Watch

I have a 6 and am curious about this as well.  I think it would help you could elaborate on what you’d be doing with it…

For example, will you turn on the “Outdoor Walk” functionality while hiking to capture your track with the GPS and how far you’ve walked, or will you be wearing it just as a watch?  Checking our heartbeat or O2 levels?  It’s an amazing fitness device, but I don’t yet have a feel for how much tracking drains the battery either.  I did buy their 1-foot charging cable in anticipation of needing to charge it while hiking.

It actually comes in the mail Tuesday😊. Will use it for HR,altitude,steps,distance etc.Will turn off once I’m in the shelter at end of day. Have done some research on things you can do to get optimum battery life and hopping to get it though resupplys(4 to 6 days) without increasing my 10k battery pack. Also have IPhone 11,Headlamp and small tent light(both Nitecores. The 10k has been fine without the 6 and of course I can adjust accordingly as days on the trail go by.The 10K at 6.3 and jumping to a 13k adds about 2.5oz. When it comes will be doing some experimenting.Thinking Will need to charge it once between resupply and will need to know how much it takes out of the 10k.

It’s going to take very little out of the 10k, I don’t think you’ll need a bigger battery pack. While you’ll probably want to charge it nightly, it shouldn’t be anywhere near even 20% at the end of the day (I guess that depends on how long the day is, of course). I haven’t used my backpacking because I use a Garmin Fenix instead, but I do wear it all day when home, turning off at night, and I usually get 2 days out of it pretty easily.

Thank you.😊

There’s a suggested mode to disable constant heart rate for walking/running/hiking exercises, which saves a lot of battery.  At best you’ll get about 8 hours of tracking, keeping the watch face off (disable raise to wake, no always on).  Not good for backpacking but OK for day hikes.

I personally really dislike having a touch screen interface when my hands are sweaty and dirty.  I wear my Apple Watch daily but hike with a COROS Apex.

Analog baby, analog…

I have an analog face on my 6…Does that count?  My previous (and perhaps still current – I haven’t yet committed to the 6 for backpacking) is the IsoBrite with T100 illumination.  There’s no valid reason for it, but I like to know the time when I wake up at night while hiking and the brightness of this watch is amazing (and it’s analog with a 10-year battery).

Brad, “analog”

My watch lets me track my pulse, the time,  and estimate mileage.  The battery lasts for 2 years.

I think it was $29.

My watch lets me track my pulse, the time, and estimate mileage. The battery lasts for 2 years.

Hi Dave, that’s a very nice looking watch. You piqued my interest as I’ve been meaning to buy my 28 yo son a watch (yes, shocker, he wants one). My only concern is the crown… it’s pretty proud from the bezel. Do you find you snag it?

Thanks!

I have an analog face on my 6…Does that count?

lol, no :)

The apple watches are neat little devices… but for me its just another electronic gadget I’d rather not be bogged down with. But we’re all so different personality-wise so of course there’s no “right” answer or opinion. Apparently watches even comes down to HYOH!

I had that same victorinox Brad, but the band broke on it and it was very difficult to find a replacement band in that narrow. I was only able to find a Velcro band that I’m not happy with.

I use an analog luminox. Swiss made, super lightweight, always glows (little radioactively decaying inserts never stop glowing, even during the day). These watches are not inexpensive, but something I’ll keep forever and it will never be outdated or need to be recycled.

The battery life on my wife’s Apple Watch stinks.   I use a Garmin Forerunner 935 for running, dayhiking, etc, and have used it on a few backpacking trips though it does have to be recharched every couple of days if using the GPS.

Prior to the Garmin I used a Highgear ABC watch.

Seiko 009 self winding for those who want to go on a 10 year through hike and not deal with replacing their watch battery, ever.   I used a solar rechargeable ABC watch for a number of years

Ditto everything Doug said.  If you don’t mind recharging every night, Apple watches don’t require a lot of juice

Specs say the Apple Watch series 6 has a battery capacity of 304 mah. This seems like a useful number to know for planning purposes.