[maskull]

I'm amazed apple has got by with a 3/4 day charge for 10 generations while garmin has had products with a 7+ day charge for years.

[tzs]

Many people get more than 3/4 day. For the Series 10 that 18 hours of battery is based on 300 time checks, 90 notifications, 15 minutes of using apps, and a 60-minute workout with music playback from the watch via Bluetooth. For watches without cellular it also assumes 18 hours of Bluetooth connection to a phone. For watches with cellular it assumes 14 hours of Bluetooth connection to a phone and 4 hours of LTE cellular connection.

I've got mine set to charge to 80%, and over 23.5 hours it typically falls to somewhere in the 30-40% range. I put it on the charger for 30 minutes when I sit on my couch in the evening to watch Jeopardy! and do the NYT crossword puzzle. That's plenty of time to get it back to 80%.

I do have the always on display turned off, so the display only comes on when I turn the watch to look at it or tap or click. Always on display would take more power but my recollection from before turning it off is that it would still easily make it 23.5 hours starting from 80%. With a 20 W charger it can go from 0 to 80% in 30 minutes, so that would still be done by the time I finished Jeopardy and the crossword.

(I didn't turn off always on display to save battery. I turned it off because I didn't really find it useful. When I'm not actively checking the watch I almost hold it in a position where I don't really have a good look at the display, and moving it so I can get a good look almost always would be enough to turn it on in "raise to wake" mode).

[Etheryte]

They target different market segments, that's all there is to it. Similar to how some phones get away with having an absolute rubbish camera while other brands offer high resolution cameras — they sell to different people and both companies do fine.

[scarface_74]

I can just leave my phone at home when I’m running or in the gym and get phone calls, send messages, and stream music from my watch.

I have a stand by my bed that I just plop my phone, watch and AirPods on and they all charge wirelessly and use MagSafe so I don’t have to worry about placement.

[marliechiller]

If you have to charge overnight, you miss out on all the benefits of sleep tracking which personally, has been essential in managing recovery and also illness

[rm445]

Once you give up sleep tracking as a feature, it doesn't matter too much as people can charge their watch nightly.

I'm very much on the other side of that decision - I find sleep tracking to be a killer feature, but you can see how Apple got away with it.

[layer8]

From my research, none of the available sleep tracking solutions are reliable, unless you attach electrodes to your head. When using multiple sleep tracking solutions in parallel, they all report significantly different results.

[mbirth]

I’ve got a charger for my Apple Watch on my desk. I charge my watch in the evening while I’m doing stuff on the computer. When it’s bedtime, the watch is at 100% - ready for sleep tracking and the next day.

[hx833001]

Ultra has better battery life, most people don’t wear a watch while sleeping, so it’s easy to charge at night like you do with a phone anyway. It also enables you to do almost everything essential in terms of communication without a phone if you want to leave it. Garmin watches do not.

[KeplerBoy]

I thought the sleep tracking and resting heart rate tracking is one of the most important features of a smartwatch. pretty sure most garmin users wear them at night for these reasons.

[dkdbejwi383]

> most people don’t wear a watch while sleeping, so it’s easy to charge at night like you do with a phone anyway

for me at least, the silent alarm so as to not disturb my partner is a huge part of the value in a smart watch.

[cassianoleal]

The Ultra is the most bizarre in the lineup. It's marketed at extreme adventurers, mountaineers, extreme hikers, etc. For that demographic, battery life of less than at least a week is a non-starter, not to mention 100% button navigation as opposed to touchscreen + dial. Those are really hard to operate whilst wearing thick gloves.

[hedora]

My non-ultra gets at least 28 hours, and over 48 in low power mode.

I leave it in airplane mode (this leaves bluetooth on, so it doesn’t impact functionality when my phone is nearby) and disabled the always on screen.

I agree about the questionable value proposition though. A $35 Amazfit band is surprisingly competitive with it, and has much better battery life.

[hunter-gatherer]

> most people don’t wear a watch while sleeping

Eh, what? When watches were just watches, most everyone wore there watch while sleeping.

On that note, my brother and I were talking about these smart watches the other day and I expressed how having a gshock is nice because with my use I seem to get about 7 years of battery life, so my watch is always on. Whereas people with smart watches has (as he put it) significant time blind-spots. But he made a comment at one point and basically said something like "It's not a watch. It is a fitness device that has a clock in it". I think that is a good point. As a watch, all these actually perform rather poorly. But as fitness/GPS/communication devices they perform well.

[doctorpangloss]

That's because the analysis about Garmin is wrong. None of that stuff matters.

Garmin's competition is having kids. Moms and dads will buy Apple Watches because it is more compatible with the having kids lifestyle. In contrast you don't need a dive computer or a bicycle thing when you have no time for hobbies. So an Apple Watch with a diving app meets the demand for aspirational hobbies, which of course, aspirations have a much larger audience than going out and doing something.

That said, people having fewer kids is ultimately what is helping them the most. Every hobby got more expensive, there is more demand. If you believe that more dogs and cats, less home buying, more video game playing and TV watching, etc. is also related to the trend of fewer kids - if you read what experts say about this, and if you can believe that LOTS of stuff people spend money LOTS of money on is DIRECTLY CAUSED by the decision to have or not have kids - then expand your mind and look for it everywhere.

[busterarm]

I live in a part of the country where most people still have 3-5 kids. Some of their parents had like 8.

Everyone is very active outdoors here and as a family. The gyms are family gyms and have daycare services while you work out. Fitness is VERY popular here as are fitness trackers and Apple is a distant third to Garmin & Fitbit.

[blairbeckwith]

I don't know if you have any data to back up your claims, and I have nothing to back mine up but anecdotes but – all of the most active people I know have kids and all my single friends are amongst the most sedentary.

[thebruce87m]

My Apple Watch is normally >40% by 10pm then goes on the charging stand when I go to bed. It’s part of the routine. Even if it lasted 7 days my routine would be the same.

[dboreham]

Samsung has had 2+ day charge for several generations. Their software was/is terrible, but since the switch to Google code 2 generations ago it is not bad.

[jgtrosh]

An Apple device would need to bring 9.3x the value of a Garmin device in other ways to compensate the charge gap? I'd say Apple users would agree that it does.