Besides just notifications, what tips or advice can you give to using the watch to the full potential?
I have a Garmin Vivoactive 6, and I use it for the following:
- sleep quality tracking. It judges me in the morning.
- steps and calories burned so that I can justify eating or drinking something shitty.
- whether or not to pull out my phone and respond to a text message
- how far from the green I am
That’s… about it. Would love other ideas.
How you judge your sleep massively influences how you feel, so I always judge how I slept, then check the watch if it agrees. If I think I slept well and the watch says no, I say technical malfunction. If I felt I slept bad and the watch says I slept well, I feel better about my sleep. Win win
Multiple Refurbished Apple Watch SE
80% setting timers.
15% exercise tracking.
5% finding phone, checking weather and compass.
I’ve tried to go without it - but the ease of setting common timers pulled me back.
Refurb SE2 here-
50% Telling the time! (no clocks within view at work)
50% kilojoule/exercise tracking.
you never check the time on it?
Garmin 6S Solar Pro
I use it to:
- Tracking my steps and walks
- Tracking biking & hiking
- Monitoring my sleep
In the past I also used it to pay in grocery stores
I use the PineTime, a fully open-source smartwatch, but it’s not very smart. It shows me the time and my notificafions, which is all I need. (It also does more things I dont use). It only costs like 35 euro as well.
I use one too. Only thing I wish for is longer memory for notifications. It only does a very limited number of characrers, and with a long group chat name the message often gets cut off.
Apple Watch 11
I mostly use it for convenience, so I don’t need to pull my phone out
- Apple Pay
- Weather
- Music controls
- timers. Lots of timers
- Reminders/notifications/texts
- random search questions
- occasionally phone calls
In theory I track
- exercise
- sleep
Feature I’m most interested in
- any health sensor
I upgraded from an Apple Watch 3 because I could no longer update in place, only reset and reinstall.
I’ll upgrade again when a compelling health sensor is added. Probably blood pressure
I had a pixel watch 2, and my main activity with it was charging. Then I got a OnePlus watch R2, and that thing is way better. I mainly use it to track my activities, sleep, etc. But another benefit I wouldn’t want to miss is to quickly check what has been ringing up my phone without taking my phone out. Oh, and having a quick look at the temperature/rain forecast before I go out has saved me thousands of times.
Pebble Time 2.
Mostly sleep and step counting. Media controls on occasion. Just got it so not had a chance to customize it much yet.
Coming from, in order: Garmin Vivoactive 5, 4, 3, 2, Pebble Time, Pebble OG.
Preferred the healthstats on the Garmin out of the box. Great indicator if I’m getting sick based on its measurements or if I’m not being as active as I should be.
Watch6 Classic.
Use it as a watch/for maps/step tracker.
Its pretty nifty. Although I had to disconnect work apps as the notifications were stressing me out
Same here (Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic 47mm now). I had the 43mm but the battery time difference is notable, barely above 1 day with the 43mm, comfortably 2 days with the 47mm. I got it refurbished for 100 euros a few months ago, the model came new a year or two ago.
I use it for alarms, notifications, occasionally for payment or calls, sleep and fitness tracking (no GPS), quick glance for the day’s agenda (I’m in meetings all day). And time, obviously.
Oh, and one cool thing: it has a rotating bezel around the screen and it can be used to control PowerPoint presentations. Very nifty trick for when you forget your clicker.
EDIT: for completeness, I just had one smartwatch before (OG Galaxy Watch with rotating bezel), similar uses without payments. Failed after 5 years due to water ingress at a water slide. Also a Galaxy Fit 2 before that (smartband), for time notifications and steps. My wife has now a Galaxy fit 3, it’s like 30 euros and does the basics.
Yeah, we have/had a bunch of samsung devices, but I wouldn’t blindly recommend it to everyone, they just work for us.
I quite like samsung stuff tbh. I know we’re not meant to on here but it all just works.
Have a Pixel watch. I use it mainly for, to no ones surprise, check the time. Other than that, sleep tracking, setting timers, silent alarm and exercise/calorie tracking.
