Watches or Smartwatches for Tripping?

[ReluctantFarmer]

Does anyone use an Apple Watch or a Garmin Watch (or something else) on trips? I normally wear an Apple Watch Ultra (which I used for fitness paddling over the winter) but it doesn't really seem to have the battery for long trips, and the maps are fairly iffy.

I'm thinking about one of the newer Garmin smartwatches as a replacement for multi-day overnights. It seems like they'd have better battery by a large margin and maybe better maps... but I'm also worried I'll spend the whole trip head down in the GPS.

I've previously worn a mechanical watch but the lack of alarms for getting up before sunrise is a bit of an issue. What are people doing for this?

 

[Gamma1214]

I take a phone if I'd ever want to set an alarm but it hasn't happened yet. (only reason that I can think to do so would be to see if I can catch a northern lights display but I usually awaken during the night anyway)

For me, part of unplugging on a trip is not caring what time the rest of the world thinks it is... Eat when hungry, sleep when tired & return to the car when I run out of map.

(your mileage may certainly vary and there's nothing wrong with that)

 

[ReluctantFarmer]

Definitely getting too focused on my technology is a concern. I'm already spending a lot of time looking through a camera and maybe don't really need another screen.

 

[kahel]

For me, part of unplugging on a trip is not caring what time the rest of the world thinks it is... Eat when hungry, sleep when tired & return to the car when I run out of map.

 

[Alan Gage]

I wear a Garmin 265s daily. I like it a lot. I do a fair amount of running and it's nice for that. When using it purely as a watch it lasts a couple weeks before charging. With the GPS on for intermittent activities I usually end up charging it every week or so. It wouldn't take much of a battery bank to keep it charged up for a 30 day trip.

I haven't done any trips in the last few years so I can't comment on how it would perform. I would definitely bring it along on a trip though. I like having a watch and a watch that tracks steps, heart rate, and calories burned would be interesting.

I would have no interest in using it, or a larger version, for maps and GPS tracking. I'm still a paper map guy and think that's part of the fun.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

For me, part of unplugging on a trip is not caring what time the rest of the world thinks it is... Eat when hungry, sleep when tired & return to the car when I run out of map.

I'm sure I could get by just fine without a watch but I like having one because it helps me estimate travel times. If I know I've covered 9 miles in the last x hours then I can use that to determine if I can make it 6 miles to next camp site or if I should stop here for the night. I find this more helpful on "non standard" days such as paddling with/against the wind, lots of small lakes/portages, rivers with a mix of runable rapids and portages, and, especially, traveling upstream on rivers.

I'll sometimes set an alarm to make sure I get up early if I think I need to beat the wind.

Alan

 

[ScottS]

My $25 Casio watch with a dial face is the perfect tripping watch. It is waterproof, has a 10 year battery, I won't cry if I lose it...
unlike the person that owned the $400 GPS watch that I found at the canoe launch last week. It's at the Cromwell Police Station in Connecticut if it is yours.
I played with it some to see if it had the owners name (it didn't) - that is saved on the owners smartphone, which it has to be paired with to be of much use other than recording basic data that you can get from a map.
A pretty expensive gadget considering that it only does stuff that is kind of fun to do on your own (like Alan said above).

I think a Casio with an alarm might set you back $50 or so.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I don't own a smart watch and never will.

For mapping while tripping, I use a Garmin GPS mounted on the thwart in front of me with street, topo, satellite, and ocean coastal maps, along with tide charts, loaded into it. Trying to read such maps off a screen as small as a watch face seems like elevating techno-gadget obsession over practical functionality. If I keep the GPS on all the time, it lasts about 40 hours on two lithium AA batteries. It also has an alarm clock. As does my phone.

Speaking of phones, I haven't worn my decades-old Timex for many years because my phone displays time. However, when I was camping in a place in the Adirondacks last summer that had no cell service, I got worried that the clock app wouldn't work. But it does, as long as one has battery power. Phones have an internal quartz clock, and if they have a GPS, the time can be updated via satellite even when not within cell coverage.

Nevertheless, I've taken to wearing the trusty, old analog Timex whenever I go canoeing. As John Cameron Swayze said on Times TV commercials from the 1950s through the early 80s: "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking." Except maybe with elephant stomps.

 

[ppine]

We will make camp when "the sun gets to about here."

