Watch OS9 On The Apple Watch For Triathlon?

[@GuyWydouw]

I understand the problems with start and stop. You can easily workaround this. For the water start, start the watch before you go into the water and pause it directly now you can start the race with pressing the two side buttons instead of using the screen. The same with the finish instead of trying to stop press the two buttons to pauze when you cross the finish line. You can afterwards remove the water and stop the race.

[@mlegrand]

Great suggestions! I should have thought about this before the race. It isn’t ideal but it’s doable. Thanks Guy!

[@fitgearhunter]

good grief - that transition of you swimming to it seen on the AW - plus all of the background sounds - excellent work.

[@mlegrand]

The background sounds might have been a bit loud in parts but I really enjoy working on these intros and transitions. Thanks so much for checking this one out Hunter. Hope all is well at your house!

[@HoytMcBeth]

Great production quality as always, Matt. I know it’s a long shot but since you did mention your Achilles surgery as an aside - of which I hope the recovering is going VERY well, and the fact you’re racing on it is a great sign - would love it if you did a video on your recovery. Know that would likely be too MLG focused for you…but fellow AT sufferers can hope. Seems like the AW S7 is a doable watch for the Zennest of athletes. Frantically trying to initiate the activity at the race start sounds like a terrifying way to start a triathlon.

[@mlegrand]

Thanks Steve! I don't have a Achilles Surgery video planned but you never know. As for starting in the water with the Apple Watch, yeah, that was a nightmare. I had the Garmin watch on so I had a way to record it and I almost gave up. But I really wanted to test these new triathlon features. Luckily I got it going. Thanks for watching this one and hope you are well!

[@kcwi128]

Another fantastic video, thanks Matt. I bought a garmin FR255 as my first sports watch and it is great. This vid reinforces my decision.

[@mlegrand]

I’ve been so impressed with the 255. It’s a great sports watch. I think the Apple Watch is something very different but it’ll also be very interesting to see what they do next. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@spozzkon]

I'll be interested to hear your opinion about the Apple Watch Ultra. This video was extremely helpful!

[@mlegrand]

I’ve ordered it but it’ll be a while before I’ve had some time with it and can do a proper review. Looks very interesting. 👌

[@pt7263]

My Apple Watch crashed when using the triathlon mode. I was in the middle of a triathlon. I was so angry. That’s all I could think about during the race. I’m getting a Garmin. 😊

[@mlegrand]

Yikes. Sorry to hear about that. I've had decent luck with the Apple Watch but I think ultimately if triathlon is the primary reason for the watch than Garmin is a good option. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@Cookefan59]

Excellent work both on the video and during your Sprint triathlon! I debated between a new Apple or Garmin watch for 2 years. I still have 910XT Garmin. It works great but I wanted all of the conveniences of an Apple Watch that come with pairing to an iPhone. I finally decided to get the Apple Watch because of that. I agree with everything that you mentioned about the Apple watches limitations especially the swimming and running. My major beef is that you cannot share the swim data through Strava to a Garmin connect account but you can share a run. I really like Garmin Connect and the way it’s set up and it’s FREE. I’ve been using it almost 10 years! Anyway, I did try several of the swim apps to try and get the most out of the Watch and of course these apps can be very buggy and complicated. I won’t name them bee we cause I eventually stopped using them and resorted to wearing the Apple Watch on one wrist and my old Garmin 910XT on the other wrist during swims because I love the satisfaction of closing the activity rings on the Apple Watch. The only thing o would like from Apple is the ability to synchronize data with Garmin Connect. That would be so incredibly awesome. I have also contemplated buying a lower grade Garmin strictly for working out but then I feel like I’m not getting the most out of the Apple Watch. Not sure what to do going forward. I’m sure I will keep the Apple Watch because of the way it improves my iPhone. Just not sure what Garmin Watch to get for training that won’t cost an arm and a leg. Thanks again for the outstanding video.

[@mlegrand]

Ok, this is such good feedback and you did an excellent job describing how I feel about the situation. 2 watches all the time? 😬 I do enjoy closing those rings. And then the newer watches from Garmin have a lot of recovery tracking which is amazing but again, 2 watches. 😬 Unfortunately, I don’t think the AW Ultra is the answer to all of our problems but you might be able to get more data into Garmin Connect by exporting a .fit file from your iPhone with an app like HealthFit and manually uploading it to Garmin Connect. It’s not an ideal workflow 🤦‍♂️. I’ve been trying to make Strava my one true source of everything. Keep me posted on what you find out. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@mattnexus]

Thanks for this great video Matt. Love the cinematography as always. If Apple does release a Pro/Rugged version in a few weeks, I'd love to see a similar video like this with that watch! Definitely seems like all these Watch OS 9 features are pointing in that direction.

