this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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I think "full blown" smart watches like the Apple Watch and Samsung Gear are largely a waste of money. I always considered getting one, but always read the largely "meh" or negative reviews from them. When I got my Galaxy S23 Ultra Verizon said I could get the Gear 5 for "free" I just had to pay $5/month for LTE service. The thing lasts about 15 hours on a single charge, it's damn near impossible to type anything on, I've never used it to make or receive a phone call, the fitness tracking is nice, but unless you're a hardcore athlete/gym rat you don't really need it, and the sleep tracking is nice, but once again not really that useful. After about a year of using it, I'm largely over it.
I really rely on my watch for notifications in particular since it’s MUCH less intrusive to check my wrist than pull my phone out. The other big benefit for me is maps. I get a tap on the wrist when my turn is coming up, which works particularly well when walking like I’m doing a lot of in NYC this week.
That said, my watch is something like 5 years old now and I see zero reason to upgrade. I’ll wear it till it dies and then buy whatever the cheap version is.
The notifications are nice, but half the time I have my phone out anyway. I lived in NYC for 5 years (and only got the watch about 4 months before I moved away) and the directions were useful like you said, but using my phone was just as good.
Garmin vivomove.
Analog face, and a wee display that tells you whether you want to look at your phone when it buzzes. Counts steps and stuff if you're into that. Week of battery (still 5-7 days after like 5-6 years of owning mine). Perfect daily wear.
+1 for Garmin!! I've got 2 Fenix watches and they're so important to me I'd be lost without them.
The vivomove is my daily, but for many outdoor activities I'd be literally lost without the GPS forerunner!
Also they seem to be one of the lesser evils for those who care about personal data collection and brokerage.
I got the Lily, seems like one of the cheaper ones but ditto to pretty much everything you said here!
Smart watches looks interesting to me at first, but knowing how it only lasts 3-5 years and additionally companies loves to purposely make stuff obselete quickly, I'd rather just buy normal watch.... Or just look at my phone's clock.
Agreed, they're largely A gimmick. For like the first time in 10-15 years I got a nice looking analogue watch.
yeah I got a watch 4 for free with my s22 ultra, I gave it a good shot and used it for a few months but went back to my garmin. I simply don't need a lot of the "smart" features aside from notifications and fitness tracking, which garmin does better, and then there's the battery.... different worlds there
Yeah, I had a few FitBits before this and they were great, the battery lasted like 4-5 days. The software on this has gotten better, I think it may last a full day now, but still, that's pretty bad. Also, I get tons of spam texts on my watch which is just flat out annoying.
Agreed, I regret buying my Galaxy Watch 4. The sleep and exercise tracking is nice to have but otherwise it is just an inconvenient watch because you have to remember to charge it daily.
Do you normally sleep while wearing your traditional style watch? Never got the "you have to charge it" argument because I took off my mechanical watch before bed and also take off my smart watch, which gets set on the dock. No extra effort.
I do wear my normal watch when I sleep, same as I want to do with my smart watch to track sleep. The normal watch comes off for showering on the morning and put back on right after while the smart watch takes longer to charge than that so I have to remember to go back and put the watch on once it finishes charging (if it has charged fully by the time I have to leave the house).
Charging it at night nullifies the sleep tracking, one of the two useful features lol
I figured mine was a safe choice/minimal loss since $5/month isn't that much lol
I agree, I have a watch 6 classic, the battery life is absolutely shit. It's less then 6 months old, I went to bed with it on power save and swim mode to prevent overnight activation via the screen at 80% charge, woke up today at 1pm, it was at 50%,it is now 6Pm and it is at 20%. I will never buy a Samsung watch again lol, they look real fancy but, this is rediculous. you should get more than 24h on a watch.
My old gear sport and my previous watch 3 didn't have this issue until at least the e year mark.
Agree 100%.
I have a fitbit I think its called, charge it once a week, doesn't have the call, mesaaging or other functions, but I just want a watch that gives me the time and doesn't requiere to charge daily.