Smart watches - feedback

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nyker
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Joined: 12/5/2007
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Re: Smart watches - feedback

Post by nyker »

Hey Jason,

I've looked at these too - I haven't use them, FWIW the Vertix seems a little beefier/slightly heavier and better battery life as well as a bit more $.
diver110
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Joined: 6/2/2019
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Re: Smart watches - feedback

Post by diver110 »

Funny you should ask. So today, I took a hike that I have also done with the Fenix 5. I found the Fenix 5 to be mostly a waste of money. The altimeter was useless and the GPS inaccurate. Some say the Fenix 6 is better, others not. I already own a Garmin 66i which I find to be quite accurate, and in the interim I have purchased an Apple 6 on trial. I bought the least expensive 44 mm version, around $400, and spent $10 on a protective case (the stainless steel and titanium Apple 6s cost around double and you have to buy cell coverage--call me crazy, but $10 for a case seemed smarter). During the hike, I used a GPS app for which I paid $3. Mileage wise, the Apple 6 was identical, literally, to the Garmin 66i. At the top, the Apple 6 gave an altimeter reading that was 12 feet different than the Garmin 66i. By the time I got back to the bottom, again the mileage travelled was identical, but the altimeter was off by around 50 feet. By comparison, the Fenix 5 would have been perhaps 1/2-1 mile off on the mileage, and hundreds of feet off for the altimeter. The Apple 6 is vastly easier to wear for every day use and has a vastly superior interface compared to the Fenix, but of course has a much shorter battery life. That said, great battery life is not of much use if the underlying data is off. If the Fenix 6 is really more accurate than the Fenix 5, it could make sense for backpackers gone for more than, say, a long weekend. Otherwise, you can buy the Apple 6 AND the Garmin 66i for about the same as the Fenix 6. The Apple 6 is reported to only last 7 hours on the battery if using the GPS. That is not true if you have an Iphone with you; the Apple 6 can, as it were, bootstrap off the Iphone. I left this morning about 9 am with a 98% charge on the Apple watch, the GPS ran for maybe 3 hours, it is now 5:36 pm and the watch is showing a 63% charge. The Apple watch could be clunky in bad weather if you are wearing gloves (it is waterproof), though there are now gloves that work with touch screens. Otherwise, the Fenix 6 would have an advantage with its button system (however clunky) in bad weather. Here is a review of the Apple 6 by the "Hiking Guy," which I mostly agree with.https://hikingguy.com/hiking-gear/using ... or-hiking/
diver110
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Joined: 6/2/2019
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Re: Smart watches - feedback

Post by diver110 »

PS One thing I have found baffling is the variety of responses I have gotten about the Fenix 6. On another website I asked how people liked the Fenix 6, and let them know about my bad experience with the Fenix 5. The responses ran the gamut, from the greatest thing since sliced bread to a waste of money. I suspect that the variation is a function of what people use it for and how they use it. If one is not too fussy about accuracy, just need to be in the ballpark, I can see how one would be happy with the Fenix. I often find it very helpful to have an accurate altimeter when doing 14ers, but I have to admit if the mileage is a bit off it is not that big of a deal (though I once turned around when doing one 14er because I thought I had further to hike than I actually did due to bad info on the Fenix 5).
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