Apple Watch on the Camino

[tomnorth]

I'm curious if anyone out there has had experience wearing an Apple Watch on the Camino. Was the daily charging requirement an issue? How did you use the Watch on your Camino? Was weather sealing an issue? Would you wear it again on a Camino?

I've been debating getting an Apple Watch, but what's been holding me back is that I'm concerned about battery life. Right now I wear a Bertucci waterproof, rugged watch that I really like. The battery lasts for over three years. It's just a watch, pure and simple. I've thought the fitness tracking features of the Apple Watch would be nice, but if I found the Watch a hindrance on the Camino, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

I'm not asking you to convince me to buy an Apple Watch, I'm just wondering what experiences pilgrims have had wearing one on the Camino.

Thanks!

 

[Dorpie]

Purely from my own point of view I'd imagine having a smart watch would just be an extra thing to have to worry about while on camino. But then I've never had a smart watch or an Apple product (apart from an ipod) so don't know what I'm missing. My Samsung phone counts steps and distance and if I wanted I could check my pulse, but it all seems like unneccesary fluff, if you're getting fitter you'll be able to feel it and won't need to measure it.

Buen Camino,

Rob.

 

[Tim Floyd]

I use one every day and I would never take it on Camino. You dont need your wrist buzzing every time someone sends a message. Apps on the phone are helpful, the watch is not in this circumstance. I would leave mine at home.

 

[Anamiri]

When I set off for more than a months long walk, tracking my efforts and movements electronically is the least of my concerns.
I mainly need my phone to take photos.
I check my phone once a day in the evening, and sometimes need to make a phone-call to book accommodation.

 

[domigee]

I'm curious if anyone out there has had experience wearing an Apple Watch on the Camino. Was the daily charging requirement an issue? How did you use the Watch on your Camino? Was weather sealing an issue? Would you wear it again on a Camino?

I've been debating getting an Apple Watch, but what's been holding me back is that I'm concerned about battery life. Right now I wear a Bertucci waterproof, rugged watch that I really like. The battery lasts for over three years. It's just a watch, pure and simple. I've thought the fitness tracking features of the Apple Watch would be nice, but if I found the Watch a hindrance on the Camino, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

I'm not asking you to convince me to buy an Apple Watch, I'm just wondering what experiences pilgrims have had wearing one on the Camino.


Thanks!

The more you take with you, the more you have to worry about! I don't think a watch is necessary on the Camino (of any kind!). But of course it is only one opinion..,..

 

[Dale R Cohen]

I wore mine everyday, charged it every evening either via a plug or using a charging brick I carried (that I charged up whenever I had a plug near my bunk), and never had any problems. I’m not obsessed with my Apple Watch, so it didn’t distract me on the Camino; however, now I have an electronic “record” of my journey so that when I’m missing my Camino experience, I have another way of revisiting my walk on the Way. No issues with waterproofing (and I just got home after experiencing the wet, cold, and snowy conditions of March & April). I would take my Apple Watch again.

 

[tomnorth]

I wore mine everyday, charged it every evening either via a plug or using a charging brick I carried (that I charged up whenever I had a plug near my bunk), and never had any problems. I’m not obsessed with my Apple Watch, so it didn’t distract me on the Camino; however, now I have an electronic “record” of my journey so that when I’m missing my Camino experience, I have another way of revisiting my walk on the Way. No issues with waterproofing (and I just got home after experiencing the wet, cold, and snowy conditions of March & April). I would take my Apple Watch again.

What things does the Watch track in your electronic record?

 

[Chris Gi]

I'm curious if anyone out there has had experience wearing an Apple Watch on the Camino. Was the daily charging requirement an issue? How did you use the Watch on your Camino? Was weather sealing an issue? Would you wear it again on a Camino?

I've been debating getting an Apple Watch, but what's been holding me back is that I'm concerned about battery life. Right now I wear a Bertucci waterproof, rugged watch that I really like. The battery lasts for over three years. It's just a watch, pure and simple. I've thought the fitness tracking features of the Apple Watch would be nice, but if I found the Watch a hindrance on the Camino, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

I'm not asking you to convince me to buy an Apple Watch, I'm just wondering what experiences pilgrims have had wearing one on the Camino.

Thanks!

I think the Camino is a time to leave technology at home.

 

[CdnDreamer]

I'm not a real "techie" person, but I have worn a step tracker for years, and wouldn't want to leave it at home.

In 2015 I wore a "bodybugg" on my arm. The product doesn't exist anymore. But at the time I had to charge it every couple of days and it recorded the number of steps I took, and the amount of calories I burned based on skin heat and flow of electricity through my skin. It was very interesting to see that the first couple of weeks I burned a lot more calories when walking the 20 - 40,000 steps per day than I did after that. The body figured out how to conserve energy when walking. I wrote all the information down in my journal when I got home and I still like to refer to it to see how many steps I took on a particular day.

