Last week my wife found a very inexpensive smartwatch at Amazon and ordered it for me. I think she got tired of listening to me complain about me not having my Suunto 9 Baro. I'd provide a link to the watch but at $49.99, I'm not sure it will be around very long. There are pages of equally inexpensive smartwatches and they probably all come from the same factory in China. The watch showed up on Saturday and I have worn it everyday since then.
I figured the moment I got a replacement watch, my primary watch would be repaired and returned. Nope, it is still at the Suunto Service Center waiting for them to replace the battery. At this point it has been 6 weeks and I wonder if I will ever see it again. I hope so. I love that watch. Just be forewarned that if you have a Suunto watch that needs service, it may take longer than the advertised 14 business days.
The first thing I noticed about my daily habits with the temporary replacement watch is that I am paying attention to my daily step count again. When I didn't have something telling me how far I walked every day, I stopped worrying about it. Now I am fighting daily to make sure I hit my goal of 10,000 steps per day. That is a lot of walking and I took it for granted before. A month off and I have gotten lazy. If you have the slightest concern about your personal fitness, I highly recommend having a smartwatch.
The other thing I noticed about the new watch is that I don't trust the manufacturer nor do I trust its software. I had to install a new app on my smartphone and it naturally wanted all sorts of access to information on my phone. I didn't give it any. I especially didn't allow it to read my location service. That sort of defeats part of the smartwatch experience as it can't track distance walked or where I am. As I really am only concerned about my step count, I can live without actual distance. The last thing I want is data from my smartphone being used for nefarious purposes. I guess that is one of the reasons my Suunto cost so much more is that it had its own GPS receiver. I never had to turn on location services for my smartphone.
One more thing about my temporary smartwatch is that I didn't think I would worry about checking my sleep data. I actually am. Lately I feel like I have been getting the right amount of sleep and so I checked it on my watch. I confirmed that I am.
I am not going to replace my Suunto 9 with this inexpensive smartwatch. The more costly watch has enough features to justify the cost and I eagerly anticipate its return. While I wait, this temporary one works well and helps my fitness level. In other words, it is doing its job.
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