So are any of these worth a shit yet? What is typical battery life on these, would I have to charge it every day. What cool things can they do for me?

I have an Apple Watch. It can go two days between charges with my use.

I have apps on the time screen that let me adjust the lights in the house, open/close garage door, display the next meeting and look at email.

It is great when traveling and using the gps on my phone. Directions pop up on my wrist and it vibrates for the turns.

There are other things that can be done... but this is what I use it for daily.

My wife got the newer model Apple Watch, I've only messed with it a bit.  It she's happy with it.

Uses it for running mainly, she can link up her map my run app to the watch.

She just charges it nightly next to her phone.

If I wouldn't break one at work weekly, I'd get one.

Moto 360 Sport.

It uses about 50% battery during the day.  I charge it overnight, but it only takes a few hours to charge.

It is a watch that gets email and texts and can do a bunch of other stuff if you really want it to.

I have a series 2 Apple Watch.

I am very happy with it. I mostly use it for the notifications.

So I'm seeing 1-2 days without charging is pretty typical. Anything with a better battery life, maybe 1 week or something like that?

Functionality wise, I'd probably use it for things like running/PT and checking texts/whats app etc. Also are any more outdoors oriented (hardened) and have sensor functions (barometer etc).

Just turned down the ac with mine.

Yeah, I'm not sure i'm quite there with the home automation yet, and if battery life is only a day or two at best I'm not sure I'm there with the watches yet either.

I was an early adopter starting with the Samsung Gear and then a Moto 360.
They were pretty neat toys but after the initial novelty wore off I just never found them to be that useful for anything except the time and date.
Even with the much more extensive app library available today I still don't see myself using one for much of anything.
Home automation? Nope.
Exercise tracker? No, my exercise is contact martial arts.
Email or texts? Only for notifications, screens to small for me to read much on them.
Time and date... yea that's about it.

For time and date I'd rather have a  watch that doesn't need charging nightly.

Thought about picking up a Gear S2 or S3; but I can't see myself ever using it for anything other than changing how the 'dial' looks to show the time / date.

The apple watch is like your first color tv or your first microwave, you were quite fine without it, but can't go back now

Thats kind of where I am at right now. I'm just curious what people are actually using them for. The email/im notification sounds sorta useful. I would use it to track excersize (but I'd have my phone anyway?). I don't have a smart house and probably won't for a while.

I'm just wondering what apps are out there that I would actually use.

I have a Samsung Gear and it's a smart watch with a SIM card so it's able to fully make/receive calls with or without being paired to a smart phone.  It forwards calls and text if I am away from my phone and I can respond from it if needed.  I don't use apps on it as screen is too small but I find it great for when I work out and listen to music and want to monitor calls and text without carrying my phone around.  

I also have one for my son for when he goes to camp and stuff like that.   I figure he can always call us if needed and I don't have to worry to much about him losing it as it's on his wrist.

What's the narrowest watch w/ a GPS?  My mother's got a thing about atomic clocks, I'd love to put a small watch on her wrist that's updated by an atomic clock.

Smart watches do everything a smart phone can do, on a tiny screen strapped to your wrist where it can bang up against all the walls and furniture. It is NOT water resistant any more than your phone, and wears out the battery just as fast - even faster.

It's a nice novelty, we've been down this road before in the '80s when Casio had watches that literally did a lot of the same thing - individually. Compute, play music, infra red TV remote, etc. Remember them? No?

So goes the market.

What a smart watch will NOT do:

Have battery life measured in years before replacement - up to ten.
Still be functioning as an heirloom and sell like a 1960's Rolex.
Go skindiving.
Display the time at any glance and angle like analog. Constant on displays eat power and get turned off.

Another thing they won't do is either be 1) inexpensive, like a Casio or Timex, take a licking and still keep ticking, or 2) be appropriate wear when you attend a reception in the Hamptons and you need to have that one thing that says where you are in life talking to the VP who wants to include you in upper management. Nope, you'll be wearing one of those fad squares with a blank screen, not a nice dressy expensive watch with a French name and reptile strap.

People can't tell some cheap Chinese import from a Samsung. It's just another blank screen until you push a button. However, a G Shock, Dive watch, or Tag they can see. It says something about what you want them to know.

Smart watches aren't going away, I'm not interested. I get exact same performance from a cell phone and I get to wear a watch, too. The cell stays in the pocket protected and the watch gets exposed to be seen and used.

BTW, what ever happened to the transistor shirt pocket radio? See any for sale now? We moved on. Smart watch? We'll move on when we've decided the marketers have churned enough disposable cash from us and found the bottom of the market.

Electronics are ripe with marketing exercises and we'll not see the end of it until we can't do anything without being swiped. Not my future.

No need for a GPS (unless she wants one), but this ladies Eco-Drive has atomic clock sync.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Citizen-Eco-Drive-World-Time-A-T-Ladies-Watch-FC0000-59D/51436274

That would work.  She's very petite, really looking for something not as wide.  Thanks.

ETA:  FW_wife & I ended up getting her a Garmin vivosmart HR+ from Target for $150, apparently the smallest watch Garmin makes w/ a GPS chip in it.  There's a Samsung that's a direct competitor if you're into smart watches or already have a Samsung.  There's a much larger FitBit that also has a GPS receiver in it, but it's about $200.

I was thinking about grabbing one of these to take running. Would it be any good for that purpose? Does it have a readout for real-time pace and distance?

That’s the reason my wife got hers.

I think there’s a built in Nike run app, but she uses “map my run” off her phone, links to the watch.

Gives a break down on pace, distance, and logs the route more stuff too.

I like my apple watch.
I just used it to get my wife naked! How cool is that?

anyway, I usually use it to read texts instead of getting my phone out, but it's also handy for notification, reminders, letting me know I have emails. Timer is great for cooking.
Works good for turning lights and A/C on and off

This. I have tried them with the most recent being the Frontier S3.  After about a week, it went back to the store. I am in IT and thought surely I'd have a use for it. Nope, just another annoying device that needs to be taken care of. I went back to wearing my Marathon SAR, Submariner and UPO.

this isn't GD---fish223