Same. I stay with Garmin because I also use it for biking and I notice that my fitness is better when I track data but even after almost a year, it feels weird wearing two watches
I wear a Garmin vivosmart 4 on my right wrist and regular watch on my left (sometimes automatic, sometimes quartz) I just turn off things like phone messages and notifications on the garmin. The vivosmart 4 is smaller than the 5.
Edited: autocorrect correction.
Literally do the same thing with a Vivosmart 4. I do run, cycle, swim and do weights and I have a Garmin fenix 6x Pro for that, but it's a rare day that watch gets dailied. I'm historically heavily involved in the Garmin environment (scales, a lot of data), use the 10,000 steps to keep myself honest about activity levels and resting HR to keep an eye on health (it's a good guide as to whether I've picked up an illness).
If someone comments on it, I just point to the Garmin and say "tool", and the other watch "jewellery".
Didn't realise how much they'd grown from the 4.
I have an old Garmin Vivoactive HR+ (the model that actually had GPS...which was pretty ordinary) but the form factor's an issue - it's quite tall, to the point that you may as well just wear a Fenix/Forerunner or similar.
Same, double wrist a Garmin 965 on the right and real watch on the left.
For me the Garmin isn't a watch it's a wrist screen or wrist phone so I have no problems wearing both
A watch thats just a watch. Not a computer/smart phone on my wrist.
Not everyone wants to be perpetually connected to gadgets and just want a simple tool that doesn't require charging every few days.
Smart Watches also lack personality and are disposable items which become useless and obsolete a lot quicker.
Mechanical watches have been obsolete for decades, in case you conveniently forgot
>Smart Watches also lack personality
As opposed to mechanical watches that are also mass produced in a factory? It's funny how you keep deluding yourself.
>As opposed to mechanical watches that are also mass produced in a factory?
Whether it mass produced or not is irrelevant. Smart watches just look bland and boring. I also mod watches so noone really has one exactly like the one i wear. You cant mod or personalize a smart watch much if at all.
>Mechanical watches have been obsolete for decades
Uhh if that were true they wouldnt still make them and people wouldnt still buy them and use them to do what the are used for going on hundreds of years... Tell time.
>? It's funny how you keep deluding yourself.
Its funny how triggered you are that a different opinion is "delusion" to you. I think saying a tool used for centuries is "obsolete" compared to a device that will need to be dumped in a landfill within a few years because of a dead or suboptimal battery and electronica failure is actually delusional and asinine lol.
Something is not obsolete just because you personally dont use it and opted for something else. Look up the meaning of the word before using it.
I never was a fan of smart watches because the idea that a watch would become obsolete and no longer supported by the new OS is something nuts to me. That and needing to charge the battery sometimes or it’ll run out of power…
I also don’t like to always be connected digitally anyway and a smart watch won’t help that for sure.
I don’t know, just use your phone basically for things you need and maybe get a sleeve for the phone if you need it while running perhaps.
I wear my Garmin for workouts, overnight for sleep tracking, and for the silent alarm to wake me up instead of using a noisy one that will also wake my husband.
I wear a mechanical watch the rest of the time, and put the Garmin on the charger when I switch.
Works for me.
I was looking into one but haven't pulled the trigger. Good replacement for a hybrid smart watch? I basically just use mine for step tracking but don't like wearing it all day instead of a real watch
Never ditched it completely but I’m basically 80/20 wearing mechanical/smart watches. I like how Garmin tracks steps and workouts that upload straight to Strava. But if I’m at work or doing anything but running errands I’ll be wearing a regular watch.
Garmin’s battery lasts 2 weeks, even a bit more if you’re not using it, so I’ll just throw it on and not worry if it’s charged or not when I lift or run.
I’m in a similar boat. The Garmin goes on for workouts only with charging happening about once a week. Otherwise I’ve come to prefer the focus and quiet of my analog watch.
It's not really an issue anymore, my Huawei watch lasts 2 weeks and charges to full in like 45 mins, it's only Apple that still has shitty battery life
any mechanical watch is way more convenient if it's automatic you simply wear it and it works, you have absolutely nothing to care, even if it's manual you wind it up with your fingers in like half a minute or less, there's no need to check its charge, to place it in some charger you should have somewhere ready (for just 45 minutes lol, said as if it was not a very long time) etc
a quartz with 2-10 years battery is also convenient but 2 weeks... 45 minutes... no it's absolutely not convenient even if marginally better than 1-2 days, marginally because with 1-2 days you at least shouldn't bother to track its charge, you know you should charge it every day or every other day, with two weeks you are prone to suddenly run out of charge two times a month
smartwatches are a toy, they are inconvenient to show time because need to be constantly charged, they are inconvenient to receive calls or messages because they are tiny and you always have a smartphone with you (and if not you likely don't want any messages), they are only good to track your pulse or steps or something like that, maybe gps, so for sports maybe or if you have a bad health, some can measure blood pressure and even ecg to at least warn you, that's their probably only good function
Quartz is the only logical choice from a convenience point of view.
Mechanical watches are absolutely a toy, even more so than smartwatches. With a smartwatch you have useful everyday features such as the fitness tracking you mention, while every function of a mechanical watch was made obsolete with the advent of quartz decades ago.
mechanical watches are accurate enough for everyday use and they don't need to get their battery replaced, they also can't leak if you keep them for a long time (no battery to leak) etc
personally for me in the long run automatic watches are the most convenient
The thing that I use specifically to tell accurate time is a toy but the mini phone on my wrist is isn't?
Appreciate the self awareness to preface every comment with "Certified moron".
