I’ve had two Apple Watches, and I got my Fenix 7 a year ago. I sold my Apple Watch and haven’t missed it one bit. Looooove my Fenix 7!

Sorry Dan to say it so directly, but if you do sport or hiking on a high level, no one will choose an apple watch:) Garmin is another level!

Recently got a garmin watch - and once I learned the interface - best watch I have ever owned and the battery life is wonerful.

I'm a tech guy and have been following @hikingguy for awhile. Super excited to see Dan and Cris working together on these topics. Kudos to you both!

Garmin for sure. Cant beat the battery life 🎉

Have an AW for years, but battery life isn’t great. Got a 2018 Garmin Instinct for outdoor use this year. Works great for my use and I still use the AW for day to day.

Owned 3 aws and have a garmin instinct solar. Ready to offload my latest AW. Used the AW as daily until I started traveling and got comfortable with the Garmin. The screen isn’t as flashy, but the buttons work. It does every thing I need and I only need to charge it every 10 days or so even using tracking on hikes. Bought it for backcountry trips, but now just love it for every day.

The Enduro 2 battery lasts over 20 days for everyday use. It will last a few days on a multi-day using the GPS while hiking. And it has a light that I found convenient.

Great video that answered some of my questions as I get back into hiking and camping.

Just one thing to remember, neither brand of watch is going to hike for you. Being in the IT industry the last 20+ years (in the military for 14 of those), I've learned that tech is an aid, but there is no such thing as a single tech device that will do literally everything for everyone. You'll have to layer up, for sure. For example, if you wear an Apple Watch in the backcountry, bring a battery pack to recharge. But, I'd also encourage bringing a Garmin InReach or similar device, and laminated paper maps with a grease pencil, grid square, and a compass. Gotta layer your resources like swiss cheese: each layer will have holes, but the more you layer, the more the holes disappear.

I have the Garmin Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar and it does so much more then just gps. I wear mine every day. I link it to my inReach when I go backpacking and it works great.

I wear a Garmin Fenix 6 solar everyday and love it. Battery life is not even comparable.

Garmin! Always. I have 920XT for over 6 years and I love it. Plus other Garmin devices/accessories you can have/you have (heart rate monitor, cadence sensors, maps, scale, blood pressure monitor, and many more) it’s a nice ecosystem and you do t have to enter (almost) any data manually. And it is pretty darn accurate.

This is the video I’ve been waiting for! Thanks for all the great info ❤

Old timer here. I love my handheld GARMIN GPS !!

Garmin 100%. I have the Fenix 6X Saphire and I charge it once every 17-20 days. You can't beat that. I just hate having to charge every 2 days.

Fenix 6X Sapphire here. Love it.

I bought a Garmin Fenix 5x a few years ago. Never looked back. The battery life is incredible.

I was so excited for AW Ultra. Bought it and been wearing it since it's release. Went on a weekend trip with family and after a single day filled with mountain biking, battery dropped to 20% within 12 hours. I did not bring a charger (who brings a watch charger for outdoor activities), and by midnight even at battery saver mode activated the Ultra was dead. I am sorry to say it but AW while packed with stunning features, is just no longer my go to outdoor watch.

Great review guys. Yup, this crossroads for me was a couple of months back. My two issues with the Apple,( and this would have been my 4th Apple Watch), was the battery life and the idiotic notifications every 15 minutes. I went with the Garmin Fenix 7 because the battery life is to a point I don't need to worry about charging it for a trip. If I do, it's not a big power hog. It's not my primary navigation. Its my backup to the OnX with the In-Reach being #3 and a compass being #4. Great review. Keep doing what you do and I'll keep watching.

LETS GO!! JUST GOT OFF WORK AND THE GOAT POSTED

I wanted an Apple Watch Ultra sooo bad but I opted for a 7X Sapphire Solar instead. I’m so glad that I did. I wear it 24/7, gps my walks for around 4-5 hours per week and I’m regularly getting 28 to 30 days of use out of it before it needs charging. I have also used it to fully track all of my data whilst I’ve been out on the MTB. My friends who opted for the Ultra are now all regretting their purchases.

Apple and Garmin owner here. Apple is better for features/functionality. But Garmin - at least the Instinct 2 Solar I’ve been sporting for a couple of months - is better for the backcountry because of its battery life.

My trusty Garmin Instinct Solar does all the hiking things. Big battery life, very rugged and once you get the hang of the interface, super speedy to use. A+

I really want the new epix pro 51mm but I have the ultra and a 14 pro max. They work so well together, I feel like I’d just be wasting money. I already have the garmin instinct, for longer trips. I just love the look of the epix 51mm.

