My experience switching from Apple Watch to a $40 Timex.

[Night Spring]

Not sure 3 count as "gate", again, unless first name is Bill.
I was thinking more of 100+ people with same issue.

Considering estimates of watch sales are in the millions, even a 100 people with this issue hardly constitutes a "gate." I was just trying to emphasize that there is no need to start a new thread or post in multiple unrelated threads about this issue.

 

[ZipZap]

I would say, who needs a $40 timex or any watch these days? Almost everyone has a cell phone, which tells the time. Why do I need a clock on my wrist. I personally dont wear watches even though I do own a couple of nice 7750's. Why, they dont add value to my daily life..they just look nice. I grew tired of the "Looks Nice".

If Apple watch or any of the newer digital time pieces can add value above the time aspect then there might be a compelling reason to wear one. That is, of course, as long as I am not constantly recharging to get that value.

 

[BarracksSi]

That is, of course, as long as I am not constantly recharging to get that value.

I recharge mine every day.

It takes about an hour-plus while my wife and I have our evening dessert. Then I put it on, wear it into bed, and use its vibration alarm to wake me up.

 

[sean000]

I would say, who needs a $40 timex or any watch these days? Almost everyone has a cell phone, which tells the time. Why do I need a clock on my wrist. I personally dont wear watches even though I do own a couple of nice 7750's. Why, they dont add value to my daily life..they just look nice. I grew tired of the "Looks Nice".

If Apple watch or any of the newer digital time pieces can add value above the time aspect then there might be a compelling reason to wear one. That is, of course, as long as I am not constantly recharging to get that value.

I had not worn a watch since roughly the year 1999 (shortly after I began carrying a cell phone and PalmPilot). The Apple Watch provides dozens of little conveniences to me throughout the day and the battery still has 20-40% after 18 hours. You can be certain that I did not buy an Apple Watch just so it could give me the time of day

 

[briloop]

I just published this article on Medium that I thought this forum might find interesting.

TLDR: After 6 months of wearing my Apple Watch everyday, I returned to a $40 Timex to see what I would I would miss. It was surprising how much I appreciated some features of a cheap quartz watch, and the experience helped illustrate the comprises of a first-generation device.

I would love to hear any of your thoughts!

I bought a $11 Casio digital watch with a 10 year battery. I just didn't need a $400 device that tells me I have an email.

I might buy an Apple Watch if the price dropped below $100.

 

[convergent]

I bought a $11 Casio digital watch with a 10 year battery. I just didn't need a $400 device that tells me I have an email.

I might buy an Apple Watch if the price dropped below $100.

I don't need an RV, so I just bought a car. If the price of RVs drops below $10K then I might buy one. That makes about as much sense as what you just said here.

The Watch does more than tell you that you have an email... in fact that's not even in my top 10 uses. No smartwatch has a 10 year battery, so its ridiculous to think that this one would. And the price point is not going to happen.

 

[Night Spring]

I bought a $11 Casio digital watch with a 10 year battery. I just didn't need a $400 device that tells me I have an email.

And I don't need a device that just tells me the time, even if it just cost $1.

 

[Armen]

I bought a $11 Casio digital watch with a 10 year battery. I just didn't need a $400 device that tells me I have an email.

Don't you mean a $400 device that tells the date, time, calendar, weather, activity and other information at a glance that also can receive calls and notify you of events?

I have a $3500 watch that needs no battery at all and it sits in my safe because all it does it tell the time. It's almost 2016 I expect something that I wear on my wrist to do more than that.

 

[gman36]

How did you check text messages on the timex? Or email?

 

[r0k]

I "replaced" my Apple Watch as a fitness device.

I have owned an Apple Watch for months now. In fact I preordered a mere 2.5 hours after ordering began and still had to wait weeks for mine. I've tried runkeeper, strava, ismoothrun, mapmyrun and finally runmeter. All of them worked fairly well on sunny days but as soon as the weather started to get crappy, the shortcomings of Apple Watch as a fitness device became glaring. My long sleeves would touch the screen and put the watch into a different app or even pause or reset my run. The battery would sometimes run out during a run. The watch would sometimes lose contact when my wrist became sweaty and ask me to unlock it every mile or two.

The bottom line is I went out and bought a Garmin Forerunner 220 to replace my Apple Watch during runs. And it's a good thing I did. When I ran the Detroit Marathon, my AW died less than 20 minutes after I crossed the finish line (and of course BEFORE I thought to check what it had recorded for my run!) Thank God I was also wearing my Garmin and it captured the entire 26.2 miles flawlessly.

