Seems like the main difference is actually not needing your phone for connectivity. It’ll hurt battery life. Good for emergencies but I doubt Garmin’s software can compete with Apple.
To be honest, the Apple watch isn't even in the same class as this watch. This is the kind of watch that people who are going to be traveling into the deep wilderness will wear instead of three other gadgets. It has a maximum battery life of 8 days, depth gauge, altimiter, barometer and a satellite communications module.
Edit: This would make a great watch for sailors to supplement an EPIRB.
Yeah, that's Garmin's thing. They are selling top of the line, marine/aviation grade, safety critical equipment. $2,000 is almost low for what they normally sell, like radar systems and chart plotters for boats, or glass cockpits for aircraft. They are mostly competing with Raytheon and BAE systems for niche applications. Stuff you would find in F-16 fighter jets except better somehow.
Essentially, Garmin is the product you buy when money is no object. Either because you are obscenely wealthy, or because you are trusting their product with your life and the lives of your passengers. They have some consumer grade stuff too that is usually trickling down from their obscenely expensive other businesses.
Even my kids (full in the Apple ecosystem) are using Garmin watches because for sport, it looks like they are one level better than Apple. Especially the battery as they are often 48/72h without access to power.
In Reach is basically 911 but in the backcountry. I don’t see how Apple can compete with that. Being able to contact emergency services without running back to a trailhead and driving to civilization is really powerful as an extra measure of safety.
Apple already competes with satellite comms on the latest phones (well, anything after the 13?). It’s not as hands-off as InReach, but the job gets done. Rumors say the new AW Ultra will have satellite comms.
On top of that, T-Mobile has sat->cell now even for my iPhone 13. I tried the beta, it gets the job done and pretty seamlessly. It’s a monthly extra, so I’ll keep the InReach for now, but it’s time is limited.
I was in the market for a new running watch recently, and was kinda disappointed no LTE options existed.
I'm very happy we're finally getting there, although pushing LTE down to the lower tier will take a while (I'm never going to buy a >1200$ smartwatch).
LTE support will kill battery life if online full day without doubt, but if Garmin plays it smart by limiting it to activity (with per-activity settings, e.g. a run may need an update every 3m, a trek maybe every 15m), sending periodic pings if out of BLE/Wifi range, and activating it only on user request for features, I could very happily live with 8 days of battery life (instead of 11) and LiveTrack support while I'm running, at least I don't need to carry >150g phone on my arm for 1h anymore.
I had a 945LTE, and if I was out in the mountains where it couldn’t find a cell tower, it would burn the battery trying (the actual repro is a bit more complicated). Hopefully they manage the radio better in the Fenix version, or say hello to Apple Watch battery life.
Disappointment, as they're dropping the plain LCD options (30+ battery life and ridiculously high visibility on daylight) all while doubling the price. They can keep it for themselves...