I had an apple watch and it was my daily driver as Dan said until I fell in love with the outdoors and started spending more time in the outdoors. I get outdoors 3-4 times/week doing aver 30 miles a week and my go to trusted watch is GARMIN. I use a Garmin Fenix 6 Sapphire and I would swear by it. I still carry my Iphone 14Pro Max though, lol.

Love this video thank you guys

Garmin, especially the solar models. Battery life is maybe the key here, not to worry about the watch and having to carry another cable and adaptor for the watch, for days or weeks. But the other reason for me to dump the Apple Watch for an Instinct 2 Solar was that I really do not see the point in adding another device doing what your phone does, but on your wrist. I just want a sports watch that does what I need (GPS, record workouts, tell me the time, timer, etc), and let the phone be the phone. Once you need to pay for more app so that the Watch matches what the Garmin does, you answered your question. And if budget is an issue, Garmin has choices along the spectrum, like my Instinct 2 Solar, that can do all or more in some activities, than an Apple Watch. Yes, you cannot play music from it, but if you carry your phone as well, why would you need your watch to do what your phone does, only to have to remember to charge it every day?

I had high hopes for the Apple Ultra. I am a long-time Garmin user and I found the ultra wasn't worth the requirement to charge on hikes and the mileage wasn't accurate despite multiple "learning" hikes. It's also prone to moving to a random screen and I've tried both orientations of buttons. I've reverted to using the Garmin Tactix on my section hikes and use the Apple ultra for daily use.

Dan - "Here's a guest that's probably the smartest person on this subject" Also Dan - "I'm gonna disagree with ya'."

I got an Enduro 2 on the 18th of May and it's awesome 🔥

WooHoo! It’s Chris the Hiking Guy! He’s great and so is his KZfaq channel 👍👍👏👏

I destroyed my Garmin Vivoactive HR using 100% deet while hiking the 100 mile wilderness. Garmin earned my loyalty when they replaced the watch well outside the warranty period, and, it was entirely my fault for hosing it down with deet.

Komoot gives spoken directions. Live this app!

Garmin works great as day to day too with notifications and incoming calls. You could call out too if ear pods in ear plus phone on you. Garmin has fall warning too to send emergency text.

I’m looking for a budget friendly watch that I can follow/retrace my old tracks from AllTrails or Gaia. Mostly 15-20 mile bushwhacks where I’m out all day. Something simple and looks as close to it does looking at my phone, so I can just look at my wrist instead or reaching in my pocket to make sure I’m still on route. Thanks for your suggestions!

WorkOutDoors is great. I also recommend putting it in “water mode” as well as low power mode. This keeps sun shirts from turning it off.

Garmin Enduro 2 reporting for duty sir. Seriously though, I thought hard about getting Apple Watch ultra, but when I’m hiking I already have my iPhone. Didn’t really need what is basically another iPhone on my wrist. For me the Garmin is a fitness first, data collection device. I do way more than just long distance hiking. It can of course do navigation, but for me it’s all about the data. I have other devices that i use for navigation (phone apps like FarOut/Gaia and the inReach)

Having the fenix 6 solar it has so many apps for the outdoors the battery life is amazing. I had apple and gave it to my wife….bad battery life

I don't have an iPhone. I don't have a smart watch of any kind that I would trust to be my guide/locator in the woods. I have Android phones/tablets, handheld GPS Garmin-type receivers, an Anker power bank, and apps that use georeferenced pdf map files to tell me where I am... ...but I am also probably a bit of an anomaly, since I am retired US Forest Service (45 years of service navigating around out in the mountains of the Western US), so I also have a tremendous amount of experience using a Silva Ranger compass and what we used to call district fire maps that show both ground contours and roads in high detail (and which can sometimes be available in georeferenced pdf files these days - which, I have to confess, would have really been cool to have in some trackable electronic device format back in the day)... ...I'll stop now because I'm starting feel like I'm some old coot sitting on his porch under a blanket shaking his cane at all of today's back-country trekkers shouting "You Just Don't Know, You Whippersnappers!"...and you don't need that...

Coros Pace 2 user checking in. If you are looking for a watch more on the cheaper end of the spectrum but still has GPS recording capabilities and good battery life the Pace 2 is great at $200.

You really have a KZfaq personality, if you make a channel in a bigger fanbase niche than camping it will explode.