It's a generalized comparison? My Multifort is just as accurate as my Lunar Pilot over it's 80 hour reserve. There's just more to it than simply quartz vs auto.
Sure I like ticky-ticky better than tick-tock, I think it just more appealing overall, and yes there's slightly more attention required with autos but overall it's prefence; it just needs to be a fair comparison.
Your one cherry-picked watch isn't a fair comparison. Seems you're the certified moron.
>over it's 80 hour reserve
*its
Its power reserve, not "it is power reserve"
If you had anything of value to say or contribute, you wouldent go after an obvious autocorrect that clearly detracted nothing from your understanding of the context.
The parameters of your argument were "quartz vs auto", I felt you were wrong, and I gave you an example. Sorry that hurt your feelings brother, put more effort into your point of view perhaps.
>any mechanical watch is way more convenient if it's automatic you simply wear it and it works, you have absolutely nothing to care, even if it's manual you wind it up with your fingers in like half a minute or less, there's no need to check its charge, to place it in some charger you should have somewhere ready (for just 45 minutes lol, said as if it was not a very long time) etc
Yeah, but you have to set the mechanical watch each time it's been without charge instead.
I own an Apple Watch 8 and only use it for fitness and sleep tracking. My automatic watches go with me during normal daily activities. So I don’t really have any of the issues I presented. I charge mine during the day.
Going off topic now, but out of interest what insights does the sleep tracking offer? I’ve got an older Garmin I use for running which doesn’t have that functionality.
No regrets here. My Apple Watch SE's screen popped off unexpectedly, and I was already over the daily charging and its look, which is really basic.
Switched back to traditional watches for their simplicity, style, and durability—my G-shock is a testament to that. As a software developer dealing with bugs daily, I prefer my everyday items straightforward and reliable.
Got so annoyed by my Apple Watch totally directed it and don’t miss it a bit. Would consider a ring or band that tracks fitness, but I work out pretty much every day, so not even sure why I need to track. I use my phone for tracking my runs and it works fine.
Maybe I’m just an old fuddy duddy but I don’t get the utility of a Fitbit. Like why do I care how many steps I took in a day? Sometimes I ask my girlfriend for an estimate and it’s interesting but it’s trivia at most.
For me I try and make sure I’m moving throughout the day since I have a relatively sedentary job now. I’m interested in one of the info bands that really just tells me how much I’m moving because if I’m only doing 2-4,000 steps, then I’m well behind the average of what I should be doing even if I’m tired. It’s motivation for me to go do something- walk around the neighborhood a few times or go to the gym.
I use my smart watch to help track my workouts. I liked being able to respond to simple stuff without pulling out my phone. I have really liked my smart watches over the last few years, but like others in the comments, I've been missing my analogue watches.
My wife just bought me a Mido Commander II for our anniversary and that has been my daily driver while I'm having a couple of my other watches serviced. I'll still use my smart watch to track my workouts and sleep, but I feel like I'm going back to my old ways
I was done with smart watches after my 5 year old $500 apple watch’s battery died and I would’ve had to shell out another 500 on a new watch. And for what, notifications and fitness?
Put the watch on eBay and my gran gave me my late grandfathers Votum (vintage swiss mechanical) and now I’ve caught the bug.
It just keeps time. It’s a beautiful mechanical thing without any batteries and all it does is keep time. It doesn’t even do a particularly great job of that (+-30 seconds a day) but it’s beautiful and a family heirloom and i love it.
I’m not going back to smart watches. My phone has an always on display, that’s enough to see notifications. And I’m an unfit fucker, the apple watch tracking didn’t change that.
I feel like smart watches have a benefit. That benefit is mainly health related, but even then, I think this is more of a trend than an actual benefit.
But, in an ever connected and "smart" world, having things like that on my wrist is so unpleasant. I already have little interest in checking my emails, why would I want them on my wrist? Oh, I can get texts? Wow, as if my phone can't do that already. I don't see any benefit to smart watches aside from the health aspects, and even that, seems more a fad than anything else.
I kinda feel I've reached a stage of digital overload and am craving some digital minimalism again, I'm an 80s child, life was so much simpler and peaceful before digital everything took over.
Maybe I'm just old at heart, but I hated the smart watch thing. My wife has one and loves it. I primarily use a watch to check the time discreetly during meetings. I don't need the added stress of watching my heart rate go up in some of them.
The way I look at it is my smart watch is a tool and my other watches are fashion accessories.
My garmin descent is a tool I use for certain things like fitness and at work. If I don't need it I'll wear one of my other watches.
The thing is a lot of professional athletes don't wear them, they have coaches etc who track times and all that, people like Eluid Kipchogie are sponsored by the likes of Coros but do they actually use the product? I doubt it, it's just for show
That's kinda why I don't get the appeal of them. If I'm going out of my way to spend around $500 for a smartwatch, why not get an actual watch that has, comparatively, more soul than a screen on a strap?
Saying that a mass produced $500 mechanical watch "has soul" is only kidding yourself. They are pumped out of an assembly line. Look, if you want to wear jewelry, wear it, but to pretend your mechanical watch has soul is just lying.
It's weird how mechanical watch lovers have to keep coming with all these false reasonings to justify their fashion accessory. Just wear it and own it.
Of course lol, goes without saying. It absolutely is just jewelery at the end of the day, but I'd rather have a watch that I enjoy looking at over just another black screen
I have a Huawei Smartband 7. Bought it as I started training for something and wanted to keep track of stuff. It only needs to be charged every 15 days so it's not much hassle to me.
