Essential to try before buy?

[Grumpyman]

Planning to buy one for the wife for Christmas as a surprise. Is this a foolish move and would it be better for her to try one out at the store to make sure she gets the one she wants?
Trouble is she will just say she doesn't want one, she's like that!

 

[Newtons Apple]

You know your wife better than anyone else. If you think she will like, get one for her. If she does not like, you can always return it. Apple gives extra time to return your Apple products around the holidays so you might even have 30 days to return.

Have a good holiday.

 

[exxxviii]

Planning to buy one for the wife for Christmas as a surprise. Is this a foolish move and would it be better for her to try one out at the store to make sure she gets the one she wants?
Trouble is she will just say she doesn't want one, she's like that!

Assuming you would get her a 38mm watch, you have a 1 in 16 chance to guess right. Just get it a few days before Christmas. Then she will have a week or so to decide to exchange.

 

[maflynn]

try one out at the store to make sure she gets the one she wants?

As noted you know your wife, if you think you can do that and her be happy, then go for it.

Assuming you would get her a 38mm watch

Why a 38mm? I know a number of woman who opted for the 42mm. I think the better battery and larger display are a nice benefit.

 

[exxxviii]

Why a 38mm?

Simply because it is the most common size for females and it sets the number of options to illustrate the probability of guessing right. It was not a value judgement. (I also excluded the gold options in the illustration.)

 

[maflynn]

Simply because it is the most common size for females and it sets the number of options to illustrate the probability of guessing right. It was not a value judgement. (I also excluded the gold options in the illustration.)

I'm not sure about that, which is my point. Like I said, I know many women who opted for the 42mm

 

[exxxviii]

Assuming that you might buy a 38mm or 42mm for your wife, the probability of guessing right is 1 in 32. All of the females I know own a 38mm.

 

[maflynn]

The great thing about apple is that if she doesn't like the model you picked you can always exchange it (yeah waiting in long lines after xmas will be a pain)

 

[BlueMoon63]

Planning to buy one for the wife for Christmas as a surprise. Is this a foolish move and would it be better for her to try one out at the store to make sure she gets the one she wants?
Trouble is she will just say she doesn't want one, she's like that!

Based on the number of women here who rave about the Apple Watch and the fashion part of it with bands and the smaller size of the 38, she may love it. As others have said, Apple gives 14 days to try and see if you like it.

My wife would not want an Apple Watch, but to be fair, she wouldn't wear any device or even a watch but I know this... Does your wife wear fitness bands already or a watch and is she into fitness and fashion? Apple Watch is far superior to all other bands for fashion at the very least.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I'd say it's impossible to "try before you buy." AW isn't something you love instantly, its something you grow to love. It takes a couple weeks to fully integrate into one's life. My suggestion buy from a store w/ a good holiday return policy like Jan 30. That would give your wife plenty of time to figure out if its for her or not.

 

[convergent]

Planning to buy one for the wife for Christmas as a surprise. Is this a foolish move and would it be better for her to try one out at the store to make sure she gets the one she wants?
Trouble is she will just say she doesn't want one, she's like that!

My wife is the same way. She resisted the iPhone. She resisted the iPad. I bought her both without asking and she balked but not I can't pry the from her hands. The watch is a different beast. Even for me, I needed a few days of wearing it and investing in learning it to decide if I really was going to keep it. So that being the case, I'd just buy it for her but do it a couple days before Christmas so you have plenty of return time.

The other thing I would do, is somehow get her iPhone away from her the day before and go ahead and setup the watch, load WatchOS 2, and pair it so that its ready to do, and then disable everything. That whole process takes quite a while and would take away from the impact of her opening it and getting to put it to use right away. That all depends on if your wife would do all that herself and enjoy it, or like mine would never take it out of the box if she had to do any setup on it, let alone do an OS update. You can then tuck the Apple Watch app down in a folder on the iPhone so she doesn't stumble upon it.

 

[ScottNWDW]

I'm not sure about that, which is my point. Like I said, I know many women who opted for the 42mm

I also know many men, myself included, that opted for the 38mm. While trying them on in the store I just felt that the smaller 38mm looked better on my wrist than the 42mm. The 42mm looked just too bulky on my wrist and the 38mm was very similar in size to the analog watch I was already wearing.

