Series 3 Aluminum micro scratches?

[Jodiuh]

Hello Macrumor Superrace internet friends!!!

I have had one for about 4 days and have 4 micro scratches, lol! Anyone else experiencing this? I'm not playing rough with it, but I have banged it into walls, etc.

I really don't wanna go with the stainless steal due to weight and price...I'd have to purchase a sport loop too as they only come with the band.

edit: I absolutely meant scratches on the screen, lol! Whoops! Hey, at least the thread delivers on drama on the cusp of iPhone X order morn!

 

[naturalstar]

I’m not Superman, I’m Wonder Woman...

Scratches are one of the reasons people choose the SS over Aluminum. You can polish the silver SS to remove scratches and the SB has DLC so scratches are much more difficult to get, plus SS gets the sapphire glass. If you are prone to scratches, you can 1) go SS, 2) use a case, or 3) be a lot more careful. Four scratches in 4 days isn’t boding well if you don’t change something.

 

[44267547]

Hello Macrumor Superrace internet friends!!!

I have had one for about 4 days and have 4 micro scratches, lol! Anyone else experiencing this? I'm not playing rough with it, but I have banged it into walls, etc.

I really don't wanna go with the stainless steal due to weight and price...I'd have to purchase a sport loop too as they only come with the band.

The Scratches could be superficial on the oleophobic coating, which is a protected layer on the dislay. However, then I would suggest the screen protector if your activities involving the watch scratching as quickly as it has.

 

[Jodiuh]

I’m not Superman, I’m Wonder Woman...

Scratches are one of the reasons people choose the SS over Aluminum. You can polish the silver SS to remove scratches and the SB has DLC so scratches are much more difficult to get, plus SS gets the sapphire glass. If you are prone to scratches, you can 1) go SS, 2) use a case, or 3) be a lot more careful. Four scratches in 4 days isn’t boding well if you don’t change something.

Fixed the poll for you!

SB? DLC?

I’m thinking about the SS simply due to the Sapphire glass. I wonder how much more resilient it will be tho. If I had to guess, I sometimes catch the watch on a wall here and there. Really surprised it would scratch so easily. I haven’t ever in my life used a watch this size before so I’m not really aware of the amount of space needed to avoid collision, lol.

The Scratches could be superficial on the oleophobic coating, which is a protected layer on the dislay. However, then I would suggest the screen protector if your activities involving the watch scratching as quickly as it has.

Thanks.

edit: Pool ~ poll

 

[newellj]

Hello Macrumor Superrace internet friends!!!

I have had one for about 4 days and have 4 micro scratches, lol! Anyone else experiencing this? I'm not playing rough with it, but I have banged it into walls, etc.

I really don't wanna go with the stainless steal due to weight and price...I'd have to purchase a sport loop too as they only come with the band.

You will probably get a lot more scratches with regular stainless steel. The black-coated SS should be more durable.
[doublepost=1509063466][/doublepost]

Fixed the pool for you!

SB? DLC?

I’m thinking about the SS simply due to the Sapphire glass. I wonder how much more resilient it will be tho. If I had to guess, I sometimes catch the watch on a wall here and there. Really surprised it would scratch so easily. I haven’t ever in my life used a watch this size before so I’m not really aware of the amount of space needed to avoid collision, lol.


Thanks.

Yes, ion glass is more scratchable than sapphire glass. It is also much, much less reflective and much less prone to shattering (that's the other side of being harder). You can buy AC+ and replace the display once for less than you'll pay for the SS version. I forget the exact pricing - if you do that twice you might be breaking even.

 

[naturalstar]

Fixed the pool for you!

SB? DLC?

I’m thinking about the SS simply due to the Sapphire glass. I wonder how much more resilient it will be tho. If I had to guess, I sometimes catch the watch on a wall here and there. Really surprised it would scratch so easily. I haven’t ever in my life used a watch this size before so I’m not really aware of the amount of space needed to avoid collision, lol.


Thanks.

SB - Space Black
DLC - Diamond-like carbon coating

The Space Black Stainless Steel (SBSS) has DLC.

I thought you meant you were getting scratches on the aluminum itself, not the glass. You could always use a case and/or screen protector oooorrr be a little more mindful of what you’re doing. Being that the aluminum is so lightweight, I can see how you forget it’s there when going about your day to day.

 

[Jodiuh]

Stainless steal? Are you kidding us? You're going to get a lot more scratches with regular stainless steel. The black-coated SS should be more durable...Your OP doesn't hint that you're talking about glass at all. Yes, ion glass is more scratchable than sapphire glass. It is also much, much less reflective and much less prone to shattering (that's the other side of being harder). You can buy AC+ and replace the display once for less than you'll pay for the SS version. I forget the exact pricing - if you do that twice you might be breaking even.