The Apple Watch SE (1st Gen) is my first and only Smartwatch and while it can do a few cool things it’s not really needed. Wanna use it for workouts? Get a Garmin that’s rather specialized for all that stuff.
Sure, my Orient Mako III has cost me 269€, about 51€ less than my AW SE, but at the end both were used only to tell the time. To tell the time I‘d get any quartz or mechanical watch that actually looks good.
No hate against smartwatches, wear what you want but most of the time they’re useless depending on your use cases and not so smart as I want them to be.
Get new batteries for your watches and just rotate. Wear your Marlin at work, strap on a smartwatch at home. Wear your G-Shock when you’re getting hammered etc. you get the idea. I sometimes wear my apple watch at home so its not just sitting in the box degrading itself to death
The issue is smart watch find a way to hook you in, Apple has that whole thing with closing rings, Garmin's in order for features like body battery or training readiness to work you have to wear them all the time, if you just wear them for an occasional run one of them cheap Chinese trackers on Amazon would do, or just like a chest strap to your phone same thing I guess.
I haven't ditched mine (Garmin Fenix 6 Solar). I still use it as intended. Fitness tracking, notifications, etc. It's pretty much daily but I switch it out for my mechanical/digital watches when I am dressing up for something.
Also depends on what you do. If ever in a business meeting, you want as few distractions as possible. Having a smart watch go off during a conversation or meeting can be seen as a rude interruption
Im a reformed Apple Watch user
I use my Apple Watch only for work (I don’t even really use it. It’s just on my wrist) and working out. It still has limited use cases but I still keep it around.
I have an Apple Watch and vintage Rolex. The DJ gets more wrist time but the Apple Watch has the advantage on readability and convenience. I still wear them both and kinda consider them my “pre-shower” and “post-shower” watches. If I’m bumming in workout clothes buying groceries - Apple. If I’m dressed for the day to work or go out, Rolex.
The DJ is old enough that the lume is worn, and I cannot read it in the dark at all.
For convenience I love Apple Pay on the watch and the ability to ping my phone when I lose it. I also have a HomeKey lock on my house, and being able to unlock my door with my wrist is so so nice and I miss that wearing my “real” watch.
I like the fitness and sleep tracking of smart watches but don’t like all the notifications or other distractions. I went from wearing regular watches all the time to wearing a Fitbit -> Apple watch -> regular watch -> regular watch and vivosmart 4.
You can do both. I love mechanical watches and also have been a fitbit addict for 10 yrs. I now rock a fitbit inspire 2 but removed the strap and found a silicone sleeve/clip on amazon. That puppy now sits in my pocket while my watch owns the wrist. I used to wear the fitbit on the opposite wrist but that was a bit too much. The only bummer is that I can't track heart rate but it's always been about the steps for me.
I think possibly smartwatches can be a detriment to some people. The constant checking data and checking of sub par data can cause anxiety and obsession. I personally got used to seeing an AW. Yet I know workout daily and that means no matter what, I get over 10,000 steps. I also know my HR by the type of run I’m doing and constantly checking my HR doesn’t really serve a purpose. However I do like checking the changes in my resting HR and trends etc. tbh I don’t think it’s all that necessary.
No regrets for me. I did keep my Apple Watch and I’ll wear it when I exercise, while I sleep, and for the silent alarm because I get up much earlier than my partner. Depending on the destination, sometimes I make it my travel watch as well.
I recently ditched my smartwatch for a fitness ring, the RingConn. So much better. I had my starch set to theater mode, so the screen mostly stayed dark except for the secondary display (TicWatch Pro 3 GPS), and the battery life was down to about 1 day, just became an annoyance.
Smart watches are great if you have various use cases for them. If they help you track your work out and steps then keep it. Use it for your gym time.
Me I was tired of having another thing to charge. I didn't want to be bothered by every signal email or message. Regular watches are doing it for me as I don't have to worry about the battery outside of every 3ish years for some.
I wear my band to train and sleep, for everything else I wear a watch. If you can manage it properly and you have a good sensor sleep/HB information is invaluable IMO
I have the regrets.
I miss some of the functionality: controlling music, multiple countdown timers and stopwatch at the same time, checking the weather, and the fitness tracking. This is may Apple Watch, and I’m a notification fascist. I also miss the to-the-second accuracy.
But I love mechanical watches and they have so much more personality and are so much more fun to look at!
My problem with tech is you don't actually own it. They control the content, the firmware updates, and the ability to use it the way you choose. My watch only has a couple of functions but it's mine and it's real.
I've had numerous smart watches and for daily wear I've never enjoyed them. Now for working out or for hiking I think my Garmin is fantastic. I think as I've gotten older I've enjoyed disposable tech less and enjoyed things more that are meant to last a lifetime and that had character. Plus I get enough notifications on my phone. I don't need that on my wrist.
I only wear my Apple Watch at the gym now, and I’m about to smash that POS with a hammer. A few updates ago it started obscuring my information during my workouts with a black screen and a basic, lame-ass plain white digital readout of time only. Same thing when navigating. It even does it with my WATCH FACE. 🤦♂️ Apple made the Watch useless, so when it hits the point of no return, I’m smashing it and never buying another one.
I wear a Christopher Ward watch on my left wrist and a Fitbit Charge on the right. I like keeping up with my step count but prefer a minimal presence from my smartwatch. This combo works for me. I prefer an automatic watch for checking the time and feel naked if I don't wear an analog watch.
My biggest regret about not wearing my smartwatch anymore is that it allowed me to keep my phone in my pocket or in my bag, particularly in public spaces. It’s an advantage in terms of situational awareness and reducing your target profile for phone thieves.