 

[caligurl]

The other thing I would do, is somehow get her iPhone away from her the day before and go ahead and setup the watch, load WatchOS 2, and pair it so that its ready to do, and then disable everything. That whole process takes quite a while and would take away from the impact of her opening it and getting to put it to use right away. That all depends on if your wife would do all that herself and enjoy it, or like mine would never take it out of the box if she had to do any setup on it, let alone do an OS update. You can then tuck the Apple Watch app down in a folder on the iPhone so she doesn't stumble upon it.

She'll see the watch apps on her phone. If you attempt to do this.... make sure to "hide" the watch apps within a current folder (only way it would be hidden from me....) that's of course, assuming she has folders....

or if she's not the type to use her phone too often..... while I think doing the set up ahead of time for the instant gratification of putting on the watch when she opens it... I think it's a risk that she'll see the apps (not to mention how long the phone has to be away from her while pairing!) ya.... that would not happen with my phone! (well at least prior to getting the watch... the phone is out of my site at home more now that I have the watch to inform me of incoming calls and messages!)

 

[ScottNWDW]

She'll see the watch apps on her phone. If you attempt to do this.... make sure to "hide" the watch apps within a current folder (only way it would be hidden from me....) that's of course, assuming she has folders....

or if she's not the type to use her phone too often..... while I think doing the set up ahead of time for the instant gratification of putting on the watch when she opens it... I think it's a risk that she'll see the apps (not to mention how long the phone has to be away from her while pairing!) ya.... that would not happen with my phone! (well at least prior to getting the watch... the phone is out of my site at home more now that I have the watch to inform me of incoming calls and messages!)

If you updated the iPhone to iOS 9 the watch app is going to be there regardless of whether or not you have the watch. It's not necessary to try and download everything before she opens it. Besides part of the fun is the unboxing experience. If you try and pre-load everything to the watch by matching it up, that ruins that experience.

 

[caligurl]

As far as size.... that's a personal thing... while I would have loved the 42... all the bands were too big for my wrist... the smallest wrist many of the 42 watch bands fit is 140.... so even if the watch itself didn't overpower my wrist.... I can't wear their 42 bands.....

but like mentioned above... there are many women who have a larger circumference wrist that are wearing the 42 and loving it!

 

[caligurl]

If you updated the iPgone to iOS 9 the watch app is going to be there regardless of whether or not you have the watch. It's not necessary to try and download everything before she opens it. Besides part of the fun is the unboxing experience. If you try and pre-load everything to the watch by matching it up, that ruins that experience.

I didn't realize that (I already had the watch when I upgraded.... and yes... on second thought.... it was WAY COOL to see the animations while it paired... so ya... don't do that! (I even took pictures and videos of it pairing..... nerd! hahahahaha!)

 

[Caromsoft]

I walked into the Apple store last weekend convinced I was going to need the 38, but when I put it on my wrist it looked like a kids watch. I was really surprised.

Maybe you should print out those actual size watch cutouts and try them on her when she is asleep

 

[ScottNWDW]

Since no one has posted a picture of how their watches actually look on their wrists, here are 2 pictures of my 38mm watch on my wrist. I am a 6'0" tall man of 190 pounds.

 

[artfossil]

I walked into the Apple store last weekend convinced I was going to need the 38, but when I put it on my wrist it looked like a kids watch. I was really surprised.

Maybe you should print out those actual size watch cutouts and try them on her when she is asleep

I (female) looked at online comparisons and rejected the 38 right away. I wanted the larger screen and better battery. The 42 looks fine. So it's personal preference.

If I were the giftee, I'd love getting a physical tryout, with the knowledge that I could just return it to Apple if I didn't like it or wanted a different model. If I were the giver, I'd order from Apple online and return if necessary online so I never had to go near a store.

 

[Night Spring]

If I were the giver, I'd order from Apple online and return if necessary online so I never had to go near a store.

Why don't you want to go near an Apple Store? Bad experience?

 

[artfossil]

Why don't you want to go near an Apple Store? Bad experience?

Apple Stores are religious experiences, and never bad.
But my Apple Store is a 45 minute drive. And I really don't go near any store except to buy groceries. And even many of those, along with most everything else, I buy online and they are delivered to my doorstep.

If rather spend the time in my studio than do physical shopping.

 

[convergent]

If you updated the iPhone to iOS 9 the watch app is going to be there regardless of whether or not you have the watch. It's not necessary to try and download everything before she opens it. Besides part of the fun is the unboxing experience. If you try and pre-load everything to the watch by matching it up, that ruins that experience.

