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why did you get an Apple Watch?

H

HBOC

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Oct 14, 2008
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so i have worked at REI for years, and i notice quite a few people coming in wearing these - but buying Suunto or Garmin watches. I am genuinely curious about these watches. They have an HRM wrist based (not the most accurate - but that is true with all), phone notifications, Glonass? and seamless connection with phones.

all my computing stuff is Apple (MBP, iMac, router) except smartphone. just wanting candid feedback. is there anything that you wish it had or would push you to get one of these products mentioned?
 
This depends greatly on how each person wants to use it...

The Suunto watches have the reputation for highly rugged, go anywhere uses, like ultra runners, rugged cross country, mountain biking, hiking, etc. You can beat the crap out of them, and the batteries last a very long time. A friend of mine races 3 and 6 hour mountain bike races. He wears a Suunto 24/7.

Garmins are OK at activity tracking (good enough, but not as good as Fitbit), and second-to-none at fitness. Runners and triathletes gravitate toward Garmin. Garmin also has some very solid crossover devices, like the Vivoactive and Vivofit that do both fitness and activity, with more of an emphasis on the activity tracking.

In my humble opinion, the Apple Watch is the worst in market in both fitness tracking and activity tracking. It is not that the hardware is lacking-- the AW device can do most of the same things as Fitbit, Garmin, or Suunto. It is that the AW has very limited software support for fitness and for activity.

Apple's strength is the user interface, its appearance (though, a lot of people love the Fenix 3 and a bunch of the Suuntos on looks), apps, the future potential when more apps arrive, Siri, Apple Pay, etc.

My guess is that someone buying a Suunto or Garmin prioritizes activity tracking and fitness tracking in their lifestyle. An AW buyer is likely more interested in the technology and looks. Personally, I use a Garmin for fitness, Fitbit for activity (though I may be shifting to Garmin), and AW for the cool tech stuff.
 
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Because I liked to look of it and my wife bought me one (42mm black SS with magnetic leather strap) last Christmas.

As fitness and activity tracking are both anathema to me I have little interest in them but I do use and like the interconnectivity aspects of the Apple Watch.
 
I have tried the AW twice and still go back to my FitBit as it does a better job with exercise and heart rates for me. Will be glad to see Apple update the OS officially and will give it another shot when they do. Until then my watch sits in the drawer but has good company.
 
First, I've always worn a watch, so that was obvious. It looks better than all other smart watches by quality and design and build and I thought square was a bad idea at first. The high end design quality of Apple wasn't a surprise. The size was just below too big like other devices. I wouldn't have to be embarrassed to wear it in public or professionally.

Watch OS3 works incredibly well for heart rate. Used it golfing 4 times and really struggled with the older OS losing the pulse about 5-10 times. I even compared to Fitbit which would lose the pulse about 3 or more times tops. OS3 I have golfed nine holes and lost the pulse zero times. Yesterday I lost the pulse 5 times but I forgot my sport band and had to use the leather classic buckle. Before that I never lost the pulse once.
 
this is great feed back! The one thing that i am always surprised about is when people come in wearing the AW, then try on like a ForeRunner 235 (etc) and they balk at how big that watch is (or similar watches). I haven't talked to anyone that has been unhappy with an AW.
 
HBOC said:
The one thing that i am always surprised about is when people come in wearing the AW, then try on like a ForeRunner 235 (etc) and they balk at how big that watch is (or similar watches). I haven't talked to anyone that has been unhappy with an AW.
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I have the Garmin 735XT, which is about the same size as the 235. It is surprising how size is perceived. The Garmin is 44.5mm in diameter, only 2.5mm larger than the AW is tall (assuming someone is comparing it to the 42mm). The thickness is 11.9mm vs. 10.5mm of the AW. The only major difference is in width-- AW's rectangular form is 35.9mm versus the watch's 44.5-- almost 1 cm difference. The most striking difference is that the Garmin 735XT weighs less than half of Apple's lightest watch. This is the most surprising, as it feels almost weightless on my wrist. The 735XT/235/630 are some of the smallest and lightest watches of their kind on the market. But, they are a little larger than the AW.
 
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I am highly dependent on my iPhone to organize my busy life, stay in communication, track appointments, monitor news, weather, and stocks, etc. While this is great, the phone is always nagging me for attention. Sometimes it feels like it's screaming at me. Do this. Do that. Respond to this. I love having this kind of technology, but sometimes I want to flush it down the toilet and go hide in a quiet room.

Last June I bought an Apple Watch as a solution to this problem. It serves as an elegant window into my phone. Notifications are now a gentle tap instead of a buzz or alert. I can deal with many things without pulling out my phone. Plus I get a nice timepiece that feels and looks great on my wrist. I liked it so much I upgraded to the SS with link bracelet. I admire it every day.

That's why I went with the Apple Watch. I can't wait until OS3, because it fixes everything that could be better in OS2.
 
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I love watches...can't leave the house without wearing one. As for the Apple Watch, I bought it mainly for the notifications. I wanted to be able to leave my phone in my office if I were in a meeting. Also, I keep my phone and watch on mute so I like being the only person that knows my phone is ringing or I'm getting a notification. I hear my coworkers phones going off all day and it drives me nuts! It's so easy to just glance at my wrist then continue what I'm doing.

When I first got it people would ask if I liked it and I would tell them yes but it's absolutely unnecessary. Fast forward to this past Friday night and the back of my watch came off on the charger. I took it to Apple and they had to send for a new one. I just picked it up this afternoon. Let me tell you, I've realized over the last 5 days how much I missed it! LOL
 
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What pushed me into finally getting one was its use for travelling. I was heading to Rome and discovered an app for directions and sightseeing. Being able to navigate around cities via the watch is a joy.
 
