I've learned I will be getting an Apple Watch for Christmas. I don't know which model. I've never thought it was useful besides using it as a heart rate monitor. Who has one and uses it?

I love mine. It's really helpful for glancing/dismissing at notifications (texts, incoming calls) and a heart rate monitor. The thing I probably enjoy most is wearing it at night and it being an alarm that doesn't wake up anyone else.

Text, call, ring notifications. That's about all I use mine for. Oh yeah, telling time.

At one point I had that thing setup with my Smartthings devices (garage, light automations, etc.), then I got bored with that.

Had Series 2 years ago and loved it tracking my workouts and calories.

Have had a Series7 and now Series9.

Do you need one? Absolutely not. Is it encouraging to see your workouts and miles walked? Yes.

I get messages as said above and glance and ignore. I also answer phone calls around the house when I don't have my phone handy. The audio quality is surprisingly good.

I don't wear mine regularly but I do put it on for daily workouts and such. It is very handy to have a means of communication when I'm out on a walk/run as either a security measure or if I need to contact emergency services. It is also useful for mapping my routes and distances and plugging everything into the Health app. I can also use it to stream music.

I have the Ultra from a couple of years ago, but you don't need that.

Hopefully it's the Ultra. Handy when you are walking/running for important call !!

All watches have the LTE for cellular option except SE.

My wife should have just got me the SE I don't think I care about any of the extra features.

Yup, use mine as an alarm for that very reason. Also set reminders and timers via Siri all the time as well as workout tracking.

discobrob said:

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most useful feature is that it helps me find my dadgum phone all the time.

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lol I use it for this constantly.

Wow!

lb3 said:

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My wife had an elevated heart rate for a few days while we were camping out of the country so I hitched a ride to town, purchased an Apple watch, slapped it on her wrist and sent the ekg to a physician friend.

30 minutes later we were waiting for a ride to the hospital. She says it saved her life.

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The ekg is extremely accurate. I was in aflutter and it measured basically every think the real ekg did 1% of what the watch was reading.

Love mine. I hadn't worn a watch in years so I wasn't sure if I'd use it.

I love the convenience of the timer. Also great for quickly checking the weather. I have Shazam as one of my face buttons and use it when driving or in a store and hear a new to me song or a song I want to remember to learn to play on guitar.

Texts, ring camera, etc. all convenient. I like being able to change Spotify tracks or adjust volume from my wrist while swimming or in the shower.

Finding your phone with the Apple Watch is absolutely useful. Maybe the best feature of it. I stopped wearing mine primarily because mine was beat to hell and my Garmin Venu is superior for tracking workouts. My main use for either watch is for fitness. Don't care about notifications or really anything else.

The accuracy of heart rate is certainly better on Apple Watch and it's easier to wear and use. I thinking you are going to wear a smart watch the apple is the best one overall.

I've had an Ultra 2 for about a month now. What I like most is I use the podcast app when I'm running and it picks right up where I was on my phone and when I'm done my phone picks up where my watch left off. Getting a call when I'm running is easy. Garmin has that too but clunky. I actually returned a LTE garmin because of that and went with a non LTE.
If you are into working out, it's a really solid device now. Pairs easy with gym equipment that supports it (ie my Peloton and Tonal) and the workout app does everything I need.
I'll also second the ekg stuff, my dad has been using that to help his Dr out. Also, the fall detection is great especially if you are aging or even just get on ladders or hike on uneven terrain
I'm still new to it and really focused on the health side and it's been great there

If your main goal is fitness tracking, I think a higher end Garmin is better.

I have a Fenix7 and love it. Great battery life, accurate, more features than I'll ever use but is great for running. And still does smart watch things such as basic notifications, find my phone, etc. I don't feel the need or miss some of the other fluff/apps that say my old Galaxy Gear watch had. It's expensive, but my son's lesser model (some semi-recent Forerunner model) was like a third of the cost and seems to have most of the same main features.

SJEAg said:

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If your main goal is fitness tracking, I think a higher end Garmin is better.

I have a Fenix7 and love it. Great battery life, accurate, more features than I'll ever use but is great for running. And still does smart watch things such as basic notifications, find my phone, etc. I don't feel the need or miss some of the other fluff/apps that say my old Galaxy Gear watch had. It's expensive, but my son's lesser model (some semi-recent Forerunner model) was like a third of the cost and seems to have most of the same main features.

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Agreed. I have a fenix 5 but also have a Venu 2. The latter is a great combo of regular smart watch and fitness tracking. It does everything my fenx 5 did but with an AMOLED screen. I didn't need a fenix 7 because I wasn't going to use everything it can do.

And if you are a data nerd the Garmin Connect app is superior to Apple Health as well. So for pure fitness tracking the Garmin is better but I do think the Apple is all around better smart watch.

What I REALLY want is a smart ring that handles fitness tracking well. Lets you wear your nice watches and not have to wear a smart watch. But that's another thread....

discobrob said:

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most useful feature is that it helps me find my dadgum phone all the time.

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Forgot all about that. Yep, this feature over telling time.

I use the watch for a few things, telling time, Apple Home Keys, paying for gas and food at Buc-ee's without pulling out my wallet, finding my iPhone, seeing texts when I'm away from my phone, and exercise.

I can't wait for it to be my car keys when peasant cars get this.