Garmin Forerunner 965 and Apple Watch Ultra in a practical test
When it comes to sports, some rely on the Apple Watch, others on sports watches such as Garmin's Forerunner 965. We compared them on a hike across the country.
Garmin Forerunner 965 and Apple Watch Ultra have to traverse the terrain.
(Bild: Inge Schwabe)
Heart rate, elapsed time, distance and, above all, your own pace or speed - specific sports watches and the Apple Watch display numerous metrics during a workout. Despite the variety of information, there is often only time for a cursory glance when running, swimming or cycling. When hiking, there is more time for this and the information is no less interesting the longer the distance and the greater the altitude difference. That's why we used the Adventure Walk Thuringia, organized by Laufszene Events, to take a closer look at the watch face of the Watch Ultra and the Garmin Forerunner 965 from Garmin during the activity.
Preparation: Importing the GPX route to the smartwatch
A hike often begins with the search for a beautiful destination and route planning. For guided events, the route is predetermined but unknown. So the next step is to import the route.
In this case, there is a GPX file and a Komoot link for the route. The Komoot app is available both for the Apple Watch and for Garmin, where you can install it on your device via the Garmin connect IQ app. Without Komoot, you load the GPX route into the Files app on your iPhone and send it to the Garmin connect app via the Share menu. Among other things, this shows a preview of the elevation profile and optionally activates turn-off notifications.
Apple does not offer GPX import to navigate with Apple Maps, for example. The only option here is to use third-party providers such as Outdooractive or Komoot.
Preparation also includes a look at the display fields, which can be customized for both. On the Apple Watch, open the "Training" app, select "Hiking" and use the three-dot menu to access the settings to change the "Training views for hiking". You can choose information on distance and speed. Apple also displays information on altitude and heart rate if desired. With Garmin, the data pages can be changed either on the watch or in the app. There is a choice of fields for timer, distance, altitude, pace, speed and other metrics such as running efficiency and cadence.
Garmin beats Apple not only when it comes to navigation
The Komoot app on the Apple Watch offers little more than rudimentary turn-by-turn instructions, time, distance and average pace. The "Training" app adds the current altitude as well as the altitude meters covered and the altitude profile of the last 30 minutes.
Apple Watch (5 Bilder)
Apple Watch App Training
A note at this point: As Komoot only works on the Watch anyway when the iPhone is nearby, it is advisable to use Komoot on the iPhone and not on the Watch if the Training app is active there at the same time. Running both apps in parallel on the watch can sometimes lead to the training app shutting down prematurely.
The Forerunner 965 more than satisfied the thirst for information: In the terrain, for example when trail running or mountain biking, the Forerunner 965 not only shows inclines and declines in figures but also graphically. For example, on a route with an altitude difference of around 600 meters, one diagram shows the distance and altitude difference for the current ascent or descent, another the current position on the overall route. These displays help you to pace yourself and motivate you with the visible progress.
Battery life and diagrams on speed, altitude and more
After seven and a half hours, including two half-hour breaks, the goal was reached – and the battery of the Forerunner 965 was down to 70 percent, that of the Watch to 40 percent. That's not bad for the Watch; however, the Watch Ultra has a more powerful battery than Apple's Series models.
The Watch shows an activity summary, while the training app on the iPhone saves the log permanently. It displays diagrams of the altitude profile, pace and heart rate, only the map can be enlarged. We did not change the default setting of taking the time after every kilometer on either device; 5 km sections would have sufficed for 32 km. Apple shows time, pace and heart rate per kilometer, Garmin time, pace and distance. The latter makes sense if you set a specific time for lap tracking, which is possible with Garmin.
Garmin offers charts for pace, cadence, altitude, aerobic and anaerobic training effect, temperature, heart rate and time spent in different heart rate zones. In landscape format, another value can be superimposed on the diagrams for altitude, pace, temperature, cadence or heart rate, for example the speed via the altitude profile.
Apple Fitness und Garmin connect (6 Bilder)
Apple Fitness-App
The Apple and Garmin logs differ slightly in terms of duration and pace (min/km) or speed (km/h): the Forerunner automatically pauses the recording when you stop. Apple only offers this for running and outdoor cycling. When hiking, the watch does not pause and may therefore reduce the average speed. We therefore paused the recording of the Apple Watch manually during breaks, which resulted in slight deviations over the total distance.
GPS route and heart rate in comparison
We also wanted to see in retrospect how well the two manufacturers agree on GPS and heart rate measurement.
Garmin allows export in various formats after logging in to connect.garmin.com. Apple allows you to export "all health data" via the user menu of the Health app (in the overview at the top right), which also contains a workout-routes folder. Alternatively, you can extract the route via third-party apps such as HealthFit.
Ideally, a heart rate sensor would have validated the heart rate, which would have been inconvenient over seven hours. Nevertheless, the values of both watches are almost identical.
In terms of GPS, both also behaved harmoniously across all ups and downs. There were no major errors. Over the total distance of 32 km, we only found one section where Garmin had apparently lost the GPS signal for a few meters.
Route recording (4 Bilder)
Routenaufzeichnung Apple Watch Ultra und Garmin Forerunner 965
Garmin remains the specialist, the Apple Watch the all-rounder
As far as sporting activities are concerned, Garmin cannot be beaten by Apple. Not with on-board tools, and even with third-party apps, it is difficult to find convenience functions on this scale.
What specialists like Garmin lack, however, is the ability to aim at a destination spontaneously and easily. And so, when we had to make our way back by public transport, only Apple could help us at the touch of a button: "Hey Siri, navigate to the station" – we wouldn't want to do without that.
(ims)
