# I HAD NO INTEREST IN SMART WATCHES .....SO I THOUGHT



## JParanee (Oct 28, 2018)

Even thought my kids and my wife love their Apple watches and I've watched my clients hang up their Rolex's for these technical marvels I've always said no way to the many prompts from people to get a smart watch.

recently I've been in the market for a new dive watch

now we all know these days that dive computers have long replaced the classic dive watch

now my diving is all free-diving spearfishing oriented

so my search had me looking at dive watches that are oriented toward that endeavor

that requires a dive watch that keeps surface time, dive time and depth

now a few of the new dive watches\computers have an apnea mode

I decided on a Oceanic F10 and even ordered it and started using it in training

the one thing that nagged at me is that in all the spearfishing freedive chat forums and in the dive shops I spoke with the big rage is the Garmin MK1 Smart Watch Dive computer

so I returned the Oceanic gotta love Amazon for returns and ordered the MK1 in Titanium

well i I just returned from a spearfishing trip to Southern California and Baja and all I can say is I'm Impressed

I won't be selling my classic dive watches anyone soon but for my outdoor activities such as boating, diving and hunting the GPS is awesome

as a free-dive Apnea spearfishing watch it is golden

here is the big surprise for me though. The smart watch features and functions were really useful

it was great to get my texts on the watch while my phone was in my gear bag. As a travel watch it was superlative. It was great to see it self adjust to the correct time as soon as I turned my phone on when my plane landed

battery life was exceptional only charging it briefly on a 5 day trip with two all day dive days

btw the link to my phone keeping track of my heart rate while training is very cool and being able to keep track of laps and pool time in training was very beneficial

amazing how you can loose track of laps in a pool in an hour

the surface timer in apnea diving is critical and yes you can use a regular watch to time your surface dives having a computer remind you to be safe is plain smart

so I guess in the end I'm a smart watch fan even though it's not the number one watch in the world the Apple Watch

Here are some pics of the recent trip and I've left out dead fish pics because I've learned that on the watch forum they seem to not like dead stuff and I don't want to get the thread shut down before it starts


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## utzelu (Aug 17, 2015)

Smart watches are the tool watches of the 21st century. If you think about it, most loved traditional watches nowadays were actually tool watches in their days.


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## Yukoner1 (Aug 26, 2019)

JParanee said:


> I won't be selling my classic dive watches anyone soon but for my outdoor activities such as boating, diving and hunting the GPS is awesome
> 
> here is the big surprise for me though. The smart watch features and functions were really useful


You've come to the same realization that I have - smartwatches have a ton of usefulness when it comes to tracking things like heart rate, fitness activities, etc. The metrics you get from that are actually useful in daily life, and once you start using them, you become accustomed to having that data readily and easily available.

And I also agree with you, my "traditional" watches aren't being sold or hung up anytime soon. As I've said in previous posts, I see a watch as much as a piece of jewelry as it is a time-keeping device. Smartwatches certainly at the aesthetic level of higher end traditional watches, so, to me anyways, they're still two very different and mutually exclusively distinct things.


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## Meatshield the Yeti (Jun 18, 2019)

I've been a fan of my current smartwatch (a Samsung Galaxy) but I've been eyeing some of the Garmins. I used to have a problem with them because their displays were really hard to read in daylight, but they look like they've been getting a lot better. And that MK1 is awful pretty.


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## kramer5150 (Nov 15, 2007)

Nice!! welcome to the club! Hard to beat a Garmin smart/sport watch IMHO. Great all around tools.


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## seungbum81 (Jul 3, 2019)

I like the functions that smart watch provides.
- never missed call
- you don't have to take your phone out of pocket to check the message
- track your exercise
- ....

there are so many things for your convenience.
However, now I am wearing conventional watch cuz it looks better.


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## dayman-v-nightman (Jun 12, 2019)

I was exactly the same - I used to be in the "smart watches are stupid" camp. But my gf got me an apple watch for my birthday and I've actually really enjoyed the functionality. 

I miss the mechanical watches of course but I think there is place in the collection fora smart watch


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## Yukoner1 (Aug 26, 2019)

dayman-v-nightman said:


> I was exactly the same - I used to be in the "smart watches are stupid" camp. But my gf got me an apple watch for my birthday and I've actually really enjoyed the functionality.
> 
> I miss the mechanical watches of course but I think there is place in the collection fora smart watch


As I've said a number of times in various threads - I find the best to be the hybrids. My daily is a smartwatch that still has analog, mechanical hands. Best of both worlds.


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## utzelu (Aug 17, 2015)

Yukoner1 said:


> As I've said a number of times in various threads - I find the best to be the hybrids. My daily is a smartwatch that still has analog, mechanical hands. Best of both worlds.


It is a subjective opinion, as for example, I find a hybrid to be the worst option, with too many compromises, both from aesthetic and functional consideration. This is why I prefer to rotate a smartwatch with regular watches (mechanical/quartz). There are days when I don't feel the need to track or get notifications on wrist and other days when I get bored of wearing a traditional watch.


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## Yukoner1 (Aug 26, 2019)

utzelu said:


> It is a subjective opinion, as for example, I find a hybrid to be the worst option, with too many compromises, both from aesthetic and functional consideration. This is why I prefer to rotate a smartwatch with regular watches (mechanical/quartz). There are days when I don't feel the need to track or get notifications on wrist and other days when I get bored of wearing a traditional watch.


