I went from a Seiko mechanical watch to an Apple Watch so my experience with any digital watches outside of AW is limited.
Recently I was gifted the Garmin Vivomove Trend, a hybrid of analog and digital watch. I like the look very much but for a smart watch and at the price of $300, I wonder why would anyone buy a Garmin instead of a Apple Watch (for an additional $100)
The kicker to me, was a function in the Garmin which is called align watch-hand. Reading the manual, it says that sometimes after a heavy workout or, after a few weeks of use, the hands need to be aligned to the clock. What? What era are we at? Canāt the digital function of it align the hands and the user have to do it manually?
How about another kicker? The battery last 5 days (good!) but if they battery is depleted, the analog watch will also stop. It doesnāt continue like your other battery-powered Casio or Citizen watch.
The activities tracking are also pretty limited for this Garmin - ok, I get it, itās a cheaper version but the only workout I do, is indoor cycling and it doesnāt have such an option. I ended up having to choose Cardio instead.
So, I donāt know what to make of it. Treat it as an analog watch but with flaws or a limited digital watch. Itās neither here nor there. But it looks good though.
Iāve been using Garmin devices on and off for the last few years - Iāve settled on the Garmin Instinct for the last 2 years (currently on its second version).
I used it because the battery life is better than the AW, I found it to be more rugged than the AW and it connects to more external devices on my bike than the AW. Sure, it has some limitations in the smartwatch category, but all I really want is notifications on my wrist when the phone isnāt with me/on my persons.
The Instinct is a similar price to the trend, but has far more of the sports features of the more expensive Garminās. Considerable number of activities when compared.
My new role, Iām permitted to wear a Garmin, but cannot wear an AW - anything with a microphone is not permitted (I have to turn the Bluetooth off on the Garmin still). Therefore, some restricted locations may not allow the AW.
How good is the battery life? A fellow colleague who is using a Forerunner has, like, 10 days between charges. Thatās very impressive to me. My Trend is only 5 days. Not as good but is definitely better than AWās daily charge. The Trend also have wireless charging, thank goodness, because the cable charging is via a clip like thing that clipped onto the sides of the watch. Itās weird- I have not seen charges such as this at all.
I can confirm that, my Forerunner 55 easily lasts that and even more. Depends on your level of activity tracking, though. I am doing about 2hrs of outdoors exercise with GPS per week these days.
Without any GPS activity, the Instinct lasts 27 days. In reality, thatās more like 14 days with various activities etc being used.
It beats even the Fenix - in part because its screen is more limited.
I have seen some articles suggesting that the Instinct 2 Solar can last indefinitely with certain functions turned off - what those are, I donāt know, as I donāt have the solar version and want those features enabled!
I do some hiking & climbing in the Alps, and I enjoy my Garmin Fenix Pro mainly for these reasons:
the battery lasts for several days
very accurate navigation with custom maps (you could even have the entire set of the official hiking maps from the German Alpine Club on your wrist)
the ClimbPro feature which gives you a very informative heads-up on the current and upcoming climb(s)
the direct integration with Garmin InReach satellite devices which are great for text-messaging & getting up-to-date weather info (and, of course, for seeking help in case of emergency) when thereās no phone network available (which is pretty common in the mountains)
I use a Garmin s62 exclusively for golf. I wear an Apple Watch all other times except for a few hours a month when I wear a traditional āfancyā watch. The Apple Watch, regardless of app, canāt touch the s62 in terms of battery life and info a golfer needs ASAP. That being said, it would be nice to be able to close by Apple exercise rings while wearing the s62.