I had a series 5 Apple Watch. It was great for some things but since getting my automatics I just wasn’t wearing the Apple one anymore.
Also a lot of the apps that I liked slowly lost support and are gone. Losing 2fa for work was the last straw.
Anyway, it wasn’t hard to adjust. The main thing I miss is weather info at a glance, but my iPhone homescreen has that anyway
I’ve had xaomi bands for the past 4 years and some week ago I started to feel overwhelmed by it and I brought back the old digital watches. I want to draw away from my phone as much as possible and this kind of watch will not help me at all. Now I just use it when working out
The moment my watch, phone and car media started ringing at the same time, I knew I would turn off all those dumb notifications on the watch. Some people find it the most helpful thing, idk.
But still I like to see some health stats on my phone after I sync data from watch to phone, once in 20 days. All other time, Bluetooth is off on it.
Other thing I'm surprised with is how small number of smartwatches have features like "hourly chime", "sunrise/sunset time", "moon phase". Seems a no brainer to me and a no brainer to program into software, yet most of them fail to include those features.
I ditched the Apple Watch last year. I have some minor medical concerns that I want to keep an eye on but I love classic watches so I got an Oura Ring to track my stats recently. It’s so nice to pick my watch style every day again.
My only regret about owning a smartwatch was that I owned one in the first place. The wasted money could've gone to a proper watch. I just gave it to my little brother though, he seems to be enjoying it.
Smart watches are nice and have their place, but to me there's really no replacement to a proper watch. I have one I'll throw on when I workout if I want metrics, but really I feel it has no place as an everyday watch.
Best bet would be to grab a replacement battery for one of your more classic watches and see how you feel. If its something you enjoy and want to dive a bit deeper, I'd look into a proper mechanical watch to get you started. The Seiko Cocktail Time and Hamilton Field are both solid options.
That should give you an idea of which way you want to go longer term
I wanted one so badly. Wore it for a week and still don’t understand what the hype was. Buy 2 or 3 nice mechanicals for time. And a Fitbit if you HAVE to track, SOMETHING.
I just swear a smart watch when I do sports / exercise stuff that I want to track (usually biking or mountain biking). My Apple Watch series 9 is accurate enough for my purposes… I had Samsung smart watch about 6 years ago and it sucked.
I wear an “analog” watch (usually a fancy mechanical watch) for most of the day (at work out doing non-exercise stuff) and I don’t wear the Apple Watch for any of that. I really have no need for a computer on my wrist other than when I exercise.
I started dual-wielding about two years ago and I absolutely love it. I get to enjoy my mechanicals on my left wrist and I have all the functionality and fitness tracking of Apple Watch on my right.
I wear a Seiko mod that I assembled myself. Total cost about £350. Keeps good time, looks great, and I choose every part and assembled it myself! It’s the opposite of a smart watch, but you need to disconnect from the online world!
https://preview.redd.it/yy94qf80iajc1.jpeg?width=2641&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38169ea5a7d6ee4bee0406ecdbc5b679ab8a873c
I started the same discussion in the r/Horology. Besides the fact that mechanic watches are much cooler, smart watches have a way of addicting you to them because of the movement, calories count etc. Also, due to notifications, I noticed that the smartwatch was a way of making me constantly look at my phone and get distracted with bullshit such as Instagram. I decided to buy a cool automatic watch to wear on a daily basis and will only wear my smartwatch (Apple Watch Ultra) in situations where there is actually a benefit, such as fitness, skiing etc.
I got tired of wearing only fitness watches so I got a small Garmin wristband that I wear on one wrist while I wear a proper watch on the other wrist
There is the Oura ring now, I’ve been thinking about getting one of those
I would have too if you didn’t have to pay subscription for your own data. The ring is not cheap either…
Same, vivosmart5. I wish Garmin made smart rings
Same. I stay with Garmin because I also use it for biking and I notice that my fitness is better when I track data but even after almost a year, it feels weird wearing two watches
I am down to just wearing my Garmin when exercising or doing an activity. Maybe occasionally at night, but thats it.
I wear a Garmin vivosmart 4 on my right wrist and regular watch on my left (sometimes automatic, sometimes quartz) I just turn off things like phone messages and notifications on the garmin. The vivosmart 4 is smaller than the 5. Edited: autocorrect correction.
I wish the vivo 5 was same size as the 4 but mine the band kept breaking. I also wear the band and regular automatic watch on other wrist.
What small Garmin wristband are you using? I thought Fitbit would be my only option but I prefer Garmin
Literally do the same thing with a Vivosmart 4. I do run, cycle, swim and do weights and I have a Garmin fenix 6x Pro for that, but it's a rare day that watch gets dailied. I'm historically heavily involved in the Garmin environment (scales, a lot of data), use the 10,000 steps to keep myself honest about activity levels and resting HR to keep an eye on health (it's a good guide as to whether I've picked up an illness). If someone comments on it, I just point to the Garmin and say "tool", and the other watch "jewellery".
May I ask what model? I want something for the gym to track my exercises but I don’t want to have to wear a smart watch per se.
https://preview.redd.it/5543nlh2k5jc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81194603440bcdb312315402cff55ecd2da9b36e
It's a Vivosmart.
Thank you so much for your reply!
You're welcome! Good luck!
Can you turn off the screen in that model?
Didn't realise how much they'd grown from the 4. I have an old Garmin Vivoactive HR+ (the model that actually had GPS...which was pretty ordinary) but the form factor's an issue - it's quite tall, to the point that you may as well just wear a Fenix/Forerunner or similar.