Thanks for the info. I’m not familiar with metals or what would or wouldn’t scratch. I changed the original post. The scratches are on the screen. There’s now a couple more, lol! If the screen’s on, I can’t see them. I have to look with the screen angle and turn the watch almost 90 degrees to see them. If I’m just looking @ the watch normally, they’re invisible. I would not be surprised if this happens to most users, but they just don’t notice them. I’ve seen it on phones and tablets that have been babied as well.

So the Sapphire glass will be more difficult to see in the sun mostly? How bout fluorescent lighting? The only negative with the Black Stainless Steel for me’s the weight. I’ve not worn a watch in years and never worn anything heavier than an Ironman plastic watch. So even this aluminum is heavy for me.

SB - Space Black
DLC - Diamond-like carbon coating

The Space Black Stainless Steel (SBSS) has DLC.

I thought you meant you were getting scratches on the aluminum itself, not the glass. You could always use a case and/or screen protector oooorrr be a little more mindful of what you’re doing. Being that the aluminum is so lightweight, I can see how you forget it’s there when going about your day to day.

Thank you. Haha, yes, I didn’t make myself clear.

I did see a screen protector from Zagg, but it doesn’t seem to be very well made...or a good product. To be completely honest, I think I would rather just use phones/watches/tablets, etc with micro scratches that can’t really be seen in typical use simply because they feel and look much better without the added layer.

I took the screen protector off an iphone 6S Plus for the first time in 1.5 years and it’s a JOY to use that way. I’m sending it in for the upgrade to an X, so I figured it’d be a good opportunity to test the resilience against scratches. So far, it looks good. My thoughts are that putting it in my pocket will eventually see it catch dust and that will rub up against it and scratch. We’ll see.

 

[newellj]

Thanks for the info. I’m not familiar with metals or what would or wouldn’t scratch. I changed the original post. The scratches are on the screen. There’s now a couple more, lol! If the screen’s on, I can’t see them. I have to look with the screen angle and turn the watch almost 90 degrees to see them. If I’m just looking @ the watch normally, they’re invisible. I would not be surprised if this happens to most users, but they just don’t notice them. I’ve seen it on phones and tablets that have been babied as well.

So the Sapphire glass will be more difficult to see in the sun mostly? How bout fluorescent lighting? The only negative with the Black Stainless Steel for me’s the weight. I’ve not worn a watch in years and never worn anything heavier than an Ironman plastic watch. So even this aluminum is heavy for me.


Thank you. Haha, yes, I didn’t make myself clear.

I did see a screen protector from Zagg, but it doesn’t seem to be very well made...or a good product. To be completely honest, I think I would rather just use phones/watches/tablets, etc with micro scratches that can’t really be seen in typical use simply because they feel and look much better without the added layer.

I took the screen protector off an iphone 6S Plus for the first time in 1.5 years and it’s a JOY to use that way. I’m sending it in for the upgrade to an X, so I figured it’d be a good opportunity to test the resilience against scratches. So far, it looks good. My thoughts are that putting it in my pocket will eventually see it catch dust and that will rub up against it and scratch. We’ll see.

(edited my prior post) There's an interesting but sort of lengthy and technical comparison of the ion glass and sapphire glass versions here: http://www.displaymate.com/Apple_Watch_ShootOut_2.htm I don't recall them mentioning fluorescent light specifically, but I think it would probably fall under "indoor" (vs. outdoor) lighting conditions and be fine.

Plastic screen protectors are a real drag, literally, as you say. I use glass screen protectors on my iPads and iPhones and they preserve the quality of the touch experience. Zagg has made glass screen protectors for the Series One and Series Two Apple Watches. I expect they'll make one for Series Three. It should be a lot better than the plastic film protectors.

 

[Jodiuh]

(edited my prior post) There's an interesting but sort of lengthy and technical comparison of the ion glass and sapphire glass versions here: http://www.displaymate.com/Apple_Watch_ShootOut_2.htm I don't recall them mentioning fluorescent light specifically, but I think it would probably fall under "indoor" (vs. outdoor) lighting conditions and be fine.

Plastic screen protectors are a real drag, literally, as you say. I use glass screen protectors on my iPads and iPhones and they preserve the quality of the touch experience. Zagg has made glass screen protectors for the Series One and Series Two Apple Watches. I expect they'll make one for Series Three. It should be a lot better than the plastic film protectors.

Thanks, I'll check that out. Hopefully they did a test to see if the backlight's PWM (flicker free).

