Opinion
I couldn’t give a toss about the new Apple Watch
by Kevin Hofer
Okay, I admit it: sports watches are awesome
12.4.2025
Translation: Megan Cornish
Pictures: Kevin Hofer
I’ve always been averse to sports watches and smartwatches. After testing them, I have to make a distinction. I think sports watches are great, but I still don’t like the smart features.
I’m the guy who wrote this:
The bottom line back then was that I think smartwatches are stupid. Now I’ve overcome my fear and worn a Garmin Instinct Solar 2 for a month. While it’s not a pure smartwatch, it’s a sports watch with smart features.
After a month of wearing it, I wouldn’t want to be without it for sports. It’s also practical for everyday use, with features like the timer that a Casio also has.
What I like: sports and a timer
Now I’m 41, I’m wiser. In my last article, I criticised the fact that constant tracking during exercise encourages me to push myself beyond my limits. Now I have to say it actually helps me stick to my limits better. This starts with the frequency of exercise.
As a general rule, I exercise every day as an antidote to the constant sitting in the office and working from home. Until now, I’ve done it based on how I feel. I often trained the same muscle groups on several consecutive days, resulting in overtraining. Being able to track my workouts means I can now align my workouts more effectively.
My exercise routine consists of bouldering, calisthenics, yoga, running, and weightlifting. In the summer, I add more outdoor activities. What I particularly like is how accurately it tracks runs. Even in «my» Taubenloch Gorge or in dense forests, it works accurately to the metre. When I do bodyweight workouts, the Instinct Solar 2 correctly recognises certain exercises like pull-ups or push-ups, but not others – it isn’t familiar with Skin the Cat, for example. When bouldering, I especially like being able to track exactly what I’ve climbed. The only thing that annoys me about yoga is having to press the button on my watch for each new pose.
In everyday life, I especially appreciate the feature that a mechanical watch or a Casio also has: the ability to easily read the time. The timer function’s also useful when I don’t have my smartphone handy. In the laundry room, for example, so I don’t forget to take things out of the washing machine.
I don’t really need the tracking features in everyday life. At least I now excel at small talk because I always know the current moon phase. And I’m outpacing my colleagues Michelle and Domi in the monthly step challenge.
What I’m still not a fan of
Sleep tracking’s really getting on my nerves. On the one hand, I feel like it’s not really accurate, and on the other, I know whether I slept well or badly. I don’t need a watch that chimes in after a bad night and tells me that my sleep was «not optimal and too short». So, from now on, the watch will stay on my bedside table at night.
I’m also big on the smart features and the resulting constant communication between my phone and watch. The additional vibration on my wrist, in addition to the one in my pocket, annoys me even more. What’s more, the constant communication between them affects the watch’s battery. So, I cut off the constant connection between my phone and sports watch on the first evening.
I don’t find the Instinct 2 Solar aesthetically pleasing either, although I’m anything but a style icon – after all, I wear barefoot shoes I wouldn’t wear it to a gala dinner, which I admittedly rarely attend. There are certainly nicer sports watches, but they can’t compare to classic mechanical models. In terms of durability, a sports watch is just as good as a mechanical watch – but the latter lasts a lifetime, whereas a sports watch is useless when the battery runs out.
I’m keeping it
From now on, I’ll mainly wear the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar when I really need it: while exercising. I use it in everyday life when I’m too busy to wear my mechanical watch, such as on family outings or at the beach on holiday.
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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