I am pretty happy with mine (Fossil Sport). Lasts about 2 days on a charge while the display is always on, has all the sensors and most important, I can run my own software on it.

I understand qualms with the software, but what about the hardware is a joke?

The Qualcomm chips used are a few years old because there isn’t enough demand for Qualcomm to make faster ones.

So it’s WAY behind the chip in Apple watches in terms of performance.

Even if wear OS was better (never used it myself) it couldn’t compete.

This is pretty much true. Google doesn't seem to particularly care about Wear OS, Qualcomm can't make a decent chip for it, and manufactures aren't coming out with anything compelling. With wearables, it really does seem like it's mostly Apple Watch along with Fitbit, Garmin, and a few others.