I've just retired my Apple Watch Series 3.

Leanne J

@andycarolan I don’t need to charge my 6 every night, it’ll happily go over a day and a half, but the charger is on my beside table. As I take the watch off and would put it on the table anyway, it just clicks onto the magnetic charger.

I went years without wearing a normal watch until I got the AppleWatch 1, and it felt weird to wear one, but now if I don’t have it on it feels like I’ve lost something Neither of them is necessary if you don’t get valid use out of it of course.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@tekphloyd Haha, I mostly used mine for telling me the time. Being an S3, it was so slow and couldn't really do much more lol.

I can use the iPhone to count my steps/distance, which is just fine lol.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@LDJ Much the same for me, I take my watch off at night. I could never sleep wearing any kind of watch... too uncomfortable.

I think the valid use is something I've been looking for with it. I used to have Fitness +, which it was great for.

Alex G

@ljpuk @andycarolan can confirm. Went from smart watches to a Casio. Love the retro look, night light and a battery which lasts years instead of hours

Andy Carolan :prami:

@MajesticTechie The whole battery situation alone is a great reason to move away from smart watches. @ljpuk

Dave 💖

@andycarolan A friend of my wife talked us into wearing Garmin devices 24/7 because of the “body battery” feature. Sleep adds to that measure and activity deducts. It’s …. OK. I still wear a mechanical watch on my other wrist.

Santa Sponge 12.xmas

@andycarolan That's one reason I'm kind of over the whole smart watch thing. I do have one here that holds a charge for several weeks. Of course that's with all the features basically disabled. And it wasn't particularly smart to start with

Andy Carolan :prami:

@ddanielson That's interesting about the body battery. Do you find the data helpful?

Andy Carolan :prami:

@retrosponge I was sceptical to begin with, and after using the Apple Watch for a few years, I think I am done with it.

My phone is always with me, and for what I use it for, is far more capable than any watch.

I find the motivation I get from Pokémon Go better for reaching my movement goals than Apple fitness rings lol.

Santa Sponge 12.xmas

@andycarolan I got a watch from a brand called Amazfit. I got it for the heart monitor. Unfortunately it quite often thinks I'm dead. On other occasions it thinks I've become a hummingbird.

And absolutely chews through the battery.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@retrosponge That's the problem with fitness watches I guess... battery life or constant fitness data.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@retrosponge Oh I've heard of that brand... I assumed given the name it was an Amazon thing?

ROFL @ the dead/hummingbird flip flop thang

Santa Sponge 12.xmas

@andycarolan It's not actually an Amazon brand. It's a pretty good watch but it's not as good as the Fitbit Versa I had. Unfortunately I lost the charger when I moved 3 years ago, and now I've lost the watch as well

The Amazfit I sometimes wear in bed purely so I can just look at the time if I wake up during the night but it started driving me crazy.

And yes, the heart rate would flip from 0 to about 300 randomly. Not exactly helpful.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@retrosponge Shame about the Versa

I think sleep tracking is useful if you suspect that you're not getting quality sleeps though.

Santa Sponge 12.xmas

@andycarolan Best sleep tracker I've come across was on my old Pebble Watch.

It was a third party app and it was absolutely great and felt accurate.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@retrosponge Pebbles were awesome... shame that Fitbit bought and killed the company. I think they were in debt though?

Santa Sponge 12.xmas

@andycarolan Like so many tech companies that stretched too far and died.

There was a community third party replacement for the services that came up that was relatively easy to set up. Unfortunately my Pebble kind of died.

Andy Carolan :prami:

@retrosponge Yeah, I read about the third party stuff.

Dave 💖

@andycarolan I actually do find it helpful. It’s also measuring stress via heart rate as part the equation. Balancing exercise, rest and breathing exercises helps with sleep. My wife hates anything on her wrist, but wears this 24/7. I’m surprised by that! Made mine more comfortable with a canvas strap.