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Apple Watch for mountain biking?

27K views 80 replies 40 participants last post by  side-swipe  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am planning my next smart/sports watch and leaning towards the apple due to its good heart rate monitoring. For those that use the Apple Watch with workoutdoors or strava app, is it effective in tracking rides and also viewing a map with the various bike trails and tracking segments? Or should I ditch this idea and get a Fenix 7?

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#2 ·
Some of my riding cronies went with the Garmin Fenix 6 or better watches (some of whom were Apple Watch users for tracking rides prior to jumping on this bandwagon) and are really happy. The stats reporting detail/features are also potentially better on the Garmin along with privacy (if you don't post to $trava for example).

I dislike Apple Watches (won a 1st gen and gave it away) and Garmin's too (never owned a single one... others have a boneyard of old/dead mono and color screen ones lol).

I use a Wahoo BT strap with a phone app for HR and route tracking.
 
#5 ·
My Apple watch has been great (series 6).

Tracking is much better if you turn your phone to "airplane mode". If your phone is around, the watch will default to the phones GPS reading and the watches internal GPS has proven to be more accurate for me. Putting your phone in airplane mode will disable the phones GPS so that the watch takes over.

I had the Garmin Fenix and it was simply alright. Way too expensive for what it is, very poor heart rate monitor and after a year and half the battery shorted and Garmin informed me it was now a $600 paperweight as they are 100% non-repairable or serviceable.
 
#7 ·
My Apple watch has been great (series 6).

Tracking is much better if you turn your phone to "airplane mode". If your phone is around, the watch will default to the phones GPS reading and the watches internal GPS has proven to be more accurate for me. Putting your phone in airplane mode will disable the phones GPS so that the watch takes over.

I had the Garmin Fenix and it was simply alright. Way too expensive for what it is, very poor heart rate monitor and after a year and half the battery shorted and Garmin informed me it was now a $600 paperweight as they are 100% non-repairable or serviceable.
Thanks, good advice on the airplane mode. Did you find the body battery and recovery metrics useful? I would plan to use a chest strap on rides mainly as I don’t think any ohr will be accurate on janky Squamish trails.
 
#9 ·
If you're going to use a chest strap, why not get a dedicated device for your stem or bars? If you're after sleep and life metrics it's a bit different of course.
I can't talk, I have an Edge 520 on my stem, Garmin Approach S62 on my wrist and sometimes a G-Shock. Though to be fair I don't ride with the last two.
Garmin pushes the data to Strava. So when I finish a ride and press stop, save and then it syncs with my phone (which is usually buried in my backpack) and Strava has the data a few seconds later.
 
#32 ·
If you're going to use a chest strap, why not get a dedicated device for your stem or bars? If you're after sleep and life metrics it's a bit different of course.
I can't talk, I have an Edge 520 on my stem, Garmin Approach S62 on my wrist and sometimes a G-Shock. Though to be fair I don't ride with the last two.
Garmin pushes the data to Strava. So when I finish a ride and press stop, save and then it syncs with my phone (which is usually buried in my backpack) and Strava has the data a few seconds later.



I agree. I have and use both and a Garmin head unit (530 in my case) is much preferable for rides. The watch is better for 100 other things.
 
#12 ·
I have both an instinct solar and edge 520. For ride tracking, I use the edge 520 almost exclusively. TBH I am not happy with the gps on either garmin device. It’s adequate, but I hate it when I feel like I crush a segment and it doesn’t even register on my ride. I was thinking a higher end garmin may better in that regard, but don’t feel Ike the $800 layout just to see.

I have been considering an Apple Watch. Seems the 6 and 7 are the same spec, the 7 having a better screen. The HR monitor seems to be better on the apple watch, but if it reallly mattered I would go with a chest strap because I just don’t believe an optical monitors can perform that well in a MTB environment.


In normal use, I get 7-8 days out of the instinct solar. It would get 30 if I turned off all functions. It does charge quickly tho.
 
#13 ·
I’ve had an Apple Watch 7 for about a week and I like it. You can record rides through the watch’s Workout app or Strava app on the watch. Both seem accurate. They sync up so your workout recordings can upload to Strava and vice versa.

I’ve been running the workout app because I can see my heart rate without taking my hands off the bars. The heart rate feature seems to work great. It also has an announcement every five miles that you can use to track your distance without looking at your watch. It also shows elevation gain.

