Wear a regular watch as accessory only or jewelry. Don’t need or want the distraction of added tech.
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I assume this blood pressure cuff hooks right into the Health app?
Yeah, but indirectly. The cuff pairs with your iPad or iPhone via Bluetooth. Once you have the Withings app installed, it will control the cuff and collect the BP data which is presented in a dashboard and timeline chart in the Withings app. If you choose, you can authorize the Withings app to share its collected data with the Apple Health app (and a few others too). So the data can eventually make is way to Apple Health.
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my doctor friend says to get the upper arm BP monitor. He says it’s more accurate than the wrist monitor.
I have my BP monitor send the readings to the Health app on my iPhone.
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Not only that, but the Withings app can share data with some patient portals, so the new data it collects can be shared with your doctor or other healthcare provider. For example, my doctor uses the FollowMyHealth app for his patient portal. I allow the Withings app to share data with FMH which will then upload new data (such as BP readings) directly to my file with the doctor. I’ve been doing this for a few months to track my BP so the doc can see the changes on certain medications much more easily and in near real time.
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I actually have a Pebble. It’s getting old now but still working fine. An Apple Watch would be nice, but here in NZ they are over $600, which is a little pricey. The Pebble was about $150 which is much more accessible. I enjoy notifications and would probably enjoy an Apple Watch even more. One day when I’ve paid the mortgage off I will treat myself. Or when the Pebble finally dies, since they don’t make them any more.
Judy
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I have a Vivo Active. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/571520
I wanted a round, waterproof watch, that last more than 5 days on a single charge. At the time the Apple Watch was none of these things.
It’s coming up to two years old, battery is still going strong. Still love the round face, and controlling Overcast (skip and volume function works to control the currently playing audio on the iPhone).
I also make use of Garmin Pay here in the UK, works as well as Apple Pay on the phone for me.
Would recommend to anyone who wants a round watch, and cheaper that AWatch.
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My needs tend much more towards fitness and I absolutely don’t want a bunch of notifications all the time. I have an Ambit 3 Peak from Suunto and almost never have the notifications on from my phone. I got it because it runs around 20 hours while tracking GPS, which is far more than I need in a single shot without being able to get back to charging of some fashion.
I just don’t see the Apple Watch getting close to the features I want, without also bugging me as another device that wants to be smart about where it thinks my attention should go.
Plus, they’re not something I like the look of.
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I wear a Samsung gear S3 frontier. I wasn’t sure I would find a smart watch useful, but it works well for me. Although I use an iMac at home, I have a Samsung phone and they work well together. It’s not an Apple Watch and I sometimes miss the Apple ecosystem, but it works for me and the 2-3 day battery life is really the minimum I am happy with.
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I have no interest in other watches. And when I see someone else with an Apple Watch my wearing my own legitimises the conversation I have with them. 
(Happened just yesterday at a barbecue, for instance.)
I don’t really get the “watch as jewellery” thing; My Watch 3 is perfectly stylish (to me).
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I think about this a lot. I like my Apple Watch for fitness tracking and alarms for my son’s multiple medications 3-4 times a day.
I activated the cellular feature in the hopes that I would feel comfortable leaving my phone (and social media) at home sometimes, but I haven’t really done that…not sure why. Maybe because all of my notes and journaling are digital and I don’t want to be caught without my “camera.”
The delay between raising my wrist and the screen turning on drives me nuts. Especially if I’m in a conversation with someone else. It looks like I’m sending a signal to them that they are taking too long or that I have to go.
I think a well designed watch can speak volumes about a person. I’d love to get one. But I’m also worried that I’ll spend the money and then miss the Apple Watch.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
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I have been looking at the Apple Watch, but decided not to get one (yet). I have little interest in tracking my sleep or activity, so I still wear old school watches. As it is one of the few pieces of jewlery available to men, I am slowly building a collection.
I really do love my mechanical Seiko Pressage, and I just purchased a nice Citizen Promaster dive watch. Also very fond of the watch I inherited when dad passed away, which is mostly worn on special occations.
As new releases of the Apple Watch becomes available, I will re-evaluate, but between my iPad and iPhone that are never far away, I don’t see a big use for the Apple Watch in my life.
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FWIW, I know a couple of internal medicine docs who say there is no substitute for the old-fashioned hand-pumped device and a stethoscope. As we age, our arteries become less able to produce good readings on automatic BP monitors. My grandmother’s doctor suggested that she chuck hers in the river. Taking one’s own BP with this type of sphygmomanometer takes some practice, but if you’re really trying to monitor closely it might be a good choice. Once my Omron conks out, that will be my plan. They are also a heck of a lot less expensive than the automatic ones.
I also now have my eye on one of these when they get released.
A thing of simply beauty.
Looks interesting but the pebble grade digital display is a tad disappointing.
But to counter that, the “clinical grade” ECG is impressive, if it is clinical grade …
Yeah but 30 day battery life is what you get for the crap screen.
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I use a G Shock sometimes if I am doing yard work to protect my Apple Watch which I love. I use it for time, world clock, silent notifications, sometimes to close a phone call and opening my Macbook, that is all, well that is a lot and makes it worth every penny for me. I like accurate time and used radio watches for years for that reason. I don’t need now to the second time but I still like to have it. I think the ‘fitness’ apps and functions to be hype and over rated and frankly a waste of time as are the health ones. I don’t use any of them and don’t intend to.
I really tried to like the Apple Watch.
After ~4 months I realized:
- notifications are annoying
- no added value for me (calendar is on the phone, etc.)
- heart rate: I know I am healthy. No benefit.
- sleep tracking: when waking up, I know I slept enough or not. And a look in the mirror confirms it. So, what’s the point?
- activity circles: full every day without looking. So, useless.
- looks terrible. Marginally OK with casual wear, impossible with suit.
So, I am just using it on rare occasions (control music from phone while skiing, sometimes for sports), but essentially lives in the drawer and I am wearing a proper watch 99% of the time.
My daily watch: Sinn 103 St Sa Sinn Uhren: Modell 103 St Sa
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I agree @Lars on every point about uselessness of fitness and health stuff. I do feel that it is being pushed because little else seems to lend itself well to apple watch or any wrist gear. It is a forced and unwelcome trend in my view. I stay clear of it but still love my Apple Watch. I was prepared to pay a lot more for a GPS watch at one point. I just like the idea of automatic change to local times, location data and atomic clock accuracy. I used to use the time signal ‘radio’ watches for that reason, they were quite expensive too. They picked up signals from various time sources. Here in PA I found the source signal quite weak though and was glad to replace with apple watch.
In my life and world though silent notifications via haptics are a god send. Read my comment above for more info. I think the sleep tracking, activity circles and so on are absurd and serve no real purpose as you say and pretty much for the reasons you give and furthermore don’t really work properly. I didn’t though buy it without realizing that. I will add that the whole ‘fitness’ industry is mostly unecessary. One can excercise well and properly for most purposes without even a Gym membership, let alone these electronics.
Buy a copy of the Canadian Airforce Field fitness manual if it is still around. Best one I know of. Other services and sources do similar things too. Some minimal gear might be useful for a finer tuned program, a bike can be good I suppose and for getting round on into the bargain.
