Is there a compromise between Garmin and Apple Watch? (Advice please)

Just go with the Garmin. The fact that your wife can't call you on it is a plus, not a minus. For every time she contacts you for an emergency, she'll contact you for non-emergency reasons about 1000 times.

I double fist for runs. Garmin on the left, Apple Watch on the right for emergencies only.

Garmin for everything sports related and a slimmed down running Amphipod belt to carry the phone. Tuck the whole thing under your waistband and you don't even notice it.

Garmin devices have an incident alert and location feature.

Give the app WorkOutDoors a shot before you completely ditch the Apple Watch. Has a nominal cost but has quite a bit of functionality. The developer is also responsive.

Work out door is a great app however the one man band effort is far superior than the might of one of the richest companies on the planet. Work out doors will continue to be great until the developer gets bored.

Apple Watch native app is fine if you only want basic information when you run and you don’t mind tap for lap or a button on the $1k Apple Watch.

get the cheapest $100 Garmin and keep both if you need cellular.

which garmin model do you have? even my fenix 5 (much older model) has emergency contact mode

But for many of the Garmin watches, these work only if you have your phone with you, which OP doesn’t want. I have a Forerunner 245 that l like, and it probably has a few years left in it. So when I got a deal on an Apple Watch, I got one for safety purposes, and I wear both watches for about 1/3 of my runs.

But doesn't it need to jump onto your phone to do its thing? Simply being tracked by satellites is not enough to get your home to mama.

You need to chill out and enjoy your run. Don't worry yourself about something that MIGHT happen. Cuz you can literally come up with 135 things to worry about that might happen. What a life!

If you REALLY cared about contacting your wife you would just run with your watch.

sorry phone

You kind of jumped to the conclusion that he might have trouble enjoying his run. Maybe he just puts in a little bit of mental effort and time now to have a plan just in case.

And then every time he heads out the door, he can just enjoy the run.

What imaginary emergency situation are you thinking of? Just get Garmin. I also think they have an emergency alert system

Has anyone tried the Apple Watch Ultra? I haven't tried it myself but read it was supposed to be better for running than the regular Apple Watch.

I do the same with Coros. I rely on an old AW5 for emergency calls, music, and easy payments, and the running watch just to track the run itself and nothing else. The combination is cheaper and better on usability than buying a clunky $900 Garmin with the combined features.

My question for those that diss that Apple Watch or say it doesn’t have the exercise capabilities… what do you really need?

Apple Watch:
it has a start/stop. It does spilts. It takes accurate distance. It has a timer. it’s got decent heart rate.

what more does the average runner need??

I ran with a Garmin for years (620) until it finally died. I wanted to combine a few features so I went with apple watch. And I'm with you, it doesn't compare from a feature standpoint for running specifically. That said, so many of those features, even as a data nerd, I find I don't really need. So I'm not thrilled with the AW, but I really don't need to ditch it for now. So I'd be curious, what features do you actually need that you're not getting? No doubt the interface is terrible for running. But as far as accuracy and product functionality, it works just fine.

Fwiw, if I do end up looking hard into making a switch, I'll be sure to read DCRainmaker's reviews on Coros watches as an alternative. They seem like a viable option.

My complaints specifically are small data fields. I want to be able to have a really important field to be HUGE so when I glance down I clearly can see it. Also, when it's raining or I'm super sweaty, the touch screen is terrible. It's taken me a minute or two just to stop my watch at times. It would be so much better with a physical button for important functions. That includes a lap button as well. But I'm with you, for basic data recording it works just fine.