Here's Garmin's owner's manual for the Instinct 2 Solar.  Notice the "unlimited w/ solar".

I have the Garmin because of the data it records, how it is displayed in the app and the activities it supports. The battery life is just a bonus.

Can you be more specific on "a lot of stuff?" I have no idea what that is.

I watched the video, and the only thing I heard in the apple camp is you can talk to Siri and send texts. Maybe I missed something, but it sounds like you're giving up a ton to get those things...but as an Android user, not sure I care about those abilities anyway.

Garmin Fenix if you're big into outdoor exercise / hiking up mountains.

Instinct is very similar but better for some things.

Forerunner if you just like to run.

Apple Watch if you're an urban hipster who wants to pay for your soy chai using your watch.

Males wear a AW (not Ultra) is just embarrassing, males wearing a Ultra with the orange water band is next level embarrassing. I think the Ultra could slide by if they would make it in black, someone at the range wears one with a case on it, it makes it much more tolerable.

I say one thing about the Garmin MIP, when it is sunny outside, that MIP is mesmerizing. You can read the time on someone's Fenix/Tactix from 15-20' away lol. (maybe not that far.)

BTW: Apple has the Ultra2's on the refurbished section of their site, $120 off, but they are only on the goofy ocean bands.

You guys are just silly. The goofy ocean bands are for divers, but there are plenty of inexpensive third party bands on Amazon.

THIS

To be fair, divers are a miniscule subset of the population.

Silly? More like extremely insecure. For everyday wear there's really no comparison here. My Apple Watch Ultra allows me to leave my phone at home and not miss anything. Calls, messages, emails, etc. I can pay for things without my wallet. I can unlock and start/drive my car without the key. I can change channels and volume on my Apple TV. My MacBook unlocks automatically when I'm wearing the watch. I can navigate and record runs/hikes with Gaia. The list goes on.

I have the instinct, but I should have gotten the instinct 2. Regardless I love it and use it every day.

The whole Apple/android thing definitely factors here without question.

I already stated all the benefits of the AW/U, the Ocean Band is hideous though lol. Marie gets a pass because she does some bad ass diving.

I’m still going to make fun of males who wear an AW, just like I make fun of the peasants who buy Tag Heuers.

*actually, Tag is turning out some attractive stuff these days.

But, I’m glad you can unlock your Mac, wouldn’t want you straining to put your finger on the print reader, that may be too much.

Android user here too.  I’ve got the Garmin Venu .  You can send and receive texts and talk to the voice assistant of your choice.  I use google assistant rather than Bixby.

You have a smart phone  wtf yall need one on your wrist  bunch of Mary's

Tactix 7 pro plus Garmin 801.

If you spend lots of time outdoors and enjoy remote areas.

PS both can be had with the Applied Ballistics calculator, if that matters to you.

That data tho

Attached File

And then the battery runs out lol. Now that is silly.   The apple watch is a gadget and fine for short term use and thats it.  The reality for outdoors users its neither practical or effective.

I love my Garmin Instinct 2.  I hunt and fish a lot so the weather, sunrise and sunset is right on the face.  It's very easy to use and a single charge lasts 20 to 25 days.

It's great for tracking health or checking messages on the fly without picking up your phone.

Only downside is it counts the time/movement I spend on my tractors as "steps", depending on the day this can wildly throw off my numbers.

I thought it was a mimic at first, but I sure use it a lot on my tacticx 7 pro ballistics.

I swear this place is listening to me like the ads on social media do. I just started looking at smart watches last week. I bought a regular watch for checking time easier and quieter while hunting. Turns out the lume works for shit and you can’t see it after 15 minutes unless you are in a black hole (my fake Rolex’s line works really well but the watch is starting to die). Sooo I decided on checking out the smart watch thing.

So many options to start I’m kinda lost. GPS would be the secondary benefit. I don’t go on multi day treks or anything but be nice to know where I am in new places. Garmin seems to be the most recommended and the solar battery life is very attractive not having to charge it all the time. On the other hand their other big benefits, fitness tracking, is useless for me. I don’t bike or jog, just lift. The app support for AW seems very attractive for day to day use I’d be using 95% of the time. I hear thier gps isn’t as good and is more cellular based?

Any hunting apps or awesome functions not to miss out on?

Smart phone is basically useless out in the sticks with no/poor cell service, that is where the Garmin (Epix/Fenix/Tactix) shines, though some of the Garmin data will come from being tethered to your phone, some comes from GPS sats, some comes OTA. Some people go out in the countryside and there are a lot of places in the US that have shit cell service, hell no internet even. I would say if you lived somewhere like the Rockies and actively went outside away from your vehicle, having a fallback mapping, temp, and barometric pressure, sunset could potentially be a lifesaver.

But, if you were typically going out in the further realms of the big bad world, it would probably be better to buy a real GPS unit.

The benefits  of a smart watch have be brought up often in this thread.

Apple could really make a leap if they could double the battery life on the Ultra and have on device maps (and info not tethered to cell)... Instead they increase the screen nits by 1k on the Ultra 2.

I'll add something about Garmin... The company is fascinated with Golf and it takes some work to delete the Golf course maps, a little less work to delete the ski course maps, to free up space to add more geographical maps. Garmin needs to work on that. Honestly, I'm pretty sure every golf course has cell service, the phone screen is larger. It's actually a complaint from people.


That is a badass watch! The price is also ridiculous.

I've got a Marq Commander and Marq Athlete, both have been great. I use my old apple watch as a nightstand clock.

Which Watch face is that?

I need to upgrade. I’ve had a Vivoactive 3 for quite a while now. It’s getting where it needs charged at least every other day. I’ve also got a S12 golf watch.

I'm sorry I can't remember.  I put it on for the hell of it once but it was far too busy.

Also, forgot to mention you can use your AW/U as a remote for your iPhone’s camera, which is neat… Makes it easier to take pictures of your butthole, or cute couples photos, but mainly butthole.

S pen does the same thing, or you can just smile or say cheese or any of the other dozens of triggers that don't require you to touch your fingers on your dominate hand to your non-dominate wrist.

Just piling on the love of Garmin watches, LOVE mine, it's an amazing piece of equipment and totally worth the price of admission.

Degenerate.