I strongly disagree with those who keep making the claim that Apple has added more than Garmin since Garmin hasn’t made much headway with LTE. The reality is if anyone in the world could make a watch that sparingly used LTE and lasted 4-7 days it would be Apple but they have the same battery life they’ve had for a decade. Apple didn’t even manage to update all WATCH faces for their new Apple Watch 10 so they could used the one second update. They haven’t added navigation. They can design a pretty app that pretends to check vitals and training load but it doesn’t use HRV properly, can’t use the oxygen sensor in the U.S. and can’t give you anything beyond a meaningless pretty graph. Also lots of reviewers don’t seem to dig into it but there have been instances where Apple basically fixes or tosses data from workouts. I’ve seen FGH and QS both show how the Apple HR sensor works great but it will also not report if it isn’t gettting a great reading. Someone needs to literally compare not just point for point but see how many measurements points are NOT REPORTED by AW during a workout. GPS tracks also have been “corrected” after upload as well. I need real data, not pretty data.
I recently switched from AW8 to Epix Pro. Generally it is much better for training. However I do find that it struggles with heart rate measures during crossfit workouts. I was doing some AMRAPS and one of them was DU and SitUps with medball. During 6 minutes of ccnstant reps it showed that my HR war oscillating between 85-90 BPM... It never happend to me with AW8 I would definitly notice that. The other thing is sleep tracking. While with Garmin you dont have to worry about battery for sleep tracking than the measurments are not quite accurate also. With AW Sleep tracking is much better (ofcourse you never have enough battery to track the sleep xD). I think i will have to buy Chest strap since Garmin is much better to use during workouts than Apple Watch. I hope maybe someday they will perfect the Opcital Heart rate sensor in Garmin. Maybe it is all about algorithyms rather than sensor itself. To summarize I think that in CrossFit Apple Watches do tend to struggles less with heart rate than Garmin. However they do not provide the data to analyze the training :/
I used to like your honest reviews. But this is a Garmin commercial. People with an epix gen2 non pro or pro or fenix 7 who are not in the market for a dive watch can better spend the money on something else.
@@renevh2832 interesting! I'm literally coming from an Epix pro and 965, and have to buy all watches w my own money - so nothing can be more honest than sharing thoughts in that backdrop. I get literally zero handouts - plus I listed multiple reasons for my thoughts. I think looking back I honestly feel like the Epix pro and F7 pro just weren't worth the price tag, and this one more is.
I've long time wondered how apple watch is "so good" if only way to get good measurements is to buy specific 3rd party apps, some free, some monthly pay. That means that the watch is not good, but the apps are.
I would love to know how you get your muscle mass checked with a DEXA scan. I called both my local hospitals and neither one of them say that their DEXA scan does muscle mass. It only shows bone density? Please tell me how I can find one that shows the muscle mass
Day 1 today with Garmin Fenix 8 MIP - and it feels like perhaps the scales have fallen from my eyes re Apple. It’s funny as I say this I don’t really know - meaning I still like the experience of using my Apple Watch Ultra 2 - but it isn’t a purposeful or focused experience. Just a nice experience but hard to define.. why… what? This new Fenix however shows me so much more info that isn’t hard to ‘get’ or see what it might mean. You made a very excellent point. All health devices worth their salt need some kind of full feedback loop. My Oura ring gives me ideas on what’s up. My Apple Watches have never done that other than to remind me to stand up. I can see the Fenix is set here to track key metrics well AND say something back to me about them. I think the AWU / or just AW in general has no real claims to be actively in health guidance - and fundamentally the bits I still find myself liking - perhaps missing from the Fenix are basic UI/UX stuff: notifications on the phone are silenced when watch is on - only in AW, no codes needed for payment - unlocking phone and phone unlocks watch, HomeKit quick adjustments, seeing CCTV alerts with a photo, quick replies, and easy general navigation of the system. But what I’ve described isn’t anything to do with a fitness watch. It just sums up the AWU is a smart watch and I bet it is purchased mainly due to having slightly better battery life than the standard Apple Watches. I really can’t wait to see how this Fenix tracks my health metrics and my long distance unicycle rides going forward 😁⚙️
Wow, I like this video, but the assumption here is that everyone wants a smart watch primarily for athletic training. As a person heading into my 70s, what is far more important is independent cellular function to make a phone call, fall detection, all my steps counted and added to my iPhone, a siren, texting, weather, a variety of watch faces, ability to make voice memos that will transcribe and be available on my iMac, get my email, have a calculator, maps, basics of sleep, alarms, and stopwatch, have all my contacts for making calls and texts, find my wife with the FindMy app, and make tap payments for anything I buy that are more secure than hauling out my credit card. Different strokes for different folks. I love the appearance of the satin black and I love their new titanium light weight watch band the "Milanese". And most importantly it plays my music playlists through my Air Pods when I'm walking my dog, or podcasts. If I was a competitive athlete, I'd choose a Garmin Fenix 8, which is a beautiful smart watch.