Here are screen shots of each. Strava blurs out all the info unless you raise your wrist, but on the Workout app you can still see all the data with your hand on the bars.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#16 ·
I’ve had an Apple Watch 7 for about a week and I like it. You can record rides through the watch’s Workout app or Strava app on the watch. Both seem accurate. They sync up so your workout recordings can upload to Strava and vice versa.

I’ve been running the workout app because I can see my heart rate without taking my hands off the bars. The heart rate feature seems to work great. It also has an announcement every five miles that you can use to track your distance without looking at your watch. It also shows elevation gain.

Here are screen shots of each. Strava blurs out all the info unless you raise your wrist, but on the Workout app you can still see all the data with your hand on the bars.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Amazing, looks like maybe the Apple Watch is the way to go.
 
#14 ·
I use garmin edge 830 and a vivosmart 4 on everyday basis, when travelling or racing I only use an instinct solar.
All of them worked great so far, you only need to use the watch well strapped to avoid weird measurements on rides that shake your arms. HRM bands did not work for me, and edge 530's screen was to little, plus 830 has more features.
 
#68 ·
I use garmin edge 830 and a vivosmart 4 on everyday basis, when travelling or racing I only use an instinct solar.
All of them worked great so far, you only need to use the watch well strapped to avoid weird measurements on rides that shake your arms. HRM bands did not work for me, and edge 530's screen was to little, plus 830 has more features.
The 530 & 830 have the same screen don't they?
 
#15 ·
I can't comment on Apple Watch metrics or accuracy, but I've been running Garmin for a long time and it pretty much works great other than the wrist heart rate. Wrist heart rate just flat doesn't work for me as it misses the fast spikes and then reads low until my HR comes back below what it thinks it is. With a chest strap, I have no issues with the Garmin.

As for what I DO know about riding with an Apple Watch is that two guys I've ridden with had them. I saw both get destroyed on falls - one bad, one minor. The guys running Fenix watches including myself have smacked them off tons of trees, rocks, possible rogue wildlife, etc. They are all still working. I would consider an Apple Watch for something other than mountain biking, but I don't think they are robust enough to ride with.
 
#17 ·
I can't comment on Apple Watch metrics or accuracy, but I've been running Garmin for a long time and it pretty much works great other than the wrist heart rate. Wrist heart rate just flat doesn't work for me as it misses the fast spikes and then reads low until my HR comes back below what it thinks it is. With a chest strap, I have no issues with the Garmin.

As for what I DO know about riding with an Apple Watch is that two guys I've ridden with had them. I saw both get destroyed on falls - one bad, one minor. The guys running Fenix watches including myself have smacked them off tons of trees, rocks, possible rogue wildlife, etc. They are all still working. I would consider an Apple Watch for something other than mountain biking, but I don't think they are robust enough to ride with.
Fair point regarding durability.
 
#19 ·
I’ve been using a series 4 Apple Watch for years. Works well for riding metrics, but mostly just use Strava and Trailforks. I believe the HR monitor to be pretty accurate. The main dislike is the horrible battery life. Have to charge every day, just like the phone.
 
#21 ·
I use both my Apple Watch and Wahoo Roam. The Wahoo does a better job if you want to follow a map or attack a KOM. It’s features are truly built for that. The Apple Watch does a great job collecting health data. I dislike chest and forearm straps for HR. They are not comfortable.

For every ride, I start the Wahoo to collect ride info and mapping if needed. I start a workout in the apple fitness app on the watch under outdoor cycle. Now I have everything I could need. I’ve learned that watching HR and HRV plays a huge roll in my fitness and endurance.

When finished, I stop both and choose to sync one or the other to Strava automatically. I usually go with the Wahoo data because I don’t use Strava for HR data. I keep all of my HR data in my Health app on my iPhone. I’ve got years of ride data I can look through and see how my fitness has changed. Times of year how it changes. When I ride more mountain vs road changes. If you aren’t a data junkie or don’t compete, this may not be important to you.

I’d say, if you just want to collect ride info, go for a Wahoo or Garmin with a chest strap. If you want what the Apple Watch offers plus all of its other features like I can control my music while riding, I can answer calls if needed from my watch, I can see important notifications, etc. It really depends if you want all that. I do.

Enjoy
 
#22 ·
My fenix 5x is 3+ years old and no issues. The glass is still intact with not a scratch at all with the sapphire glass although I am getting some of the finish rubbing off on the bezel. just normal watch wear. The HR is not that good, but works well with the chest strap. I can get almost 10 days out of a charge too. Don't have to charge daily like an apple watch. I did the watch versus the handlebar mount so I can run and hike with it as well, and it's more cost effective than two devices. You do have to clean the charging pins really well if you don't have an optional cover.
 
