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James.K.Polk

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 31, 2015
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I've inherited an Apple Watch Series 3 "Edition" in the White Ceramic trim. Everything in the box is included (including, from back in the good ol' days, the magnetic charging puck!) and battery life seems good in (very) preliminary testing. I'm a runner, first and foremost, and would use this in place of my Garmin FR 245, most likely (I have a Stryd footpod, as well).

We can debate those relative merits all day - I've owned several Garmins and Watches in the past few years, so I'm familiar with each's shortcomings - but I'm wondering if anyone has specifically dealt with the ceramic model as a running watch. Any GPS errors? Does a Series 3 still cut it in 2020 as a daily driver, if the primary focus is fitness first and smartwatch second?
 
I had a series 2; which is pretty much the same watch as the Series 3 (less cellular). The ceramic is probably my favorite finish of all the apple watches I've owned. It still has some value if you were to sell it; probably enough to cover the majority of the cost of a Series 5 aluminum. If you like to run; less than 10 miles at a time, it is a good watch. I'd recommend you activate the cellular which will allow you to run while streaming music to wireless headphones and still have connectivity of phone/messages.
 
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I've inherited an Apple Watch Series 3 "Edition" in the White Ceramic trim. Everything in the box is included (including, from back in the good ol' days, the magnetic charging puck!) and battery life seems good in (very) preliminary testing. I'm a runner, first and foremost, and would use this in place of my Garmin FR 245, most likely (I have a Stryd footpod, as well).

We can debate those relative merits all day - I've owned several Garmins and Watches in the past few years, so I'm familiar with each's shortcomings - but I'm wondering if anyone has specifically dealt with the ceramic model as a running watch. Any GPS errors? Does a Series 3 still cut it in 2020 as a daily driver, if the primary focus is fitness first and smartwatch second?

I still use my Series 3 ceramic (grey) for the gym and while running and it still works great. GPS is fine and battery still holding up after 2 years of use.
 
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A guy at work has a series 3 ceramic. It’s a nice looking watch.

I can’t speak to the ceramic one personally but I loved my aluminum series 3. Probably my favorite watch to date. I upgraded to a series 5 due to an unbeatable deal from sprint, plus the series 5 has the full ceramic back which is supposed to help with cellular connectivity vs the series 3. Had that deal not come out, I’d happily still be using my aluminum series 3 for my daily watch, including to track my running.

I’m not positive but I’d guess that the ceramic edition would get great gos/cellular/wifi reception as it doesn’t have the metal case to block signals.
 
I still use my stainless steel series 3, and I originally had a series 5 ceramic until I had to sell it. Both are great pieces.

In terms of signal strength either watch should be the same since the antennas are kept in or near the display iirc.
 
Series 3 daily driver here!

The watch is amazing, still holds up quite well for its age. The bezels do make it look quite dated, but ignoring that it's a great little watch. I'm absolutely in love with mine and will continue to use it until it loses software support. So probably watchOS 8, if I'm being generous.

EDIT: The GPS is quite good too, and accurate.
 
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I think the Series 3 Apple Watch was the one model that had very few hardware issues.

As far as the Series 3 looking dated. I don’t think it does, it’s still very much the same design in terms of the other Apple Watch models, just with the exception of a smaller display.
 
As they still sell them new (not in ceramic), and although the generation is coming up to 3 years old now, the processor is only 1 generation behind, since the S5 was more like an Series 4.5. All that means you should expect software support for a good few years. My girlfriend still uses my old S2 and it works fine.

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I think the Series 3 Apple Watch was the one model that had very few hardware issues.

As far as the Series 3 looking dated. I don’t think it does, it’s still very much the same design in terms of the other Apple Watch models, just with the exception of a smaller display.

In reality, only Apple Watch nerds like us can tell the difference on someone's wrist. Even the different between SS and aluminium is difficult to make out.
 
I still use my stainless steel series 3, and I originally had a series 5 ceramic until I had to sell it. Both are great pieces.

In terms of signal strength either watch should be the same since the antennas are kept in or near the display iirc.
Why did you sell it?
 
Still undecided. Thinking I may part out the ceramic band and charger and just keep the Watch until it dies? I'm unsure how Garmin and Apple play alongside each other because I've never actually owned both at once. Can I still fill the rings using Garmin?
 
I have an aluminium series 3, GPS. I run marathons, so have a pretty high weekly mileage, and use the gym several times a week. No plans on upgrading the watch at all yet. It works fine.
 
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I have an aluminium series 3, GPS. I run marathons, so have a pretty high weekly mileage, and use the gym several times a week. No plans on upgrading the watch at all yet. It works fine.

Awesome, thanks. I'm reasonably high-mileage (right around 80 MPW now), and like (but don't love) Garmin's platform. It serves its purpose, but really nothing more.
 
Still undecided. Thinking I may part out the ceramic band and charger and just keep the Watch until it dies? I'm unsure how Garmin and Apple play alongside each other because I've never actually owned both at once. Can I still fill the rings using Garmin?

I’m not sure if you can do it natively but you can definitely use rungap ($8/year) to sync garmin data with Apple watch data.
 
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