In 2018 I will wear my Garmin watch and it records the number of steps I take and number of hours I sleep. I am going to try to figure out how to stop the notifications from popping up as I don't need to know about emails arriving. That will also conserve the battery life. My Garmin can record the actual walk, showing speed I walked and the changes in elevation, but I don't think it can run for 6 hours - something else to figure out before I leave in 3 weeks.

You may find that the apple phone can track your walk and that you don't need the watch.

 

[Rose Rubino]

I'm curious if anyone out there has had experience wearing an Apple Watch on the Camino. Was the daily charging requirement an issue? How did you use the Watch on your Camino? Was weather sealing an issue? Would you wear it again on a Camino?

I've been debating getting an Apple Watch, but what's been holding me back is that I'm concerned about battery life. Right now I wear a Bertucci waterproof, rugged watch that I really like. The battery lasts for over three years. It's just a watch, pure and simple. I've thought the fitness tracking features of the Apple Watch would be nice, but if I found the Watch a hindrance on the Camino, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

I'm not asking you to convince me to buy an Apple Watch, I'm just wondering what experiences pilgrims have had wearing one on the Camino.

Thanks!

My husband brought his Apple Watch last year, dropped it many times as it kept falling off his wrist, lost it in a eucalyptic, fern thick forest in the Portuguese camino and didn’t realize until the end of that stage. His watch is black and green. Guess what, another Pilgrim found it amongst the ferns and gave it to the hospitalero where he decided to stop for the day. We were having dinner in our Albergue with pilgrims when the conversation came up regarding apple products and this pilgrim said he had found an Apple Watch. It was our watch, we were both in the same albergue. Moral of the story..... a lot of great honest pilgrims and don’t bring an Apple Watch.

 

[Dale R Cohen]

if You put it in workout mode, it will track your location; however, it will also run down the battery at a quicker rate and probably not last all day. I just tracked total kilometers because the distance between stages was not the only walking I did. For instance, on a rest day in Burgos, I walked over 25 km!!! I also used a passive tracking device (the Spot) that ran on 4 AAA batteries (and never needed replacing) that tracked my location every five minutes. I can go back and see a satellite image of where I was. I know it’s obsessive, but all I did was turn it on in the morning (it was attached to my backpack) and then turn it off when I checked into the albergue. The Watch was just total km.

 

[KCarole]

I do not have an apple watch but wear a fitbit that i have been using on the camino for 3 weeks now. I find it helpful as it helps me monitor how far i have walked or have to work. I have to say i am somewhat very attached to it as it was my motivation to start hiking. Charging hasn't been an issue: i charge it every 5 days and take the same precautions that i usually take: not submerging on water and making sure the bracelet is properly fastened.

 

[Corinne Lombardi]

I'd also be interested in answers to these questions from people who had their watches with them and used them. I've been considering getting an Apple Watch for some time, mainly for the purpose of fitness tracking and health monitoring. On earlier trips elsewhere that were physically more demanding and in a group setting, I sometimes wore a Polar heart rate monitor and wrist watch. It helped me to force myself to slow down and pace myself better when climbing heights. I've not felt a need for this on the Camino Frances but as I grow older I'm paying more attention to the general state of my health.

Battery life, charging times and keeping an eye on it while charging ... how did that go?

 

[Corinne Lombardi]

So, I have an apple watch3 and I like it alot. The reasons I like it do not really apply to trekking- I can check my stats yes, but I can answer my phone without having to dig it out, I don’t miss calls, etc. None of those things I want to do trekking except the fitness bit-HR, distance, time.
This I can get from a FitBit, which I have (pre-apple watch). The fitbit needs to be charged every 4-5 days, the apple watch pretty much daily.
I will resurect my fitbit and use it on the CF. I might add that should someone steal the fitbit, I would not be as upset as if they had taken the apple watch.

 

[Deleted member 39850]

On my first Camino, I had a jawbone, and I loved the limited data I had from that. On the coming trip I will wear my apple watch. I monitor my heart health as a proxy for my iron levels, but I also monitor my e-V02-max. I have a charging brick that can charge 2 devices at a time, and functions as a small Led flashlight as well. I will be able to share charging of my own device and of a second pilgrim, effectively not taking away any charge time from a bunk-mate, and the watch charges *very fast* -- less time than a shower, generally. My phone I will charge off the brick while walking. The time/distance/energy data are important to me as an athletic person; the GPS data are a matter of intense curiosity that I like to track. I am thinking that after this trip, I will use some of my GPS data to get a 3D-map of my favourite stretch in Galicia (whatever it turns out to be this time). I'm glad to hear those who've had their watches found them easy enough to charge.