;-)


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## SundayDuffer (Aug 11, 2014)

had the apple watch, had the ticwatch pro.... they both went to the bay. I now just use the fitbit when im mountainbiking. By all mean, smartwatches are cool and all with all the features, what bothers me most is the notifications (i know i can disable the notifications, but having a smartwatch and not have notifications defeats the purpose....and...and ... the battery life just sucks.... i keep on forgetting to recharge them all the time.).. Anyhow, to each their own!!!! Im done with smartwatches as daily wear.


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## Yukoner1 (Aug 26, 2019)

SundayDuffer said:


> ....and...and ... the battery life just sucks....


Depends what you're wearing. My ZeTime gets 6+ days of battery life. It gets a once weekly charge, on the weekend, at home. And I have all my notifications, heart rate monitor, etc, turned on.


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## MissileExpert (Mar 18, 2018)

I have owned three Apple Watches. I never really bonded with the first two for pretty much the same reasons: I didn't care for having to move my wrist to wake up the watch every time I needed to get the time, I never could decide on a watch face that appealed to me, and the strap allowed the watch to rotate on my wrist. Well, fast forward to yesterday when I traded in my Series 4 for a Series 5, and purchased a UAG velcro closure strap. World of difference. First of all, I can see the time whenever I wan't because I use it in the always on mode. Secondly, the Infograph Modular watch face seems to have solved my watch face issues by finding a good balance between displaying time, information, and icons to access commonly used apps. Finally, the strap is super comfortable. It keeps the watch sitting flat on my wrist without rotating. I'm thinking my Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean might be a little more lonely than he's used to.


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## rangerNY (Jan 9, 2019)

I so relate to this!!!

Grabbed a Garmin Instinct in March on a whim to see if it was a better idea than Fitbit plus traditional watch. Since then it's the watch I wear 90 percent of the time. GPS, HR tracking, exercise tracking, step counting and all the goodies that you find on any G-Shock, plus it's quite hard to kill by design. I also like that it's not trying to be "gadget jewelry". It's a tool and looks that way which suits me.

I have no need for any other digital watches now and I've sold off some of my more expensive traditional watches. The ones left in the box I really enjoy wearing now when I decide to take off the Garmin.










.


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## Meatshield the Yeti (Jun 18, 2019)

rangerNY said:


> I so relate to this!!!
> 
> Grabbed a Garmin Instinct in March on a whim to see if it was a better idea than Fitbit plus traditional watch. Since then it's the watch I wear 90 percent of the time. GPS, HR tracking, exercise tracking, step counting and all the goodies that you find on any G-Shock, plus it's quite hard to kill by design. I also like that it's not trying to be "gadget jewelry". It's a tool and looks that way which suits me.
> 
> ...


ranger, what's your experience with the Garmin's battery life? I'm waffling on going back to a smart watch and have been giving this model a hard look.


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## Prdrers (Oct 28, 2015)

Meatshield the Yeti said:


> ranger, what's your experience with the Garmin's battery life? I'm waffling on going back to a smart watch and have been giving this model a hard look.


They have them for $199.99 on Amazon today if you're looking... just FYI

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## nyamoci (Jan 31, 2017)

Meatshield the Yeti said:


> ranger, what's your experience with the Garmin's battery life? I'm waffling on going back to a smart watch and have been giving this model a hard look.


Late to the party on this question but I have a forerunner 945. When I'm in the middle of a training block and wearing it 24/7 I can get a week and still have about 30% left after 7 days. And that's with around 18hrs of gps time

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk


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## forsakenfury (Oct 3, 2019)

The amount of utility smartwatches provide is unreal! It's one of those things that you could live without, until you actually own one.


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## BarracksSi (Feb 13, 2013)

forsakenfury said:


> The amount of utility smartwatches provide is unreal! It's one of those things that you could live without, until you actually own one.


Yup. And it's beyond just smartwatch-versus-traditional watch, too. I've recently noticed that when I switch my AW's display to a simple, time-only face, it doesn't last too long until I switch back to a more information-laden face.


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## Prdrers (Oct 28, 2015)

BarracksSi said:


> Yup. And it's beyond just smartwatch-versus-traditional watch, too. I've recently noticed that when I switch my AW's display to a simple, time-only face, it doesn't last too long until I switch back to a more information-laden face.


I'm the same way. I usually keep the Mickey for my daughter to touch and hear him talk, but use the modular 99% of the time. I've created and deleted dozens of other faces, but I always find myself back on the modular.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ICUdude (Feb 7, 2017)

rangerNY said:


> I so relate to this!!!
> 
> Grabbed a Garmin Instinct in March on a whim to see if it was a better idea than Fitbit plus traditional watch. Since then it's the watch I wear 90 percent of the time. GPS, HR tracking, exercise tracking, step counting and all the goodies that you find on any G-Shock, plus it's quite hard to kill by design. I also like that it's not trying to be "gadget jewelry". It's a tool and looks that way which suits me.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the review ranger, I thought I had little to no interest in smart watches but this has caused smart watches to grab my attention.


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