Apple Watch

[Bill George]

Does anybody have a Apple watch? I have a IPhone and IPad love both but wondering if even a used Apple Watch is of value in scheduling appointment reminders and checking email and just leaving phone in pocket.

[roger wiegand]

I don't use one because I really can't stand having anything on my wrist. My technophobe wife loves hers, using it constantly. She frequently doesn't have her phone with her (or fails to charge it) but the watch will connect via WiFi, at least at home providing her the connectivity she needs.

The current SE model is a pretty good deal for price/performance.

A neat feature is that if you fall or are involved in a car accident it will call for help if you don't tell it you're OK. A friend who was injured in a serious fall avoided laying outside in freezing weather thanks to that feature. The blood oxygen sensors and ECG monitoring in the newest models is pretty cool.

[Bruce Page]

Wife & I both have Apple watches. They are great for checking for texts & mail, tracking exercising at the gym, even taking calls when your phone is in the next room. I have mine paired with my Airpods and listen to podcasts and music when I’m at the gym, doing yardwork, etc.
Ours are both older Gen 4 models and I have been thinking about upgrading to the current model.
Like most things Apple, they just work. Apple has been developing a watch that monitors blood pressure, but I don’t think they are there yet.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I'd pretty much given up wearing a watch for about 10 years until my Son gave me an Apple iWatch about 18 months ago.

Now I wear it all day and charge it at night.

It's great for weather, messages, etc, plus when I go to the gym, I synch it to the torture machines there and record my workouts.

Straps are plentiful and easy to change. I use elastic straps to keep good contact on the back of my wrist, plus it stops the watch slipping around on my wrist while in the shop.

I've had a couple of falls, which it has detected and gives you the option to do a 911 call.

If I broke it, I most likely would replace it.

We are an iPhone, iPad, MacBook family.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I love my apple watch. I started with a Gen 3 and have a Gen 7 now. Both have GPS and no cellular so if I want certain notifications to follow me, I do need to carry my iphone too. As my eyes are getting older and I now need reader glasses, it is not so easy checking email & texts on it. That feature is more of a "go grab your iphone to view this." I wear my watch all the time and take it off 30 minutes before bed time to charge it and again give it a quick charge when I shower in the morning. I wear it at night because it has all the health monitoring features. The heart monitoring is great. It logged a Tachycardia incident a few years ago due to an injection a surgeon gave me in my ankle 7 hours earlier. The blood oxygen and heart rate monitoring matched up to ER equipment. The call clarity is quite amazing. The caller has no idea I am talking on my watch instead of my phone. There are plenty of useful apps to install. One of the features I use most is the timer. It's so easy to have Siri "Set timer for X minutes" when cooking something instead of having to use the clunky oven timer. I also enjoy having the Activity features and use it to track my walks with my dog and map out where we walked. When driving and using the map feature on my iphone, I receive haptic alerts on my watch too. It has a different haptic (tapping) pattern for left and right turns.

It's also a very durable watch. I had clear silicone covers on my 3 but have not found a brand that fits well on my 7. I have been wearing it without a protective cover on it for 1.5 years now and much to my surprise there are no scratches on it.

The only negative I have is the need to charge my watch every day. Sometimes I can manage to get 2 days out of it if I don't use many resources.

[George Yetka]

I dont have an Iphone so I looked to others manufacturers. I ended up with a garmin Epix. I bought it for a step counter/ exercise tool

The most important function it offers is making it so I dont have to pull my phone out for every vibration. My phone vibrates for every social media alert, email, text, phone call. Now I can leave the phone on the desk or in the pocket and slightly turn my wrist to make sure I dont have to get it.

[Bill George]

I see Apple has SE 2s that are refurbed for $209, might go that route and they have the one year Apple Warranty included. Only notifications I get are Text and Emails. The rest are all turned off.... Got the refurbed one ordered

[John M Wilson]

A neat feature is that if you fall or are involved in a car accident it will call for help if you don't tell it you're OK. A friend who was injured in a serious fall avoided laying outside in freezing weather thanks to that feature. The blood oxygen sensors and ECG monitoring in the newest models is pretty cool.

I can attest that this feature is very, very useful. Our neighbor fell and hit the back of her head, and the watch/phone combo called the police, who came to investigate. When she came to, she thought she was OK and would have just ignored the symptoms, but the police/EMS convinced her to ride to the hospital, where a very serious brain bleed was discovered.

Definitely an advantage to us folks who are getting a little older but still value our independence...

[Jack Frederick]

I had become used to not wearing a watch after about 50 yrs of having done so. I got one for Xmas a few years ago and have gotten used to it. It is good for being able to answer a call when the phone is not exactly at hand. I’m on my second one. 2-3 yrs old and have to say it is good for me. I’m not a deep user of any technology, but the watch has been useful.

[Jim Becker]

I've been using an Apple Watch for about four years now...and love it. I had to stop wearing a watch years ago because they irritated my wrist. I used something hanging on a belt loop for awhile, but when I retired, I bagged that. Then I got the Apple Watch. And I also got a stretch rather than buckle band. Problem solved. VERY comfortable. VERY useful. Although I still prefer to take calls with my phone because it feeds into my hearing aids, I otherwise do most incidental things like monitoring messages, weather checks, the timer when I'm cooking, etc. Oh, and for telling time. I find it to be an actually useful device to have. Professor Dr. SWMBO has one, too...and something she uses hers for is for...finding her phone...in addition to the other things. (Short term memory with "where did I put it down") Our younger daughter also uses one.

[Bill George]

Yup. Mine should be here Friday and I told my wife as she is like yours Jim.... where is my phone??? I will get her one also, just for that very reason.

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like a good plan, Bill. What's also nice is that once you set it up, it also makes some other things easier. When you put your Apple Watch on in the morning, you enter a PIN to unlock the app access. Once your watch is unlocked you can use the fact that it's on your wrist to unlock your phone if you choose to. That can make things easier for some folks. Etc. Mine allows me to access my Mac without entering my password, other than an occasional required "sanity check" login request. Any time you can cut down on the password requests but still have good security is a good thing.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

You can also use your apple watch (and iphone) as a remote for your apple TV! I have used the flashlight on more than one occasion too!

[Bill George]

We are going to launch our new to us Pontoon next week. My iPhone can go in the plastic sealed box under the console and I can use my waterproof new SE to make and take calls or text without issues. A win win.

[Ole Anderson]

My Apple watch is a hand-me-down from my wife. I am really liking it. Text messages pop up on it and you can answer using the voice to text function. In exercise mode it gives me constant heart rate, in EKG mode it gives a 30 second heart EKG. Set a timer on my phone and it vibrates my watch. Still learning what it can do. Oh, and it is waterproof, at least for the pool and hot tub.