.... In your opinion, does the Apple Watch really work for as a fitness application? I know FitBits and Garmins are designed specifically for that reason, but if I can kill two birds with one stone, I'm game.
In the sense that the watch provides feedback when you are active, and reminders to get active if you're not, then it works well as a fitness device. It feeds data to the Health app on the iPhone so you can see your progress and compare your levels of activity from day to day, and thus use it to help motivate yourself to get active, stay active and keep striving for greater levels of activity and exercise.
What it doesn't necessarily do well is accuracy. It's step count is more accurate than other wrist-based step counters I've tried, but still faces limitations in that when the motion of the wrist is damped out when carrying objects, pushing buggies etc, the more it will tend to undercount. There are also criticisms of the accuracy of the heart rate monitor, and the exercise ring of the activity app on the watch itself doesn't seem particularly reliable in my experience so far. Nor does the calorie count of the Move ring seem to reflect accurate numbers.
That said, however, absolute accuracy in the data is really only necessary if you are comparing your exercise and fitness with others - if you're using that data to motivate yourself, then being able to see your progress is what counts, and the watch is excellent for that.
I have a Fitbit, and I still use that for step/distance counting because it's a habit I've had for a couple of years or so now, but for ongoing monitoring of overall activity and goals, I use the watch, and it is excellent for that.