Garmin Instinct Solar: I use it for regular watch stuff, finding my phone when I misplace it, controlling music, and checking notifications.
It can do more, but that’s mostly what I use it for. Also, the battery life is great compared to other smart watches, including the efficient ones like the OG Pebble. I charge maybe once a month.
Apple Watch 2. I use it for regulating my emotions. Any time my rage needs managing I ask it a simple question like “Battery?” and its complete inability to hear, understand, and respond in less than five attempts really gets the rage pumping.
Garmin Fenix 6 sapphire, this has been the best watch I’ve ever har. At this point I’ve had it for like 6 years and the battery still lasts a week at max power and a month on battery saver. It can record GPS for like 2 straight days on one charge
No touch screen which is excellent because the button input is extremely intuitive to the point where I can often use it without looking if I’m running or working on something.
The spO2 and HR monitors are nice to haves for me for working out but I use them more for differential readings more than absolute.
I keep wanting to upgrade to the newer ones especially to have mobile Internet connectivity but I can’t justify it cause this thing has been bulletproof.
Also been using a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro since 2020 and agreed with everything you’ve said. 10 day battery life still holding strong and the screen is essentially bullet proof (non-saphire version here). It’s smart enough to where I’ll get notifications from my phone but not smart enough that I’ll be composing a fully fledged out response through it, that’s what the phone is for. Thought about the newer ones, but I think at this point I just want to run this one until it’s dead.
Samsung galaxy watch ultra.
I’ve been using Samsungs since they started making them. The main thing (after the time) is in fact the notifications, since it’s much less disruptive to me or my conversation if I just check a watch rather than pull out my phone.
Other than that, I hike most weekends during warmer months and I track that on the watch. I don’t really use the data too much after the fact, but I like knowing how long it really was, my heart rate, etc.
I work from home now, but when i was in an office setting it was fine to listen to music, and I used the watch to control the player, again without taking out a phone while I’m supposed to be working.
I use a watch face that gives me some quick stuff like the temperature, chance of rain, my last measured heartrate, steps, and my calories (when I was tracking that).
Basically I use it to avoid pulling out my phone for every little damn thing, and for the health tracking stuff.
This is less often, but if i go to a Waterpark or something like six flags in the summer, if you have a data plan on the watch, it’s really handy to have that and leave the phone in a locker or the car. That way you can still message your group, and if you have it set up, pay for food and drinks or merch while you’re there. They’re water resistant well beyond what will happen there so you don’t need to get a special case or worry about losing it on a ride.
Ultra 3. The second one I’ve purchased on FB Marketplace (wife inherited the Ultra 2 I previously wore). I would never pay retail for one of these, but the battery life is a step up from the regular models. Mainly use it to track exercise, as a flashlight that won’t blind me in the night. When I was last England, my older series 9 was awesome for tap to pay getting around on public transit. Most notifications are turned off, but the calls and messages are useful since I usually miss them on my phone.
Also, good for telling time and date a/o having to pull out my phone.
I have a Garmin Fenix 5 Plus. I track my activities whether it’s a long walk, a hike, or paddle. It helps when hiking because if I get a bit lost, I can look at the map to see the trails I’ve walked, or how fast I’ve paddled/hiked/etc. It also has an emergency function so if my heart rate suddenly spikes or if I quickly drop in height (like a cliff, though it has been triggered once when I climbed down a water fall), it’ll send an emergency message to my emergency contacts with coordinates.
I have it set to remind me to move every hour if I haven’t moved from my desk. This in addition to step counts.
Sleep tracking, though Garmin is/was notorious for poor sleep tracking, so I don’t really count on it too much.
Date and time. I also have a little clock on the bottom to tell me what time it is back home so I know when to not call.
I like seeing my fitness go up on the dial. Not so much the other way around.
I also use it for my morning wake up alarm. It vibrates on my wrist instead of an audible alarm to wake up the +1. He doesn’t have a smart watch, so I wake up every morning at stupid o’clock.
Badges. I love collecting the badges.
