False Positives?

Jan 14, 2020

Seems like there is always a story about how the Apple Watch saved someone's life by alerting them to some irregular heart problem. Being the cynical person I am, I always wonder how many false positive have there been? How many people were alerted to a "problem" only to visit their doctor and be told is was nothing, or worse, visit the emergency room and be billed thousands of dollars (US citizens only).

I'd love to get a smart watch and the Apple Watch suits my needs due to me having a iPhone, but I refuse to wear a silly square watch. I haven't worn a watch since 2002. I dug out my old watch and I'm tempted to start wearing it again. It's pretty cool because it has an analog flight computer built in. I'm going to be the center of attention at the next party.

Bernard Jan 14, 2020
I'm most interested in what model of watch your old one is - it sounds awesome.
Burner Jan 15, 2020
I can say that my wife was diagnosed with a-fib during her pregnancy and got an Apple Watch to detect any irregularities. It hasn't gone off a single time since she's given birth, and the doctors are now considering removing her from her blood thinners. In this case, there seems to be no false positives and it has really helped out.

That said, I wouldn't wear a silly square watch either.
Jeff Jan 15, 2020
Have you ever had a conversation with someone wearing an Apple watch?  It has a motion sensor it in so that it lights up when you bring your wrist up to look at the time or a message, so the display is active.  

But...sitting across from someone who's talking, and gesturing with their hands, means that the dumb watch keeps lighting up its screen, and turning it off, over and over.  AAAAaarrrgghh!  Put a piece of duct tape over that thing!
Kolzig Jan 15, 2020
I personally very much dislike the so called smart watches that you need charge every day or every few days. Used to use Withings Steel which was good since it has a small battery, but I've been soon a year testing Withings Steel HR Sport which sadly doesn't have a clock battery anymore, but instead I have to charge it once per month.

The best thing about these ones are the wake up buzzer for mornings and of course it's kind of useful to know about the amount of steps you take per day. The heart rate functionality seems a bit off sometimes. One good point has always been that I can deactivate the notification messages which I would never want to look from a tiny watch screen. I don't know if Apple Watch has that since it seems it's centered towards being your messaging centre for everything and that's why it's also eating the battery.

Coolest watch maybe in the world is the old Commodore watch from the 70's:
https://www.ledwatchstop.com/store/commodore-watch-time-mint-p-210.html
Riccardo Rispoli Jan 15, 2020
I didn't use the watch for 10 years or so, I was watching my phone for that (watching my phone for the watch hihihihi). Then I took a year off travelling with a van. At that point a watch was very useful. I guess being at home/office, in front of the computer, you never have the need for a watch. We need to get wild, man!
Arik Jan 15, 2020
I was wearing one during improv practice once. I was being murdered on stage, accidentally hit the buttons for "Emergency", and called 911. The operator I eventually spoke to understood. "Apple Watch?" "Yeah".
Miguel Jan 20, 2020
I have an Apple Watch Series 4, and I hadn't worn a watch in something like 15-20 years prior. We have not had a-fib warnings, but it has gone off a couple times when taking a hard fall and offered to call 911 automatically (I was able to stop it in time, as I was ok).
Although the heart monitoring and the EKG are really good, the biggest benefit for me has been handling notifications in a discreet way (no more checking the phone every time it buzzes), and encouraging me to stick to a good fitness regime. The gamification ("close the circles") of fitness and standup and calorie burning is silly, but sufficient to motivate me and my partner to stick to an exercise plan, and has helped immensely get us in shape and moving. It really wasn't something I was expecting to be as good as it is, but I can say it's been one of the best investments I have ever made.

I agree that a square watch is weird, but it ends up working out well. And the bands are fun to collect and change out as fashion accessories - different colors and styles for different things. Last but not least, consider going for the stainless steel version - not because of the steel, but because the sapphire coated glass is VERY hard to scratch, whereas the regular aluminum version gets scratched by looking at it funny.
A Jan 23, 2020
I'm planning to reactivate my father's old Seiko  UC2000 :D
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f2/de/a9/f2dea99cd1a00a882c0f286f1ca7f94c.jpg
Brian Goldberg Feb 25, 2020
I like the casio smartwatches, and they are round. I agree that the square ones are very silly. https://wsd.casio.com/intl/en/products/
fancy pants Apr 02, 2020
@ron
I totally agree, it's like ordering a square pizza. kind of silly. also isn't there a constant danger of the battery running empty: "Excuse me, what time is it please?"
"Pardon I can't say I have an apple watch" ... Ohh my
And... if someone is persisting on this health watching feature you mentioned, and then his battery gets low so the watch switches off - the person panics, dies of a heart attack ... could one assume he got killed by his watch?!
I prefer swatch watches they are accurate and colourful and the different models have some neat features like stop function also they remind me of the 90s era...
... although as a kid I dreamed of that dick tracy watch u could use as a walkie talkie :D