Should I get a smart watch?

I don't really like wearing a watch at the shop.  It usually gets in the way of carpentry things.  But I think I really want a smart watch.  I'm always missing calls from Hot for Teacher, missing a text when a volunteer wants to come help, or otherwise missing emails about something urgent.  Mostly because I'm using power tools and I get kinda fixated on my work.  If I could just glance at my wrist without stopping, setting the drill down, taking off a glove, reaching into my pocket, etc, I think my life would be gooder.

What are your experiences with them?  Helpful?  What do I need and what do I not?

Wants: 
- fitness tracking, but not crazy.  I just like to track my steps, my heartrate, and maybe sleep quality
- reply to messages via voice to text without getting out my phone.
- I guess phone calls by talking into the watch?  I don't use earbuds.

What else would be helpful?  Does the watch occupy bluetooth, thereby precluding the use of bluetooth for anything else?

I thought I was the only guy not wearing one of these watches.  Huh, so there's 2 of us?

Datsun310Guy said:

I thought I was the only guy not wearing one of these watches.  Huh, so there's 2 of us?

I, too do not wear one. I like my Casio G shock too much. Plus I try to stay off my phone.

To answer Curtis, yes you want a smartwatch. I have very similar intended use case. At the moment I do not have a recommendation for a particular model.

Latest FitBit "Charge" model fits the bill.  Small, lightweight, plethora of cheap velcro nylon bands, limited connectivity so it's not a huge distraction.  I've been wearing the same Charge 3 since early 20', free through my work union.  Does not or rarely gets in the way of doing dirty mechanical or electrical work.  

I don't wear a smart watch either. When at work I use my watch my watch mainly for timing heart and respiratory rates. I didn't think that was enough of a reason to post, my primary concern is that I hope that you're using hearing protection running the power tools. Tinnitus sucks.

I have a smart watch.  It's ok for responding to text messages.  Phone calls on it are a very rare occurrence. I'd oprefer to use my phone or CarPlay. 

I do use it to track fitness and I'm looking at moving to a garmin to improve accuracy. 
 

I don't think the txt and calling is worth it. 

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

There's a few of us, I just have regular dumb watches with hands.  

I have a fitbit Versa 2.  It has the larger screen, similar to an iwatch.  I didn't think I'd like wearing it as much as I do.  It's great having daily reminders of how I'm moving.  Some good, some bad.  It's especially good for running/exercise.  Another plus is that it vibrates and shows caller ID when I get a call and I'm away from my phone.  Lets me decide if it's worth going to get the phone. Something I really like is you can reject calls from unknown numbers on the iphone that the phone itself doesn't give you the option.  And last positive is you can read texts on the watch screen.  Downside is you can't take or answer calls through the watch.  

I had a Pebble years ago, then a Samsung S2 that would not keep the battery charged longer than 8 hrs after a few years.  A friend moved over to Apple-everything and gifted me his Samsung S3 about 2 years ago and I love it.

I don't use any of the voice to text or answering calls (it does it all) but I really like getting notifications from mom, SWMBO and seeing phone calls I can answer or ignore without looking at my phone at work.

I "upgraded" from a Garmin Vivoactive 4 smart fitness tracker to a Samsung galaxy 5 smartwatch.  The improvement is truly negligible.  In many situations where you are working with your hands, you're going to want to take the smartwatch off.  The smaller fitness tracker band and watch head didn't really get in the way, and it's a less than 100 buck item, so scratching or damaging it is less of a concelog.

Both will vibrate to let you know you recieved a call or a text message, and you can read the actual text portion of the message on the screen of either device.  Images are simply presented as (image) on the single color one-line display on the fitness tracker.  The smartwatch is trying too hard to be a full smartphone, and displays text messages just like the chat screen on a phone, but shrunk to less than 1/4 scale. Not something you can glance at and get the gist of in a hurry, and the images are shown but almost always come in too small to see.

Neither one has sufficient built in microphone or speaker to handle a call, and I haven't seen one that would do that without relying on bluetooth to earbuds.  The more expensive LTE version of the galaxy watch is literally a shrunken smartphone, with it's own separate data plan you have to pay for.  You don't get a camera, but you can text, and even make calls through a Bluetooth headset or over the car stereo without the phone nearby.  I just have the Bluetooth version.

Battery life on the Garmin band was 4-5 days.  On the Galaxy 5 it's just over a day if I'm moving around a triggering the display to turn on a lot.

I've been wearing a Wyze watch for a while.  I like the vibrating alarm for waking up and for phone calls.  It doesn't disturb the wife.  The sleep tracker gives some useful feedback, and the timer/multiple alarm features work well for me.  Cellphone alerts are good, too.   Stepcount, O2, etc are OK. 

What I don't like is the poor visibility of the screen in the sun, and the occasional insensitivity of the "shake to wake" feature.  I also don't care for having to charge it up every week.

