I still use mine mainly for

- sleep tracking combined with Athlytic for Whoop-style metrics (might not be the most accurate, but good enough). also silent alarms

- runs tracking -- nice to be able to track my run and listen to a podcast all from the watch

- swim tracking -- i guess Garmin is just as good, but love being able to see the screen while swimming to check my progress

if the silly cellular plan wasn't such a JOKE ($15/month to share my already $60 plan???), I'd enable that and not need to carry my phone for emergencies on hikes/bike rides, etc.

> if the silly cellular plan wasn't such a JOKE ($15/month to share my already $60 plan???), I'd enable that and not need to carry my phone for emergencies on hikes/bike rides, etc.

I'm replacing my old Apple Watch without cellular soon with one with cellular, and since my carrier (T-Mobile Connect) did not have any watch support I looked around to see what my options were.

I ended up switching to Verizon Visible. They have two phone plans, Visible for $25/month and Visible+ for $45/month, but frequent promotions or coupons often knock those down by up to $10/month for a year or two. The $45/month plan includes watch support, which is a $10/month add-on to the $25/month plan.

Better than promo codes is they offer annual billing at $275/year for Visible and $395/year for Visible+. Those work out to $22.92/month and 32.92/month, respectively, which means if you are willing to pay annually and want watch support there is no reason to get plain Visible instead of Visible+.

One potential issue with an MVNO like Visible, even when that MVNO is owned by the major carrier whose network they are on, is that their data may be deprioritized first if the underlying network is congested.

Visible+ includes some premium data that is treated exactly the same as Verizon's own traffic. You get unlimited premium data when on 5G Ultra Wideband, and 50 GB/month premium data on 5G and 4G LTE.

If you are fine with those data limits, want a watch on your plan, and don't travel outside the US, Canada, Mexico, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico for more than one day a month (or don't mind having to pay extra for talk/text/data when you do leave those places for more than a day) then Visible+ paid annually was the best deal I could find.

I do like T-Mobile for their 5GB free/included international data (and unlimited texting).

The other concern I’ve read about with MVNOs is that some people were unable to transfer their number out. Don’t really want to lose my number.

The other thing with MVNO is that they have no or limited roaming.

It's often not a huge deal, but in sparser areas, it starts to matter a bit, at least if you are concerned with coverage.

What's the value of something like Athlytic/Whoops against just sticking to a routine?

Routine is Step 1, you're right. But for training, seeing things like HRV, resting heart rate, etc. allow you to optimize your training for the day based on your recovery/sleep.

I used Athlytic for a bit, but didn't find it that useful. Ultimately I figured I could just read HRV and RHR from the Health app to optimize training.

Shame on me for not knowing it was already there..

Give garmin a go. One week+ battery and it's outdoor activities tracking is just great.

I have a lower entry Garmin and it's amazing for running, biking and every day tracking, it's a Forerunner 245, but it's no smart watch.

I'll pass on that. I've got a Garmin handheld and OrganicMaps on my phone which are both fine for any remote activities I do. I don't need to track activities.

Useless is bit extreme criticism. I'm not an athlete or super intense, but somewhat more active than average (regular strength training, hiking 10-20 miles 3000-6000ft gain, bike ride 25-35 miles). It works just fine, its precise enough -- and I don't care about extreme precision. Sure there are better devices out, and battery will last much longer for bigger hikes, but its good all-around for most people which works for both active and regular life.

I also ditched my apple watch.

Even when working out I didn't really bother using it to track my workouts. Going to the gym is the only thing that mattered.

For checking the time and apps? I have my phone in my pocket at all times...

Charging it was annoying in my experience, if I didn't wear it for 1 or 2 days, when I wanted to wear it, it was dead...

But I know some people that actualy take advantage of it, so it depends.

If battery lasted a whole month, I would probably reconsider. But honestly I do without just fine...

I use my watch a lot to unlock things and pay for things. It is weird how much more I use it than my phone now (which can do all those things also, but is usually in my pocket and not on my wrist).

Apple pay over the watch is killer app IMO. You can pay everything with it. In civilized cities like london you can use it to pay the public transit. While it may sound gimmicky, this is actually an improvement (if only slight) to daily chores.

I live in London. You have to wear it on the right hand side for TFL gates and contort yourself to use them. Also it's not quite as reliable as the iPhone.

It was fine for ordering beer.

I love cycling with my apple watch, its actually the largest use case for owning one in my opinion. If I'm not exercising I don't wear it, I like getting the heart rate states synced to strava.

Urgh it's the worst for cycling I find. I just use the phone. The watch is in the wrong place to see it, the controls aren't tactile and the thing distracts you. All recipes for trouble.

when i’m riding a route i know, the apple watch paired with my power meter gives me everything i want. if i need directions i use my bike computer and a heart rate strap.

Willing to sell it?