[@mlegrand]

I know right? I think that could be very interesting for triathlon sports watches. I have a feeling that's what's coming. Something that could go 2-3 days and GPS for a full Ironman distance. I doubt Apple would ever embrace Ant+ or exporting to .fit files but they could make a big dent in this market by increasing battery life. Thanks for checking this one out Matt.

[@pavan20100611]

Being a “smart watch” first, I think Apple Watch is “getting there” when it comes meeting serious athletes expectations. Like their iPads are getting there to replace laptops. They will get there eventually. It will not be a Garmin for sure but should be able to tick most of the boxes. Great video as always Matt. Hoping to see more AW videos. -An Apple Watch fan :)

[@mlegrand]

Thank you so much Pavan! I'm planning on making a few more and then I'll be very interested to see what the Apple Watch Series 8 rugged option looks like. Seems like Apple might be taking more interest in this market 🤷‍♂️

[@CalMar91]

For those with the Apple Watch and struggling with getting it rolling with a wet screen, I blow on it with one powerful burst of air and that does the trick. It is the standing water on the watch face that I have found is the culprit, not so much your wet fingers. If there is a water droplet, event the tiniest one, it does not always allow the watch to "feel" your finger or it gets confused as to where you are pressing. I am trying to decide if I am going to upgrade to a new Apple watch as mine is quite old and the battery life is worsening, or if I am going to switch. That said, as a cyclist and as a new triathlete, I was and still am happy with my Apple Watch - it does the job. However, as I am progressing in sport I am realizing that others have features and ease of use that I don't appear to have and may want in the coming years.

[@mlegrand]

I have a few cycling buddies that still enjoy the Apple Watch. They also use cycling computers because you’ll often want power or cycling radar details. You’ll have to let me know what you decide and how you like it.

[@juie148]

For Swimming I have used myswimpro, it does lap swimming. For open water swimming, I prefer the default apple app. I have used strava for running and cycling. I prefer strava for non-water applications. For cycling I have mainly the cycle computer to do the metrics, and it links to strava and zwift for indoor.

[@mlegrand]

Yeah, I think a cycling computer is the way to go personally. I've got MySwimPro but I need to test it a bit more. I've mostly been using the default Apple apps. Thanks so much for watching all of these video Juie! I really means a lot to me! 🙏

[@secularsam7678]

As a beginner to the sport, my apple watch 4 has been amazing. I've been training for 8 months or so and I'm doing my first sprint triathlon tomorrow. I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying one specifically for tri but if you have one lying around its a great option.

[@mlegrand]

That's awesome Sam! You'll have to report back on how the triathlon goes! Ok, a few quick suggestions. If you start the race in the water, you might start the triathlon race and then pause it (pressing two buttons at the same time) and then unpause when the gun goes off. You could probably do the same when you finish. I haven't tried either of these methods as I was trying to start this watch in the water which was a nightmare. Let me know what you figure out and best of luck with the race tomorrow!!!

[@secularsam7678]

@@mlegrand I’ll probably use the pause feature like you said. Gonna mess around with it a little today just to get familiar. Do you know if it’s relatively easy to export workouts from the workout app to strava?

[@mlegrand]

@@secularsam7678 - I’ve always found exporting from the Apple Watch to be a little trickier than other brands. But if you download Strava onto your phone and give it permission to pull health data it’ll work. You still have to go into the notification section from Strava after an activity and hit the import button. 😬

[@secularsam7678]

@@mlegrand Ok I think I’ve worked it out thanks for the advice! I’ll do my best to give a quick update tomorrow about how it went but I’ll likely be very tired

[@secularsam7678]

@@mlegrand Race went pretty well I'd say. I beat the time I set for myself and no crashes or anything bad so I'm happy with it. Got the activity imported to strava as well pretty seamlessly. It actually imported as one event instead of 5 different events. It didn't show my splits on strava but I entered them manually.