Probably would have been better to save this talk for just a couple weeks haha. Would love to see an update to this video now that Apple just released offline maps, topo maps, upgraded compass, and the two new waypoints for last cell signal and emergency. Also the ability to search for nearby trails.

It's also worth noting that my Garmin forerunner 245 (~$200) can track gps for about 6 hours a day for a full weekend trip on one charge. No navigation on that cheaper option, but Apple doesn't really have anything at the lower price point.

I have the Garmin Epix2- I can use GPS for a solid day trip and the battery still lasts 12-ish days.

i got the garmin venu 2 plus. i can get notifications and answer calls just like an apple watch, but with no gps it can go for 7-8 days without a charge.

i have had all the Samsung watches... just got the Garmin epix 2 and wow! i cant believe what i been missing... battery life is 20 days +.... i will always have a Garmin

To each their own, but something to think about: there are more runners and outdoorsy people who switch from AW to a Garmin watch; and, the battery in even the cheapest Garmin watch blows anything Apple puts into the AW (expect for full-on GPS mode). Only needing to charge once a week or two is far better than having to charge daily. I am pretty sure that if you were not a content creator, you might find more utility in a Garmin, but doing what you do, an AW likely has more value to you. This is not a slam against you, but you are also a person who is more likely to carry 2 - 3 back-up battery chargers. Not to mention, Garmin was doing GPS long before anyone else.

I'm using Garmin fenix 6 pro. The battery life alone is a win for me.

I bought both an Apple watch ultra and a Garmin watch. I retuned the Garmin watch. The Garmin watch is great when hiking, amazing battery life but pales in comparison to your every day needs integration with the iPhone. Where the Garmin watch shines if you are more than a weekend warrior. If you spend a week or more outdoors in the backcountry, I can see the value in it, hiking the PCT or the Appalachian Trail for example. I only hike and camp on the weekends so the iPhone and Apple watch integration was better for the 5 days of the week. I love the additional apps you can get on the Apple watch. I like the idea of using the low power mode and will have to give that mode as well as the apps a try on my next hike. Thanks for sharing.

I have noticed discrepencies with distance and heart rate with the activity tracking hiking mode on my garmin fenix 5x plus

And no, thankfully everybody does not have an iPhone.

I love Apple and have it for everything except the Watch. I've hiked in the mountains and done long distance running for years using different shades of Garmin - Mainly Fenix. When the Apple watch came out I was intrigued by it but all the videos I saw talked mentioned the 1 day to a day and a half battery life. I tried it and returned it the next day. Mainly battery life and the fact it just didn't feel right after using just such rugged all weather watches like Garmin. And you never have to worry about battery life. I'm 73 now and only hike a few miles 3 times a week due to lower back pain and just love my Garmin Instinct 2!!

Thanks for the great chat. I think you both missed a bit by not mentioning the garmin 965. Cheaper due to it being less back country than the Fenix and higher. Yet... bigger screen and just as capable as it's more expensive siblings. Still expensive. 😮

Dan, you should test out the Huawei Watch Ultimate. Seems like it has very good hiking chops.

I love my Garmin Forerunner. I miss the elegance of the Apple Watch but for fitness and the outdoors, Garmin is the best.

I absolutely love my apple watch ultra but garmin is really good too workout metrics on garmin are fantastic but im so deep in the apple ecosystem

Hiking guy is the bomb.

Does AllTrails or ONX app from my iPhone work on the watch?

I switched from an Apple watch to a Garmin Fenix 6 and never looked back. The battery life sold it for me. Though I hate the charger port and having to carry another cord that only gets one use.

Love my Suunto

Great video thanks. Would recommend AWU if charging the battery very regularly is not an issue. I'm too much of a boomer myself: remembering to charge my phone every night is hard enough, so ding that also with my watch would inevitably lead to a problem. I went for a Fenix 7, certainly not a sexy product, rather rugged and reliable, far from the fun experiences with the Apple Watch and the awesome Workoutdoors (best hiking app ever), but as long as Apple consider it OK to offer such battery lives (and don't talk to me about the battery-saving modes, I don't want my watch to be a dark screen), I'll go for Garmin.

Why use your watch for the hiking apps when you have a phone with off line maps?

I switched from the Apple Watch to the Fenix 7X for my daily driver and haven’t looked back. The only thing I miss is cell service on the watch. I love the Garmin’s battery life - I’ll go a couple of weeks without charging it and it’s rock solid. Apple has and will need to continue to fight its battery life demons and, on a rather petty note, the commoditization of their product - you’re not making a statement wearing an Apple Watch, but you sure are with a Fenix or Epix. That’s because the Garmins are serious tools rather than an extension of an ecosystem.

