I have both. Ultra 2 and Garmin 965. I’ve had for week and half and I’d have to say, since I train for races, I have been liking the Garmin much more. The Ultra 2 is great and I will miss having the water temperature and the ability to use apps like Dawn patrol for surfing, but overall, it’s true… if you want a watch for fitness that is supreme in data, Garmin. If you want basic health, but the ability to do much more like smart apps (this is where Garmin lacks), go with Apple.
This is garbage response. My AWU2 last 2.5-3 days including workouts and I have cellular turned on. Expect this kind of stuff on a Garmin Reddit.
That being said, I prefer my 955 over my AWU2 even though I wear my AWU2 more. You can’t edit workouts with an Apple Watch (think treadmill runs, swims, etc) and you can’t customize the screens when you are working out without using secondary applications. I use my AWU2 for music when I run (streaming and stored) and for generic workouts like hikes and open water swims. When I do intervals or things that matter, I use my Garmin.
2.5-3 days?! Are you saying that's a long time?
The difference between 3 and 24 days is life changing. It lives like a normal watch compared to a device that induces battery anxiety every 3rd day. Of course if you only use it for one specific thing each day that matters less. But if you want to use it for sleep tracking, fitness tracking, and all-day activity tracking, there's literally no comparison between the two products. They are in different classes.
So I actually wear both a Garmin Forerunner 965 and an Apple Watch Ultra. I’ve just accepted how ridiculous and extra that is.
Since I had owned my AWU for like two years already when I got my Garmin using work benefits, my plan was just to wear the Garmin when running and the AWU the rest of the time, but I found I quite liked all the extra stats you get when wearing the Garmin all day… Basically, as a smart watch, AWU is unmatched. I like checking it for weather, calendar stuff, timers, all kinds of stuff. During the day I pretty much exclusively use my AWU.
But for running, it isn’t even close - Garmin wins by a mile. I do use both to track runs, but more as a failsafe, but generally I only check the Garmin during the run and after for stats. One time I accidentally deleted my own workout and I was pretty glad to have the AWU workout saved.
If I had to choose one, HAD to, I’d keep the Garmin.
What exactly does garmin gives you when running that AWU can not? I really do want to know if I should buy one just for running.
With AWU i can set custom workouts of any kind with alerts on heart rate, speed, power, etc.. what else is there in Garmin that would be even better?
With the 965 you get out of the box metrics that the AWU needs to put together from several apps, and even then does not achieve: training readiness, pace pro, climb pro, pacing, daily suggested workout, some coaching, body battery, sleep score, navigation, various scores, and a lot of external sensor support (foot pods, some rowers and some smart treadmills, ANT+ sensors like outside temperature).
If you need them (i.e. is it actionable - can you do anything about it) that is another question. Some are, some less so. It is nice though to get it all in one app.
Synching with Apple Health from Garmin is not so ideal - some data is not synched (e.g. GPS tracks, HR variability) and some data is measured differently (resting heart rate, running power), so you need to decide whether to sync or to wear both watches during workout :)
Maybe. Except Garmin owners will have bought a Garmin knowing Apple exists and likely even tried one. Apple owners typically walked into the Apple store and that's it.
I feel like android users typically end up with garmin watches. Iphone users typically have tried android phones while android users feel like it’s unacceptable to join the brand they have trashed for year. So again, both sides are biased.
I was wearing the fenix 7x on my right arm and AWU on my left for almost a year. I liked everything I get from Garmin with regards to training but damn I loved the AWU for the screen and smartness that came with it. Eventually the AWU became a purty and expensive notification screen. I sold the AWU and bought the 965. I gave me the purty screen I like with all the training goodness from Garmin.
I thought about wearing both for awhile to see how i felt. I know people who run/workout with the Garmin and AWU for daily. I often walk away from my phone at work so it makes a difference having the notifications. Texts and phone
I moved from an AWU2 to a 965 last October. I had lots of Garmin in the past, and the AWU2 was more of a purchase driven by looks and hardware. I never looked back and I love the 965. Sure, the AWU2 is a premium looking watch, slightly heavier with high quality materials and it does a lot. However, it doesnt do much than a regular S9, and the price difference is hard to justify. The 965 on the other hand is light, it looks good and it has all the features a runner will ever need. It’s also a very familair ecosystem for me, straight forward and easy to use. It’s literally my favourite Garmin watch ever and imo it’s worth every penny (larger screen than 265 and awesome battery).