I got it because: It looked much nicer than other smartwatches, and the mechanism for swapping bands is genius; I already wore watches and knew how handy it was to have basic info on my wrist; I knew it would integrate better with iOS than any other smartwatch; I hoped to keep tracking exercise without my bulky Garmin; I expected app developers to find more ideas for using it.

I'm keeping it because: It still looks nicer than other smartwatches, and is more chameleon-like, too, because of its ability to change faces and bands so easily; Basic wrist-borne info now includes weather, laundry timer, next appointment, and activity level -- and those are just via complications; I've got my phone on Mute almost all the time, and have turned off its vibrations, too; Basic messaging via Siri is better than I expected, and it's gotten me to use dictation on my phone, too; Pay is awesome (when a retailer has it); It's good enough to replace my Garmin for fitness tracking because (a) I didn't use all the data the Garmin collected anyway, and (b) the AW's size makes it wearable every day, so I keep it charged regularly, unlike my Garmin, which lies dormant most of the week and loses charge; The "Taptic Engine" is the shizzle; Navigation is so good, I don't want a nav system in my car anymore (seriously, I don't); App developers, at least some of them, are finding both new app ideas and filling in the gaps around by Apple's apps (specialized workout apps being an example of the latter).
 
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I had a Pebble Steel before the Apple Watch, and I got it because I wanted a native Apple solution. My Pebble would lose its connection frequently, and it didn't really do enough. The AW almost never loses its connection, and the notifications are rich and often actionable. I like being able to leave my phone docked or in my pocket and still be in the loop.
 
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I got my Apple Watch mainly because I have all Apple products and have a hard time not buying what they put out, haha.But also because I work in retail and the constant buzzing of my phone when I'm working my shift and my need to want to see who it was and if it was an emergency would always override my sanity and I'd sneak away at work to check my notifications to make sure everything was ok. Now with the Watch it's a lot easier to see my notifications and see if anything needs an immediate response or if it's important and I love that! I can leave my phone in my locker at work and just have the watch with me to notify me of anything. I've also used a lot of watches before, but never a smartwatch, and It's nice to have an easy way to tell time (I get confused easy telling time :p) and also to have so many things at glance like if it was going to rain at any moment so I'm not caught in the rain.
I love how its so easy to switch watch faces too, and now i can have Mickey with me whenever I want. And honestly, the fitness aspect of the watch has actually motivated me to exercise more as I'm obsessed with seeing my activity rings filled. So all in all, it looks great, and it makes life a lot easier!
 
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I got the smaller face one as a gift (never would buy one myself) but found myself using it more and more as I don't like to carry my 6s+ around that much. Find I use mostly to keep track of messages when my phone is in my bag and for my lists and reminders. Liked it so much that I traded up for the larger face.
 
It's very, very useful. I have a bunch of great watches including a Rolex GMT-II that I wore solidly for about 15 years.. for some reason I was inspired to get a Casio Pro Trek - I really liked the idea of it being solar charged and getting really neat time sync features across the world and I wore that solidly for about 3 years.
The Apple watch was mooted and I immediately realised that utility over status was the way to go and for day to day things the AW wins hands down. I got mine pretty much in the first wave and have been enjoying that utility ever since. I may not be using tons of apps but Dark Sky telling me it's going to rain in 2 mins (and it does) is seriously better for day to day stuff with an ABC watch looking at the baro and thinking.. well it swung that way last week but it didn't rain etc.
Don't get me wrong I still have the other watches and appreciate them in their place but for day to day the AW is great. Just have to remember to switch to the sport band when I'm fly fishing because the Blue Leather Loop has taken a few dunks in the river and it's not recommended :D
 
I got it because of the communications aspect. I can see and read my email and messages and can see who is calling, and, if I so desire, answer the call on it (which I usually don't). I carry my cell phone in my pocket.

I had a FitBit, which I really liked, and still like. I could see my messages, but could not reply. IMHO the FitBit does a better job in the fitness tracking aspect, but I am not a exercise nut. I use it to track my heart rate (I am a heart failure patient) and track my activity.

I am really looking forward to what is yet to come with the new OS.
 
It was originally an activity tracker replacement... The fuelband.
I've been a watch person, so the time and date are useful. My main reasons for having are the watch are simply notifications so I don't miss anything that could be important and controlling my music while the phone is in my gym bag. I can leave my phone in a desk or locker and still get all the notifications I need and if anything needs immediate attention then I can respond appropriately.
 
I've had a S0 Sport watch since they came out and moved from a Suunto Ambit 2 Sapphire (from REI) which I still think is an awesome watch and will continue to own long after I've sold or handed down my Apple Watch S0 :). I think the Apple watch is kind of plain and ugly. I like round watches.

The AW definitely has advantages that I use often:
- Siri Integration (albeit a poor alternative to OK Google)
- Music on the watch for running (albeit very slow to sync and what's with this only one list?)
- Activity Circles and data accumulation
- Apple Pay
- futures?

You just can't do that other stuff on a Suunto (or Garmin I'd imagine) I think that ecosystem has to come from Google, Apple (or MS as a dark horse). Maybe if Suunto or Garmin partnered with Google or MS?

All of those things don't seem to have to have that much influence with how the watch looks. That's why I think Google will eventually win in this space. It should be more behind the scenes. I'd bet that as soon as Android partners with one of those two, I'll move to it. (IMO)
 
The Google home is pretty cool!
Either way, I prefer a round Watch as well but the Apple Watch is a nice change or pace.
I sure hope the 2nd model is much better in the terms of all the things you have mentioned above.
 
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