My use case is pretty much what [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] listed in his original post: I'd like to see time, distance, speed, turn prompts for pre-loaded routes, without having to fiddle with a screen too much. I've found that I don't like having a phone attached to my bars. I tried a lot of cycling apps and I'm quite happy with RWGPS, I hardly use my Shimano Flight Deck any more. The downside of using the iPhone is that I have to get it out of my pocket, mess with the screen and read, and that's at best awkward and at worst distracting and dangerous. I see the watch as a more usable and safer interface that will push information to me while in the saddle.

I will stay with my self winding automatics, DOXA Shark Hunter, Marathon SAR and Seiko SKX007. Never a fan of Dick Traci. Actually my favorite all time watch is the simple Timex Ironman.

A Timex Ironman is what I use when the smart watch is not being used. I forget to mention what smart watch. TomTom Spark 3. Highly rated for the budget conscious. Since we are talking about expensive electronic gadgets that might be exposed to wet conditions, here is a good, cheap investment to make. Get yourself a small dry bag. $10-$15 dollars. Wallet, smart phone, etc. can go in. Then put it in the middle jersey pocket or where you would normally store it. I've had plastic bags fail before.

That is the Seiko "Orange Monster" SKX781. You can get them around $150 or so, usually from Hong Kong. They are a heavy, rugged, automatic tool watch. Great dive watch on a NATO band. I prefer the "Dive Watch" SKX007, not quite as heavy, same internals.

Mine are both the SKX007, nothing fancy, just the way I like them. I've actually owned 4 of that watch over the years, beginning on 1978. Two were gifted to friends for being there when I really needed someone to help me out. One went to the grave with the recipient. This is the only watch that has held up for me, most get the internals all ginked up from my sweat, its overly acidic, and it can eat away plating and through the run of the mill case gaskets. Lucky me.....

Those Automatic Divers will live through surfing, construction work, MX racing and other activities without dinkin' out on me.

Bill

Singular is anecdatum.

A couple of my friends sometimes send me texts from the bike, using the voice to text function. They are often good for a laugh, completely garbled. Of course there may also be voice generated texts that look okay, I can't tell; but the garbled ones are useless.

FIFY. :D

I once sent my sweetie a voice txt msg while riding home from work. I was running late and didn't want her worrying so I sent a progress report "Riding through Follen Heights." It came to her as "Ninety three Fahrenheit."

[MENTION=208016]seypat[/MENTION], I've proven myself to be a sucker (oops, terrible pun) to the blood center, so they're always hounding me. I have an appointment to donate platelets this weekend and am somewhat dreading it. Over time, it gets so uncomfortable! My arms ache, and the needles start hurting, and it's cold. And I can't move enough to turn pages of a book or on a tablet so I get crazy bored. Last time I donated platelets, I stopped before I was done and made it a partial donation. They assured me it was useful, so I might do that again. How do you manage?

But I don't fear that brifters will cause repetitive stress injury. Really.

[MENTION=190941]jimmuller[/MENTION], let's go with smarffone and see how that spreads.

When I leave from work to ride home, my typical voice generated text to my wife is "Writing home".

@noglider, Pun no matter:rolleyes:, good on you for donating your platelets Tom. Even a partial donation is something they can work with to save lives. I cannot donate due to two factors, I had amoebic dysentery as a kid, it sticks with you for your lifetime, and I got infected with MRSA while in hospital, that one is permanent, and I am a carrier now to boot. That really sucks, our son had to have a transfusion shortly after his premature birth, in the NICU. It was literally life saving and I feel like I am indebted to the blood center here now. My wife is making up for my lapse, she passed the 10 gallon mark a short time back. If they ever allow it I am next in line to donate.

noglider,

Before platelets became the thing they wanted, I would donate a double. One time a Jumbo.(whatever that was) I started around 1996. That was good because you could only donate once every 16 weeks. Then about 5 years ago, they started wanting only platelets. With those you can donate every 2 weeks. So, they call me every 2 weeks. I put them off for a week or 2, then set up an appointment. I have been doing that now for about 5 years. For anyone that is curious, you will have to be immobilized and hooked up to the machine for at least a hour. I've been on it for about 2 hours before. You need to make sure your bladder is empty. There are some weird sensations as the blood is being withdrawn then put back into your arm along with the saline. You might go through periods of hot and cold. Most people get cold and they put a blanket on you. They also have your donating arm on a heating pad. If you have trouble keeping still it might be best to just donate whole blood. That only takes a relatively short time. I do it because I might need help like that someday. As long as someone else benefits as well, then I will keep it up. My wife had to quit her donations. She's around 5'4" 120lbs and it would take her a couple of days to recover.

Back to the smart watch.

So I had the smart watch on last night while I was riding a stationary bike. It confirmed what I already knew. I was on a random intervals program. 2:25 hard then the same in recovery time. Any time I had to do any climbing or out of the saddle, the HR quickly spiked into sprint zone. Even without much of a load, dancing on the pedals caused more of a spike than sprinting.

Had a stress test a few months back. My doctor wants me to do more interval work to improve my recovery time. Another reason I'm considering one.

If it's an investment in your health and it works, it's worth the money, easily.