Is an Apple Watch worth it?

[jimster]

I see them on the bay for $200US in boxes. I'm new to the whole smartwatch and digitals but it seems like a solid product.

Why no reviews on it?

[ronaldheld]

Do you won an IPhone for it to connect to, would be my first question?

[Kasper]

second question ...do i need to charge it every day?

[ronaldheld]

second question ...do i need to charge it every day?

I would expect so.

[jimster]

Well, I have an iPhone 6+ and after research don't need another data receiver on my wrist. I'll stick with a watch that tells time with a few extras

[holly35]

in a nut shell yes,i dont use any other watch now.However i dont use most of its techie functions only different face combinations,Quality is superb,DLC carbon stainless steel case,sapphire crystal supremely comfortable rubber strap (much more comfortable than venturas) and ceramic case back.
Easily the quality (if not better) than Ventura,nice classic sizes and it can be operated just like the touch command flick of the wrist classic pulsars.
No fiddling with batteries,

[stockae92]

Apple Watch has really polarizing opinion.

I don't hate it, but I can't stand having to charge yet another device every day. Some people I know complain that the watch battery won't last 18 hrs on one of those long and busy days.

Since the only "smart feature" I am interested in the message and phone call notification, I could live with much "dumber" smart watch.

I have both Garmin Fenix 3 and vivoActive HR, which I wear for exercise and as my watch in rotation. They have both been working great for my purpose. And the battery for both can easily last over a week. I usually charge them once every 2 to 3 weeks, since I would turn them off between use. And I like that their screen is "always on", though they are low contrast without the LED backlite.

I like the idea of Apple watch, but only if their battery life would last 4 to 5 days normal use. I am pretty sure Apple will be working on a charging solution that will charge the phone, the watch and the headphone all together easily, and sell the charge for $149 + tax. :)

[xevious]

The Apple Watch is nicely done, but like so many Apple products they feel like "vulnerable luxury". Very nice materials but so easily prone to scratches and breakage. My sister has had 4 iPhone screens replaced over the 6 years she has owned them. I've never had a broken screen with my HTC phones. I have an iPod Touch (looks like an iPhone in many ways, minus the cellular capability) and it is kept in a protective case, with tempered glass overlay to protect the screen. Anyway, the Apple Watch strikes me as equally vulnerable. This isn't something you'd want to cover with a case, as it sits on your wrist. But the worst of it is the battery life. Maybe if you turned off the Bluetooth connection to your iPhone most of the time and only activate it when you'd like a manual update on things, perhaps it might last longer. But Apple designed it for constant connection to the iPhone.

So yes, the Apple Watch can be charged by an induction plate, so there's no pesky plugging of a connector into a port. But you have to take off your watch. And that's a bother, IMHO.

I recently picked up a gently used Garmin vivoactive HR smart fitness watch and it's terrific. It does a lot of what the Apple Watch does... albeit in a less graceful eye-candy manner. But at least it'll go a full week before needing a charge. The watch has loads of features, including the ability to customize the watch face with downloaded configurations. You can make the watch minimalist or data saturated, with all kinds of layout variations (analog simulation, analog/digital, full digital, graphs, etc), including different sets of data displayed. It wears rather comfortably. What I really like is that the casing is the same as the band width, so there's no case side protrusion. You can really wear this comfortably on your wrist overnight. The Apple Watch doesn't have a built-in sleep tracker, but you can install one as a separate app. But they're all 3rd party provided and so there's no big company behind the programming. Garmin invested a lot into sleep monitoring technology and it seems to do a very good job with sleep monitoring and assessment. Plus the Garmin Connect app provides a nice interface for reviewing synchronized data and correcting any aberrations (like actual start-end times for sleep; it's not a perfect science, so editing is facilitated). And lastly, there's the cost factor. The Apple Watch with GPS only is $360 USD. The vivoactive HR can be picked up for as little as $199 new, and under $100 for gently used.

Btw, I turned off a number of features, but left notifications on. Got a text message and it went right to the vivoactive... easy to read, so I didn't have to pick up my phone right away.

I do have to admit that the Series 3 Apple Watch has been nicely improved. I think the GPS + Cellular model is a bit presumptuous. Given how the watch in normal use will require recharging daily, imagine using it as an independent cellular device. Make just a couple of calls, and it'll probably be completely out of power!