Amazon.com: Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS, 40mm) – Blue Aluminum Case with Deep Navy Sport Band : Electronics

First time Apple watch purchaser here. I tried other cheap(er) watches and kept returning them – no bang-for-the-buck.

This is pricey, no doubt about it. Grudgingly coughing up $425 and comforting myself with Amazon’s platinum return policy, I decided to give it a go.

I’m awfully glad I did.

So here’s the thing: there’s no killer app for me. Truly. No one thing that goes A-HA and makes me love it…..

……BUT, there are tons of little things that, together, are more important than each one individually.

– Blood pressure monitor
– PulsOx monitor
– Walkie-talkie function. I thought this would be a gimmick but it’s so damn helpful when I’m trying to remember if I need to pick up eggs at the grocery store
– Checking texts without having to pick my phone up each time
– Checking Telegram, ditto
– Pings from Life360 (an app I pay for) telling me when my family members have arrived/left somewhere so I know if I need to get moving so I can pick them up
– A watchface with my next appointment prominently displayed along the bottom
– An exercise “ring” sort of thing that eggs me on to: stand up for a minute or two once an hour; exercise at least 45 minutes a day; get in at least 10K steps a day. Again, sounds gimmicky, hell it is gimmicky…. but isn’t the old saw that if it’s stupid but it works, it ain’t stupid?
– Tile tracking of my phone and wallet. Push a button and hey, that’s where I left my phone
– Stronglifts integration so when I’m at the gym I don’t have to keep staring at my phone to know when to start my next set. It has haptics. My wrist buzzes, time to stop writing that email and get to work
– Haptics in general, which is a much nicer way to wake up in the morning vs. the BLAM BLAM BLAM of the alarm clock. It buzzes your wrist in increasing intensity until you wake up. Seriously a nice way to rise and shine.
– Sleep behavior analysis. Tells me if my sleep is getting interrupted, the levels of deep sleep, etc. Not sure if it’s even all that overly actionable but it’s nice to see and it does sort of course-correct me if I’m only giving myself 4-6 hours of sleep vs. the 7-8 I need
– EKG. Yes, you can actually take EKGs of your heart to see if there’s irregular rhythms
– Fall detection. Hopefully I’ll never need it but if you fall and don’t turn it off, it calls 911. Nice feature for older folks.
– NFC. Instead of bringing my wallet, I have my watch. Touch and go. I haven’t tried this yet of all the features so this one may not be ready for prime time, but looking forward to giving it a go.
– Set a remote time for my phone camera so I can get in the picture!
– Calls on my watch. Never thought I’d use it but I can now live out my fantasies of living in a Jetsons world. Quality is great and it’s especially useful when on a conference call when you don’t need to speak much.
– News flash items. I get critical news from Wall Street Journal, NY Times and Washington Post that I can scroll through
– Siri on command. My sole critique is here – you’re supposed to be able to “raise to talk to Siri” but it doesn’t work well at all. You have to push the little button on the side. Pretty mild criticism, but still on balance it’s great because I can say “how’s the weather?” or ask a question and boom, instant results

TL;DR There’s a ton of stuff, each of which is mostly on the “That’s nice but not overwhelming” end of the scale that together makes for a great device. I’m happy with it even at the eye-watering price. And like all Apple devices, if it’s too pricey for you, wait a year and you’ll get it substantially cheaper.