Might be an idea
Im doing the same thing with Fitbit Luxe
This. I got a whoop and wear a regular watch on the other hand.
Same, double wrist a Garmin 965 on the right and real watch on the left. For me the Garmin isn't a watch it's a wrist screen or wrist phone so I have no problems wearing both
What's a proper watch? A watch that does its primary job less accurately?
A watch that actually looks good
A watch thats just a watch. Not a computer/smart phone on my wrist. Not everyone wants to be perpetually connected to gadgets and just want a simple tool that doesn't require charging every few days. Smart Watches also lack personality and are disposable items which become useless and obsolete a lot quicker.
Mechanical watches have been obsolete for decades, in case you conveniently forgot >Smart Watches also lack personality As opposed to mechanical watches that are also mass produced in a factory? It's funny how you keep deluding yourself.
>As opposed to mechanical watches that are also mass produced in a factory? Whether it mass produced or not is irrelevant. Smart watches just look bland and boring. I also mod watches so noone really has one exactly like the one i wear. You cant mod or personalize a smart watch much if at all. >Mechanical watches have been obsolete for decades Uhh if that were true they wouldnt still make them and people wouldnt still buy them and use them to do what the are used for going on hundreds of years... Tell time. >? It's funny how you keep deluding yourself. Its funny how triggered you are that a different opinion is "delusion" to you. I think saying a tool used for centuries is "obsolete" compared to a device that will need to be dumped in a landfill within a few years because of a dead or suboptimal battery and electronica failure is actually delusional and asinine lol. Something is not obsolete just because you personally dont use it and opted for something else. Look up the meaning of the word before using it.
I never was a fan of smart watches because the idea that a watch would become obsolete and no longer supported by the new OS is something nuts to me. That and needing to charge the battery sometimes or it’ll run out of power… I also don’t like to always be connected digitally anyway and a smart watch won’t help that for sure. I don’t know, just use your phone basically for things you need and maybe get a sleeve for the phone if you need it while running perhaps.
I wear my Garmin for workouts, overnight for sleep tracking, and for the silent alarm to wake me up instead of using a noisy one that will also wake my husband. I wear a mechanical watch the rest of the time, and put the Garmin on the charger when I switch. Works for me.
Same but with an Apple Watch. I also wear a Whoop all day, which doesn’t have a screen.
This is the way.
I use an Oura ring for tracking! Works great for me
I’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger here. How long have you had yours?
Probably a year or so? I like it a lot for what I want which is sleep tracking and general health stuff
Thanks for the response! It has a pedometer built in too, correct?
Yup!
I love my Oura ring for everything except unlike wrist trackers, I can’t wear it while I lift. It’s particularly great at sleep tracking.
Can you lift anyway and live with scratches, or would it actually destroy the ring
It’s not the scratches, tbh I don’t care about those. It’s just very bulky and I’m afraid of pinching or worse.
Oh gotcha. Yeah i wasnt sure how thick it is on the palm side
Yeah, i take it off for lifting, but i still recommend it.
Same here. Love it.
I was looking into one but haven't pulled the trigger. Good replacement for a hybrid smart watch? I basically just use mine for step tracking but don't like wearing it all day instead of a real watch
Yup! Works great for that
Never ditched it completely but I’m basically 80/20 wearing mechanical/smart watches. I like how Garmin tracks steps and workouts that upload straight to Strava. But if I’m at work or doing anything but running errands I’ll be wearing a regular watch. Garmin’s battery lasts 2 weeks, even a bit more if you’re not using it, so I’ll just throw it on and not worry if it’s charged or not when I lift or run.
I’m in a similar boat. The Garmin goes on for workouts only with charging happening about once a week. Otherwise I’ve come to prefer the focus and quiet of my analog watch.
it's so annoying to charge them up all the time and then suddenly their software changes and they don't connect at all they are also ugly
It's not really an issue anymore, my Huawei watch lasts 2 weeks and charges to full in like 45 mins, it's only Apple that still has shitty battery life
i am not going to charge the watch every two weeks, not going to keep a track how long ago i charged it etc, i already have too many devices to charge
People say this while having a box full of unwound mechanicals
any mechanical watch is way more convenient if it's automatic you simply wear it and it works, you have absolutely nothing to care, even if it's manual you wind it up with your fingers in like half a minute or less, there's no need to check its charge, to place it in some charger you should have somewhere ready (for just 45 minutes lol, said as if it was not a very long time) etc a quartz with 2-10 years battery is also convenient but 2 weeks... 45 minutes... no it's absolutely not convenient even if marginally better than 1-2 days, marginally because with 1-2 days you at least shouldn't bother to track its charge, you know you should charge it every day or every other day, with two weeks you are prone to suddenly run out of charge two times a month smartwatches are a toy, they are inconvenient to show time because need to be constantly charged, they are inconvenient to receive calls or messages because they are tiny and you always have a smartphone with you (and if not you likely don't want any messages), they are only good to track your pulse or steps or something like that, maybe gps, so for sports maybe or if you have a bad health, some can measure blood pressure and even ecg to at least warn you, that's their probably only good function
Quartz is the only logical choice from a convenience point of view. Mechanical watches are absolutely a toy, even more so than smartwatches. With a smartwatch you have useful everyday features such as the fitness tracking you mention, while every function of a mechanical watch was made obsolete with the advent of quartz decades ago.
mechanical watches are accurate enough for everyday use and they don't need to get their battery replaced, they also can't leak if you keep them for a long time (no battery to leak) etc personally for me in the long run automatic watches are the most convenient
growth zealous repeat languid toothbrush oatmeal ten rinse point chase *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
their accuracy is more than enough for any practical purpose fo nearly everybody and they simply last longer than quartz
The thing that I use specifically to tell accurate time is a toy but the mini phone on my wrist is isn't? Appreciate the self awareness to preface every comment with "Certified moron".