I went ahead and ordered a plastic screen protector:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073VZ6Q7W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's got decent reviews and would allow me to keep the lighter aluminum. I'll give it a shot and if it doesn't work out, I'll send the alum back for the SS.

 

[newellj]

I went back and forth on aluminum wifi/gps, aluminum LTE (has ceramic back) and SS (ceramic back + sapphire glass).

For a lot of reasons that are ultimately personal WAGs, I settled on aluminum Nike+ LTE.

The SS probably has lower resale value as a % of original cost, and it's heavy, and the regular SS is (I believe) uncoated and will show scratches at least as much as the aluminum. I also didn't like the reflectivity of the sapphire glass.

I have not activated the LTE radio but I plan to keep the watch for two or three years and figure the $70 uncharge was probably a good investment for flexibility, and I bet it will have higher resale than the GPS/WIFI version.

I think it's really hard to be sure about these, but it's not like buying a car or a Rolex. Even the SS watches are relatively inexpensive compared current iPhones.

Buy what you think you want, don't be too hard on yourself or the Watch. I will tell you that I was a big time skeptic when Apple introduced the Watch with Series 0 and bought this Series 3 sort of on a dare, expecting to return it. I love the thing, but you have to face the fact that tech tools like these are not a long-term investment for most people. That's one of the reason I would not get too torqued up about what you decide to buy. This is definitely not a till-death-do-we-part decision. Or at least that's how I see it.

Oh - think hard about buying Apple Care+. I don't buy AC+ any more, but the pricing on AC+ for the watch and the cost of repairs outside of AC+ instantly persuaded me to pony up $50 for that. Give it a close look.

 

[Jodiuh]

Thanks newellj, I appreciate your comments.

I'm going to try those screen protectors out and see what's what. i'm also going to get a replacement as I don't think the watch is supposed to be so unresponsive or buggy or slow.

Thanks for the reflectivity comment as well.

Initially, the watch disappointed me because I can't connect a headset and listen to music directly from the watch. Then the "LTE" doesn't actually function for anything, but the phone, lol! Unless I'm doing something wrong, I couldn't get Things 3 to populate my sublists or weather underground to show the 10 day.

That said, I do enjoy the workout, rings, heartbeat, breathe, and ESPECIALLY the ability to change volume of a mega boom i keep in the background. Hopefully the watch's os will improve. I would love for this thing to get a spotify app!

 

[newellj]

I think apps will probably increase significantly with the improved OS and speed of S3.

While I wait for a Zagg glass screen protector, I have a film protector on mine because it came with a case I bought to protect my Watch from falls while cycling. I more or less decided I don't need the case but I kept the screen protector on. What I wanted to pass on was that although I hate film screen protectors on my phone and iPad, it doesn't bother me on the watch because most touches (at least for me) are taps rather than swipes, and even swipes are obviously very short. The things that bothered me about plastic film screen protectors on an iPhone or iPad don't feel the same on the Watch. But YMMV, of course.

 

[Jodiuh]

I think apps will probably increase significantly with the improved OS and speed of S3.

While I wait for a Zagg glass screen protector, I have a film protector on mine because it came with a case I bought to protect my Watch from falls while cycling. I more or less decided I don't need the case but I kept the screen protector on. What I wanted to pass on was that although I hate film screen protectors on my phone and iPad, it doesn't bother me on the watch because most touches (at least for me) are taps rather than swipes, and even swipes are obviously very short. The things that bothered me about plastic film screen protectors on an iPhone or iPad don't feel the same on the Watch. But YMMV, of course.

This is my first iwatch, but I gotta say, I'm not seeing this speed. It lags from time to time, doesn't register taps occasionally, skips songs when I'm in the shower...just acts weird and not what I've come to expect in an idevice. Hopefully the replacement will be better.

Let me know how that Zagg works out for you. It's the series 2, right? They responded to my email and said it would fit. But I see a lot of comments on amazon about it being matte, not glossy and not fitting flushly. Looks little ghetto in the pics I've seen.

I do slide around on the screen, but just recently found out the red ring does vertical, lol! So now I'm only swiping from left to right, etc. I don't think the plastic will be much of an issue.

 

[newellj]

@Jodiuh

I had heard from Zagg that the S2 wouldn't fit (which seemed a little surprising) and that a S3 version was in the works, wo I'm waiting.

 

[Jodiuh]

@Jodiuh

I had heard from Zagg that the S2 wouldn't fit (which seemed a little surprising) and that a S3 version was in the works, wo I'm waiting.

Whoops...

Their response...
"...the InvisibleShield Original is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 3. There is no confirmation whether we will release anything exclusively for the Apple Watch series 3, but you can sign up to our news letter on ZAGG.com to be notified of any new releases."