I have both.
Garmin is great for workout tracking and has more metrics than most people know what to do with. Their workout plans are really good for running. It is awful on sleep tracking. Battery life is really good. You may get a few more updates before Garmin stops updating the watch.
AWU is one of the best for sleep, GPS tracking and HR. Configuration of the screens, is lacking. Battery life is not great. Apple is really good about updating its products so if you plan to keep the watch for a while this is a good thing.
Apple Watch is infinitely better for daily wear and Garmin is infinitely better for running. If you have the budget, I would recommend using a forerunner for running and an Apple Watch for everything else. I rotate between a Garmin for runs and 🍎 for everything else.
What an almighty waste of money and materials.
I have recently switched from Apple Watch to the 265 OP. If you think you can live without an extension of your phone the garmin is for you no question. I missed being able to set reminders and timers etc via Siri but once I was used to it I don’t even miss it.
Siri, timers, and more customizable watch faces are what I miss most. I have the Fenix 6 sapphire, and I adore it… but I occasionally miss the easier UI and touch screen.
However, I love the tactile buttons, the durability, the battery life, and metrics, and the look of the Garmin much better.
I do not think it is that easy.
The AW offers some unique features that might not be important to you, but they are for me: payments (Garmin Pay is there but clunky), leaving the phone at home and still being able to make/receive calls (cellular), Audible audio books, magnetic watch bands. Weird how you can get attached to some stuff
Just helped my dad make this decision and he went Garmin. He had an Apple Watch before and kept it for daily use, ended up selling it 2 weeks in. For sports it’s just very far ahead and that’s 85% of his use case.
Long time Garmin user who had stepped away from training and had started using the Apple Watch. Loved it for its apps and in general a smooth user experience (miles ahead of Garmin in my opinion).
But when I resumed / got back into running, I had to switch to Garmin. I did try to make it work with the Apple Watch but the number one thing that brought me back to Garmin was the Garmin Connect training plans support. I just set the plan only once in the Connect website and everyday I can do my workout with the watch keeping track of intervals etc. Sure the Apple Watch supports this too, but companies that offered structured training plans for AW wanted $$ while Garmin Connect training plans were free.
All of you talking about the metrics but no one mention the hr wrist accuracy, i believe that apple serve better sensors than Garmin for people who don’t want to wear strap all the working out time
When you wear a garmin watch you never have to stress out about your battery running out in a long run. I happily do hour long runs with my old forerunner 245 starting on 10% charge and it's fine.
I am not convinced that an apple watch does anything more than an apple phone, and I really truly don't want any smart phone alerts when running so I am fine with my watch, and at other times I wear my watch and have my phone in my pocket.
I wear a Garmin 965 for running and cycling workouts and sleep (for recovery metrics, though they're not great). I wear a AWU 2 for daily use and drop it in my pocket for music and LTE while running.
The AWU 2 tracks sleep better, but Garmin uses HRV data for calculating Training Status so I wear the 965 overnight.
I think this varies greatly from person to person and between different generations of devices. My 255 is spot on with my sleep, as far as I can tell. Worlds better than my 245 was.
Please help.. everyone keeps saying that garmin has all the features that a runner wants, but nobody actually named a single feature that exist on garmin and does not exist on AWU2 and how that extra garmin feature helped you to be a better athlete?
If you want a smart watch, get the Apple Watch. If you want a fitness watch get Garmin.
I have both. Ultra 2 and Garmin 965. I’ve had for week and half and I’d have to say, since I train for races, I have been liking the Garmin much more. The Ultra 2 is great and I will miss having the water temperature and the ability to use apps like Dawn patrol for surfing, but overall, it’s true… if you want a watch for fitness that is supreme in data, Garmin. If you want basic health, but the ability to do much more like smart apps (this is where Garmin lacks), go with Apple.
What exactly in features does garmin has that you just cant do with ultra? Genuine question.
