Around April last year was the last post about my Garmin Fenix3 smart watch. Since then the platform has stabilised and I've had zero technical issues with the watch. Garmin are still sending plenty of updates, but it's to add new functionality and fitness "apps" and the quality of the code seems to be fine.
About 6 months ago I also bought an Apple Watch, mainly because I was travelling and only wanted to take one watch that could track any workouts I did while away and automatically sync on the timezones as we travelled. I came back in love with this watch as an everyday "accessory" however as a fitness watch it left a lot to be desired. The Apple apps used to track fitness are woeful in comparison to what you get from your Garmin watch. It also doesn't synch with other fitness apps which can be a little annoying, particularly given it saves all the workout data in the Apple Health app on your phone. The health app allows you to save data from Strava (and other fitness apps) but not the other way around!
So now that I have both how do I use my watches? Easy question to answer! Anything related to fitness I wear my Garmin which measures heart rate, cadence, vertical oscillation (when running), speed, maps my run/ride/swim, SWOLF (for Golf or swimming), ground contact time, power (when riding), stress score (though I don't find this particularly useful as it essentially just measures your heart rate), lactate threshold, I find the recovery check as you start your workout a nice touch as is the recovery time estimate when you stop, You can log all your swim drills and now with the new HRM strap I can record my heart rate in the water (which gets stored in the strap until the strap can reconnect with the watch and download.
I use my Apple watch as a smart watch. So if I'm travelling or I know I have a day full of meetings and want to be able to see my next appointment or who is calling, emailing or texting me during those meetings without getting my phone out. The Apple watch design is beautiful (as with much of what Apple produces) and the light tap you get when it wants to notify you of something is better than any other smart device I know of - certainly a whole lot better than the crazy vibration you experience with the Garmin when it wants to notify you of a text message!
As a fitness tool the Apple watch could be so much better (even integrating with apps like Strava would be a massive lead forward), but that wasn't what it was designed for. Likewise as a smart watch the Garmin is pretty basic and doesn't quite reach the heady heights of the Apple watch (think ease of use, design, UX, UI etc). But as a fitness watch the Fenix 3 is easily the best on the market - bar none.
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