Do you have a smart watch?

Sunny

Sunny

SF VIP
Location
Maryland
Not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but I thought I'd try here. I keep seeing more and more people wearing the Apple smart watches. Does anybody here have one, or some information about how well they work as medical alert devices, as well as being watches? I already have a good cell phone, and am wondering if this would be redundant. The main advantage I can think of is that the watch is worn all the time, while most of us don't "wear" our phone.

I already have a medical alert device that I wear as a pendant. (They also have a model that can be worn on your wrist, but it isn't really a watch, it just looks like one.) The monthly charge for the Apple iwatch is less than what I pay for my Lively alert system. And obviously, it does a lot more, or it says it does, anyway. But I don't know too much about them. Would it be a good idea to change?
 

I quit them, got tired of the constant updates, and Communicating hassle. I know I need to walk a lot.
My last beat of my heart seems personal if I am alone without monetization or in a puptent of joke oxygen.
I watched a man from Tennessee (license plate) Walk out of the hood Waldo World today constantly check
his smart watch and his phone. 200 yards to the Car, me in my F150 slowly following cause he was in my way.
Hope no one eventually runs over the DS. ...... (y)
 
It works well for tracking Heart Rate throughout the day especially when working out whether your doing Zone training or other physical activities. It's also an ekg monitor and claims not to detect afibs, but I bet it does. As far as medical alert it does that but a dedicated device is probably easier to activate.

Other features are being able to use it for calls, gps, emails, texts, wx alerts, etc., etc. w/out packing the phone everywhere.

That said unless you really know why one should buy one, then you should wait till you do or not buy one.
 
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I LOVE my Apple Watch, @Sunny , and i would definitely recommend anyone to get a smart watch, if not the Apple Watch, then a Fitbit watch, which would work with an android type phone.
Beside never missing a phone call, you are not tied to having your phone with you all of the time. If I go somewhere, and my phone is buried in my purse, the watch alerts me to a phone call, and I can either answer with my watch or my phone, whichever I prefer.
One Day I was in the back yard, was down and needed Bobby to come and help me. Naturally, I didn’t have my phone, but I was wearing my watch, so I just asked Siri to call him, and I let him know that I needed help.

The watch works anywhere, and is not tied to a home phone like many of the medical alerts are. If I am hurt somewhere, and can’t call for help, the watch will call 911, and also has my gps, so responders know where to find me. We live in tornado country, so it is good to know that if I were buried in rubble somewhere, I could be found by my watch. It not only calls 911, but also my emergency numbers, so my family would be alerted if something happened to me.
On the other hand, if I fall, but do not need help, I can just say that, and the watch understands, so it does not call for help unless I really need it.

The watch is great for many things beyond an emergency alert, too. Since it measures my heartrate, my oxygen O2 level, as well as my walking distance, the health apps that I have connected to the watch on the phone really help me to track my health much better than if I did not have the watch. It works in water, so it also tracks my swimming when I am at the fitness center.
I can even take an EKG if I think my heart is not working right.
Not the same medical quality as one in a doctor’s office, naturally, but I do not expect (or need) it to be that quality, just an indication of whether something is wrong or not.

When my heart rate was slowing down overnight, a few years ago, I would never have known except for the Apple Watch, because it was tracking my sleep.
My heart rate went down into the low 40’s at night, and when it started going down into the 30’s, I thought I needed to have a talk with my doctor about what was happening.
If I had not known, it would have probably just gotten too slow and stopped some night and I would not even be here now to write this post.
 
Love my Fitbit Versa 2, it delivers my daily step count, heart rate and tracks my sleep cycles fairly well. The app that goes with the Fitbit works well, but Google bought Fitbit and they are literally going to destroy the app, and it's once happy community. :cautious:
 
My "Smartest" watch I had, was in the late 1980s which was from Casio (the electronic piano best brand). It was digital, backlighting and played 12 various tunes that you could programmed to your liking for up to three different alarms.

Husband, I'd given him one which was digital, had time, date, calendar function and a calculator with miniature buttons.

I already hear my own heartbeat in my ears most days, so I don't need a watch to tell me how many beats a minute. 😂
 
Jackie23 said:
I would love to have one for all the features it has but I really think it is just too small for my old eyes.
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Actually, I do not spend much time looking at my watch. I just put it on and wear it. The Apple Watch has a lot of different looks that you can have on the face, all the way from small and complicated, to a huge easy to read clock face. I have mine set on the activity tracker face so I can see how many steps I have taken and such as that, and it displays the time plenty large enough for me to read.
Most of the health information goes from the watch to my iphone, so I read all of that on the phone when I need to check something out, and just open up the app for what i want to see.

When my daughter got me the first watch, i didn’t think that I could read anything on it well enough to actually use it; but the benefits made it worth at least trying. It did not take me long to see how to set it up to show what I needed to see, and be able to use it to track the health information I need to be tracking.

For anyone who has health issues, especially with your heart, I definitely recommend having a fitness tracker watch. When my heart was going in and out of afib, I was able to see what it was doing and be able to give a concise report to my cardiologist, so they were able to tell what was happening better than if I was just trying to explain without the information from the watch and the health apps.
 
This is my second Apple Watch. Absolutely wouldn’t be without mine. I’ll second everything @Happyflowerlady said about the uses. Mine isn’t cellular so no extra charges; my phone is always in range and the distance is quite reasonable. I can be in the basement or garage and it still has service.

When a kid on a bike crashed into me, it asked if I’d fallen and if I was ok, then it asks again. If I had a different type if emergency, I could call from it. I’ve given a couple of good wonks while doing something active and it asked if I’d fallen. If someone had to, they could thump their arm and that probably would activate the Alert service.

Reading I’ve taken have been fairly accurate. DH has suspected Afib and when he tested with mine, it showed,

Sunny, have you ever had an emergency that you had to use your device. I feel more than safe with my watch, but it depends what your health issue is.
 
The posts above confirm my suspicion that it can indeed indicate afib. The docs aren't used to getting real life data so it's going to take a while before many of them get used to having another data source to guide treatment.

I can also confirm that a heart rate in the mid-30's upon waking vs my normal low 40's was a clear indication I needed to ditch a new med that doc rx'ed as an "insurance policy" iow, a "belt and suspenders type approach."
 
George1959 said:
All things that are called 'smart' are instruments for control and surveillance
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LOL, when my kid was a preteen she would have agreed with you because I could see where she was via the app (web page back in those days)! Some surveillance is used for good (regardless of the kid's opinion).
 
I tried to watch this video but shut if off after 5 seconds. The background music (noise) is so loud that I cannot understand him. Can't understand why almost all new videos have this terrible, loud, distracting music.

No, I don't have a "smart" watch but my girl friend has it. It lights up in the night when she is sleeping. Sort of annoying! The watch, I mean! Not the girl friend; she's OK!
 
Packerjohn said:
I tried to watch this video but shut if off after 5 seconds. The background music (noise) is so loud that I cannot understand him. Can't understand why almost all new videos have this terrible, loud, distracting music.

No, I don't have a "smart" watch but my girl friend has it. It lights up in the night when she is sleeping. Sort of annoying! The watch, I mean! Not the girl friend; she's OK!
Click to expand...
what are you doing there while your lady is sleeping ? :sneaky::D
 
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