I respect your opinion, but here’s the inconvenient truth for Garmin, and one that I’ve heard echoed by other reviewers online: Apple has plenty of room to grow and improve with their endless reach and deep pockets. Battery, training, and sensors could all easily improve. Garmin, however, are restricted from many of the “wants” of users, like true LTE, while companies like Apple monopolize the smartphone market and restrict the use of their iMessage service. Garmin has sort of reached their peak. Where else can the Fenix go? I see Apple continuing to take away Garmin share as their “adventure” watches continue to improve. Just my take, but would like to hear your opinion, Hunter. Thanks! ***side note, but let’s be frank: the price of the new Fenix watches is also off-putting, and getting a little out of hand. The difference between the 7 Pro and the Fenix 8 doesn’t warrant the price hike.
I absolutely love the AWU 2 but the reason I don’t have one anymore is because of battery life and basic training recovery scores. Fenix 8 tracks everything I want in a watch.
I agree with you about all the serious training metrics. However, I think Apple does not want to be a serious training device for semi-professionals; it tries to be a good companion for most people with an iPhone. It provides ease of use every day and, at the same time, warns you when you get into serious health issues (arrhythmia, sleep apnoea, car crash detection, etc.). And the integration within the Apple ecosystem is outstanding. Unfortunately, the battery life is not. But with the Apple Watch 10 and the now again improved fast charging, it should be possible to find a spot during the day when you recharge for your whole day. I always wanted (as so many out there) to combine the Garmin and the Apple world in a perfect watch. Because this obviously will not happen anytime soon I wear my Apple Watch 10 and enjoy it every second and for longer-lasting workouts and serious competitions/training I put on my FR 965 which in your (and my) opinion gives you the best bang for your buck.
Yep. I don’t even consider Apple watches. I can do better training analytics with data from verity sense and polar apps with chatGPT 4o. 965, Enduro 3 or F8 and Polar v3 are better than s10 or awu2.
@@Thechosenitalianone I know I feel the same way! Like never have I felt like abandoning the ecosystem like I have the last six months. It's really surprising to see them under developed so significantly, in my opinion.
@@JJCA82 yes it's there if you dig into Health, but Apple doesn't stand behind the calculations nor do they take it at any regular interval that would be needed for analysis sake, which is why they don't put it in the vitals
@@JJCA82 and also, if you like Athlytic you really should be using Bevel. A far superior application that takes the HRV information, the little that Apple pulls in, and makes better use of it
Pathetic is what everyone thinks but doesn't dare saying, especially when it comes to a market leader like Apple. And it's exactly what needed to be said. Apple is in for the long haul, taking all the data measured and entered into all the devices and then intelligently making conclusions from that. When will that be available? Supposedly when the Apple watch lasts a week without charging. Until then, ignoring it is the most sensible thing to do. That doesn't mean Garmin is going in the right direction by trying to compete on smart watch features without the corresponding eco system. I would wish that they focus back on providing better tracking (especially sleep stages) and stop cramming microphones and speakers into watches. Just my two cents.
@@matrhein absolutely agree. It's so frustrating bc they are awesome in certain areas (HR accuracy for workouts, and sleep stages in general) - but dead with development. So frustrating
I agree with what you are saying. I will make the comment, Bevel’s HRV reading and all match Garmin 99.9% of the time. I wear an Epix Pro and AWU2 and stats are identical. Great video and keep them coming.
@@youcantseeme63 yes bevel is by far the most superior application in existence for the Apple Watch. By far, in my opinion. Nobody even touches them. If you're gonna have an Apple Watch you definitely and absolutely need to be using that app!
No continuous HR and no HRV?? That's what it takes to immediately skip Apple Watches. That is so basic, its stupid for those to missing from a "ultra" "sport" watch.
new subscriber - You tube has pushed you my way finally and glad it did. I use garmin 24/7. just couldnt even think of using my apple watch for serious training at all. What i do use it for though - is taking along with me (on the other wrist or in a pocket) as a tiny phone for emergencies and stream apple music from on long runs. As a 1 inch phone its perfect :) as a serious training tool.... no couldnt use it :)
good vid - thanks. But at what point in time in this crazy world did we ever think that the intended market for a fenix8 is an epix pro or F7pro?? These watches are not APPLE iphones designed to be upgraded every year. This madness started with phones and youtube creators are pushing the same mentality to high end fitness watches. These are not the same. There are so many comments "the upgrade isnt worth it" haha course its not. Epix gen2 pro or even a fenix 7 is not the intended market. Sure an odd one in a hundred might upgrade for various reason but compare it to a 5 or 6 and those users will see a substantial upgrade.
Good morning. Couldn’t agree more regarding Apple’s lack of innovation. I recently picked up an AW10 and I’ll be returning it and going back to my Venu 3. This ongoing lack of innovation, particularly around health metrics and analysis is just disgusting IMHO. Keep up the great work.
