Is Apple Watch the most wasteful purchase?

Renegade

Renegade

Staff member
Luminary
I have come to believe that apple watch is the most wasteful purchase in the apple product portfolio. So far in the two plus years that I have used it, the only time it has been of any use (beyond the mobile phone) is during workouts. And for that we have many more products which are much cheaper, be it calling or workouts. Even for workouts I feel that such trackers are useful during the initial periods when you are measuring how much to work out in a session. Once you have settled in a rhythm, you need it only as a stop watch, timer, clock.

Rest of the time its a toy for grown ups. Any tracking or fiddling that you do is not for increasing your productivity but only to satisfy your curiosity. Like - How many calories did I burn if I climbed up the stairs vs if i climb down the stairs. My heart rate went until 180 and it was scary. Oooh I can pause the video from my watch.

Not to mention the hassle of charging it and lugging another charger around. In the first year it will last for upto two days. Then around the second year it will last less than a day.

I will admit that I have marveled at the freedom of not carrying a phone and receiving calls or listening to music on the watch (airpods) while outside, but how often is that. Even the music playlist does not get shuffled and it keeps playing the same song on repeat. For changing the songs, its just too tiny a screen to not be cumbersome.

Well my love hate relationship with the watch ended a month ago when it stopped working. I went for a swim and one of the buttons stopped working. I went for a swim the second time and it stopped charging itself. Just gets heated up when put in a charger. Now I can get it repaired but it won't be the same after that coz it won't survive even under rains.

For that price I can get much nicer watches to wrap around my wrist from good brands, if it only has to be adorned as an accessory. Apple has done well to make people want it. Its utterly useless for an average person like me who can afford it and akin to throwing away good money. At most a FitBit or cheaper alternatives would have sufficed.
 
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Apple watch series 3 lying idle from years
Series 5 lying idle from years
Series 9 lying idle from years.

Good for tracking fitness metrics, absolutely useless for everything else.
Just wondering do those still say to stand up or breathe?
 
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I sold off my Apple Watch primarily because of having to charge it every day. Once you have a daily rhythm, the metrics don't mean much apart from the hard numbers justifying the target. I realised I needed the smart functionalities even less as I simply ended up using my phone more to respond to notifications.

I would prefer buying something for life but that is not an option these days. Hence, set a hard limit on how much I would spend for disposable electronics like this and TWS, which is less than 10k.

Been happy with my Fitbit Inspire 3 as it covers just what I need.
 
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The most wasteful in apple portfolio is probably the Apple vision pro in my opinion. Its a smart watch which does what all smart watches do. With the apple watch ultra they did push the boundaries like diving capabilities (Which requires a montly sub ). But most people wont use it anyway.

Hot technology is like subscription model plans these days. They look cool but will go outdated in 1-2 years if you want to keep up.
 
jakehifi said:
absolutely useless for everything else.
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Eh .. it doesn't tell time ?
I am using a prehistoric Amazefit Bip with Gadgetbridge for only step counting, which I found to be reasonably matching my spouses Garmin. The GPS is okayish and while the HR/sleep tracking sucks but I still look at those every now and then for lulz. The battery life is still good enough at 3 days.
The cheaper Watch SE is as accurate as the premium versions so most folks can just go with that if sticking to the fruit ecosystem.
 
ronnie_gogs said:
The most wasteful in apple portfolio is probably the Apple vision pro in my opinion.
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Vision Pro is not a consumer product. Its more of an experimental product. Apple will not even sell half a million Vision pro this year. Compare that to the 38 million apple watches sold last year and 54 million sold in 2022. People who can barely afford it also want one and eventually buy it. With iPhones they justify that they need it to make reels. Apple watch does not have any justification at all.
 
Renegade said:
I have come to believe that apple watch is the most wasteful purchase in the apple product portfolio. So far in the two plus years that I have used it, the only time it has been of any use (beyond the mobile phone) is during workouts. And for that we have many more products which are much cheaper, be it calling or workouts. Even for workouts I feel that such trackers are useful during the initial periods when you are measuring how much to work out in a session. Once you have settled in a rhythm, you need it only as a stop watch, timer, clock.
Click to expand...
finally found someone who feels the same!, for a watch pro, I can easily get a decent Rado or even rolex if I spend a little more, and these watches virtually last for decades, my father bought a rado a decade ago, and its still just as polished with no scratches as on day one, if peeps really want to workout, then brands geared towards it are what they need
 
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ibose said:
The cheaper Watch SE is as accurate as the premium versions so most folks can just go with that if sticking to the fruit ecosystem.
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We have to spend 30K for a blank black screen. Can get really good actual watches at that price on sale.

adnanhussainturki said:
There is a reason Apple is selling it as a luxury and life saving product.
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Like fall detection? Life saving maybe in countries outside India where they have time to look at the alerts and then take the patient to the hospital on time. Here in India more than half the people won't even know of such features.

altair21 said:
for a watch pro, I can easily get a decent Rado or even rolex if I spend a little more, and these watches virtually last for decades, my father bought a rado a decade ago, and its still just as polished with no scratches as on day one
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Had got a Seiko Sportura as a gift in 2014. Still wearing it right now as I type this. Only gripe being that the original strap gave away and I could not find the exact replacement.
 
