I've resisted the whole smart-watch thing so far.

I've been a Mac guy since the late 1990's and have had an iPhone since 2008 and live in their ecosystem. My wife has had an iWatch SE for over a year now and loves the stupid thing. Most of my co-workers seem to be wearing them now as well.

I need to lose weight and became interested in the pedometer aspect and am now looking at picking up a lightly used Series7 for $200.

What is the Sigforum-feedback on these things?

I don’t know, my wife saw our daughter’s and decided she wanted one. I got her one for Mother’s Day. She likes it. I’m intrigued now, and I think I’ll get one for Father’s Day from her.

My wife had one. It had to be charged every night, a deal breaker for me.
I wear my watch to bed.
If you carry your phone with you all day, it has a pedometer function. No need for a smarty watch to get that done.

I’ve had one for a few years. It’s does so much more then a tracking steps. It will track HR which I really like when working out. The newer models will also do pulse ox and ECK(which is a one leaf EKG).

If you hike it will not only track miles but how much elevation you have climbed.

I first bought a used small version a few years ago to see if I liked it. I moved to the larger version and newer one when pulse ox and HR was added. I would have stayed with the smaller version but as I get older my reading vision has started to suffer.

I used to have a watch just for working out that would give me HR and I had to use a chest strap. Apple Watch while more expensive is well worth it for all the features. I don’t mind charging it at night just get a stand that holds the watch and charger and drop it one when you go to bed or charge it when you get home and wear it at night to track your sleep.

For me it’s being able to leave the phone at home or in the vehicle. With some APP’s, and that watch, it’ll do all comms that the phone will. I lift weights every night in the gym and have never nor will ever use the watch for workouts, etc. So for me it’s a device to separate me from the phone.

I like my Apple watch but it isn't super amazing for my needs. I like being able to answer a phone call or at least see who is calling if I happen to not be right by my phone. It makes a nice alarm clock, vibrating to wake so that my wife can keep sleeping. It has a walkie-talkie function which sometimes comes in really handy to talk to my wife when we are in different parts of the property. Texting is ok, meaning it is functional, but the screen is so small it really is only a stop-gap fix if I can't grab my phone to read a message.

I like being able to customize the screen to show a different time zone, or weather, etc.

The turn by turn map instructions are sent via pulses when driving, eliminating annoying voice announcements.

The health functions are very nice, and for me the reason I got it in the first place. Overall I rate the watch as good, but I usually wear something else.

I use my Apple Watch for:

• Workout and activity tracking (incl. steps) (I use the Strong Workout app for workouts)
  
• Sleep monitoring
  
• Heart rate monitoring--incl. heartbeat irregularity monitoring
  
• Fall detection
  
• Paying for things (Apple Pay)
  
• Hearing aid control
  
• Checking incoming phone calls and texts, sometimes even making/receiving calls
  
• Alarm system notifications
  
• Controlling lighting
  
• Clock alarms
  
• Countdown timer
  
• Stopwatch
  
• Calendar alerts and checking for upcoming calendar events
  
• Navigation when I'm not in my own vehicle
  
• Weather alerts
  
• Calculator (even has a tip calculator w/bill-splitting function)
  
• Remote camera control
  
• The Grint golf app
  

They're great for the health tracking stuff. You enter your vitals and they suggest the goals. Also had an O2 meter, basic EKG, etc.
You should get up for at least a minute each hour to reduce chances of clots to prevent heart attacks, strokes and it gives reminders.
Also lots of other things ensigmatic mentioned.

When they first came out I thought, not for me. After a few years I decided to give one a try and I was pleasantly surprised and I really like my Series 3 but of course the newer models (7 & 8) have a lot more features. I had a thread several months back and was convinced I was going to upgrade but for various reasons I didn't. I'm revisiting this and now I can't decide on the size.

We resisted even though we’re pretty much Apple everything. Kids gave each of us a model 2 for Christmas some years ago. We upgraded to model 4 when they came out. Last week we each bought model 8s at the Costco sale. Can’t live without them.

I really thought the iWatch was stupid when it first came out. I think I bought my first one at Gen 4 and now have the most recent. It is really just an extension of your iPhone to a watch with many other features. I now think it is great and am glad I bought it. I have never bought the cellular version.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
My wife had one. It had to be charged every night, a deal breaker for me.
I wear my watch to bed.
.

The battery life on my old Apple watch annoyed me as well because it had to be charged pretty much every day as well. But I upgraded to the Ultra and it goes about 3 days before I need to charge it.

As far as why I like it...