#25 ·
Check out DC Rainmaker reviews of various gadgets. He's very thorough with GPS routing and features.

I have a Garmin Vivoactive 3, Apple Watch 6 and Garmin Edge 830. I found the apple watch to be pretty accurate when compared to the Edge, but I do notice that the watch will slide down and on rough trails and bounce against my wrist which isn't comfortable. For route finding I can't imagine the watch would be very good and use the Edge for that (or Trailforks on my phone), but I have synced routes from Strava to the Edge and that works well. Garmin will pretty much always do better GPS wise, but with the Series 6, Apple finally got the GPS more accurate.
I pretty much wear my Apple, but only use it if I forget the Garmin Edge or the batteries are low. Oh, speaking of batteries, the Edge battery lasts WAY longer than the Apple Watch. Apple watch has to be charged pretty much every day, Garmin can go many rides on a single charge, plus you can set it up with alerts from your phone.I also like that the Edge will give you a little "tada" when you get air or flow, which makes it kinda like Mario cart when cruising down trails and featuring off of things.
 
#27 ·
I ride with a Felix 6 and a edge 1030. At the end of my rides they are pretty close to one another. My buddy has an Apple Watch and it is always a different number even though we usually ride the same route.

I’ll tell him about the airplane mode

trail forks on the fenix is useless it’s even touchy to use on the 1030

to the prior poster about his garmin dying. Try reaching out to them. I’ve had really good luck with their warranty department.
 
#44 ·
I ride with a Felix 6 and a edge 1030. At the end of my rides they are pretty close to one another. My buddy has an Apple Watch and it is always a different number even though we usually ride the same route.

I’ll tell him about the airplane mode

trail forks on the fenix is useless it’s even touchy to use on the 1030

to the prior poster about his garmin dying. Try reaching out to them. I’ve had really good luck with their warranty department.
Did you use the trailforks on the watch for tracking, navigating, or both? I got a Fenix 6s last year but have been unable to ride while healing up from a back injury. The GPS and tracking on the native Garmin apps on the watch seem good (not great, not bad) but generally I've really liked the watch. My only comparison is a pretty basic fitbit though.

I also saw a few people say the Fenix was 600 plus... mine was 350 but maybe a different model? I think there's a 7 that's about to come out (if it hasn't already).

Btw I definitely wanted something with incident detection...I have an InReach too but it's a little extra peace of mind. Garmin Pay is convenient too (and seems to work everywhere that takes Apple or Google Pay)

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
#29 ·
I never had good luck with HR tracking while syncing with Strava (on the Apple watch S2). I always got the flat bars on the HR analytics so I stopped using the watch for tracking and HR tracking. I have the Apple watch S5 now and haven't tried it again to see if it's better though. Maybe someone can chime in on their experience. I did notice that the screen on the S2 eventually popped off maybe due to the constant amount of vibration of the rides?
 
#34 ·
I have gone the other way, and rid myself of my Wahoo and Garmin devices for tracking. I use only my Apple Watch S7 now, it gives me all the stats I need and coupled with a free app called "HealthFit" it aggregate everything into a nice feed of activity. I find the HR, GPS and other health metrics to good enough for my needs.
 
#48 ·
Kinda like my apple watch and the safety it assures. It would come in real handy if you pile up solo and need to make a call for assistance. Raise wrist say siri call so and so and help is coming. Plus my s7 has way tighter heat tracks on my records compared to the ones off my iphone so it has a good gps. And the health data is all there. All in one for me so far.
 
#49 · (Edited)
I have an Apple Watch. It’s my third. I love it. But not for biking. I use an Edge 830 for data tracking and my iPhone 13 Pro Max for TrailForks. I still wear my Apple Watch but mostly because it’s on my wrist 7 days a week.

As for its ruggedness, over several years of biking, I have not sustained anything worse than a minor scratch to the glass. I have Apple Care though, so I don’t much care about that.

Edit: the Apple Watch does not play well either outside its ecosystem. I gave up trying to get the HRM to work with my Wahoo KICKR and Zwift. I bought a Wahoo Tickr Fit or whatever it’s called and my life instantly improved. The Apple Watch does a million things great. But I don’t find that to include much of anything that is biking related. That’s not to say you can’t use it for these things, but only that for me, it’s a little klunky.