The AW is very promising as a fitness device. Apple needs to allow apps other than "Workout" to lock the touchscreen. I wouldn't be surprised if it has more sophisticated sensors and more processing power than my lowly Garmin but alas there are no existing apps, including the built in workout app, that make effective use of those sensors and resources to produce a truly competitive running app. Stand reminders? Fine. Step counting? Fine. But decide to cycle or run and you might very quickly grow tired of AW. I found it to be an intolerable distraction during my marathon training and I almost never use it unless I'm out for an easy run and forgot to take my Garmin. When I do wear my Garmin, I'm so focused on running I have it set up to only display elapsed time, distance and trailing pace. For this reason, I wear my AW on my left wrist, my Garmin on my right wrist and a chest HRM during my training runs and races.

 

[sean000]

I bought a $11 Casio digital watch with a 10 year battery. I just didn't need a $400 device that tells me I have an email.

I might buy an Apple Watch if the price dropped below $100.

This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry buys his father a personal digital assistant (like a Palmpilot) and his dad keeps referring to it as an overpriced "tip calculator." Jerry keeps reminding him that "it does other things!" Sometimes new technology is just wasted on those who aren't interested

 

[ftlum]

Great post...

The flicking wrist complaint makes me chuckle. At least you don't have to press a button like one of the (if not the) first digital watches - Hamilton Pulsar P2. And it only stayed lit for 1.25 secs.

And not to mention pricing... $2100 in 1972 dollars! AW is bargain lol

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/tech-time-warp-week-1972-digital-watch-cost-car/

If I had one of these watches, I wouldn't mind pushing the button .

 

[MadDane]

I don't need an RV, so I just bought a car. If the price of RVs drops below $10K then I might buy one. That makes about as much sense as what you just said here.

The Watch does more than tell you that you have an email... in fact that's not even in my top 10 uses. No smartwatch has a 10 year battery, so its ridiculous to think that this one would. And the price point is not going to happen.

To continue on that analogy, say that you had the choice between an RV and a car. Maybe you need an RV, maybe what you need is a car. Say that all you need is a car, you wouldn't get an RV even though you can do a lot more with it. Also the car is better at what it can than the RV (driving). Now, which would you rather have? A cheap car, or an expensive luxury car? That of course depends on who you are. Maybe what you care about is economy, so you will get a cheap one. Maybe you really enjoy a nice car and choose to prioritize that. Replace RV with Apple Watch, cheap car with a Timex and replace luxury car with a luxury watch brand of your choice (Omega, Rolex, Patek Philippe etc.).

My point is: People's needs are different. Most of the people hanging out in this forum of course wants the RV (AW) because this is a forum dedicated to this type of product. However, peoples needs are different and therefore what is important in a product varies. For some it is the ability to get notifications, statistics and a lot more. For others it is the ability to see the time, and for that specific thing the Apple Watch is inferior to an analog watch (yes, I have used both an AW and analog watch).

 

[blastair]

Since its been a few weeks since I originally shared my post, I just wanted to circle back and thank everyone that took the time to read it. It's been interesting to see your thoughts and comments. Whether we agree or not on the usefulness of the AW, I think most would agree that the tech itself, when working properly, is pretty cool. It will be fun to see what it evolves into.

 

[Farrellcollie]

I like reading this sort of thing - it gives me more information when making the decision if a product is for me or not. Knowing what works/doesn't work for some people is valuable information for me and often brings up angles I might have missed.

 

[geoff5093]

I had the same experience after having an LG G Watch R for 6 months and going to no watch at all. I liked getting notifications, glancing for the weather, controlling my music, etc. After selling it, I really don't miss it at all. It's nice to not have to worry about charging another device daily, and being slightly less connected is a plus.

 

[jasie02]

For me, I am totally opposite of "less connected is a plus". I truly believe in total connected at real time, anytime, when I am able to wear a watch reasonably (exclude sleeping, shower, active sports.....). I want to know everything I like to know at that exact moment, but not act on it if not needed. I like to know one of my VIP email or message, or text, or phone-call just in, but I could choose when to act on it, instead of missing important email/message/text/phone-call, and might be something I could help if I knew at that exact moment.
I like to know it all at the exact moment with power in my own hand to control my own choice to act on it without potential delay, if I choose to.