My question...
"I noticed there's not yet a Series 3 glass screen protector. Will the Series 2 screen protector fit the Series 3 Watch?"

So either Original ~ HD Dry...either way, it seems as though we're being given conflicting info.

The screen protectors I ordered mention compatibility for 1-3, so perhaps they're all the same size with regard to the plastic only...

 

[newellj]

Whoops...

Their response...
"...the InvisibleShield Original is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 3. There is no confirmation whether we will release anything exclusively for the Apple Watch series 3, but you can sign up to our news letter on ZAGG.com to be notified of any new releases."

My question...
"I noticed there's not yet a Series 3 glass screen protector. Will the Series 2 screen protector fit the Series 3 Watch?"

So either Original ~ HD Dry...either way, it seems as though we're being given conflicting info.

The screen protectors I ordered mention compatibility for 1-3, so perhaps they're all the same size with regard to the plastic only...

I was wondering basically the same thing - wondering whether there's a slightly different profile to the Series 3? It's not clear to me. :-/

 

[Jodiuh]

I was wondering basically the same thing - wondering whether there's a slightly different profile to the Series 3? It's not clear to me. :-/

Let me know what's what when wa watch wrotector warrives.

Received the plastic stuff today along w/ the glass for the X...I'll update this post in a week or so with pics and stuff when the replacement arrives.

 

[newellj]

Wanted to post that I replaced the screen protector I had with an ArmorSuit film that is working out extremely well. I am a glass screen protector fan but while I wait (still) for the glass Zagg this one is really a step up. Coverage is much better, almost the entire screen, including the sides. Make VERY sure you watch their little video on installation, and really pay attention to how they say to stick the sides down, though. I got a really great result but it's not quite as straightforward as putting one of these on a flat screen.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

I had 2 SS watches and apart from minor micro scratches on the stainless steel which easily buffed out, no issues with the screen no matter how many times it got knocked or banged. I have the ceramic now. I would buy any watch without the sapphire glass

 

[tagumcity]

I’m choosing the aluminum version with a Ghost Armor screen protection, because I’m buying the watches yearly. Eventually when I decide to keep the watch past two years, then I’ll choose the sapphire version.

 

[44267547]

I had 2 SS watches and apart from minor micro scratches on the stainless steel which easily buffed out, no issues with the screen no matter how many times it got knocked or banged. I have the ceramic now. I would buy any watch without the sapphire glass

I know the price point between the stainless and aluminum has a significant difference, but the sapphire display is a huge advantage when protecting it from scratches. Especially given how small the display is, I would not want to look at the scratches on a 42 or 38 mm display.

 

[newellj]

Conversely, the ion glass is far superior in terms of reflectivity, which makes a big difference outdoors. You pays your money and you makes your choices.

 

[lordofthereef]

I never got any scratches in my Series 2, but I liked the series 3 enough that I see myself keeping it for two years or more particularly due to the lte part. I returned the aluminum and got stainless.

I can’t say the outdoor visibility is a problem. We were just in sunny California with it so I can say I left New England to judge lol. There is a difference but to me it’s not nearly enough to even consider it a downgrade in those terms.

On my selfies 2 I used screen protectors but I didn’t find anything that stayed in for a very long time. I bought thenskinomi six pack and was ultimately happy with them. I think I went two five protectors in the time I had it, which was from launch day to about three weeks ago. For those that don’t mind likely having. To apply a protector every few months, I say the savings are probably worth going with aluminum. I decided to avoid the hassle this time.

 

[44267547]

Conversely, the ion glass is far superior in terms of reflectivity, which makes a big difference outdoors. You pays your money and you makes your choices.

That's true and DisplayMate actually did a side-by-side comparison of the stainless model and sport model, which the sport model did have a better reflectivity due to the lack of sapphire display on the stainless model. Albeit, that was before Apple increased to 1000 Nits brightness on the Series 2 from 450 Nits from the first Gen Watch , which has also helps in brighter lighting conditions.

 

[Jodiuh]

Thanks for all your help guys!

I've decided to go ahead and return it...

1. There's a reason I have never worn a watch except when running intervals.
2. Despite the nice band, I just don't like having an extra weight on my wrist. It prevents me from bending my wrists comfortably from time to time. It's very irritating when typing. I have to pull my wrist in whenever I go through a hallway. I feel like I have to be extra careful with it on.
3. I may have a bum watch, but it's VERY slow. Siri is iffy. It's not consistent.
4. I just don't find it very useful.

I do like how it lets me hear reminders or especially things tasks. That's really the only "cool" thing I've noticed and I can't justify $400+ for that.

Thanks All!!