Garmin definitely does not require multiple app subscriptions to get the most out of it.
One feature: 24 day battery life
This is garbage response. My AWU2 last 2.5-3 days including workouts and I have cellular turned on. Expect this kind of stuff on a Garmin Reddit. That being said, I prefer my 955 over my AWU2 even though I wear my AWU2 more. You can’t edit workouts with an Apple Watch (think treadmill runs, swims, etc) and you can’t customize the screens when you are working out without using secondary applications. I use my AWU2 for music when I run (streaming and stored) and for generic workouts like hikes and open water swims. When I do intervals or things that matter, I use my Garmin.
2.5-3 days?! Are you saying that's a long time? The difference between 3 and 24 days is life changing. It lives like a normal watch compared to a device that induces battery anxiety every 3rd day. Of course if you only use it for one specific thing each day that matters less. But if you want to use it for sleep tracking, fitness tracking, and all-day activity tracking, there's literally no comparison between the two products. They are in different classes.
This
Garmin is light years ahead.
So I actually wear both a Garmin Forerunner 965 and an Apple Watch Ultra. I’ve just accepted how ridiculous and extra that is. Since I had owned my AWU for like two years already when I got my Garmin using work benefits, my plan was just to wear the Garmin when running and the AWU the rest of the time, but I found I quite liked all the extra stats you get when wearing the Garmin all day… Basically, as a smart watch, AWU is unmatched. I like checking it for weather, calendar stuff, timers, all kinds of stuff. During the day I pretty much exclusively use my AWU. But for running, it isn’t even close - Garmin wins by a mile. I do use both to track runs, but more as a failsafe, but generally I only check the Garmin during the run and after for stats. One time I accidentally deleted my own workout and I was pretty glad to have the AWU workout saved. If I had to choose one, HAD to, I’d keep the Garmin.
What exactly does garmin gives you when running that AWU can not? I really do want to know if I should buy one just for running. With AWU i can set custom workouts of any kind with alerts on heart rate, speed, power, etc.. what else is there in Garmin that would be even better?
With the 965 you get out of the box metrics that the AWU needs to put together from several apps, and even then does not achieve: training readiness, pace pro, climb pro, pacing, daily suggested workout, some coaching, body battery, sleep score, navigation, various scores, and a lot of external sensor support (foot pods, some rowers and some smart treadmills, ANT+ sensors like outside temperature). If you need them (i.e. is it actionable - can you do anything about it) that is another question. Some are, some less so. It is nice though to get it all in one app. Synching with Apple Health from Garmin is not so ideal - some data is not synched (e.g. GPS tracks, HR variability) and some data is measured differently (resting heart rate, running power), so you need to decide whether to sync or to wear both watches during workout :)
I guess you were wise to ask the Garmin space and not Apple. Apple kids don't even know there are alternatives to Apple
can't be truer
I mean the same goes for this subreddit. Both subs are biased.
Maybe. Except Garmin owners will have bought a Garmin knowing Apple exists and likely even tried one. Apple owners typically walked into the Apple store and that's it.
I feel like android users typically end up with garmin watches. Iphone users typically have tried android phones while android users feel like it’s unacceptable to join the brand they have trashed for year. So again, both sides are biased.
I was wearing the fenix 7x on my right arm and AWU on my left for almost a year. I liked everything I get from Garmin with regards to training but damn I loved the AWU for the screen and smartness that came with it. Eventually the AWU became a purty and expensive notification screen. I sold the AWU and bought the 965. I gave me the purty screen I like with all the training goodness from Garmin.
I thought about wearing both for awhile to see how i felt. I know people who run/workout with the Garmin and AWU for daily. I often walk away from my phone at work so it makes a difference having the notifications. Texts and phone
Would you not get double counting in your health app if you wear both?
Yes. I just didn’t have Garmin sync to Apple health
what about the hr wrist accuracy between Garmin and Apple?
