Apple Watch Series 3

I have the original Apple watch.  Correct the battery life is questionable for extended backcountry use.  I know others have GPS watches and carry chargers, so as long as you have enough juice it could work.

On the phone you can turn off location by app.  You can put it in airplane mode, etc.  That’s what I plan to do for Philmont next summer to maximize battery life.

On the watch, I think the apps are automatic.  I’ve been told the only way to remove watch apps is to remove them from your phone.  Maybe someone here can correct me if I’m wrong.

I wear my apple watch every day for home, work and travel, but wear a Casio solar charger watch for backpacking.

I own a Fit Bit Charge currently and wear it in the back-country as I like it’s ability to tell me how far I’ve walked each day.

I think it’s pretty common knowledge all the new-fangled pedometers (like the Fit Bit) work as well as those of 40 years ago, which is to say poorly. All overestimate actual mileage, albeit some more than others.

A guy I hike with wears an Apple Watch 3. It is a significant improvement (gps, heart rate etc) over previous generations. I understand most of the improvements are in watchOS 4 (the firmware) and not necessarily hardware (except for the LTE hardware, if you care about that).

For an extensive review, go to the fount of all knowledge about wearable devices:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/11/apple-watch-series3-cellular-fitness-sport-review.html

The battery life of the Apple Watch is not great for a backcountry watch.

If you use it passively (without running the Exercise app), turn on Airplane Mode (no radios) and Theater Mode (no auto-wake), you can stretch your battery life pretty far. This means you only get intermittent HR tracking.

I’ve gotten about 3 days per charge like this with my Apple Watch. If you turn it off when you sleep, you can stretch the battery a little more. When the watch “dies” you can still hit a button and see what time it is, which makes it a surprisingly reliable timepiece despite appearing to be a huge battery hog.

My Garmin Fenix 3 gets almost 2 weeks being used the same way, with the additional abilities to save my GPS waypoints plus ABC functionality. That said, the Fenix is truly in its element outdoors and otherwise a pretty mediocre watch once it’s back home.

I chose to wear my Watch on my last 8-day backpacking trip and generally liked it. I kept it on the “Solar” face, which makes it easy to visualize how much daylight you have and keep a schedule on track.

I did not find it more useful than the Fenix, but it is a much more polished product (as a timepiece) and more svelte so it doesn’t get caught on backpack straps when you put on and off your pack.

You can add or remove apps at any time:

1. On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app and tap the My Watch tab.
2. Scroll to the app that you want to add or remove.
3. To add an app to your Apple Watch, tap Install.
4. To remove an app, tap it, then turn off Show App on Apple Watch.

Copied from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204784

Thanks all!  These are super helpful.  Keep ’em coming!

Anyone use GAIA GPS with the Apple watch?  If so…trying to figure out how to use GAIA the best way that doesn’t eat all the battery…specifically using the watch to see the map and current location I’m at.

No specific experience using Gaia GPS on the Apple watch. After reading this:

https://help.gaiagps.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003523807-Information-for-Apple-Watch-Users

I uninstalled the Gaia GPS app from my Apple watch. I worried that using the watch this way would drain both the iPhone and watch battery too quickly. Also, I stopped bringing the Apple watch when I went backpacking. After disabling communications features to save battery life, the watch becomes unnecessary, in my opinion. If I wanted to capture some kind of physical activity, I think a simple step counter like the FitBit is a better option.

FWIW, I wear a G-Shock GWM5610-1 (48 g) which is solar powered and has multi-band atomic time keeping. For me, this eliminates both battery issues and any clock drift.