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For GPS data, I created one heck of a messy route. I included the running track, two sets of extremely long tunnels/bridges, running a loop next to a stadium, running on a small island, going through the forest, and just meandering. I had with me a FR745, Fitbit Sense, and of course the Apple Watch Series 6. Due to various embargos, I can’t quite share the Fitbit data until next week. So here’s the GPS data versus the FR745:
And a bit closer:
I went into this in detail in the video, or you can zoom in on the set here. But the main takeaways are:
– Holy crap, Apple finally got rid of the Mario Kart/Swooshing/Sashaying corner effect
– The Apple Watch and FR745 were very close
– The FR745 actually nailed the track, despite not being in track mode (hmm…interesting thoughts on that later)
– The Apple Watch struggled a little bit around the stadium, but we’re talking mostly just a few meters
– There were a few sections it wobbled slightly on some straightaways
– Both were great in the tunnels
– Both were great in the forest
So, the biggest takeaway is that Apple has clearly traded some of the over-smoothing they’ve done since the very beginning of Apple Watch, with a bit more ‘trueness’ for where the watch actually goes (or, where it thinks it goes). This means that you get a bit more wobble in some cases compared to the past, but it also means it doesn’t cut or sweep around corners like it used to. As a reminder from the Series 5, this is that sweeping I was talking about there (these are from the Series 5 review). You can see how it heavily smooths my twists and turns on the path.
Now, Apple has continued to make progress on this since last year. Every once in a while I’ll do tests with it, and I’ve seen them slowly find that balance better and better. But I think at this point they’re acting much closer to a normal GPS watch than the heavily smoothed Apple Watch.
