Wearable (In)decision (Premium)

To say that I’m indecisive about purchase decisions is, perhaps, the understatement of the century. Given enough time between announcement and release, I’ll preorder a product, cancel the preorder, and then preorder it again. And that’s exactly what I’ve done in recent weeks. More than once. With more than one product.

And so it goes for this congenitally indecisive individual. I’d love to tell you that I’m this way for you, that my indecision stems from a desire to only review the best products, or at least the products that I think readers may be interested in. And sure, there’s some of that. But in this specific case, I’ve been struggling to find a replacement for myself, for my current fitness wearable, a Fitbit Charge 3 that’s two years old now and has a display so dim I can’t read it where I need it the most, at the gym.

So before moving on to the wearable I did choose, at least for now, let me take you on a quick walk through my tortured process. Such as it is.

In late August, Fitbit announced the Versa 3 and Sense smartwatches. They are identical from a form factor perspective, and they use the same bands as each other, but not the same as the previous Versa models. And they are identical from a functionality perspective, except that the Sense adds ECG capabilities for assessing heart rhythm for signs of atrial fibrillation, electrodermal activity (EDA) sensing for stress detection (also used by lie detectors), and skin temperature sensing. The Versa 3 costs $239 and would ship by the end of September. The Sense costs $329.

Naturally, I preordered the Sense, because why wouldn’t I just get the best one if I’m upgrading. And then I let that simmer while I struggled each day to see my heart rate while working out with the Charge 3. (I was also interested to see Amazon announce its Halo fitness band and related service in late August, and after receiving it in mid-September, I could quickly tell it wasn’t for me because of the lack of a display. But I continue to wear it, at least for now, just to gather some number of weeks of data.)

Then, Apple happened. In mid-September, Apple announced Apple Watch Series 6 and SE, and, as interesting, its Fitness+ subscription service. From what I can tell---I haven’t owned an Apple Watch since the original version, which was at that time deemed “unnecessary”---Series 6 is identical to Series 5, but adds a blood oxygen sensor, an always-on altimeter, a U1 ultra-wideband chip (that’s currently not used for anything), and a slightly brighter display. So, it’s a minor upgrade for most Apple Watch users, but I’m years out of the loop, so there are all kinds of things going on there.

But it’s the Fitness+ service that may put Apple Watch over the top for me, at least over time: I’ve always struggled with the lock-in of Apple’s ecosystem, and while it’s fair to say that I’ll always have an iPhone on hand---necessary to use Apple Watch---i...