Watch SE

Hey folks, I’ve been an Apple Watch guy since 2021. Picked up the SE (1st gen) back then and it’s been on my wrist every single day since. I mostly lift, cycle, swim, hike — and just recently got into running. The SE was a great entry-level watch for me. Cheap, reliable, and did what I needed. I never bothered with the fancy models because… honestly, I just needed something to track my workouts. But after 4 years of daily use, the battery finally gave up on me. It was never great to begin with (charging once a day was standard), but recently it got to the point where I had to charge it multiple times a day. If I went for a 1–1.5 hour outdoor run, it would drop from 100% to 20–30%. Super annoying. I looked at the newer Apple Watches, but honestly? Not much has changed. Same story, same battery issues. So I started exploring Coros and Garmin. And after way too many YouTube reviews and Reddit rabbit holes, the Garmin Enduro 3 kept popping up. King of battery life. Rugged. No-nonsense. Problem: it’s $1500 AUD new in Australia. Way over budget. Solution: second-hand marketplace hustle I stalked FB Marketplace, Gumtree, eBay — everything — for months. And last week… jackpot. Someone listed a 2-month-old Enduro 3 for $950. Basically brand new. But here’s the kicker: • Brand new Garmin HRM 600 included • Two official UltraFit bands also included • Everything legit, receipts, etc. I honestly thought it was a scam at first 😂 but after verifying everything and a bit of back-and-forth, I negotiated it down to $900. Easily my best tech deal ever! First Impressions after 7 Days of use- Coming from an Apple Watch, the Enduro 3 feels different… but in the best possible way. I’ve got a 165mm wrist, and despite how big it looks online, it’s shockingly light and comfy. Here’s what I’ve done since charging it to 100% on Day 1: • 3 outdoor runs • 2 cycling sessions • 3 weight training sessions • 3 long walks (one was over 2.5 hours) • Slept with it every night Battery right now? Still at 70% with 27 days left. 🤯 I’m used to babysitting my Apple Watch charger like it’s a Tamagotchi, so this feels unreal. I did tweak some settings to optimize battery: • SpO2 set to “On Demand” instead of “All Day” or “During Sleep” (saves around 20–30%) • Notifications off (I don’t need pings on my wrist, I had most notifications off on my AW as well) • Backlight at 10% brightness (still plenty bright) • Everything else on default How It’s Been to Use- • GPS: rock solid so far. • Heart rate: surprisingly accurate, and pairing with the HRM 600 was instant. • Flashlight: I thought this was a gimmick… it’s not. It’s stupidly bright. • Solar charging: it actually works. Not magic, but it does slow battery drain outdoors. I tested it on a sunny day where I left the watch in direct sun, showing over 200% intensity. In 1 hour it harvested over 100k lux hours and battery went up 1%. So no, it’s not replacing a charger, but it does help stretch the battery out. 1 % in enduro 3 context translates to several hours of use, even days under right settings. Yeah, you could put the watch in low power mode and sunbathe it for hours to squeeze out more, but at that point… just plug it in 😂 (unless you’re out in the wilderness or doing some crazy ultra adventure). Final Thoughts - Honestly, I’m blown away. Everything I didn’t like about the Apple Watch is basically solved with this. I haven’t even thought about charging this thing all week. It tracks everything I need, feels great on the wrist, and just works. And with the deal I got, it’s a no-brainer. But even at full price, I can totally see why people rave about this watch. It’s built like a tank, crazy battery, and zero fluff.

Curious to know more about this. The Z Flip is starting to look pretty appealing if I could use my Apple Watch and MacBook with it

The Series 3 was VERY limited and was updated from watchOS 4 to 8, nobody thought it was going to get watchOS 8 but it did. (watchOS 8 worked much better than 7 so I was glad I got the update) I understand the Series 3 not getting watchOS 9 because of that. Newer models are much more powerful, yet they end support ridiculously early. These are watches anyway, nobody changes their watch every year, or every two or three years. I changed my series 3 to an SE2 because it was getting old in 2022 and the SE2 was a gift. My SE2 was sadly stolen but if it wasn’t I’d continue using it, even on watchOS 26. I wouldn’t bother buying an Apple Watch in the future that’s more expensive than the base aluminium models, or the SE. I don’t want to get barely 3 years of support on a titanium watch (wanted to get the titanium 11 after my SE2 was stolen but they only had aluminium jet black in stock), or even worse a 800$ Ultra. Thanks for saving me money Apple, next time it will be an SE.

First time buying apple watch and decided to go with se3. There are just 2 finish colours on apple website - black and starlight, so I believe it only comes in those at least for cellular and gps option. Light grey or silver would be my first choice if available, I do like starlight finish, and I think it goes nice with a starlight strap, but I like to buy practical things and it seems that the light coloured strap will just be getting dirty. So more practical colour is stone grey strap but with grey or silver finish not available, I’m not sure about this combo, I’d like honest opinions.