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I totally agree with you as well. I currently have a Garmin Fenix 6 pro and it lasts around 14 days. As someone who is into trail running and backpacking, a 36

I totally agree with you as well. I currently have a Garmin Fenix 6 pro and it lasts around 14 days. As someone who is into trail running and backpacking, a 36 hour battery life is untenable, and charging it every night seems like a pain. The irony is that AirPods have a really great battery life (especially the carrying case) despite the small form factor, and are my go-to for long runs.

solardev 4y ago
Dumb question, if I may, having never used a GPS smartwatch: How easy to use are the Garmin watches on the trails? Can I download a certain route (like from Alltrails or Trailforks or Gaia) onto it and then have it position + route me in the woods, with just GPS and no cell signal? I don't really want a smartwatch (ugh, slack on my wrist? no thanks), but a backpacking safety companion would be awesome!
- browningstreet 4y ago
  Yes.
- mshroyer 4y ago
  You can certainly download a GPX route from services like Alltrails to the Garmin Fenix 7 for purely offline routing—that's one of the watch's strongest features. Additionally, you can do simple ad-hoc routing on the watch itself, while you're out on the trail, also totally offline. For more complex ad-hoc routing, it can be easier to design a route on the Garmin Explore app on your phone and then sync it to your watch via Bluetooth. This works (also totally offline), but the problem is that Garmin Explore's UI and trail labeling kind of sucks, at least on iOS. My preferred approach, if I'm out on a hike and want to set a new route to someplace, is to draw routes on Gaia GPS (which also has offline maps), then sync them to my Fenix 7 over Bluetooth for navigation. I wrote a Pythonista script to make this work well on iOS: https://github.com/mshroyer/pythonista-scripts/tree/master/GpxRouteToTrack https://github.com/mshroyer/pythonista-scripts/tree/master/G...
  - solardev 4y ago
    Thanks for the detailed explanation! I'll have to take a closer look soon.
killjoywashere 4y ago
The real irony of the charge-at-night model is that you miss the single biggest source of error in human life: lack of sleep. Accurate sleep measurement is, on a day-to-day basis, far more valuable than many of the features advertised on this system. That said, the red night vision setting, dive computer capability, and the iPhone's satellite messaging capability are pretty awesome. Combined with the ability for the parent-child Apple Watch pairing capability, I can imagine a legit workforce management system (imagine a commander in Ukraine, for example, being able to manage his troops' sleep through basic watchstander schedule modifications).
- fumar 4y ago
  The Apple Watch charging routine works best with 15-20 minute spurts when available. I will wear it to sleep, and charge it when I wake up for less than 30 minutes as I ready for a run or gym session. Then I charge it again while I shower. I never worry about battery life unless I travel.
  - hotcoffeebear 4y ago
    That’s lots of things to remember to do.
- Alma_Elma 4y ago
  > Accurate sleep measurement is, on a day-to-day basis, far more valuable than many of the features advertised on this system. What's a good consumer device nowadays for that use case? I remember looking for some good sleep tracking (and heart health tracking) a couple of years and got hopelessly lost.
  - tiew9Vii 4y ago
    Apparently, the Apple Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqtfC70QTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqtfC70QTU . https://www.youtube.com/c/TheQuantifiedScientist https://www.youtube.com/c/TheQuantifiedScientist reviews all the sleep/heart trackers and records accuracy. He’s a professional scientist specialising in sleep research and the reviews concentrate on data/accuracy only.

solardev 4y ago

Dumb question, if I may, having never used a GPS smartwatch: How easy to use are the Garmin watches on the trails? Can I download a certain route (like from Alltrails or Trailforks or Gaia) onto it and then have it position + route me in the woods, with just GPS and no cell signal? I don't really want a smartwatch (ugh, slack on my wrist? no thanks), but a backpacking safety companion would be awesome!

browningstreet 4y ago
Yes.
mshroyer 4y ago
You can certainly download a GPX route from services like Alltrails to the Garmin Fenix 7 for purely offline routing—that's one of the watch's strongest features. Additionally, you can do simple ad-hoc routing on the watch itself, while you're out on the trail, also totally offline. For more complex ad-hoc routing, it can be easier to design a route on the Garmin Explore app on your phone and then sync it to your watch via Bluetooth. This works (also totally offline), but the problem is that Garmin Explore's UI and trail labeling kind of sucks, at least on iOS. My preferred approach, if I'm out on a hike and want to set a new route to someplace, is to draw routes on Gaia GPS (which also has offline maps), then sync them to my Fenix 7 over Bluetooth for navigation. I wrote a Pythonista script to make this work well on iOS: https://github.com/mshroyer/pythonista-scripts/tree/master/GpxRouteToTrack https://github.com/mshroyer/pythonista-scripts/tree/master/G...
- solardev 4y ago
  Thanks for the detailed explanation! I'll have to take a closer look soon.

killjoywashere 4y ago

The real irony of the charge-at-night model is that you miss the single biggest source of error in human life: lack of sleep. Accurate sleep measurement is, on a day-to-day basis, far more valuable than many of the features advertised on this system. That said, the red night vision setting, dive computer capability, and the iPhone's satellite messaging capability are pretty awesome. Combined with the ability for the parent-child Apple Watch pairing capability, I can imagine a legit workforce management system (imagine a commander in Ukraine, for example, being able to manage his troops' sleep through basic watchstander schedule modifications).

fumar 4y ago
The Apple Watch charging routine works best with 15-20 minute spurts when available. I will wear it to sleep, and charge it when I wake up for less than 30 minutes as I ready for a run or gym session. Then I charge it again while I shower. I never worry about battery life unless I travel.
- hotcoffeebear 4y ago
  That’s lots of things to remember to do.
Alma_Elma 4y ago
> Accurate sleep measurement is, on a day-to-day basis, far more valuable than many of the features advertised on this system. What's a good consumer device nowadays for that use case? I remember looking for some good sleep tracking (and heart health tracking) a couple of years and got hopelessly lost.
- tiew9Vii 4y ago
  Apparently, the Apple Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqtfC70QTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqtfC70QTU . https://www.youtube.com/c/TheQuantifiedScientist https://www.youtube.com/c/TheQuantifiedScientist reviews all the sleep/heart trackers and records accuracy. He’s a professional scientist specialising in sleep research and the reviews concentrate on data/accuracy only.