Suunto as well!!!

On Android it's easy: Garmin. For short hikes and as an extension of my phone the Samsung will work fine. For long weekends I'd definitely go with a Garmin due to battery life being superior (40-65% better from experience depending on the mode the Samsung is set to). As an honorable mention, Coros makes some good watches with great battery life.

The garmin forerunner 305 or 310 were the best for trail running but garmin stopped supporting both

I own an Apple Watch Ultra and I have just bought the new Epix Pro 51. I have really tried to use the Apple Watch but the fact is it’s just not up to the standard of Garmin when it comes to fitness. It doesn’t even have a health app to the watch. This is just mind boggling for a health watch. It gives you basic health data but Garmin is so much better. I kills me to say this as I just love the AW Ultra looks but under the hood it’s not there for me.

I got an Apple Watch to try out, took it on a few day hikes and it was "fine," but anything more than that, it really falls flat. When it came to a 5 day hike in the wilderness, Garmin 100%. Great battery life, basics for notifications, health and wellbeing.

I have tried all the GPS apps, and Alltrials seems to just work. I like that I can have it on my Ultra and iPhone, both synchronized together (sent it to my watch from my phone). However, battery life is awful and I might go back to Garmin. One thing I remember with my Fenix 6-7 is there wasn't an app that synchronized between my watch and my phone. Sometimes I can't see the screen on my watch, so I pull out my phone. Am I missing something with Garmin? I can load GPX files to both devices (watch and phone), but they work independently, so I have to start them separately, unlike the iPhone and Ultra, using basically any GPS app.

Check out the Coros Apex 2 Pro. Great battery life even w/ daily GPS usage.

Garmin Fenix 7 (and other models) connect to your InReach so you can trigger an SOS or send a canned message from your watch if you are within range. I love that feature! The solar capability for recharging is a nice feature, too.

If your iPhone has the "FAROUT" app and all it's maps you've paid for, will it show in the Apple watch??

Should have asked him about us Android users =)

Have a look at the Garmin Enduro 2

Other than superior battery life, Garmin is also more straightforward and structured in terms of workout and fitness. Not only u got training suggestions, it also record your training load throughout the weeks and suggest when you have to rest. No need to install tons of third party apps

I like to say, the Apple Watch is a very good do it all smartwatch, and Garmin is a very good watch for the outdoors with some smartwatch features. So, like Cris also said, it depends of your usecase. So nowadays I prefer the Garmin other the Apple Watch because Im a lot outside and i need a reliable device which helps me to navigate and to track everything other a couple of days, dont need a tone of "useless" features which the Apple Watch has which drains the battery 🙈

Apple Watch doesn’t work too well in the cold or the mountains, might get 2-3hours battery life on a gen4. I have used Apple Maps a little in the backcountry on my phone but for anything multi day or deep we’re bringing a Garmin. It’s guided us back through a mini white out. That being said when I’m not in the backcountry Im using the Apple Watch.

I love apple and Iam Using apple products but as a Dutch military veteran I have to say Ultra is good but not an outdoor watch. That’s Garmin, Suunto and Coros. It’s like you buy a Nice SUV and use it in Landrover, jeep ore land cruiser terrain it may work but it’s not build for it. apple commercial may only be in that area for a few hours. Garmin, Suunto and Coros have military standards and are also known among pro climbers, rescue people, military personnel, etc.

I can’t see the texts on ultra 2 in dark room due to auto dimming and their is no manual settings.

I'm looking at picking between these watches right now. The major hold back for me which I have no idea why no one mentioned was to my knowlege you must own an Iphone if you want to use and Apple watch. That's a big problem for me, as I don't really want to buy and Iphone I already have a Samsung, a company I've used for the last 8 years. If it didn't require an Iphone I wouldn't even think twice about it, I'd get the Apple Watch. Since you got Apps like Audible that will work with the Apple Watch and something I really would like to have. 2nd, does the Apple watch now use GPS just like the Garmin? A year and a half ago the Garmin was what you needed for a dedicated hike since it's not tied to needing cell phone towers.