Sometimes I miss my old Timex Ironman.

I know I don't use my smartwatch to its full potential, but one of the most surprising reasons why I like mine is that I don't have to have my phone in my pocket 24/7.

I can leave my phone in another room or in a bag if I'm out and about and I don't have to worry about missing any important calls or texts.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

What else would be helpful?  Does the watch occupy bluetooth, thereby precluding the use of bluetooth for anything else?

No, it doesn't. I use my watch with earbuds at the same time quite often.

I like having a smartwatch for fitness tracking and seeing my notifications without having to dig my phone out.

Are you on iPhone or Android? I recommend going with an Apple Watch if the former, and either a Samsung Galaxy or Pixel Watch if the latter.

I have similar use case but I've not bought one because coworkers who DO have one check their "watches" every 8 seconds (probably not accurate) and with the quantity of calls and texts I get I don't want to have that access that easily. I have a job to do and people calling or texting should understand that I can't get to it right away every time. That's my rant...but I still want one.

I am all in Apple, if you have an iPhone it is hard to beat the seamless integration. I usually use my watch to tell time and that's about it. I can see texts on it but I usually only use it to quick glance at who texted me or is calling. I rarely use the watch to text or take a call (you can but I always have my phone). My watch face tells me:

1- Time / Date

2- Weather where I am 

3- Displays text messages

4- Activity rings for the day, which you can set up goals for how much you are moving around and exercising

5- Heart Rate. 

I originally switched from my trusty Seiko's to an Apple watch to be able to watch the Dexcom app and see blood sugar on my watch, for some reason that I could never resolve the refresh rate was so slow that it never worked satisfactorily and I took that app off my phone.

I agree that if you are in the Apple ecosystem already its hard to beat the integration you get with an Apple Watch. 

I have been wearing a series 3 for 5 years and its been flawless. The only issue I have had was a cracked screen but that was part of a recall so I sent it off to Apple and they sent me back a new one to replace it. The newer ones offer more fitness and health features but I really like being able to leave my phone on the counter and still be able to control my music and see if an important call or text comes through. 

Scotty Con Queso said:

I have a fitbit Versa 2.  It has the larger screen, similar to an iwatch.  I didn't think I'd like wearing it as much as I do.  It's great having daily reminders of how I'm moving.  Some good, some bad.  It's especially good for running/exercise.  Another plus is that it vibrates and shows caller ID when I get a call and I'm away from my phone.  Lets me decide if it's worth going to get the phone. Something I really like is you can reject calls from unknown numbers on the iphone that the phone itself doesn't give you the option.  And last positive is you can read texts on the watch screen.  Downside is you can't take or answer calls through the watch.  

Ditto.

I came from fancy mechanical watches that I'd take off everytime I has real work to do.

I only take the fit bit off to charge. Swimming, welding (poorly), woodwork, etc are all done with tlmy fitbit on. It's been surprisingly durable 

I have a pixel phone/watch and enjoy them. The calls on your wrist thing are gimmicky cool. I definitely feel like a target-brand dick tracy. Mine doesn't give me enough battery to be able to use the sleep stats feature but everything else is handy. It's helped me realize that I must have a long stride because on the days I'll do everything with the girlfriend, she'll be a good 5-8k more steps than me.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

I hope that you're using hearing protection running the power tools. Tinnitus sucks.

I do.  They're even tie-dye colors

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

What else would be helpful?  Does the watch occupy bluetooth, thereby precluding the use of bluetooth for anything else?

No, it doesn't. I use my watch with earbuds at the same time quite often.

I like having a smartwatch for fitness tracking and seeing my notifications without having to dig my phone out.

Are you on iPhone or Android? I recommend going with an Apple Watch if the former, and either a Samsung Galaxy or Pixel Watch if the latter.

Android.  Galaxy S20 I think

Since I'm on a Samsung (currently, not too fond of the bloatware), are there any compatibility issues?  I know Apple watches work seamlessly with iphones, but in the android world is there any benefit to getting a Galaxy watch over a Pixel watch?  Or any brand for that matter?  I guess I'm asking - does the Galaxy watch have certain features that would only work with a Galaxy phone, or is it pretty universal within the android architecture?

CNET and Verge are kinda going gaga over this one.  Anyone have one?

The watch itself is doing some pretty simple stuff. It's just a bluetooth device that relays information from the phone. Apple's ecosystem makes life with the Apple Watch easier, but I don't think there is any reason why other watches wouldn't work as well. 

I frequently use my watch to find my phone and vice versa. That's handy, but it can be done by other watches. 

My coworkers has got a Garmin watch that's he's happy with. That's all I've got in terms of reviews. 

The galaxy health features are tied to a galaxy phone.  The EKG, body fat, and so on.  Garmin is phone agnostic, you just have to have the Garmin app.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

As far as I know, galaxy watches only work with galaxy phones and pixel watches only work with pixel phones.