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Stainless Steel models comfortable for exercising/sleeping?

Y

yepp

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 20, 2018
78
71
Hi,

Now with the increase weight of Series 7 models, do you think that the stainless steel models feel uncomfortable during exercising or sleeping? Personally, I use the watch mainly for exercise/fitness tracking and sleeping (running, cycling, weight lifting, etc.)

I have been using titanium models for the last few years, but thinking about switching to graphite SS this year.

For those of you who exercise with a SS model, what has been your experience and what do you think about the further increased weight of SS? Are you considering switching to aluminum or titanium series 7 because of the weight?
 
I switch between Alu and SS year-to-year and wear my watch 24/7, incl. exercise, swimming and sleeping.

I find absolutely no difference between Alu and SS, I'm sure Ti would be the same. The extra weight isn't noticeable unless you compare them side-by-side IMO. If you exercise, especially lift weights, a few grams won't be noticeable compared to a dumbbell :)

Straps on the other hand, will be noticable (sweat absorption, breathability, fit, comfort, etc.)
 
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I have an aluminum AW6. I like the pink gold look, and it was my first AW so I just wanted to be sure that I even like wearing this watch.

I have thought about upgrading to Hermes stainless steel with all the fancy band options, but at the end of the day, my lifestyle is quite active, and I do all the cooking and cleaning around the house, so fancy watches don't do much for me.

If I want to go somewhere and wear a nice watch, I just reach for my Chopard, Chanel, Rolex.,,,etc. and leave my AW at home.
 
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yepp said:
Hi,

Now with the increase weight of Series 7 models, do you think that the stainless steel models feel uncomfortable during exercising or sleeping? Personally, I use the watch mainly for exercise/fitness tracking and sleeping (running, cycling, weight lifting, etc.)

I have been using titanium models for the last few years, but thinking about switching to graphite SS this year.

For those of you who exercise with a SS model, what has been your experience and what do you think about the further increased weight of SS? Are you considering switching to aluminum or titanium series 7 because of the weight?
Click to expand...
I have found the SS models to be comfortable during exercising and sleeping. I did find that the sport band was not comfortable for me during those two times. I either use the sport loop or solo loop during those two activities.
 
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If you wear the watch a bit looser you can feel
It jiggle around more when running. Came from an Alu, was different at first but the feeling soon disappeared. I tend to upgrade when there are great deals on older SS watches, can’t go back to alu now, feels like a toy.
 
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I have a ceramic series 5 and a SS series 4.
I also have a series 4 AL.
Thought the latter is lighter I think the difference I feel in weight is far more psychological than anything.
I use my ceramic while mountain biking.
Black SS I have used in the pool
The silver ti series will replace the ceramic for every day wearing but for mountain biking I’m am leaning towards keeping the ceramic as the primary.
I wouldn’t be overly concerned with the weight issue
 
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Switched from 5 years of Alu last year to SS and initially I felt a weight difference but it wasn’t significant enough to be ‘uncomfortable’. I’m now used to it and it’s absolutely fine for sleep, running and weight training.

If weight is a concern, a smaller case size might be of interest.
 
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I've only owned stainless steel Apple watches since I got my first one on day one (literally day one - April 24, 2015) ... I've never noticed the weight. 🤔 Like, ever. I have handled the aluminum model once or twice and remember thinking that it was incredibly light (and felt somewhat insubstantial as a result) but the weight of the SS model has never been noticeable in a distracting or negative way, to me. And that's with a lot of physical activity and exercise - the exercise app says I've hit my move goal 1,921 times. So, yeah. I wouldn't worry about it at all.
 
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Sorry to hijack the thread for a while. But for those of you who own more than one watch, how is activity tracked? Does it go to the same Apple ID? So it doesn't matter if I'm wearing watch 1 or watch 2, they will both record my activities? OR NOT?
 