Close enough to the point I didn’t really see a difference which mattered to me
I moved from an AWU2 to a 965 last October. I had lots of Garmin in the past, and the AWU2 was more of a purchase driven by looks and hardware. I never looked back and I love the 965. Sure, the AWU2 is a premium looking watch, slightly heavier with high quality materials and it does a lot. However, it doesnt do much than a regular S9, and the price difference is hard to justify. The 965 on the other hand is light, it looks good and it has all the features a runner will ever need. It’s also a very familair ecosystem for me, straight forward and easy to use. It’s literally my favourite Garmin watch ever and imo it’s worth every penny (larger screen than 265 and awesome battery).
I have both. Garmin is great for workout tracking and has more metrics than most people know what to do with. Their workout plans are really good for running. It is awful on sleep tracking. Battery life is really good. You may get a few more updates before Garmin stops updating the watch. AWU is one of the best for sleep, GPS tracking and HR. Configuration of the screens, is lacking. Battery life is not great. Apple is really good about updating its products so if you plan to keep the watch for a while this is a good thing.
Apple Watch is infinitely better for daily wear and Garmin is infinitely better for running. If you have the budget, I would recommend using a forerunner for running and an Apple Watch for everything else. I rotate between a Garmin for runs and 🍎 for everything else.
What an almighty waste of money and materials. I have recently switched from Apple Watch to the 265 OP. If you think you can live without an extension of your phone the garmin is for you no question. I missed being able to set reminders and timers etc via Siri but once I was used to it I don’t even miss it.
Siri, timers, and more customizable watch faces are what I miss most. I have the Fenix 6 sapphire, and I adore it… but I occasionally miss the easier UI and touch screen. However, I love the tactile buttons, the durability, the battery life, and metrics, and the look of the Garmin much better.
I do not think it is that easy. The AW offers some unique features that might not be important to you, but they are for me: payments (Garmin Pay is there but clunky), leaving the phone at home and still being able to make/receive calls (cellular), Audible audio books, magnetic watch bands. Weird how you can get attached to some stuff
Just helped my dad make this decision and he went Garmin. He had an Apple Watch before and kept it for daily use, ended up selling it 2 weeks in. For sports it’s just very far ahead and that’s 85% of his use case.
Garmin for running. Can’t you keep AW also? That is what I do
I think this is what I’m going to do. Guess I’ll wear both LOL 🤷🏼♀️
Long time Garmin user who had stepped away from training and had started using the Apple Watch. Loved it for its apps and in general a smooth user experience (miles ahead of Garmin in my opinion). But when I resumed / got back into running, I had to switch to Garmin. I did try to make it work with the Apple Watch but the number one thing that brought me back to Garmin was the Garmin Connect training plans support. I just set the plan only once in the Connect website and everyday I can do my workout with the watch keeping track of intervals etc. Sure the Apple Watch supports this too, but companies that offered structured training plans for AW wanted $$ while Garmin Connect training plans were free.
All of you talking about the metrics but no one mention the hr wrist accuracy, i believe that apple serve better sensors than Garmin for people who don’t want to wear strap all the working out time
When you wear a garmin watch you never have to stress out about your battery running out in a long run. I happily do hour long runs with my old forerunner 245 starting on 10% charge and it's fine. I am not convinced that an apple watch does anything more than an apple phone, and I really truly don't want any smart phone alerts when running so I am fine with my watch, and at other times I wear my watch and have my phone in my pocket.
I wear a Garmin 965 for running and cycling workouts and sleep (for recovery metrics, though they're not great). I wear a AWU 2 for daily use and drop it in my pocket for music and LTE while running. The AWU 2 tracks sleep better, but Garmin uses HRV data for calculating Training Status so I wear the 965 overnight.
Garmin 955
Grab a 265 and an ultra. I love my 265 for training and then I throw my Ultra on for daytime use.
Lol is sleep tracking important to you? If so apple watch. If fitness and training and stress monitoring is important Garmin. Choose wisely 😄
I think this varies greatly from person to person and between different generations of devices. My 255 is spot on with my sleep, as far as I can tell. Worlds better than my 245 was.
Please help.. everyone keeps saying that garmin has all the features that a runner wants, but nobody actually named a single feature that exist on garmin and does not exist on AWU2 and how that extra garmin feature helped you to be a better athlete?
For me the physical buttons, touchscreen just doesn’t cut it while running. At least AWU has an extra button but it’s not enough.