 

[VA paddler]

I bring my iphone and my InReach. InReach gets us weather, verifies paper map orienteering, keeps the wife happy, and is priceless in a bind. Phone gives us tunes, a camera, and an alarm clock. Phone has managed to find some bars in some pretty unexpected places that were life savers. The InReach should have an alarm clock feature - that would make sense. I need an alarm - I would love to roll out of the tent whenever it suits, but that would be the day after the day after and we would have another reason to be notoriously behind schedule.

 

[memaquay]

I've recently purchased a Garmin Fenix 7. It was on sale for a great price. One aspect of that watch, beyond the mapping capabilities, is the built in flashlight. I would say it is the one thing I use the most. It's brighter than my phone flashlight. The battery life is fantastic. I uploaded all my gps data for every single route in the area, and the maps are quite good. However, I haven't used the mapping software yet, perhaps I will get a chance in the next month.

 

[scoutergriz]

First off I admit I'm old school with most gear and tend to stick with things that still work after years (or decades) of abuse.
My only "smart" thing is my phone, and it's usually turned off- the GPS and camera are only considered as backups to my camera and Garmin. My camera is probably 10 years old and does what I need it to do- take pics, it IS GPS enabled, but I've only used the metadata twice- once when my GPS died and my compass seemed off- I took a pic of the fireplace and checked the data, yup I was a half-mile further west than I should have been, the azimuth screw had gotten knocked out of position somehow and was pointing about 15° east of magnetic north. The second time was for court after some moron did a right turn into my truck, crossing 2 solid lines...
My GPS has basic plot and track options as well as an alarm that I've never used.
My watch for years was an old Timex Expedition with the built-in electronic compass and alarm, as well as a half- dozen other unused features, Sadly they dropped the compass and went for the useless bubble compass on the strap, which I promptly broke trying to fix an exhaust leak...
I'm a strong believer in the KISS principle and prefer having as few functions as possible unless they serve as a backup to other devices, less to go wrong that way...

 

[paddler123]

A basic digital watch (I have the classic Timex Ironman) has alarms and battery life for years, and has been my go-to on trips.

 

[Keeled Over]

Timex Expedition. Canoeing, bicycling, dirt bikes, skiing. $50.00. If you lose it, who cares?

 

[snapper]

I have a Casio wrist watch that I purchased because it has a barometer, altimeter and thermometer along with the usual other features; stop watch, timer, etc. If I remember correctly, I got it on sale from Campmor for about $50.00; like all my other watches over the years. I do like having the first three items as they can assist in a lot of ways. While my smartphone does accompany me, it's only as my camera. I've never used it on a trip for anything else. So far my wife hasn't insisted on my bringing an InReach or Spot device so I'm saving my money until it becomes an issue.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[yknpdlr]

I have a Beeasy. No idea who that really is, purchased online from AAFES. I bought it because it has relatively large digital numbers that make it easy to see with a quick glance as my paddling wrist is flashing by for less than a quarter second at canoe race cadence.

 

[Erica]

I had no idea watches could do all those things.

I had fun one time on the Suwannee River. I wanted to wear a watch for some reason, I don’t remember why, instead of using the time-telling feature of the iPhone, which I bring along as a camera. However, I had not worn that watch for some time. In fact, I had not worn it since before the most recent time change. My two time keepers were an hour off and it took me days to figure out why time was doing such strange things.

 

[ppine]

I was sitting around a campfire with a close friend. Without a word he took off his plastic watch and threw it in the flames. It burned blue and green. "No more cheap watches" he announced. "Next time I am going to spend at least 40 bucks."

 

[memaquay]

The thing about these new watches is that they can take over your life. Between worrying about your sleep score, your "Body battery life" (it figures out your energy surpluses and minuses it like a video game character), your step count, your heart rate, your blood pressure (which rises considerably when you scroll through multiple menus to find your maps) and your latest ECG, they can be quite overwhelming. As I stated earlier, my main use is to use the onboard flashlight to navigate to the bathroom twice a night.

 

[themadindian]

I have a garmin instinct 2x solar, for what I use it for it works great.

I only switched from my casio solar abc watch because of the ability to track my trips(paddles/hikes...), I can see distance, stroke rate, speed, glide and not to mention how I was performing physically during all of it. 90% of the time I don't get to see that info until I'm back in reception. For trips, what I find most useful is after I've finished studying my paper maps, I find that location in my garmin explore app and send that destination to my watch. The watch then provides me with a directional arrow that is easily seen from my wrist. This saves me time from pulling out my reading glasses, compass and or map.

I generally am not spending time with the "smart features" because I'm usually out of reception. Having the barometer with storm alert has saved me more than a few times, the compass on the wrist is super handy too. To me it's efficient without detracting from the wilderness experience.