 wrote: post #23

Of course, the unmentioned elephant in the room here is that Apple watches don't work with Android phones (it's possible to use the "cellular" version with limited features without a phone, but you still need an iPhone to configure it), which means that ~70% of the market are up for grabs...

Reading your comment it sounds like Wear OS [0] is not a thing. But it is... So the market for watches paired with non-iOS phones is not empty.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_OS

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#33

Post by hunter-gatherer »

hx833001 wrote: post #4
maskull wrote: post #2

I'm amazed apple has got by with a 3/4 day charge for 10 generations while garmin has had products with a 7+ day charge for years.

Ultra has better battery life, most people don’t wear a watch while sleeping, so it’s easy to charge at night like you do with a phone anyway. It also enables you to do almost everything essential in terms of communication without a phone if you want to leave it. Garmin watches do not.

> most people don’t wear a watch while sleeping

Eh, what? When watches were just watches, most everyone wore there watch while sleeping.

On that note, my brother and I were talking about these smart watches the other day and I expressed how having a gshock is nice because with my use I seem to get about 7 years of battery life, so my watch is always on. Whereas people with smart watches has (as he put it) significant time blind-spots. But he made a comment at one point and basically said something like "It's not a watch. It is a fitness device that has a clock in it". I think that is a good point. As a watch, all these actually perform rather poorly. But as fitness/GPS/communication devices they perform well.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#34

Post by neillyons »

I looked at the Apple watch but choose Garmin as it has a physical button to start and stop my run. I don't know if this is still the case but with the Apple watch I think you have to tap the touch screen. Takes too long, especially when every second counts on a 400m lap round the track :-P

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#35

Post by The_Colonel »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #10
hx833001 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ultra has better battery life, most people don’t wear a watch while sleeping, so it’s easy to charge at night like you do with a phone anyway. It also enables you to do almost everything essential in terms of communication without a phone if you want to leave it. Garmin watches do not.

I thought the sleep tracking and resting heart rate tracking is one of the most important features of a smartwatch. pretty sure most garmin users wear them at night for these reasons.

Also, the flashlight and silent alarm are superb features. I use the clock too if I wake up.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#36

Post by anshumankmr »

As a somewhat proud owner of an Apple watch, I end up using my older lo-fi smart watch for long rides I do on cycle (anything 100+) cause its battery lasts just so much more. I bought it when I did not have enough money to shell out for either an Apple Watch and did not even know what a Garmin was, but it does the job reasonably well though its GPS is a bit poor but I did last throughout the 12 hours I did my my BRM in July (a 208KM ride).

Garmin is at a bit of risk from these sort of companies cause it costed me 7K INR (its newer variants cost a bit more), there is another brand called Coros which has the same value proposition as Garmin as well, so yeah the good times might not last always.

But they have also other interesting set of products like a GPS device for cycles which I don't think anyone else offers yet which gives a lot of advanced metrics like power, cadence apart from speed, time etc but those too cost a bomb and apparently people are being arrested for using it in my country.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#37

Post by aldur »

neillyons wrote: post #34

I looked at the Apple watch but choose Garmin as it has a physical button to start and stop my run. I don't know if this is still the case but with the Apple watch I think you have to tap the touch screen. Takes too long, especially when every second counts on a 400m lap round the track :-P

I discovered this recently, but can start/stop by clicking the crown and the side button at the same time.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#38

Post by The_Colonel »

LandR wrote: post #29
KeplerBoy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the sleep tracking and resting heart rate tracking is one of the most important features of a smartwatch. pretty sure most garmin users wear them at night for these reasons.

I always thought resting heart rate while sleeping was a pointless metric ? YOu can have a resting heart rate while sleeping in the 30s, yet your real resting heart rate in the 60s. I don't need a watch to tell me if I was sleeping or not, I was there, I know if I was sleeping... I also don't see the point if it telling me if I got enough sleep or not. Again, I know if I didn't get enough sleep as I'm tired... I also…

You remember when you fell asleep? I don't. Watch tracks how often you wake up, how long you spend in the deep sleep, etc.

A lot of value is in the long term trends. One bad night doesn't mean much but if our sleep quality is trending down over weeks, it's a sign you should change something.

Re: Garmin's –$40B Pivot

#40

Post by kshahkshah »

I'm in the market for a watch. Turned 41, my weight has slowly crept up despite working out 4-5 times a week - not too bad, like not obese. My cholesterol is bad partially due to genetics but mostly due to diet. I also have a mild sleep apnea, especially when my weight is high. I'm focusing on dropping weight this year and would love to start tracking sleep, recovery, apnea, and any heart issues before/as they happen. I do not want another screen though and though I've looked at the Apple watch multiple times, I've not actually purchased it yet.

I don't believe the Garmin tracks apnea signals or heart issues at all unfortunately

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