[@kenrodriguez2128]

Cant wait to see if they update the watch in a few weeks with a "pro" or rugged" model like they are rumored to do at their sept event, geared towards tri athletes and such.

[@mlegrand]

I'm with you Ken. I am planning on spending the big 💰 to pick up and review whatever 'pro' model they drop here in a few weeks. Should be interesting for those of us who like these sort of watches. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@bonn1771]

Great review I won't get one but good to know if I get it for my family

[@mlegrand]

Yeah, I think sticking in the Garmin ecosystem is a reasonable idea for you in the future. Hope training is going well buddy!

[@christianherrera4422]

Congratulations for the race! That’s good stuff. Specially doing a race after surgery. We are thinking to do a sprint triathlon sometime in the future. For the Apple Watch Nahh for me. It looks like it will scratch and break easily lol #garminforlife 🤣🤣🤣

[@mlegrand]

I should have mentioned scratches. Mine does have a few on it here. 😬

[@OtterJohn667]

Good review. I've had issues with my Series 7 incorrectly counting (or not counting, as the case may be) my pool laps. And the lack of distance-based alerts is annoying. I wear my 7 as a daily watch and use my Forerunner 955 as my SBR/hiking/racing watch.

[@mlegrand]

The 955 is a fantastic watch. I’ve really been enjoying it. I also prefer the way Garmin does swimming with a drill mode. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@wlazzi]

Great video! Tracking activity is one thing, but other thing is how the information collected by AW is used to provide some useful information. Apple apps eco system is a night mare. Sleeping, workouts, rest data are not combined in some useful information about my health status! Apple provides bunch of data with some week to week stats and that’s it. I was using Garmin for about 2 years, switch to Apple for another 2 years, and now I’m thinking about getting new Forerunner 255 from Garmin which makes use from all the data this watch is capable to collect. The battery life is a big joke comparing to other amoled watches out there like epix2 or T-rex2. But I found an Apple Watch as good daily watch, and the heart rate sensors is really good no matter if you run, bike, do gym workouts or HIIT trainings!

[@mlegrand]

Exactly what I've been thinking Towl01. I'll be interested to see what Apple does next but I think you'd like the new 255 or 955 with their morning report and comprehensive way that they pull data into a training readiness score (955 only) I feel like it's a choice between a smarter watch and a sportier watch in some ways. 🤷‍♂️ Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@dr4aces]

Great idea to do a summary at the beginning - I'm not a triathlete, just curious about your perspective. Does anyone used to Garmin prefer the apple watch, I wonder?

[@mlegrand]

The summary at the beginning probably dissuades people from watching the entire thing but I get that people have short attention spans 🤷‍♂️ I think there are a subset of people that have moved from Garmin to Apple Watch. Probable more for the smart features than anything else. I think it'll be interesting to see what Apple does here in a few weeks. Thanks for watching this one!

[@dirtriderdog]

Great video.....thanks......all the info I wanted...

[@mlegrand]

Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@kiench]

Great video @Matt! Noticed at 10:00mark of your video, T2 times were quite different between Apple Watch vs Garmin. Do you know what might have cause that discrepancy? Curious what algorithm Apple use and might that differ if you have long T1 and T2 for Ironman distended.

[@mlegrand]

Yes, I go into more detail in another video but as I was transitioning off the bike I rolled right into a jog through transition and the Apple Watch didn't mark the end of the bike until I came to a complete stop to change shoes. I took the Garmin split right on the line. So it's not perfect but it's pretty impressive and it's a tool I'd use as opposed to trying to remember to hit my split button during a race. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@DaveStecker]

Not sure if Apple has any interest in catering to a niche market like multi sport. Maybe they experiment with an Apple Watch Sport in which they double down on GPS accuracy, connectivity features to other apps/devices, battery life, etc. and focus less on the features that involve notifications from your phone. I feel like most of the infrastructure is there to at least test it out. I like my Apple Watch (I’ve had a series 3 for about 5 years) but I’m strongly considering the switch to the Forerunner 955 since I’m more focused on performance metrics lately. Great video!