@@billkimura4512 yes yes yes - and thanks so much. I'm shocked honestly. And hopefully Garmin will release an updated 965 with the speaker and microphone so you can jump to that instead. The training analytics that are absent on the V series are pretty great
@@motivationmore7025 yes I agree! That's one thing I don't understand why Garmin doesn't put more time and attention to making improvements. It's not a fundamental item, for sure, because the accuracy will never be very accurate, but they could definitely be getting a lot closer to the mark and have at least some value out of stages tracking
True, it is really not correct, much worse than Apple, and Apple is much worse than a tiny little app called "AutoSleep". AutoSleep interprets the data from the Apple Watch so much better and is on spot which its sleep analysis.
@@user-ij8no5zw6u- Sleep is an important metric. Garmin puts a lot of weight on it in the Readiness Score. You can argue poor sleep is reflected in poor HRV, but this is not always true.
@@user-ij8no5zw6u- yes both are wrong, but Garmin is still much better. I tested whoop, oura, biostrap and garmin. In general garmin is the best, just the sleep tracking will hopefully get better soon.
Fenix 8 will be my big Garmin upgrade from Vivosmart 4 band, and I am so excited. I dumped Apple Ultra on my brother to go back to Vivosmart 4 and I was happy. The Apple Ultra was supposed to be the future and instead was a damn trick being strung along and always left me empty. Apple is for office worker feel good prisoners. Garmin sets me free. I want health, adventure not an office!
@@theartificialsociety3373 yes yes yes! All of this! That is a huge step forward and you are going to absolutely love it. I hope you move forward with the purchase because I think it'll be a great experience!
1. thanks 4 the review. 2. do u think u can do me a hoooooooooge favor and test their alarm volume? how much louder is the alarm on the 'plain' 2 model? pplz r complaining about 2X being very quiet... i was checking 'the Internet' and it sounded like plain 2 even had some kind of 'alarm volume' setting (which is not there on 2X).
I've started to explore fenix 6 on paper and I ve looked at bunch of videos. Finally I see nice sports watch for everyday. Decision maker was exactly besel, ratio, thickness, feel and lastly functions. Love it. Mix discounts with tax free during your travel and you will have it. Thanks for review.
@@Five7weezy interesting! I'm usually the same way but didn't find it bothersome - but I was and have always used always on display so you are right, if there is a lag it would get annoying!
What is difficult to understand is that you can have two Suunto Race Titanium for the price of one Fenix 8....do you think the difference is huge between these two watches ? (sorry for my english 😉)
@@jeremydelrieu5656 I do! Race titanium has a very faulty HR sensor and lacks a lot of wellness and recovery depth - my feelings at least, and I love Suunto as the second choice!
Ive had plenty of Fenix’s and the Epix 2, went for the Fenix 8 and after a week retuned it for a few reasons. 1. Software is v buggy and crashes (which is a first for Garmin in my experience) 2. UI is sluggish 3. My AW Ultra vs the Fenix 8 is a bargain 4. AW app ecosystem really is getting strong to compete with Garmin now (Athlytic, Work Outdoors, Zones, Bevel etc). 5. Vitals on AW is a nice simple way of bringing things together …but arguably for £950, it’s really not worthy of that given the software issues and competition 😢 which is a shame as I usually love Garmin and the hardware of the watch is awesome. Great review btw as ever, always good to hear your perspective. 😀
@@bedfondo thanks so much and really appreciate your alternative viewpoint! I just did a review release for the AW 10 and AWU 2 Black, and stand on the opposite side, but your feedback really helps!
Im surprised you dont like the buttons I think they are nice. I think they are much better than my Epix 2 anyways but dont know about the pro. The only real negative for me at the moment is that the dim screens are like impossible to see in most situations. My Epix 2 was was easier to see in the dim mode. This seems like an easy fix by just making the numbers a little thicker or fill them in. I cant imagine that would impact the battery by much if at all. Overall for me its a really solid upgrade from the Epix 2. Did I need it? Probably not but you could say that about a lot of things.
@@dallasdevries9421 interesting thoughts and totally appreciate the feedback! Yes for some reason the buttons just don't register consistently enough for me. Can see what you're saying about the Epix pro experience, but F8 has just been such a great step up, although definitely expensive!
I just got the Fenix 8 43mm AMOLED a week ago. I had the Fenix 7S. And its a huge upgrade for me! I loveeee the new Fenix 8!! It's just so much better. There's alot of upgrades for me! The Fenix 8 is just everything!
@@ceciliafourie334 yes that's what I was trying to convey, it's all the subtle differences that add up to a different experience across-the-board, for me at least. Thank you so much for commenting and glad you are loving it!
I greatly appreciate the no BS real life assessment to include the money analysis. That's pretty incredible and honestly what is missing from the review space. Nice work!
@@richxps yes on whoop! I just like its approach to summary, but it's worthless for tracking training load or intensity monitoring. And totally negative on the AWU! Just lacks all main components needed in today's world. Sorry! I am thinking of doing a 'thoughts' review on apple - super disappointed in release
I know you said that you don’t like the new buttons, but do you think that they are more durable than the ones that use o-rings ? Even if you don’t use it for diving? I currently I’m using an Apple Watch 6 and if I spend the money for a fenix 8, I plan on using for a long time.
