Which Apple Watch model is best for you, according to our buying guide?

If you use an iPhone and desire a wristwatch, you should put the Apple Watch at the top of your list. The Apple Watch offers an increasing number of health and fitness tracking capabilities and enhancements that, unless you’re a serious athlete who requires more comprehensive tracking, can meet the demands of the majority of moderate exercisers. It’s also a fantastic companion for managing smart home appliances, making contactless payments with Apple Pay, and integrating a ton of other apps. Naturally, it can also access all of your iPhone’s alerts.

The Series 8, the SE II, and the new Apple Watch Ultra are the three models that Apple currently has available for purchase in stores. There are several variations of those that vary in size, connection, design, and cost. Then there are older but still current generations that you can find through independent merchants like Best Buy and Amazon, as well as the choice to purchase used equipment. To put it simply, there are numerous options.

For those looking to make the purchase right away, we’ve combed through the market of used, new, and refurbished Apple Watches and tested the available options to help you choose the best one for you. New versions from Apple are anticipated to be released in the fall. Allow us to conduct the necessary research on your behalf if you want to switch from an earlier model or get on board for the first time.

For most users, the greatest Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 8

Buy: From $329 at Amazon, Apple, Target

The best wristwatch available today is the Apple Watch Series 8. It is the best-equipped and most well-supported wearable on the market, making it the best possible phone extension. You can do everything from unlock your garage door to check the ocean tides from your wrist thanks to the unmatched number of apps and integrations. Although we advise serious athletes to wear a Garmin smartwatch, the Series 8 is making headway in this category as well. It’s not the most opulent fitness gear.

Features that increase battery life, period and workout tracking, and safety were included with the Series 8 release. However, it accomplishes all of this for less money than the more durable and rugged Apple Watch Ultra, which is marketed toward outdoor enthusiasts. With health sensors for ECG monitoring, blood-oxygen readings, and heart rate, it completes the top-tier trifecta and adds a temperature sensor for improved period tracking. You may take your fitness companion with you everywhere you go for tracking and safety purposes if it has GPS, a compass, an always-on altimeter, built-in fall detection, 50-meter water resistance, and the option for cellular capabilities.

Additionally, Apple claims that the Series 8’s G-force accelerometer is eight times more sensitive than the Series 7 and has the largest range of any smartwatch, with the ability to detect up to 256 Gs of force. That refers to a brand-new function called Crash Detection, which lets your Series 8 notify emergency personnel when it spots a serious auto accident.

Apple’s newest wearable operating system, watchOS 9, added a ton of new capabilities to the Series 8. The following features are therefore not unique to the Series 8, but some might perform better due to hardware variations.
If you become lost, the new Backtrack feature in the updated Compass app will help you retrace your steps. Despite its crude implementation, it nonetheless enables you to drop waypoints, give them icon customizations, and send you roughly in the same direction as the path you just took. In a pinch, it’s preferable to nothing, but Apple can still do better.

Fast charging is one of the main power benefits of the most recent model, and low-power mode can effectively increase your battery life to 36 hours (about two days of usage) as opposed to the 18-hour limit (one day) that other Apple Watches have. During an exercise, the Series 8 (as well as SE and Ultra models from the second generation) can capture less frequent GPS and heart rate readings. The always-on display, blood oxygen and heart rate sensors, as well as some notifications, are all disabled in the low power mode, which otherwise functions the same as on any other watchOS 9 compatible Watch.

In our testing, the Series 8 charged from zero to one hundred percent in slightly over an hour. Any Apple Watch device that is older than the Series 7 requires charging in around half the time.

All of watchOS 9’s new capabilities are available to compatible Apple Watches, including the Series 8. This contains Afib history (only for those who have been diagnosed), sleep stages, customisable training screens, heart rate zones, the capacity to run against previously logged running route times, and more in-depth running dynamics. that includes stride length, ground contact time, vertical oscillation, running cadence, and power (in watts).

Although Apple could use some help contextualizing what all these stats mean for the user, the information is still useful if you already have an idea or are willing to do some study. For what the Watch tracks, Apple’s running dynamics are outstanding, especially without the need for a second device, as is required with rival products.

The Apple Watch can open your garage door, unlock your phone or Mac computer, use Apple Pay, manage music, and, of course, give timely notifications so you won’t have to continually pulling your phone out of your pocket. This capability is available even if you don’t use fitness apps.

And yes, Apple Watches are still exclusively compatible with iPhones, and that probably won’t change. Yet as a whole, and particularly for iPhone owners, the Apple Watch is the most complete wearable platform available today—and for the majority of people, the Series 8 is the most complete model. However, if fashion is a concern, you can select a casing made of stainless steel rather than aluminum or a variety of colors, or you can choose from a seemingly unlimited selection of replacement band designs, including ones made by Hermès.

who it is for Those seeking the newest in fitness and health characteristics

Upgraded is worthwhile for: the Series 5 and lower