Apple Watch Series 3

It’s Not You Fitbit, it’s Google, So I Guess it is You

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When I last wrote about my Apple Watch Series 3 I thought I solved the challenge around using the smart watch versus a regular watch. The solution was to use both. Since then I’ve continued to use the Apple Watch as just a data device on my right wrist. I wear the regular one on the other. Surprisingly not many people even notice I am doing it. After a while I got used to it and it second nature now.

When the Apple Watch Series 4 came out the upgrade didn’t seem compelling enough for me to upgrade. I was tempted with the bigger screen but not enouhg to buy a new one for that reason alone. When the series 5 came out I was intrigued. The always on face was the single biggest issue I had previously with Apple Watches. Now that I can look at it and the time is always visible without having to lift it to my wrist and wait for it to light up. The always on plus the bigger screen on the smaller model was enough to make a compelling case for an upgrade. I treated myself to the 40 mm version.

When I bought my Series 5, the plan was to sell my Series 3 on eBay. I always try to make some of my purchase price back. One of my friends at work suggested using the Series III as a sleep tracker. I have been using my Fitbit for that. Until then I was happy with that solution. Then right around the time I was thinking about the new watch Google announced they were buying Fitbit. That immediately got me wanting to find a replacement for my Fitbit. I want to minimize as much Google exposure as possible. The thought of them having my health data was not cool.

The Fitbit sale development got me wanting to try my friends suggestion about using the watch as a sleep tracker. My issue was I did not want to use the same watch I used during the day, then all night. I was afraid I would forget to charge it right before bed and again in the morning. I would need to do both in order to get a full day and night sleep out of it.

I hesistated to waste potential extra money by not selling the Series III. That was until I tried to trade it in. The research I did said if I was lucky I would get hundred pounds out of it. If I wanted the dedicated sleep tracker I probably have to spend around that amount of money anyway. I wasnt sure of a good Fitbit alternative either. I opted to keep the Apple Watch Series 3 and see if it would work as a sleep watch.

I did a bunch of research on apps for tracking sleep like the Fitbit would. It turns out there were several options. I settled on Sleepmatic. Compared to the Fitbit I’m not sure how accurate it is. Its supposed to be pretty close. From what I can tell it’s good enough for my use. I was worried the bigger watch on my wrist at night wound not be comforatable. I was also worried about turning on the screen or pressing other functions while I slept. Neither in the end was a problem. I disabled the raise to turn on function. I do not recall having any issues with pressing anything by mistake after that.

By the time I wrote this post I had been using the Series III as a sleep tracker for several months. Overall I’m generally pretty happy with the switch. I’m extremely happy that I deleted my Fitbit account as well. As a side benefit I can use the watch regularly as a silent alarm. I was able to do the same thing with Fitbit however it required going onto the app on my phone to adjust anytime I needed to. User experience on that was mixed. For that reason I did not always use it. Making changes on the Apple Watch is trivial. Now I use it all the time.

Overall I’m happy with series 5 for everyday use and my new “sleep” tracker. Lastly I will note that I offered my wife the Series 3 before I used it. She declined. I would have liked that also since if we did that we would have had push to talk option!

My Third Apple Watch

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I have previously written a lot about my experiences with the Apple Watch(s). I have had a 42mm Stainless Steal original Apple Watch. I sold that after a while.  When the Series 1 & 2’s came out I decided to give it another try. At the time I bought a Series 1 38mm. I wrote about my reasons for selling the original Series 0 and why I bought a Series 1 back in Dec 2016. I had the Series 1 for a while again and decided it still wasn’t for me as my main watch. Selling that Series 1 justified to me that I am still an old school watch person and I bought a Submariner that i was thinking about for several years.

Another year, another shinny new thing from Apple.  This time its the Series 3.  The Apple Watch Series 3 has been out for a while. I didn’t give it much notice since i was happy with my analog watches. I previously wrote about all the reasons for having a smart watch. Telling time, notifications and as an activity tracker. Both times I owned Apple Watches either failed or were simply ok in all three categories. As a watch they were too slow for me to show the time when i lifted my wrist. The notifications were ok but not earth shattering. The activity tracker was nice however I used a Fitbit for sleep so I was wearing it when i wore the Apple Watch anyway so to me i didn’t care much about the activity stuff it did.

Then a few things changed that gave me different perspective. After having my Submariner for a few months i stopped using the Fitbit every day for activity tracking. I didn’t like the Fitbit banging into my watch. For some reason with the Submariner it was much more noticeable than with my other watches. I started to use my iPhone to track activity. I carry it with me most of the day so it was pretty accurate and the reviews said the same about it. For years i have been very big on tracking data points about my activity and health.

One guy at work I noticed had an Apple Watch on one wrist and a regular watch on the other. I asked about it and he liked the activity sensors and notification however was a nice watch guy. I didn’t think wearing a watch or anything for that matter on my dominant wrist so I didn’t give it any more thought. Then a few weeks later I realized I wanted to track my heart rate. I also rethought my opinion about the phone tracking activity. Since switching to the phone to track activity I was less aware of how much i moved a day. I had the data but it was less in my face. I also was less motivated or gameified to be more active. Going back to a smart watch only was a non starter for me. I then thought about my friend who just had both. I was never one to really care about fashon or what others thought about having two watches. Especially when I wear long sleeves most of the time. The issue came down to would a watch on my dominant wrist be comfortable.

Before spending a not insignificant amount of money on a new Apple Watch I decided to wear my Fitbit for a few days on my right wrist. I wanted to get a feel for if a band on my dominant hand was uncomfortable or a distraction. Initially it was very annoying. Then after a few days it became much less so. I had a feeling about that and that’s why I tried the experiment in the first place. I contemplated just using the Fitbit on my dominant hand going forward. I decided against that since one of the main driving forces for me to buy the Apple Watch was the heartbeat monitoring. The Fitbit was pretty good for step count and sleep however fell a little short.

Those nonscientific findings I went to the Apple Store to pick up a series 3. I was originally going to get the standard sports black 38 mm. I ended up spending the extra 50 pounds and got the cellular version. My justification for the splurge was I really liked the band that came standard on the cellular sport version. Since I’ll be putting the watch on and off with my non dominant hand (the watch will be on my dominant wrist) I have trouble with regular clasps. The Velcro like sport and was nice. I know I could’ve bought one As an accessory. The reason I didn’t was that I did not need to bands and the one that came with the lower end watch I did not like. For a slight difference in price then buying the cheaper  watch and extra band I got the cellular version of the watch and the band I wanted. I’m not currently using or even signed up for cellular plan on it. I’m not even sure if I ever will. I do like options, so having the option to do it later was worth it.

As of writing this post I have had the watch for a few months now. My overall impression of it is positive. I have been using it for exactly what I bought it for. It’s doing its job perfectly fine. I do use it a little bit for notifications however not very much. As an activity tracker it is great. The motivations to get up and move around are very helpful. The semi use of notifications and the heartbeat in my mind does justify the extra cost of getting it versus Fitbit. It was more about wanting and not needing for me. I thought that having something on each wrist would look odd however I haven’t had any issues so far.