Never thought I would be the girl to have an Apple watch. But here we are.
Two years ago (2017) before Christmas I was debating on whether or not I wanted to get an Apple watch or an actual watch. The watch that I received for my high school graduation broke and it would have cost half the actual price (around $600) to get it fixed. I definitely did not want to spend that amount of money to get a 7 year old watch fixed so my parents asked me if I wanted a replacement watch for Christmas. I immediately said yes but wasn’t sure what I wanted. Did I want to go all tech and get the Apple watch or would I want a staple watch that would last me for years? I ultimately decided on a replacement watch because it was an investment piece and knew it would look great for any occasion. Fast forward eleven months later (last November) when I got accepted into the NYC half marathon. I needed something to train with that was accurate and would tell me how far I’m running, my pace, heart rate, etc. I’ve had a fitbit for years but it wasn’t accurate and just showed me my steps. I decided to ask Santa for an Apple watch for Christmas and ever since I received it, I have mixed feelings.
It is amazing(ish) for running. There are two sides of this statement. I love the watch when I am running outside, I find it accurate in terms of my pace and distance. When I received the watch, I was down in Florida so ran outside to train. Now that I am back in the city and it is FREEZING, I have to run on the treadmill at Equinox. I find when running inside the watch isn’t all that accurate. How do I know that? I compare the stats (pace and distance) on the treadmill versus what my watch has to say. I ran 3 miles according to my watch but on the treadmill I ran 3.5. My pace was off my a minute and that is a huge difference. In all honestly I don’t know what to trust. I am thinking my Apple watch is more accurate considering it is using state of the art technology and the treadmill is a bit older? Not sure.
The heart rate feature is incredible. Don’t want to get much into this but I have a heart condition that I grew up with where my heart randomly speeds up and drops fast. What is great about the series 4 model is that you can do an EKG and it can be created into a PDF and sent to a doctor. How awesome is that? I’ve already sent mine to my doctor and he was shocked at how accurate it is. The EKG graph looks exactly like what is done when I’m in a doctors office.
The battery life is okay. I heard that it is a significant improvement from the past models however I do find myself charging the watch every night when I am sleeping. I was hoping that the watch was going to last a couple days but maybe it does for people who don’t walk as much? I know you can save battery if you turn off the constant heart rate tracker but to me that is something that is important and I want to have it on all the time.
Still not the best looking thing. I like to think of my style as “classic” hence why I opted for a normal watch to begin with. I didn’t like the look of having a computer on my wrist because frankly I don’t think that is necessary. I’ve gotten used to it and mainly only wear this when I am working out. I still opt for my classic watch when I’m at work or going out with friends just because I find that fitting my style more.
Final verdict? I would only suggest this watch if you love all things technology or are training for a race. If you are working out / are active to begin with but not a runner, I would skip out on it. It is neat how you can track your workouts and performance but if you do the same workout day after day, there will be nothing much that changes. I am curious to see how much I continue using this watch once my race is over in March since I will be going back to my normal workout routine. I have to say, I still hate how people constantly look down at their Apple watch to look at notifications. It just looks plain stupid. 99% of the time your phone is within reach so just take the extra five seconds to pull out your phone. The texting feature on the watch is annoying to begin with (you either have to write out what you have to say or talk to it). I look like an idiot talking to a watch and funny enough, Dana thought I was on the phone when I was talking to it the other day. We spend enough time as it is on our stupid devices so I do not find it necessary to add another piece of technology to your ever growing list.
Do you have an Apple watch? If so, what do you think of it?
Thanks for reading Elle’s Edit. If you have any topics that you would like for me to discuss, feel free to email me at elizabeth.lane.dooley@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you! xo