I'm team garmin for the super long lasting battery and durability... with the sapphire screen they are very strong I worked with a few people that had apple watches and they broke the screens pretty fast my garmin is now like 5 years old and I've smashed the screen against doorknobs and all kinds of stuff when I smack the screen I'll look concerned but I'm concerned I broke what I hit with the watch.... the learning curve with garmin takes a bit to figure out and the screen res may not be great but the robust nature of the Fenix 5x plus is amazing I got stuck in the woods after camping during a windstorm and not being able to drive over all the trees that fell I used the garmin to get directions to the closest road my girlfriends iPhone was giving crazy directions and telling us to turn around and go back a few times or take different turns than garmin at least for those Forrest service roads the garmin was a 9 mile hike out And the apple was doing a route that would have been 17 miles also for those worried about the price you can get an old version for a good deal I got my garmin Fenix 5x plus for like 365 on Amazon I'm not sure if that's still available or not

Looking forward for a Google competitor in this area

That was really helpful! I totally agree with Hiking Guy; I have an AW SE, and I love it for front country activities of all types. It has okay battery life (24h), I don't mind charging each morning, it tracks my rings and steps, its weather is superior to Garmin's, and I use the Apple pay feature daily. However, I bought a Garmin 265S for hiking and backpacking. The battery lasts several days, it has a nice track back feature (though this less expensive device has no maps; I use my iphone for offline maps), it measures my SPo2 unlike the AW SE which can be helpful at altitude, but mostly it's a relief not to worry about battery life on a several day hike. The AW is staying in the drawer on backpacking trips.

Can someone explain to me how a one day battery can make sense in any watch? I have garmin instinct 2, because it has 30 days battery life and even that imo should be better, but at least it charges from sun (if you spend 3hours in full sun a day, like when riding a motorcycle for example). The watch itself is meh, but it has awesome monochrome screen without touch capabilities which is my fav feature - buttons ftw.

Great video even for non-hikers like me. I’ve owned Garmins for years and it is too challenging to work through the product differentiation between entry mid and premium models, particularly on the software side which is inexcusable from Garmin. Apart from hardware differentiation each Apple Watch can do the same thing, the point you both make in relation to the SE. Over time the Ultra will be a Garmin killer IMHO, Apple is too a competitor and they will not allow Garmin to use their smartwatch features (why would they??). My two cents worth..

Love my Garmin

I don’t know about the watches…. I don’t like the watch around my wrist while walking with trekking poles, it just bothers me. I carry a Garmin 67i and I love it.

I love you comment in the beginning how you say apple does the connectivity with your watch the best - part of that reason is it doesn't give anyone else a chance to, bt locking down a host of features and not allowing other companies to integrate with those features. Very monopolistic when you consider some of the rulings that have been handed down to microsoft/google etc, however apple doesn't have to play by the same rules.....

The new fenix 7 x Pro looks great Again on my wild about watches channel I have info on last years 7x which is beautiful. Your 6x beats apple Outdoors too. I never use touchscreen Outdoors.

Dan, your Garmin Fenix is collecting dust? Send it my way and I'll put it to good use 😊

The best watch for hiking/camping and exploring is the Rolex explorer 1

“I would rather grab [the Apple watch] before the Garmin. But I have limited experience with the Garmin.” This is probably why Dan prefers the Apple Watch. You use what you know best. Chris sounds like he knows both platforms well and can choose the best tool for the job.

Garmin. I’ve had the Fenix 5x and now the 7x. In between those two I tried the ultra and it was terrible. Doesn’t work with out cell service and the battery life is terrible

If I had more resources I would 10000% own both an apple watch and garmin. However, as someone who only has money for one device I went with the Apple Watch Ultra. I very rarely hit its limits, the cell service is nice, and with work outdoors (which is pretty cheap) it works like a garmin functionality wise. The Apple Watch feature set is of course way better for my day-to-day life as a medical professional. The obvious huge trade off is battery life but if you choose the right settings it’ll last multiple nights of backpacking but probably not more than three nights.

Interesting discussion. Will only iPhones pair with the Apple Watch? So if have an android phone could not use an Apple Watch? Many thanks.

I think Apple watches are for people who like to sit in coffee shops and talk about being outdoors. I'm going with the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar.

Garmin all the way for me! I'm an ultra runner tho and also dislike Apple lol. Android user here. But Garmin fenix series I've had 3, 5x and 6x and they all have been just solid. Use for years battery is awesome connects to the inreach and just never had any issues recording and navigating with them.

"everybody has an iphone" .... c'mon... really?

Everyone has an iPhone means 57 % market share in US and 27 % on EU ;) But Apple Watch is everyday watch when Garmin is full bred sport watch. Big difference.