You can go broke buying Apple Watch charging cables

I have an Apple Watch Series 1 that I bought in 2016. It came with a charging cable.

I got a second charging cable for my bedside. I wear the Apple Watch while I sleep, but I like to leave it charging on the bedside when I’m washing up during the day. I put the first one in my briefcase, so I won’t forget it when I travel on business.

That’s two.

Over time, the battery on the Watch began to wear out. So I got another charging cable for the side-table by the sofa. I can leave it charging there while preparing and eating dinner.

That’s three.

As the watch got older, and the battery continued to wear out, charge times stretched into the evening, which got even more inconvenient, so I bought another charging cable for the desk in my home office. That’s four.

At $29 each, three spare cables – plus the one that came with the phone – is $90. That’s a lot of money!

I’ve decided when Apple comes out with a new Watch, I’m pulling the trigger to buy, because Siri is useless on this watch and some of the applications I want to use – like Overcast – are unreliable. Any idea when that new Watch might come out? In June a couple of weeks at WWDC?

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I was thinking, you could just strap a charger on your arm, run the cable up your arm, and put a battery pack in your shirt pocket.

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It does sound like you have 4 charging cables in one building, so maybe you could have gotten by with one? :slight_smile:

With no real reasoning, I doubt watches will come out in June, probably later this year. Just pray that Apple doesn’t change the charger…

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I have the Series 4, which has great battery life, and I also wear my watch to sleep as well.
I have 4 cables total, 3 that are regularly in use.

1 in the home office.
1 on each night stand of the bed (so that’s 2)(my wife also wears her watch to sleep)
1 in my travel bag which never comes out unless I’m traveling.

  • Notes on my travel bag, I have an extra charging wire, adapter, dongle, hdmi, etc. - you name it in that bag. It’s a whole “second” set of everything, so that when I travel, I just grab the bag and put it in my suitcase. No need to search through the office and find it all each time. Also, at home, wires are not used from that travel bag, because then eventually I may forget a wire at home when I travel.
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This is the same set up I have. It’s just easier to have a charger at each location or in each suitcase/backpack that I have.

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I like to wear my S4 day and night, so I put chargers in locations where I’m temporarily taking the watch off: the bathroom when showering, and the kitchen when cooking / doing dishes – then I can pick up charge in those spare minutes. My ‘main’ charger is at my desk.

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Did you ever consider having one cable in your pocket…?

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I’ve been using the Nomad Base Station (two devices + watch) since AirPower was cancelled, and I keep the charger that came with my watch in my bag. I think I’ve pulled it out once or twice at work. So, I’ve restricted myself to just one extra, but that one extra cost $100, so… :expressionless:

The Nomad has been working wonderfully other than having to move a lamp away from it because sometimes the watch band would catch on the lamp and push it just slightly off the charger, resulting in a disappointing 15-25% instead of 100% charge in the morning.

You have a very similar setup to mine. Like you, I have a more-or-less complete set of dupes in the travel bag, and for the same reasons as you.

I think that the batteries in these small devices degrade over time. Your Series 4 is less than a year old, yes? My Watch is more than two years old and I’ve used it continuously during all that time. Until recently, I think the only time it’s been off my wrist for more than an hour a day was a six-hour stretch where I was having a colonoscopy. <— TMI? :wink:

My AirPods have experienced similar degradation.

With the Watch, I don’t mind because I’m hankering for an upgrade anyway. With the AirPods I don’t mind because I figure I can get another year or so of use out of them and I guess that’s just how long they last.

I leave the Watch on when I’m doing dishes. Most days it only comes off when I’m showering, or during my morning and bedtime ablutions. So that’s three times – I work from a home office and shower mid-day. During the first year or so I had the watch, that was enough time to charge it to 100% if I did it every day.

Some people leave their Watch on even in the shower. I’m like ew don’t you ever wash your wrist?

Then I’d have to put up with jokes about “is that a cable in your pocket or are you happy to see me.” That would get tiresome!

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I know it’s water resistant, but wouldn’t the soap be bad for the watch over time? This sounds nice, though.

I haven’t had a problem, and I’ve been doing it a couple of years. I rinse the watch off when I’m done.

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The problem isn’t the price of the Apple Watch. The problem is that the battery is old and you need to just buy a new Apple Watch. Or pay for them to replace the battery.

Or just wait for the new model, which is what I plan to do.