Apple - Apple Watch SE 3
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Feb 15, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
58
17
"It’s well known that Apple has the best optical hr in the business and has since the series 4."
"have a ridiculously good optical HR sensor (it parallels my chest HR belt even during weight lifting HR spikes.. it's *that* good!)"
"The later AW is best in class for non chest straps. ... For daily fitness, Apple Watch is just better IMO. ... It being the most accurate heart rate tracker not a chest strap makes it the best fitness tracker to me. ... Maybe I should say it's the best workout recorder because it records the most accurate heart rate data. ... I just really like the AW for every day fitness more so than what Coros or Garmin can provide. ... Executing a training plan I've set out for myself and recording the results. Results being the duration and heart rate data during the planned workouts. I then upload that data to Training Peaks and use Training Peaks to keep up with my training load over time. So the every day fitness part is executing and recording my workouts. ... Apple Watch is data recording. Together they are tracking my fitness."
62
45
"It’s also pretty well established that AW has the best motion tracking which shows up when you use the swim feature for distance. ... In swimming, it’s not even close. 100% of garmins worn during our pool swims are incorrect, regardless of swimmer level. ... Every single Garmin incorrectly reported swim distance vs manual counting. Freestyle 4000m in 25m pool."
"I had an Apple Watch, replaced it with a garmin forerunner for 1 month it was the worst! So inaccurate and when I’d swim in pools it would so often double count my lengths… I went back to Apple Watch"
"Apple Watch never fails at counting laps"
118
8
"the Apple Watch cellular model lets you leave your phone behind. ... Perfect for activities like running."
"I unlock my computer and phone with it."
"the fact that they integrate to the Apple Watch simply cannot be understated for me, I couldn’t go back to Garmin now, it is just so much part of my life now. ... Tracking weightlifting workouts, nutrition and other stuff, analysis of the data, send messages to HomePod, changing NC automatically, sending emails …."
Disliked most:
2
86
"It misses key info and HR was clearly elevated compared to baseline even on the Ultra, but it doesn't count that. So a night of drinking and shit sleep, still give you a 95 score! ... But the vitals aren’t accounted by the sleep score as far as I can tell and my HR was higher though not abnormally high by Apple Watch standard but this could be because of sampling it does compared to the Garmin ... both HR and RR were elevated but not enough for Apple to flag but the sleep score doesn’t include those metrics, which I really think they should. ... The sleep scores doesn’t take into account vitals."
"If you’re healthy and looking to improve your fitness, performance, or recovery, the Apple Watch probably isn’t the best tool. ... limited in terms of true fitness insights."
"It shows my calorie burn insanely high (I am talking several hundred calories high each day)."
1
145
"The battery life is a literal joke. ... Do an activity? There goes 75% of your battery."
"Also the battery life was trash, I’d leave my new series 10 in the drawer charged and it’d be dead the next day."
"The first half marathon I ran I was under 50% at the end of the run and that’s when I said oh this is what they’re talking about. ... If I wanted to consider running marathons or longer then yeah, this won’t cut it anymore."
9
132
"The battery life is a literal joke. ... Do an activity? There goes 75% of your battery."
"Mine kept dieing one me mid run ... after two years of using it twice hours was about all an aw had battery for when using music and gps! By the 2:15 mark it would be dead. ... When I started running for longer than 2 hrs my battery would die mid run"
"Eventually as I got fitter the AW just didnt have battery for the length of activity (with maps and other metrics always visible)"
18
58
"one day I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep and I got a 95 sleep score on Apple lol the Garmin was correct in telling me I got shit sleep."
"Apple gave me kudos for sleeping 3h42m earlier than average last week and the sleep charts show me sleeping from 9:30PM-3:30AM on a day last week when I was traveling in a different timezone and actually went to bed at 12:30AM. ... It's crazy to me that Apple doesn't correctly account for traveling in the sleep monitoring/score."
"my sleep was very fragmented which the Apple Watch didn’t pick up. ... The difference is the garmin should a lot of awakenings which is what I really had. This is the effect of alcohol being metabolized."
0
15
"If you are in long sleeves in the rain, you need to lock the touchscreen to prevent accidental touches. But that prevents you from using the touchscreen without holding to unlock for a few seconds. So if you are doing intervals, it can be hard to end the interval quickly."
"The biggest issue for me on the AW that stops me going only AW is Sweat. ... The screen becomes impossible to use when I hot and sweaty. I mean completely unresponsive. Can’t press the music controls, can swipe the screen etc."
"I already got sick and tired of touch screens with my Apple Watch ... Dripping sweat, rain and sleeves really screw with touch screens ... where I live we have like 6 months worth of snow so needing to take off my gloves and disable a screen lock before being able to pause my workout is an annoying PITA."
Actual_Discipline532 1.0Se 3 or s10 very good watch I have the 10 very good watch if you are not a keen sports fan
Affectionate_Newt_23 1.0Okay naman siya for working out. Jowa ko naka-SE3. Charges it siguro once every 1.5 days, take note that she doesn't use it to track any workouts. I'd be wary sa battery life niya when doing long runs.
If you see yourself hating having to charge your watch everyday, Apple Watch is out of the options. Looks like main use-case mo ay para sa physical activities, I say Garmin.
Based on OP's choices, it seems Ultra is out of the budget and a little extreme for their use-case
aj03020 1.0Been using my 44mm SE3 Cellular for a few days. 1. Haven’t used cellular yet as my MVNO doesn’t have it yet. 2. I use my S3 at night so haven’t completely tested the battery but when I’m done with it before bed it has a solid 45% left. 3. I’ve been on the yearly upgrade train since S0, the best thing about SE3 is haven’t noticed any worse function than previous non-SE watches. Overall I’m happy so far, my plan going forward is being on the SE upgrade train.
Automaton_Willow 1.0I don’t know why, but my Garmin was bad at tracking sleep compared to my Fitbit and now my AW Se 3. I had the Lily 2, so maybe it was because it’s a cheaper model idk. It could never get my sleep times right and would say I was sleeping 9 hours every night and falling asleep at 10pm when that wasn’t even close.
Barhostage2Esquire 1.0SE 3 battery life is approximately 18 hours but some reviewers say they got up to 22 hours. With 15 minutes of charge, it’s back up to 100% . Battery life isn’t poor at all.
Brandon2149 1.0Some youtubers have already done videos on all the new watches It's better and generally screen on difference is a few hours so not nothing.. Again the watch size you choose actually plays a big factor. Series 11 42mm gets three hours less screen on time than the bigger 46mm series 11. New SE3 actually has the best battery life of any watch that is not an ultra model this is assuming you get get the biggest one. I assume just because it has less sensors and tech in it.
DoctorRoxxo 1.0I ended up going with the big version of SE3 with cellular, Apple gave me $100 for my Apple Watch 8. Came out to $250 with the trade in.
Electrical_Task545 1.0This is the best apple watch today
it now has fast charging!
empyrean2k 1.0Posted this in another thread: I got my first Apple Watch and wore it last night, I woke up and said to my wife that I had a terrible nights sleep… Apple Watch se3 disagrees and said it was 95/100 🤣 So yeah I kind of agree on my sample size of 1 that I’m not sure Apple sleep tracking is any good?
End-Radiant 1.0Original SE. Bought the SE 3 then told myself why settle again. Exchanged it for the Ultra 3 and will never look back.
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