GrandeLatte said:
Sorry to hijack the thread for a while. But for those of you who own more than one watch, how is activity tracked? Does it go to the same Apple ID? So it doesn't matter if I'm wearing watch 1 or watch 2, they will both record my activities? OR NOT?
Click to expand...
The data syncs to the iPhone and from there across all paired watches. It doesn’t matter which watch you use.
 
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Considering I’ve used a 170+ g divers watch when exercising in the past with no problems I have a hard time seeing the few grams extra of the s7 should be noticable.
 
yepp said:
Hi,

Now with the increase weight of Series 7 models, do you think that the stainless steel models feel uncomfortable during exercising or sleeping? Personally, I use the watch mainly for exercise/fitness tracking and sleeping (running, cycling, weight lifting, etc.)

I have been using titanium models for the last few years, but thinking about switching to graphite SS this year.

For those of you who exercise with a SS model, what has been your experience and what do you think about the further increased weight of SS? Are you considering switching to aluminum or titanium series 7 because of the weight?
Click to expand...
I found the stainless too heavy for technical mountain biking. Vibrations hurt my wrist. The only way for me mountain bike with the watch is an aluminum or Ti case, and I need to put on the sport velcro strap. Even the sport band makes it too heavy.
 
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yepp said:
Hi,

Now with the increase weight of Series 7 models, do you think that the stainless steel models feel uncomfortable during exercising or sleeping? Personally, I use the watch mainly for exercise/fitness tracking and sleeping (running, cycling, weight lifting, etc.)

I have been using titanium models for the last few years, but thinking about switching to graphite SS this year.

For those of you who exercise with a SS model, what has been your experience and what do you think about the further increased weight of SS? Are you considering switching to aluminum or titanium series 7 because of the weight?
Click to expand...
I sleep and exercise (a lot) with the watch on, although my exercise doesn't include impact-type sports (for example, handball, squash or tennis). I've owned both SS and aluminum watches. Honestly, I've never noticed the difference, at least not after the first 10 minutes or so. I'm wearing a SS 45mm S7 now which would be the heaviest AW that's ever been offered and it's truly not an issue for me...everyone's different but I have a hard time imagining it being a problem for most other people, either.

Here are the weights from the Apple site for 45mm watches. One ounce imperial = 28.3 grams, so the difference between aluminum and SS is less than 13g, or less than 1/2 ounce. The difference between the Ti and SS is really negligible: less than 6.5g, or ~ 1/5 ounce.
38.8 grams (Aluminum, GPS, GPS + Cellular)
51.5 grams (Stainless Steel)
45.1 grams (Titanium)
 
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Very comfortable (series 4 SS and now 7 SS) but I rarely try to sleep with it on… sometimes I do because I’m so tired I knock out with the watch on but I really try not to.
 
I have small wrists (size 2 on the Apple woven bands) and I can notice the difference with SS vs. Aluminum. It’s hard to explain, but the SS has a tendency to want to slip off when I use the Milanese band due to the thickness and the weight vs the the circumference of my wrist. It’s like the increased weight makes the watch more unbalanced on my wrist.
 
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If the weight of the watch bothered my sleep, I’d be in real trouble. As soon as I got two AW I’ve used a sleep tracking. Maybe one day I can afford a Rolex, maybe that would be too heavy for me.

in all honesty the band is what can bother me the most to sleep, I use the slip loop year round for sleep comfort.
 
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Im at the gym 5 days a week and went with my first stainless steel watch after always having aluminum. I had the same concern but just like many people said, once you wear the SS, you feel the difference for maybe a few minutes then it Just feels normal. I haven’t noticed any difference at the gym wearing the SS compared to my aluminum.
 
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I found the SS to dig into the wrist causing quite a bit of pain. I'm not really sure of the cause, might have been Covid and working from home, might have been the SS weight, don't know. I kind of suspect the extra weight caused the watch to flop a bit more causing me to wear it tighter which triggers the nerve. Switching the band has helped as I can wear it looser.

I'm getting a S7 solely because of this as I don't really see much of a reason to upgrade otherwise. I was really hoping they'd release the flatter version in the "leaks" but I'll try it and see if it helps.
 
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