We’ve come a long way. Back around 2012, a decade ago, I spent about $350 on a Garmin hiking GPS that weighed about half a pound and would lose GPS if there was a leaf blowing in the wind above my head. Not long after that I got the Nokia 920 Windows Phone and its GPS was several times better for hiking, far fewer GPS losses, didn’t take forever to locate satellites. And now with my Apple Watch I very rarely notice any loss of signal even in a canyon with tall pine trees where that original Garmin that I had would completely lose signal and tell me that it was lost. After spending five minutes searching, that is.
Hmmm, I wouldn’t say GPS units back then were that bad. I was using a Garmin for university field work at the time and it was very accurate. Nor was it too expensive, and I was quite literally throwing it across a salt marsh at times (thank goodness it was also bouyant). My Nokias at the time were great (handier for compass directions), but the GPS nowhere near as good.
So sleep tracking is a bust for me anyway with the Ultra. I couldn’t get comfortable enough with it on.
So I wonder if the standard series 8 might be a better fit (pun intended). I’m not sure I need the other features of the Ultra for that matter, but OTOH I also don’t know if the series 8 would be enough smaller to make a difference and/or if sleep tracking is important enough to me.
On the plus side, even with the 5-mile hike and all-day use, the Ultra still had a 60% charge this morning. Hmmm, decisions, decisions
Been waiting to see the S23 Ultra. Since the debacle surrounding my efforts to purchase the Fold 4, the S23 U has loomed as the next upgrade for my work gear. 6.9" is much larger than my Note 10 (almost as big as my old Asus Vivanote 8), 5G is an upgrade, 1700 or 2000 nit display is a plus and 200 mp camera might put this device over the top.
I like with the newer Garmins you have both 5 buttons & touch as it’s great to use when one is sweating or getting caught in the rain(without pina coladas cause I’m on a trail). I have a previous gen so I don’t have the touch screen, but the buttons have been great when my hands are dirty &/or wet personally.
If you have the Fenix 7, why not use that for sleep tracking as the stock sleep tracking app is better on Garmin than Apple. Plus, they tie in body battery & HR data from your sleep to give a more complete info on your sleep. WIth Apple some of that requires 3rd party apps, which isn’t as integrated. Also, Garmin is going to bring out the jetlag feature of the Marq lineup to the Fenix 7, which could be useful for those who travel a lot & want a reminder to get more light or sleep.
I don’t use it for that for the same reasons as I’m having issues with the Ultra. It’s too big/heavy to not be annoying on my wrist when trying to sleep.
Although it’s possible I’d have that issue even with the standard Apple watch which is why I haven’t already swapped it.
OTOH I can say, as a Smartwatch the Apple watch wins that, hands down.
If you want the best sleep tracking (none of it is really that good), then get a Polar. You can get some with all the sleep tracking features for quite cheap, cheap enough that you could even justify getting it just to track sleep. I’d recommend the Polar Pacer (no need for the Pro). It’s light, thin, and the battery lasts almost a week if you’re just using it for general use.
Garmin’s sleep tracking is worse, though their jet lag feature looks pretty cool.
Hmmm. Bet you don’t say that about computers and why people can’t just write stuff down though.
I get it, it is just more data. It’s not needed. But if you use it well, then you can improve your health. If you’re healthy and aren’t trying to become fit, then it isn’t of much use. But if you’re unhealthy and/or are trying to become fit, then seeing how your sleep went is helpful as it’s the main time for the body to recover.
This health data is more important to some more than others. Not to boast too much, but I am fit. However, I do have genetic heart condition, so seeing my heart rate (and ideally blood pressure, but that’s not practical yet) while running is at the least reassuring. I can see in real time if I’m perhaps pushing myself too hard, in a way that I might not sense (a will to push harder, a red mist of sorts, so that my senses are dulled, comes over me a times).
I agree with that. If you are having a problem with sleep, like apnea, I could see the use of a device that tells you the nature and timing of your sleep. But sleep generally? I can estimate my average sleep and tell if I am getting enough. It’s just one of those things I don’t need to deligate to a computer (I still still wear a mechanical analog watch).
Yeah I wish there was all there was to it in my case. But how do you explain where I get what should be a decent night sleep, 7.5 hours, but I still wake up feeling fatigued, or I wake up 4 times in one night, for no obvious reason? Something is obviously screwing up my sleep, and any I insight into that would be helpful even if it’s consumer grade which I consider all of these (apple, fitbit, garmin ,polar) to be.
And since multiple heart ailments run in my family too, again even rudimentary info is better then zero.
And more broadly, as we often discuss here a piece of tech may seem worthless or superfluous to one person, and be just what someone else needs or wants.
BTW: one area where I think they all could use some work, is calorie consumption during a workout. I’ve had variances as much as 35% from one day to the next on the same route with the same device. And for that matter, at least so far, my numbers are running about 25% lower with my Apple watch than with my Garmin on the same routes and times.
I have no idea which one is more accurate or if either of them is even in the ballpark. OTOH I do think what my old baseball coach said that you can compare like to like…
But as I said, it is also helpful if you’re trying to be healthier, as you can correlate the quality of your sleep with your other activities.
And for serious athletes, it also goes into recovery analytics, so you can optimise when you exercise, eat, etc. That’s something I at least care somewhat about.
Plus, pretty graphs. I’m a sucker for a good pretty graph.