[@mlegrand]

I think this next release from Apple will be very interesting. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@hemanthkumar9367]

Confused between 255 music vs Apple watch 7. Needed something which has music integrated while I run. My primary workout is swimming. Not keen on using 3rd party apps. What would be your suggestion. Thank u

[@mlegrand]

Hi Hemanth, I think it’d come down to how you like to swim. If you like to hit the split button and do drill sets the Apple Watch might not work perfectly for you. But the Apple Watch is fantastic at so many more things than swimming. I think ultimately you should choose between a really smart watch and an athletic focused watch. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@NYCnapeHb]

First! Keep it up! Very curious to see the same and vs Garmin with the upcoming AW Pro.

[@mlegrand]

Yes! I will absolutely be reviewing the upcoming AW Pro. And then I'll try to do a quick follow up with a comparison between it and a Garmin watch. Maybe something like a Garmin Epix. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment Dmitry. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@carlosmobellan9443]

Thanks Matt, great video as always. I have a few older model Apple Watches and have not loaded up the beta software, so i found this experiment very interesting. Generally speaking, I use my Apple Watches as smartwatches first and activity trackers second. But having said that, i personally have found their heartrate is until recently years ahead on accuracy for heartrate and very good on GPS, so excellent to use as a control against a Garmin or Polar on things like gym workouts and say higher intensity work on the bike or a run. I also found the need to roll the crown to finish a swim activity annoying as hell !! I havent tried the new way you showed on your video, but that might fix things a bit. My last comment is that there are presently way better offerings for triathlon with Garmin, Polar etc; so i wonder what Apple is really trying to do here? Maybe its a bit of a defensive position against people switching to Garmin as their watches become more and more 'smart'? or maybe it has something to do with the new 'rugged' Apple Watch supposedly coming out next month. Either way, until they fix battery life Apple will always be a compromise for most 'sports first people'. With all of that screen real estate i wonder why Apple isn't focussing in on solar charging, as Garmin has done. Seems an obvious choice. Anyway, take care and thanks again.

[@mlegrand]

Thanks for the kind words Carlos! Yeah, I think the it has to do with the rugged Apple Watch coming up here in a few weeks but we'll see. I think your usage of the Apple Watch as a smart watch first and activity tracker second is the ticket. 👌 BTW, I think you still have to rotate the crown to unlock the watch after it's been water locked as of Watch OS9. 🤦‍♂️ Although, I do like the speaker buzz to kick out the water.

[@shimona500]

amazing intro

[@mlegrand]

Thanks Happy Kanye! I enjoy making those!

[@dennissilva525]

I did a 70.3 last Sunday and it got stuck on T2 and stoped working 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@dennissilva525]

It also said my swim was 4.4 k 🙄 not 1.9 k

[@mlegrand]

Oh that's super frustrating. I wonder if other people are having issues with the Apple Watch during triathlons. What version of WatchOS are you on?

[@WindupTravels-bd3xb]

Garmin doesn't track distance in lap swimming accurately. The distances were way off

[@mlegrand]

I’ve noticed accuracy issues with every brand I’ve tested. On the Garmin you can correct it by using the drill mode option. I think it has something to do with awkward laps where it can’t clearly detect the arm motion. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@vinodnarayanswamy]

Improve battery life to more than 4 days , then it is kick a**

[@mlegrand]

Yeah, that's my gut feeling for what's coming next from Apple on Sept 7th. It'll still lack some connectivity and export options but increasing the battery life will go a long way to helping this Watch appeal to triathletes. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@temirlanmalik3239]

What about Apple Watch Ultra?

[@mlegrand]

Ordered it yesterday and I’ll have a review as soon as I can get my hands on it. The battery life and new split button could solve some of my issues with the watch.

[@birraebici]

No power meter reading for cycling, then NOT for me!

[@mlegrand]

There might be third party apps that can take in bluetooth smart power meters. I don't think it's an ideal situation for cyclists. 😬 Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@viledanew]

Has anyone tried on a swimrun ? I tried but it’s not working well, transition doesn’t always work

[@mlegrand]

I haven't tested that but it's cool that it's an option. Thank you for watching and taking the extra time to comment. I really appreciate it. 👍

[@os2171]

"is Apple Watch good For cyclists: use a bike computer and the Apple Watch as a backup... in that way, you'll be satisfied with the Apple watch..." Wow it would be better say.. NO. don't buy it.

[@mlegrand]

I know. I know. That sounds dumb. 🤦‍♂️ I did think about that as I was saying it 😬 but I really do think that's how a lot of cyclists are going to use the Apple Watch. Mostly, as a backup for their cycling computer. 🤷🏻‍♂️