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Renegade said:
We have to spend 30K for a blank black screen.
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It is a cardinal sin to look at the price tag anything Apple. They sell wheels and cleaning cloths worth billions.
Renegade said:
Can get really good actual watches at that price on sale.
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Watches ? Yes, of course. But then why would one would go for an Apple watch.
Smartwatches with the same level of accuracy across metrics and integration with anything Apple ? Probably not.
 
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It does help a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't workout. But the same can be done in other ways, like when I put a Google fit steps widget on my father's home screen, he started to go on regular 10k step walks without anyone making him do it. Apple watch users get into a habit of closing their rings and that's a gateway into fitness.

Also it's the only smartwatch option for apple users so there's also that. Apple has top tier workout tracking accuracy, even better than the fitness focussed brands like Garmin (source: Quantified Scientist reviews) so it's not a bad option as a general smartwatch and fitness tracker for Apple people.
 
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I have been using Apple Watch since 2017. First Series 3 and now Series 7. I totally understand it is wasteful for others but for me, it has become an absolute necessity. I attribute my weight loss in these years to my apple watch and it pushing me. I love its workout tracking capability and reminders to stand and such. I know people talk about rhythm being set and all but for me the watch works for me.
Notifications is not a big deal but setting reminders using siri is. I heavily use the "Hey siri...set a reminder for xyz on this that date and time" as my life runs on reminders anyways.

If one tries it and it doesn't work for them, they should sell it and buy something else. I being in apple ecosystem already didn't want to fiddle with other brands as the watch works great with iPhone (obviously) and this package is what I like.

To the one person above who said he has 3 apple watches lying idle, I don't understand why you would buy the 2nd watch after 1st when it doesn't serve your purpose and why isn't the watches being sold yet?
roadrash99 said:
It does help a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't workout. But the same can be done in other ways, like when I put a Google fit steps widget on my father's home screen, he started to go on regular 10k step walks without anyone making him do it. Apple watch users get into a habit of closing their rings and that's a gateway into fitness.

Also it's the only smartwatch option for apple users so there's also that. Apple has top tier workout tracking accuracy, even better than the fitness focussed brands like Garmin (source: Quantified Scientist reviews) so it's not a bad option as a general smartwatch and fitness tracker for Apple people.
Click to expand...

I attribute my workout habit to apple watch. I was getting obsessed closing rings. I was 107 Kg at one point. Last weight today morning 87.7 Kg. I am on Mission 80 (self made mission) to reach 80 Kg.
 
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My biggest complaint is after 3–4 year life cycle, apple watch worth nothing. The same is also applicable for earpods as well. I know this is by design to encourage people to buy next gen.
 
raksrules said:
Give examples please.
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cant offer you any for watches, I know little about that space, but I was talking in general, buy electronics which have a standard battery replacement, like lets say G304 (a mouse), or like my RK84, standard battery, which I can replace on my own with little tinkering (its a compromise for us, but still doable) or even in the case of phones, where a battery replacement inclusive of all costs is just around 1-2k for most phones.

if you dont get any of these, then a product is simply destined to be e-waste no matter what you do and expecting otherwise is just a fool's errand
ibose said:
Watches ? Yes, of course. But then why would one would go for an Apple watch.
Smartwatches with the same level of accuracy across metrics and integration with anything Apple ? Probably not.
Click to expand...
thats the point, if you need smart watches, then buy a smart watch specifically, you want health stuff? buy professional stuff thats geared towards it
 
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Renegade said:
I have come to believe that apple watch is the most wasteful purchase in the apple product portfolio. So far in the two plus years that I have used it, the only time it has been of any use (beyond the mobile phone) is during workouts. And for that we have many more products which are much cheaper, be it calling or workouts. Even for workouts I feel that such trackers are useful during the initial periods when you are measuring how much to work out in a session. Once you have settled in a rhythm, you need it only as a stop watch, timer, clock.

Rest of the time its a toy for grown ups. Any tracking or fiddling that you do is not for increasing your productivity but only to satisfy your curiosity. Like - How many calories did I burn if I climbed up the stairs vs if i climb down the stairs. My heart rate went until 180 and it was scary. Oooh I can pause the video from my watch.

Not to mention the hassle of charging it and lugging another charger around. In the first year it will last for upto two days. Then around the second year it will last less than a day.

I will admit that I have marveled at the freedom of not carrying a phone and receiving calls or listening to music on the watch (airpods) while outside, but how often is that. Even the music playlist does not get shuffled and it keeps playing the same song on repeat. For changing the songs, its just too tiny a screen to not be cumbersome.

Well my love hate relationship with the watch ended a month ago when it stopped working. I went for a swim and one of the buttons stopped working. I went for a swim the second time and it stopped charging itself. Just gets heated up when put in a charger. Now I can get it repaired but it won't be the same after that coz it won't survive even under rains.

For that price I can get much nicer watches to wrap around my wrist from good brands, if it only has to be adorned as an accessory. Apple has done well to make people want it. Its utterly useless for an average person like me who can afford it and akin to throwing away good money. At most a FitBit or cheaper alternatives would have sufficed.
Click to expand...
this is the problem of most of people in my circle. the daily charging of the watch. I have a garmin which lasts 1 week (not 24/7 SOT). Apple ecosystem just bounds everyone for most of their products and moving outside the ecosystem is not easy to manage.
The data is good if put to use like motivating to walk or run or rest more. I use it as a reminder to do it so that I meet the daily or monthly target requirements.
 
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