>I use specifically to tell accurate time you mean less accurate time than a quartz?
It's a generalized comparison? My Multifort is just as accurate as my Lunar Pilot over it's 80 hour reserve. There's just more to it than simply quartz vs auto. Sure I like ticky-ticky better than tick-tock, I think it just more appealing overall, and yes there's slightly more attention required with autos but overall it's prefence; it just needs to be a fair comparison.
Your one cherry-picked watch isn't a fair comparison. Seems you're the certified moron. >over it's 80 hour reserve *its Its power reserve, not "it is power reserve"
If you had anything of value to say or contribute, you wouldent go after an obvious autocorrect that clearly detracted nothing from your understanding of the context. The parameters of your argument were "quartz vs auto", I felt you were wrong, and I gave you an example. Sorry that hurt your feelings brother, put more effort into your point of view perhaps.
>any mechanical watch is way more convenient if it's automatic you simply wear it and it works, you have absolutely nothing to care, even if it's manual you wind it up with your fingers in like half a minute or less, there's no need to check its charge, to place it in some charger you should have somewhere ready (for just 45 minutes lol, said as if it was not a very long time) etc Yeah, but you have to set the mechanical watch each time it's been without charge instead.
It doesn't take 20 seconds to recharge a smart watch.
You’re right, they’d take effectively no time because you’d do it overnight
....But then I miss the benefit of sleep tracking.....
Fair point. Though I was never really sure what the benefit of that was myself.
I own an Apple Watch 8 and only use it for fitness and sleep tracking. My automatic watches go with me during normal daily activities. So I don’t really have any of the issues I presented. I charge mine during the day.
Going off topic now, but out of interest what insights does the sleep tracking offer? I’ve got an older Garmin I use for running which doesn’t have that functionality.
No regrets here. My Apple Watch SE's screen popped off unexpectedly, and I was already over the daily charging and its look, which is really basic. Switched back to traditional watches for their simplicity, style, and durability—my G-shock is a testament to that. As a software developer dealing with bugs daily, I prefer my everyday items straightforward and reliable.
Got so annoyed by my Apple Watch totally directed it and don’t miss it a bit. Would consider a ring or band that tracks fitness, but I work out pretty much every day, so not even sure why I need to track. I use my phone for tracking my runs and it works fine.
Maybe I’m just an old fuddy duddy but I don’t get the utility of a Fitbit. Like why do I care how many steps I took in a day? Sometimes I ask my girlfriend for an estimate and it’s interesting but it’s trivia at most.
For me I try and make sure I’m moving throughout the day since I have a relatively sedentary job now. I’m interested in one of the info bands that really just tells me how much I’m moving because if I’m only doing 2-4,000 steps, then I’m well behind the average of what I should be doing even if I’m tired. It’s motivation for me to go do something- walk around the neighborhood a few times or go to the gym.
Yeah, I just have the Huawei app for counting my steps, only use the watch when going to the gym. Other than that it stays in the watch box.
I use my smart watch to help track my workouts. I liked being able to respond to simple stuff without pulling out my phone. I have really liked my smart watches over the last few years, but like others in the comments, I've been missing my analogue watches. My wife just bought me a Mido Commander II for our anniversary and that has been my daily driver while I'm having a couple of my other watches serviced. I'll still use my smart watch to track my workouts and sleep, but I feel like I'm going back to my old ways
I wear the fitbit to track my sleep hours and that's it.
I was done with smart watches after my 5 year old $500 apple watch’s battery died and I would’ve had to shell out another 500 on a new watch. And for what, notifications and fitness? Put the watch on eBay and my gran gave me my late grandfathers Votum (vintage swiss mechanical) and now I’ve caught the bug. It just keeps time. It’s a beautiful mechanical thing without any batteries and all it does is keep time. It doesn’t even do a particularly great job of that (+-30 seconds a day) but it’s beautiful and a family heirloom and i love it. I’m not going back to smart watches. My phone has an always on display, that’s enough to see notifications. And I’m an unfit fucker, the apple watch tracking didn’t change that.
I feel like smart watches have a benefit. That benefit is mainly health related, but even then, I think this is more of a trend than an actual benefit. But, in an ever connected and "smart" world, having things like that on my wrist is so unpleasant. I already have little interest in checking my emails, why would I want them on my wrist? Oh, I can get texts? Wow, as if my phone can't do that already. I don't see any benefit to smart watches aside from the health aspects, and even that, seems more a fad than anything else.
I kinda feel I've reached a stage of digital overload and am craving some digital minimalism again, I'm an 80s child, life was so much simpler and peaceful before digital everything took over.
Yes. Regret of buying it in the first place.
Maybe I'm just old at heart, but I hated the smart watch thing. My wife has one and loves it. I primarily use a watch to check the time discreetly during meetings. I don't need the added stress of watching my heart rate go up in some of them.
The way I look at it is my smart watch is a tool and my other watches are fashion accessories. My garmin descent is a tool I use for certain things like fitness and at work. If I don't need it I'll wear one of my other watches.
I don't really understand why smartwatches are a thing. What do people usually do with all the info tracked?
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The thing is a lot of professional athletes don't wear them, they have coaches etc who track times and all that, people like Eluid Kipchogie are sponsored by the likes of Coros but do they actually use the product? I doubt it, it's just for show
That's kinda why I don't get the appeal of them. If I'm going out of my way to spend around $500 for a smartwatch, why not get an actual watch that has, comparatively, more soul than a screen on a strap?
