> I don’t have exercise issues.

Well that's what I told my brother, don't get one because you do sports 3-4 times a week anyway. For me it was a motivational thing, seeing my trends in activity, getting nudges, doing competitions with friends, seeing my Vo2max go up over-time, are all great, but unnecessary for my brother.

> the ostensible ease of use just isn’t worth the hassle of wearing a watch. I’m ok just pulling out my phone.

I'd say there's a mix-up here. The watch isn't easy to use versus the phone, which is the primary reason that it allows freedom from a digital device that demands constant attention. Secondly, if you're okay pulling out your phone, then you're really saying you don't have any wish to be free from your phone, so there's an audience mismatch here.

The freedom from the phone first requires you to actually agree that you need it, for many of us that's the case. If you do, the second part is being able to leave your phone at home when you go for a walk, go to the gym, go see friends, go clubbing etc. But for many that's a step too far, without any alternative offering functionality like payments, music, maps, messages, calls. The watch offers that, but in a way that's not super easy to use, but will get the job done. This is why the watch will never be a place where you scroll through social media for hours, or refresh your 5 news apps for the news junkies among us, but the easy-to-use phone, will be.

I haven’t come across anything profound with it, it mainly reduces friction from not needing to be taken out of a pocket and unlocked.

Contactless payments are fairly nice as you can double tap the button, and hold the watchface over a reader, no need to get out your wallet and find the card you want to pay with.

Back when going out with others was a thing, it’s calculator has features for tips and splitting checks.

My biggest value-add is being able to leave my phone at home.

Being able to listen to podcasts and audio-books on my watch while going for walks and running errands has been great. With Apple Pay I don't even need to take my wallet with me and can just tap with my watch.

Also the reminder to "close my rings" and being able to enter "competitions" with friends has been a great motivator for me to exercise.

As for exercising, if one's into that one might as well buy a proper watch for that. My Garmin can play music via BT and pay without my phone present. In addition it's tracking and fitness functions are way better than a normal smart watch. And the battery lasts longer than a day. More than a week even though I use the gps for an hour a day.

Agreed, I'd say one is a smartwatch, the other is a fitness tracker. The Garmin can't make calls or send text messages, for example. Most don't even have NFC or wifi, although the Felix 6 pro does, but it's also quite a lot more expensive than the 6, let alone the SE. The resolution is typically about half as much, the screen size is smaller, thicker, heavier, brightness is lower, and the screen to bezel is much worse. It's just not something I'd wear with a suit to the office, or at a dinner, or when I go clubbing because it just doesn't look very nice. It's something I'd wear during workouts. But because of that, it's more limited in use, has less value, and isn't quite worth the price for me. It also means I'm not wearing it all day, so it won't give me all-day health data tracking. Dancing for 4 hours at a party would get tracked, heartrate, calories etc, on my apple watch. But I wouldn't bring the garmin felix 6 pro to such an occasion. (there's smaller versions but I find their specs/feature set is a lot worse).

As a fitness tracker I'd say it's superior to the apple watch.

I guess it depends on one's circle. In my eyes one looks kinda like a dork with an Apple watch. But a fitness watch signalizes health and taking care of yourself/sportiness. I wear my garmin 945 everywhere, and most people I hang out with do the same.

I'll grant you it certainly does depend on the circle, but we're on a pretty dorky forum so I don't think our circles are particularly representative :p

But to me, while a fitness-focused watch does signal sportiness etc, which are great qualities, so does a heartrate strap or sweat band. You wouldn't wear it in the office, at a dinner, or at a party. Of course those are some extreme examples that aren't 1:1 comparable with a garmin. But the general principle to me is the same, to me a garmin 945 looks great on people doing sports, and out-of-place on people not wearing sports clothes.

I think this looks really classy for example, and could easily be worn on something casual (that's not sport clothes) or formal, without looking out of place: https://media.karousell.com/media/photos/products/2019/04/15...

The way that the watch is mostly screen and that screen can show a style compatible with any situation, with swappable bands, is a lot more stylish and versatile than something bulky, with a very large bezel, limited watch face choices, a dim low-resolution screen, often not always-on etc. (not sure 'bout the 945 on all of these btw, just my general impression).

I disagree. Garmin's high end watches are styled just the same as standard timepieces, but they just happen to be serious fitness trackers (in particular, see the Forerunner 945, Fenix series, and Marq series). Even with the standard wristband they generally fit in where any other timepiece would, and even more so if you pair it with a classic metal band (which is easily swapped in). Likewise, the watch face is customizable and subdued, unlike the glaringly bright screen of an Apple Watch. It's hard to pass off an Apple Watch as anything but obvious, chintzy tech gear.

I agree with your assessment.

But it's just that in Norway, sports wear is so in fashion that it bleeds over to everyday- and even formal clothing. Instead of a wool sweater, one wears a sporty wool baselayer like "kari traa". Instead of sun glasses it's sports glasses. Instead of a winter coat it's a ski jacket etc.

I don’t think Garmin offers enough fitness features to justify having two different watches.

The Apple Watch is much more versatile and general purpose. Having access to Siri on my wrist has been pretty helpful, paired with AirPods and I can navigate most of life without my phone.

We’re quite habituated to charging our phones every night. Doing the same with your watch (especially if you purchase a stand for it), is a very low friction habit to follow.

For me it's the opposite. Fitness is the most important, and the basic smart watch features on the Garmin is enough that I can't justify a second smart watch.

>can play music via BT

What is BT?

bluetooth

It sounds like you bought this expecting life changing gains, and maybe that is how OP is coming across too?

These things are not life changing, but they have their fun use cases. If you can accept that it’s not going to 10x your productivity and just want something technically neat maybe you’ll find a use for it again.

Or not, and you can just sell it for a quick buck :p