I remember the first Apple Watch presentation well. Back then I was a huge Apple fanboy. I watched all their keynotes and each new product was truly exciting.
They successfully planted a seed of „I need this!” in me every single time.
At launch it wasn’t available in Poland, so I went to Berlin and bought one. Because of the ultra-high demand, the only one left was with a pink sports band.
Yeah, very manly of me. But we can all agree it was more of a „salmon” color.
At that time we were working on the Babynote mobile app which also had an Apple Watch component.
Just like with the very first iPhone, I was probably one of maybe 20 people in all of Poland who owned one of these that early.
Comfort?
Now I’ll tell you something personal. Don’t laugh! Every summer as a kid, I was roaming free on nudist beaches. And even in the beach towns, running barefoot (in clothes, lol!).
That made me pretty irritable when it comes to wearing things. I got used to clothes (obviously) but I do have the need to adjust them for comfort even now.
I never wore a watch before. Wearing anything on my hands and fingers is just too annoying. Of course getting an Apple Watch to NOT wear it was pretty stupid.
So I tried. And boy did that backfire quickly. The rubber band and the shape of the device made it extremely irritating. I was maybe able to wear it for a couple hours before needing to take it off.
It was at that time, around 2016, when I decided to just put it on when going on runs. The rest of the time it was on a charger, in a drawer.
Battery life
Yeah. It’s really bad. The early models had barely lasted a day. Once I switched to the Ultra it can now do 2 days. But longer workouts?
Is it really that „Ultra”?
I did a 200km bike ride (in one day) last September. It was over 10 hours on a bike, constant monitoring with GPS. Full battery at the start.
I was smart enough to turn off the screen (battery saving mode) and still ended up with single digit % of battery in the evening.
If you plan on running a 48h race like Goggins, forget about it 😉
The Ultra
In the Summer of 2024 I decided to try and learn to wear a watch. I already owned the Ultra, but only put it on on runs.
In early August I started putting it on for the entire day. Tracking multiple metrics like HRV, resting heart rate and VO2Max.
I experimented with three different bands too and the fabric one turned out to be the most comfortable. Both the Milanese Loop and especially the rubber one were really uncomfortable for daily use.
I eventually got used to wearing the watch all the time, but around October I got the Whoop 4.0 and later the MG.
The difference in comfort
The whoop was so much lighter and more comfortable, I decided to wear it on my right wrist non stop. The Apple Watch Ultra sat on the left wrist for the day. Then I put it on a charger at night, as I already had sleep tracking on the Whoop.
That continued until January 2025.
By looking and comparing the metrics from both workouts (when I wore both devices) and just daily activities I realised the whoop is enough for me.
I don’t need to go from not wearing anything, to having both my wrists taken. And I definitely didn’t want to charge the device every single day.
Plus the whoop is literally 10x more comfortable to wear. It barely ever irritates me now.
Apple Watch goes away?
No. I don’t wear it daily anymore.
But I do take it with me on runs, bike rides and hikes. Being able to see the pace and time can help. Especially with HIIT run types.
And I don’t need a screen on my wrist anyway. I’m fortunate enough to work on my own terms. That means I don’t need to know what time it is – most of the time.
And when I do, I can always pull out my Light Phone 3 from my pocket.
What about a Garmin?
Yes, I know Garmin’s battery life is legendary. But I tried a couple of them on and both the UI and the comfort just weren’t there.
Apple Watch? It’s fine for short to medium length workouts when you need to see your pace.
For regular strength training or yoga I only keep the whoop on.
It’s just a lot more comfortable and I need to charge it once every two weeks. Eventually I hope to let go of fitness trackers next year, once I get to know how my body reacts better.
But that’s a whole other story.
Last two uses
Next to distance based workouts, I use the Apple Watch for one more thing.
I try to do the Breathe exercise in the Mindfullness app at least once a day. Optimally twice. It’s part of my HRV training regimen next to the Nurosym.