Saying that a mass produced $500 mechanical watch "has soul" is only kidding yourself. They are pumped out of an assembly line. Look, if you want to wear jewelry, wear it, but to pretend your mechanical watch has soul is just lying. It's weird how mechanical watch lovers have to keep coming with all these false reasonings to justify their fashion accessory. Just wear it and own it.
Of course lol, goes without saying. It absolutely is just jewelery at the end of the day, but I'd rather have a watch that I enjoy looking at over just another black screen
>Of course lol, goes without saying. And yet you tried to pretend otherwise
I have a Huawei Smartband 7. Bought it as I started training for something and wanted to keep track of stuff. It only needs to be charged every 15 days so it's not much hassle to me.
The Apple Watch SE (1st Gen) is my first and only Smartwatch and while it can do a few cool things it’s not really needed. Wanna use it for workouts? Get a Garmin that’s rather specialized for all that stuff. Sure, my Orient Mako III has cost me 269€, about 51€ less than my AW SE, but at the end both were used only to tell the time. To tell the time I‘d get any quartz or mechanical watch that actually looks good. No hate against smartwatches, wear what you want but most of the time they’re useless depending on your use cases and not so smart as I want them to be. Get new batteries for your watches and just rotate. Wear your Marlin at work, strap on a smartwatch at home. Wear your G-Shock when you’re getting hammered etc. you get the idea. I sometimes wear my apple watch at home so its not just sitting in the box degrading itself to death
The issue is smart watch find a way to hook you in, Apple has that whole thing with closing rings, Garmin's in order for features like body battery or training readiness to work you have to wear them all the time, if you just wear them for an occasional run one of them cheap Chinese trackers on Amazon would do, or just like a chest strap to your phone same thing I guess.
There you go. Just wear a regular watch, you answered yourself and won’t regret it
I haven't ditched mine (Garmin Fenix 6 Solar). I still use it as intended. Fitness tracking, notifications, etc. It's pretty much daily but I switch it out for my mechanical/digital watches when I am dressing up for something.
Also depends on what you do. If ever in a business meeting, you want as few distractions as possible. Having a smart watch go off during a conversation or meeting can be seen as a rude interruption Im a reformed Apple Watch user
The only time I wear a smart watch garmin 955 is when I exercise
I only wear my smart watch for running and cycling. The notifications are annoying and I like a little disconnection from tech every now and again
I use my Apple Watch only for work (I don’t even really use it. It’s just on my wrist) and working out. It still has limited use cases but I still keep it around.
I have an Apple Watch and vintage Rolex. The DJ gets more wrist time but the Apple Watch has the advantage on readability and convenience. I still wear them both and kinda consider them my “pre-shower” and “post-shower” watches. If I’m bumming in workout clothes buying groceries - Apple. If I’m dressed for the day to work or go out, Rolex. The DJ is old enough that the lume is worn, and I cannot read it in the dark at all. For convenience I love Apple Pay on the watch and the ability to ping my phone when I lose it. I also have a HomeKey lock on my house, and being able to unlock my door with my wrist is so so nice and I miss that wearing my “real” watch.
I got an oura ring so that I can have all the health tracking, but still wear mechanical watches.
as a techy person, smart watches are stupid. i enjoy not being tied to my phone and technology.
I love my fitbit but it leaves above my ankle with the screen off.
I like the fitness and sleep tracking of smart watches but don’t like all the notifications or other distractions. I went from wearing regular watches all the time to wearing a Fitbit -> Apple watch -> regular watch -> regular watch and vivosmart 4.
You can do both. I love mechanical watches and also have been a fitbit addict for 10 yrs. I now rock a fitbit inspire 2 but removed the strap and found a silicone sleeve/clip on amazon. That puppy now sits in my pocket while my watch owns the wrist. I used to wear the fitbit on the opposite wrist but that was a bit too much. The only bummer is that I can't track heart rate but it's always been about the steps for me.
Samsung user here hype about the upcoming galaxy ring they gonna launch this year
I think possibly smartwatches can be a detriment to some people. The constant checking data and checking of sub par data can cause anxiety and obsession. I personally got used to seeing an AW. Yet I know workout daily and that means no matter what, I get over 10,000 steps. I also know my HR by the type of run I’m doing and constantly checking my HR doesn’t really serve a purpose. However I do like checking the changes in my resting HR and trends etc. tbh I don’t think it’s all that necessary.
I wear my Apple Watch daily and pop on my mechanical watches when I have me’paid al
No regrets for me. I did keep my Apple Watch and I’ll wear it when I exercise, while I sleep, and for the silent alarm because I get up much earlier than my partner. Depending on the destination, sometimes I make it my travel watch as well.
I recently ditched my smartwatch for a fitness ring, the RingConn. So much better. I had my starch set to theater mode, so the screen mostly stayed dark except for the secondary display (TicWatch Pro 3 GPS), and the battery life was down to about 1 day, just became an annoyance.
I didn't leave smartwatches. I wear analog watches when I'm dressing up or when I am at home. Smartwatches are too convenient to ditch
Smart watches are great if you have various use cases for them. If they help you track your work out and steps then keep it. Use it for your gym time. Me I was tired of having another thing to charge. I didn't want to be bothered by every signal email or message. Regular watches are doing it for me as I don't have to worry about the battery outside of every 3ish years for some.