1) movement tracking, but as mentioned smart phones do this too, to an extent.
2) I like data and being able to see my HR and O2 saturation is cool, though not much more than a "gadget"... it doesn't actually enrich my life but I still like it
3) the stupid ring things actually does help me be active.
4) The "Mindfulness" app which basically is guides you through deep breathing is actually nice. I try to do it a couple times a day
5) worn consistently it claims to track a lot of various health "trends"... again, a data thing
6) It rattles my wrist when I have a turn comping up while using navigation on my phone. This is very handy, especially if the wife is in the car as I may miss audio cues if she's talking.
7) Being able to see messages without pulling out the phone is handy, though I almost never send messages from it
8) I like being able to leave my phone behind when I exercise. I don't like things in my pockets while I lift weights or go for a walk, so the watch is great as I can be available for messages if need
9) Related to above: I can use it to stream music or podcasts directly to my earbuds without my phone. Very useful
10) Apple Pay from my watch has saved me hassle several times when I forgot my wallet and phone. Oops
11) This Ultra is dive rated, if that matters for you. Doesn't for me.
12) A coworkers apple watch did alert him that he was experiencing A-Fib. We then switched watches to confirm and my watch confirmed A-Fib for him and that I was normal with his watch. As as 23 year old he wasn't looking out for heart issues so this was a great benefit to him
13) SLEEP TRACKING! I love it. Again... it doesn't appreciably change or affect my life but I still love checking it in the mornings.
14) Wake up alarms via the wrist tapping is actually very effective. I much prefer it to an audible alarm
15) I set up my stopwatch app as a home screen widget. I use it for intermittent fasting and it is very handy how it is displayed and easily accessible on my wrist

I'm sure there is more that I am forgetting.

KevH,

On the Apple Watch you can read your email and texts. You send a text. You can track your exercise activities. The Apple Watch can be set up to track you heart rhythms and notify you if it detects something irregular. It will track your sleep. It will show you your heart rate on demand.

It will keep you so connected to everything it might just be too much. And that is my case, I was getting every kind of notice possible from every app on my iPhone! Notices of emails that I did not care to receive when then the notices came in. It drove my nuts and it felt like there was not a moments peace!

So now my Apple Watch sits on my nightstand, completely discharged (as some have already mentioned, it needed to be charged everyday!) and I have gone back to wearing my vintage Seiko Sports 100 Chronograph analog watch. I can not foresee going back to wearing my Apple Watch...

Your experience may be different.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark in Michigan:
KevH,

On the Apple Watch you can read your email and texts. You send a text. You can track your exercise activities. The Apple Watch can be set up to track you heart rhythms and notify you if it detects something irregular. It will track your sleep. It will show you your heart rate on demand.

It will keep you so connected to everything it might just be too much. And that is my case, I was getting every kind of notice possible from every app on my iPhone! Notices of emails that I did not care to receive when then the notices came in. It drove my nuts and it felt like there was not a moments peace!

So now my Apple Watch sits on my nightstand, completely discharged (as some have already mentioned, it needed to be charged everyday!) and I have gone back to wearing my vintage Seiko Sports 100 Chronograph analog watch. I can not foresee going back to wearing my Apple Watch...

Your experience may be different.

I too was irritated at most of the notifications I got on my watch, but you can control them. I only get the notifications I want now, which is pretty much just text messages and calls. Other notifications happen on my phone, but that is prety much it on my watch.

Before I gave mine to my daughter as she really wanted one (and I wasn’t using it to it’s full potential), my favorite use was in the iPhone map function so I didn’t have to reference my phone. It was very convenient and did a good job getting to locations with turn notifications and such. I’m actually looking to pick up a replacement so.

I’m severely under-utilizing mine. As previously mentioned, I really appreciate the map functions while on a road-trip. Most other days, I tend to wear a Citizen watch.

Well that escalated quickly!!!

I decided to poke around on eBay and then FB marketplace to see what used ones were going for. I figured I would just try one as proof-of-concept to see if it worked for me and if I got one cheap enough if I didn't like it I could just turn around and sell it.

Looking at FB marketplace a longtime acquaintance's kid was selling a Series7 45mm GPS (no cellular) for $200 in town so I called them and bought it. Turns out once I powered it up it has 100% battery life so he wasn't lying when he said he barely wore it.

It's only been a few hours, but so far it seems very comfortable and a pretty cool gizmo. I've been playing with the Walkie-Talkie feature to talk to my wife on hers (I really miss our Nextels...although I guess a phone call is just as easy).

We will see how this goes...

The only time I really wore mine was when we were at a theme park. It made it easier to keep in touch with other people without having to pull out a phone all the time since you can't hear or feel the phone notifications while in crowds.

Driving long distance was also handy while using the maps.

I can also do without the watch completely as I rarely used it, but it was given to me for free.

A tip that I found with the rubber straps was to put the straps on upside down- the short end on the bottom, and the long end on top, so that the watch will want to naturally rotate towards you rather than away on your wrist.

I've got some favorite pictures on it. I look at them sometimes to just feel better. I like using the phone on it because it makes me feel like Dick Tracy. Quick view of text messages.

How rugged are they? I'm rough on watches and am interested but concerned about the durability.