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Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

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Re: Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

#5

Post by jojule »

Offline map situation on Ultra is complicated. WorkOutDoors + Garmin Explore combination is a decent workaround, but nowhere as robust as Garmin Fenix. Various details may make the workaround no-go for you: do you have access to the Garmin Explore app, is having only a small map acceptable for you, is the battery life sufficient for you, is routing on watch a must have for you, …

Re: Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

#6

Post by exabrial »

Just buy a Garmin if you want to do anything -useful- with your watch for sports or outdoors. Apple is 5-10 years behind their reliability or battery life. And if you’re going somewhere without a cell signal… or god forbid, you don’t have (shudder) wifi, it’ll tick right along.

Not to mention they don’t sunset their products after 12 months… your watch will get updates for a long time. They’re also -very- repairable to boot.

Re: Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

#7

Post by greggsy »

exabrial wrote: post #6

Just buy a Garmin if you want to do anything -useful- with your watch for sports or outdoors. Apple is 5-10 years behind their reliability or battery life. And if you’re going somewhere without a cell signal… or god forbid, you don’t have (shudder) wifi, it’ll tick right along. Not to mention they don’t sunset their products after 12 months… your watch will get updates for a long time. They’re also -very- repairable…

Sure they’re 5-10 years behind, but I wouldn’t underestimate Apple’s ability to create a thriving ecosystem.

Any Garmin app developers worth their salt should be scrambling to port their existing apps to the Apple Watch platform. It’s currently an under-supplied market, and failing to tap into that opportunity is a bad business strategy.

Totally agree re: the current state of repairability and support, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they extend the user repair program to this sector.

Also, it’s a bit disingenuous to claim that they sunset their products after 12 months. They might refresh them, but that doesn’t change the software support cycle.

Re: Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

#8

Post by qualifiedai »

I love my Garmin Fenix 7 watch. Built in surf session tracking is superb. Lots of other cool features, solar charging and over a week of battery for my use. I ditched my Apple watch for it.

Having said that, one dangerous area where Garmin is missing a boat is their Garmin IQ store - that ecosystem is basically dead with very few useful apps.

Re: Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

#9

Post by teruakohatu »

exabrial wrote: post #6

Just buy a Garmin if you want to do anything -useful- with your watch for sports or outdoors. Apple is 5-10 years behind their reliability or battery life. And if you’re going somewhere without a cell signal… or god forbid, you don’t have (shudder) wifi, it’ll tick right along. Not to mention they don’t sunset their products after 12 months… your watch will get updates for a long time. They’re also -very- repairable…

Also the minimum repair cost ($499). The Apple repair pricing may work for laptops and even phones, but for a not for a watch designed to be taken diving, skiing, mountaineering and trail running.

Garmins repair costs are much more reasonable and for things like broken screens there are third party options.

Re: Offline map test on Apple Watch Ultra for hiking

#10

Post by enlyth »

exabrial wrote: post #6

Just buy a Garmin if you want to do anything -useful- with your watch for sports or outdoors. Apple is 5-10 years behind their reliability or battery life. And if you’re going somewhere without a cell signal… or god forbid, you don’t have (shudder) wifi, it’ll tick right along. Not to mention they don’t sunset their products after 12 months… your watch will get updates for a long time. They’re also -very- repairable…

I just find it weird that in their reveal event they portrayed all these people doing extreme sports in the middle of nowhere, climbing some huge mountain with the watch, and then you find out it has a battery life of 36 hours at most. You're supposed to carry a power bank to your climbing expedition and charge your watch constantly? How impractical is that.
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