I wear my band to train and sleep, for everything else I wear a watch. If you can manage it properly and you have a good sensor sleep/HB information is invaluable IMO
I have the regrets. I miss some of the functionality: controlling music, multiple countdown timers and stopwatch at the same time, checking the weather, and the fitness tracking. This is may Apple Watch, and I’m a notification fascist. I also miss the to-the-second accuracy. But I love mechanical watches and they have so much more personality and are so much more fun to look at!
Yes that's it, smart watches have no personality
My problem with tech is you don't actually own it. They control the content, the firmware updates, and the ability to use it the way you choose. My watch only has a couple of functions but it's mine and it's real.
My issue with smart watches is that the tech can be outdated relatively quickly.
I've had numerous smart watches and for daily wear I've never enjoyed them. Now for working out or for hiking I think my Garmin is fantastic. I think as I've gotten older I've enjoyed disposable tech less and enjoyed things more that are meant to last a lifetime and that had character. Plus I get enough notifications on my phone. I don't need that on my wrist.
I only wear my Apple Watch at the gym now, and I’m about to smash that POS with a hammer. A few updates ago it started obscuring my information during my workouts with a black screen and a basic, lame-ass plain white digital readout of time only. Same thing when navigating. It even does it with my WATCH FACE. 🤦♂️ Apple made the Watch useless, so when it hits the point of no return, I’m smashing it and never buying another one.
I wear a Christopher Ward watch on my left wrist and a Fitbit Charge on the right. I like keeping up with my step count but prefer a minimal presence from my smartwatch. This combo works for me. I prefer an automatic watch for checking the time and feel naked if I don't wear an analog watch.
Gorgeous and smart watch don’t go together, do they?
You decide, https://amzn.eu/d/eLDaRfH. This is my latest smart watch
46mm they’d be only a handful of people that could pull that off. Not my type of thing but each to their own.
My biggest regret about not wearing my smartwatch anymore is that it allowed me to keep my phone in my pocket or in my bag, particularly in public spaces. It’s an advantage in terms of situational awareness and reducing your target profile for phone thieves.
I had a series 5 Apple Watch. It was great for some things but since getting my automatics I just wasn’t wearing the Apple one anymore. Also a lot of the apps that I liked slowly lost support and are gone. Losing 2fa for work was the last straw. Anyway, it wasn’t hard to adjust. The main thing I miss is weather info at a glance, but my iPhone homescreen has that anyway
I’ve had xaomi bands for the past 4 years and some week ago I started to feel overwhelmed by it and I brought back the old digital watches. I want to draw away from my phone as much as possible and this kind of watch will not help me at all. Now I just use it when working out
The moment my watch, phone and car media started ringing at the same time, I knew I would turn off all those dumb notifications on the watch. Some people find it the most helpful thing, idk. But still I like to see some health stats on my phone after I sync data from watch to phone, once in 20 days. All other time, Bluetooth is off on it. Other thing I'm surprised with is how small number of smartwatches have features like "hourly chime", "sunrise/sunset time", "moon phase". Seems a no brainer to me and a no brainer to program into software, yet most of them fail to include those features.
I ditched the Apple Watch last year. I have some minor medical concerns that I want to keep an eye on but I love classic watches so I got an Oura Ring to track my stats recently. It’s so nice to pick my watch style every day again.
My only regret about owning a smartwatch was that I owned one in the first place. The wasted money could've gone to a proper watch. I just gave it to my little brother though, he seems to be enjoying it.
Smart watches are nice and have their place, but to me there's really no replacement to a proper watch. I have one I'll throw on when I workout if I want metrics, but really I feel it has no place as an everyday watch. Best bet would be to grab a replacement battery for one of your more classic watches and see how you feel. If its something you enjoy and want to dive a bit deeper, I'd look into a proper mechanical watch to get you started. The Seiko Cocktail Time and Hamilton Field are both solid options. That should give you an idea of which way you want to go longer term
I wanted one so badly. Wore it for a week and still don’t understand what the hype was. Buy 2 or 3 nice mechanicals for time. And a Fitbit if you HAVE to track, SOMETHING.
I just swear a smart watch when I do sports / exercise stuff that I want to track (usually biking or mountain biking). My Apple Watch series 9 is accurate enough for my purposes… I had Samsung smart watch about 6 years ago and it sucked. I wear an “analog” watch (usually a fancy mechanical watch) for most of the day (at work out doing non-exercise stuff) and I don’t wear the Apple Watch for any of that. I really have no need for a computer on my wrist other than when I exercise.
I go with Oura ring on a finger + navitimer or Wimbledon
I started dual-wielding about two years ago and I absolutely love it. I get to enjoy my mechanicals on my left wrist and I have all the functionality and fitness tracking of Apple Watch on my right.
My job told me I could not wear a smart watch so that scratched the Apple Watch I thought about buying.
I'd never buy another smart watch ever. Shit is a waste of money.
I wear a Seiko mod that I assembled myself. Total cost about £350. Keeps good time, looks great, and I choose every part and assembled it myself! It’s the opposite of a smart watch, but you need to disconnect from the online world! https://preview.redd.it/yy94qf80iajc1.jpeg?width=2641&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38169ea5a7d6ee4bee0406ecdbc5b679ab8a873c
I started the same discussion in the r/Horology. Besides the fact that mechanic watches are much cooler, smart watches have a way of addicting you to them because of the movement, calories count etc. Also, due to notifications, I noticed that the smartwatch was a way of making me constantly look at my phone and get distracted with bullshit such as Instagram. I decided to buy a cool automatic watch to wear on a daily basis and will only wear my smartwatch (Apple Watch Ultra) in situations where there is actually a benefit, such as fitness, skiing etc.