Smart watches

[Big George]

My 20 year old watch has given up the ghost and I'm looking to replace it with a smart watch.

I am absolutely not a watch snob but I've recently started again down the gym and it will help me make sure I don't give myself a heart attack.

I have an iPhone and there seems to be an apple watch for about £250, is it worth it?

I would like somethng that tells the time, monitors basic health data including heart rate (natch).

Not bothred about music player, apple play or the stuff that my phone can do.

Thoughts recommendations?

[dasnutnock3]

Apple watches look nice, for sure. Seems to be a fair amount you can do with them. I'm on my third (I think) Garmin, because I get them cheap through my company health insurance. Good kit, and a good phone app, too.

[wolf359]

I love my Apple Watch but they are almost useless without an iPhone. Battery life is shocking though (40ish hours I get).

Great for the gym and gathering data to ensure you are not dead.

[snooperpooper]

I use a Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, it measures heart rate, stress levels, oxygen saturation and I don't connect it to my phone so don't have any of the music, calls, messages and payment crap going on.

[S-H]

I use a Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, it measures heart rate, stress levels, oxygen saturation and I don't connect it to my phone so don't have any of the music, calls, messages and payment crap going on.

Is that the S3 gear?

Great bit of kit, had mine fora few years and still as good today as the day I bought it

[Shabu]

I have a Garmin Instinct & love it. Links up to my android phone.

Does heartbeat, location, sleep, steps, loads of activity tracking including swimming & golf. Even altitude if you ned it. Probably a load of other stuff which I don't know about. You can even get a solar version. Cost me $200 about 3 years ago. Also very durable. I'm always banging it at work.

PLUS, the Garmin Connect site is great & free. You can compare your previous activities against each other. I pull up my last 4 runs on a 5k I do then it races them against each other while I play the theme from Rocky in the background. You can even create personal challenges within a period of time you specify. At the moment I am halfway through an 80k running challenge that ends on May 14th.

[Burnley Hammer]

If you're only interested in health monitoring then I'll give a vote to the Garmin Instinct 2. It will do the things you need it to do very well, and probably a lot more. If that looks too rugged for you, have a look at their Vivomove 3 watch. These watches have built in GPS, fantastic battery life, and are not reliant on you carrying your phone around with you. They come into their own when tracking activities. I use it for both running and walking.

Both of these, along with the Apple watch, may be overkill though if all you want is basic heart monitoring and you're not going to be tracking activities. I love my own Garmin Instinct. No annoying touchscreen and simple operation using 4 buttons. The simple monochrome screen is easy to navigate and means that its able to get a lot more out of a single charge. If you don't use GPS and have bluetooth turned off, you'll get a whole month from a single charge. The watch also has a blood oximeter, barometer, accelerometer, and altimeter so its able to effectively track how many floors you've climbed aswell as the usual steps you've done.

Like you, I have no interest in other smart watch features and usually have bluetooth connection to my phone switched off as the last thing I want is to be constantly pestered with notifications whilst chilling out on a walk. In fact, I'm becoming less and less dependent on my phone and usually leave it in the house now when I go out.

[prince_huggy]

I've tried a few out but Fitbit I've stuck with and will do for future (if needed) purchases

[Arch Dandy]

I have a Garmin Marq which was a gift and it seems to everything but if you've got a Apple Phone I'd go for the Apple Watch.

[Big George]

Cheers all, the fella in the Apple shop was a bit extra and very keen to up sell so I went for a basic Garmin watch. (fore runner 55 which was £150 in a sale)

Will gets the apps and report back

[3times]

Whatever you do don't get a Fitbit Versa 3. Mrs has no end of trouble syncing with her iphone.

[fmgod]

Google has bought Fitbix, I love my Versa 2, I did look at the new Pixel Watch(essentially the new FItbit) and the battery life is one day and that seems to be common for smart watches, that would drive me insane, my Versa 3 last for days

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

I’m so tempted by the Apple Watch Ultra. Not sure it is great value at £850, but looks great and performs very well by all accounts.

But £850 is a lot for something that will probably be out of date in a few years.

But I’m tempted…

[Burnley Hammer]

I think I'd probably go for the Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire over the Apple Watch Ultra - IF I was thinking about spending that amount of money on a watch (which I would never do).

[chalks]

George, how are you getting along with the watch mate?

[The Old Man of Storr]

Last watch I ever owned was a Hopalong Cassidy watch - true story - not a clue why my dear old Mam would think of buying me one but she did . It told the time right enough - nowadays I just look at how low the sun is in the sky which can be difficult some days here on Skye but I'm usually close to within half an hour or so and I've got nowhere to be so it really doesn't matter .

It's 4 minutes past midnight , see , told you , don't need a watch . Oh , sh*t , it's 5 minutes past now . I was close though .

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

After weeks of thinking about it, I finally went and bought an Apple Watch Ultra.

I absolutely love it. Loads of functionality and excellent battery life. If you are into the Apple ecosystem, it just works with everything.

[Big George]

George, how are you getting along with the watch mate?

I don't how it would work for a finely tuned athlete like yourself CHalks but it suits my needs.

Heart rate, steps, sleep, excercise monitoring. Two weeks battery life.

[mushy]

I've tried a few out but Fitbit I've stuck with and will do for future (if needed) purchases

I like Fitbits and find their software easy to follow, but isn't the problem that they've been bought by Google and all the good bits will be on subscription soon?

[mushy]