First off, you don't know my wife. Any setup, loading, configuring, etc.. is annoying to her. Second, it took my Apple Watch from about 5pm one evening until about 11am the next day just to do the WatchOS2 update. That would kind of take the fun out of the watch. The second one I got took several hours, which was a lot better, but again takes a bit of the fun away.

All I was suggesting was that you paired it so that you could do the OS update ahead of time, and then left it at that state... no apps loaded or anything, just ready to go. Then she can start playing out of the box but nothing has been configured.

And as has been pointed out, if her phone is updated, the Apple Watch app will already be on the phone.

My wife would appreciate this pre-loading for sure, but everyone is different. Caligurl, the fact that you are on MacRumors forum puts you in a whole different category from my wife. She doesn't use social media like Facebook, she has no idea what a forum is, and when anything on her iPhone or iPad doesn't work perfectly, she calls me and complains. Any updates that are done are when I tell her I need her devices for a while, and same for backing up her stuff, except when she fills one of them up with photos/videos and I get the call that she can't take any pictures. An emergency backup of photos is then done, followed by forcing her to sit and delete anything she wants to get rid of on the phone.

Not sure if the OP's significant other is like my wife or not, but if she is then I'd seriously consider a pre-config to make the experience fun for her instead of a "oh, we've got to wait several hours while it loads and updates".

 

[ScottNWDW]

First off, you don't know my wife. Any setup, loading, configuring, etc.. is annoying to her. Second, it took my Apple Watch from about 5pm one evening until about 11am the next day just to do the WatchOS2 update. That would kind of take the fun out of the watch. The second one I got took several hours, which was a lot better, but again takes a bit of the fun away.

All I was suggesting was that you paired it so that you could do the OS update ahead of time, and then left it at that state... no apps loaded or anything, just ready to go. Then she can start playing out of the box but nothing has been configured.

And as has been pointed out, if her phone is updated, the Apple Watch app will already be on the phone.

My wife would appreciate this pre-loading for sure, but everyone is different. Caligurl, the fact that you are on MacRumors forum puts you in a whole different category from my wife. She doesn't use social media like Facebook, she has no idea what a forum is, and when anything on her iPhone or iPad doesn't work perfectly, she calls me and complains. Any updates that are done are when I tell her I need her devices for a while, and same for backing up her stuff, except when she fills one of them up with photos/videos and I get the call that she can't take any pictures. An emergency backup of photos is then done, followed by forcing her to sit and delete anything she wants to get rid of on the phone.

Not sure if the OP's significant other is like my wife or not, but if she is then I'd seriously consider a pre-config to make the experience fun for her instead of a "oh, we've got to wait several hours while it loads and updates".

Dude chill out. It was just a suggestion. No I don't know your wife. If she would prefer it to be all set up and all then great do it. I'm just saying some people, myself included, would not like to receive a gift - regardless of what it was - that was previously unboxed for any reason. Nor would I unbox a gift that I plan to give someone else, especially when the gift comes in a sealed package. The unbroken seal tells me that the gift could be an unwanted item that is being re-gifted or something. It's just the way I am, but if it's better, in this case, to do all the set up ahead of time then by all means do it. I understand how long it takes to update the watch, I've done it and it took several hours to do.

 

[convergent]

Dude chill out. It was just a suggestion. No I don't know your wife. If she would prefer it to be all set up and all then great do it. I'm just saying some people, myself included, would not like to receive a gift - regardless of what it was - that was previously unboxed for any reason. Nor would I unbox a gift that I plan to give someone else, especially when the gift comes in a sealed package. The unbroken seal tells me that the gift could be an unwanted item that is being re-gifted or something. It's just the way I am, but if it's better, in this case, to do all the set up ahead of time then by all means do it. I understand how long it takes to update the watch, I've done it and it took several hours to do.

Not sure why you said chill out... I was just telling you about my situation. My wife is the anti-geek! Guess I should have thrown in a smiley face with my commentary. ;-)

I get your point about the packaging, and I would never open something I was giving a friend. But with my wife, she'd know when I bought it and where I bought it from because she'd see the charge on the card! I'd just slip off the shrink-wrap and the wrapper around the plastic case and throw them away. I wouldn't mess with the cable since I already have one. So it should be easy to put it back together so anyone not knowing it came shrink-wrapped wouldn't know it.

But everyone's different.