Several months ago, I decided to get a smartwatch. So far, I’ve been astonished by how much benefit I’m getting from it.

It started out mostly as a simple curiosity about my heart rate. I had purchased a secondhand exercise bike, one of the spinning types. I got a good deal on it, but it was missing a wristband for keeping track of heart rate.

I did a bit of research and settled on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. So far, I’ve been impressed. It comes with lots of interesting features beyond tracking heart rate, like counting steps and checking blood oxygen. Spiffy!

I also did several comparisons between my heart rate according to the watch and according to medical-grade equipment. It’s usually within 10 bpm, so I’d consider it pretty accurate.

One thing I like about it is that it makes healthy practices surprisingly fun. There’s something satisfying about setting daily goals for steps and calories, and making sure I meet them. The health app for it even lets you go back and review how well you’ve done meeting your goals.

Another cool thing it can do is evaluate how well you sleep and offer advice for better sleep. I’ve gotten some good advice and I actually do feel more refreshed in the morning since I got the watch. It could be pure placebo effect, but I’ll take it.

I was a bit concerned about privacy issues, but really, the watch isn’t collecting much more data than a smartphone would. If I’m going to carry one of those around, having the watch seems to add little attack surface. Well, unless ninjas/assassins/spies want to hack it and check my heart rate. Then I might be in trouble.

About my only gripe is with the modest battery life. Before I disabled turn-to-wake,¹ I couldn’t get the battery life much over 24 hours. With that disabled, I get about a day and a half, so I still have to charge it every day. But really, it’s a small quibble. It charges quickly, so it’s easy to find a routine where you set it on its charger when taking a shower, or something like that.

I’m hoping it lasts me a good, long time. I’m definitely in the camp of people who keep using something until it’s practically falling apart. That’s better for the environment and the wallet!

Note: I have accepted no compensation from Samsung or anyone else for this post. But it would be pretty cool if they sent me money. Yeah, a big fat check for 10K. I wouldn’t change a letter of the post, but I wouldn’t turn down the money. Hey, a superhero can dream.

1. This is where if you raise the watch and turn it towards your face, the screen turns on. ↩︎