Apple Watch SE 3 Review: Best Affordable Apple Watch

I have to admit, Apple watch SE 3 was not on my list for this trip. I brought clothes, a half-finished travel journal and a power bank, which wasn’t a budget for new tech. But that is indeed the nature of travel. When you least expect it, it throws a curveball, and mine was when my old smartwatch died on me after 3 days of travel.

I was out exploring early in the morning, used my watch to count the steps and get a general feel for time since my phone was in airplane mode and I don’t want to rack up any roaming charges. The screen went to a screen freeze and then all black when it was halfway done. I attempted to charge it that night and ended up with a flicker for my reward. After four years of daily use it had finally reached the end of its rope and when it decided to quit, it was during this trip where I needed it the most.

I was therefore presented with a problem the following afternoon as I stood in a genuine Apple store overseas in a long row of Apple Watches and was asked to make a decision on the spot. Not quite what I had in mind for a vacation afternoon but there’s a positive aspect, as it allowed me to actually purchase and install the watch in a totally different setting, out of my normal routine. That context ended up shaping a lot of how I look at this watch now.

Here is my Experience of the Apple Watch SE 3. What it’s like to live with on a day-to-day basis. Everything, battery, GPS and the textile band I chose.

Specifications

Why I Landed on the Apple Watch SE

I didn’t want to think too much about standing in that store with limited time before it closed. I just needed something that would not fall apart, but not the very best on the wall. The SE seemed to be the best option for a couple of reasons.

First, the difference in price between this and the higher priced Series watch was apparent, and for a vacation purchase, I didn’t want to spend the maximum amount on something that I had bought in a rush, not really from a need to research it. 

Second, I knew from friends back home that the SE covers pretty much all the things that a normal person actually uses on a day-to-day basis like notifications, fitness tracking, GPS, sleep tracking, none of these things do I use very often and so I didn’t need the extra health sensors that come with the more expensive models.

I chose the Midnight colorway because it seemed clean and would not be as noticeable as a lighter color and I went with the 40mm case as I found that the larger one always seemed a little bulky to me. I selected a textile band (braided solo loop style) for the band as opposed to the usual silicone sport band. I had read that textile bands breathe more and are less rubbery against the skin when worn for a long period of time and I thought this was important because I was going to be wearing them for hours each day in warm weather.

What It Actually Cost Me

Now this is where things got interesting with an overseas purchase. Prices are not the same everywhere, and in addition to the base price, there was the local sales tax which was added at the cashier’s desk, which I hadn’t calculated within my head. The watch itself, the tax, and a bit more than I would have paid elsewhere in the world were all significant costs to make it a much bigger investment than I would have considered at home.

At that moment, did it hurt? Yes, a little, because I had planned to spend money on food and souvenirs. Well, looking back I don’t regret it, three months later, looking back. It was enough to replace a broken watch on the spot, save the remainder of my trip’s navigation and fitness tracking, and as of yet has held up well enough that I feel like the whole cost was worth it for the unplanned expense.

Setting It Up in a Foreign Country 

I knew that setup was going to be difficult, but it didn’t turn out that way. It simply took a few minutes to connect with my iPhone, and subsequently, most of my settings and watch face preferences were transferred automatically when it synced with my Apple ID. The part that took most time wasn’t the watch, it was waiting for a good Internet connection at the hotel.

The one thing I liked is that I did not need to buy a local SIM or cellular plan to run it, I did it as GPS-only, not GPS + Cellular. To a traveler and someone who was attempting to avoid additional complications from the carrier in an unknown country, that was important.

Living With It for 3 Months: Battery, GPS, and Daily Settings

This is the part most people actually want to know, so let me break it down properly.

Battery Life

After three months, Apple’s estimated 18 hours of normal use time is fairly accurate in real-world use but with few limitations. With the notifications, the app usage and just checking the time on an average day, I can easily get through a full day and have a good percentage remaining at night. The one thing it doesn’t do well is when I switch on the GPS during a walk or exercise in the outdoors or when I leave the display on for longer, as battery life tends to diminish during these activities.

My honest routine is to charge it every night, it charges up really quickly. It takes around 45 minutes to go from 0 to 80 percent for me and Apple says that’s the case for them as well and I’ve never found it to be a very slow and frustrating wait. The only bad habit I had to form was to not forget to charge it every day because unlike my old watch, this one does require it to be charged every day.

GPS Performance

It was this very feature that I was most interested in on this trip, as I was dealing with an unknown street and without a local SIM. The built-in GPS on the SE is used for distance, pace and route tracking during workouts even if the phone is not nearby and that worked well for me when I’ve been at the park with a walk around. The routes were mapped without any problems, the distance tracking seemed to be accurate when compared to my own knowledge of walking distances, and it didn’t lag or lose signal in any of the high rise areas which I half expected.

After 3 months of this restored normal routine, walks and light jogs GPS accuracy remains the same. I don’t know how good it is for hiking trails, but it is reliable in the city.

Daily Settings and Software Experience

Everyone has had a smooth day to day experience with watchOS. The UI interface feels intuitive, notifications are synced without any delays and making changes to settings such as display brightness, watch face complications and workout types is easy and doesn’t require me to open up the confusing menus. 

I was surprised when sleep tracking was added, but now I look at it the majority of mornings because it has become a habit. I have no idea how this thing works, but I have been using it for a while and the fall detection and high/low heart rate alerts have been in the background without me even realizing it.

I found myself using the double-tap gesture a few days after and now I’m so used to using it that I can dismiss alerts or pause music without touching my phone screen, which is a huge plus when I’m holding my phone by the handle.

The Textile Band: Was It the Right Call?

I was really happy that I chose this band over a silicone band. I wore it for three months and it has been comfortable for me, even when I get hot and sweaty, walking around outdoors, etc. I don’t think silicone would have done that. It has not got the same moisture retention properties as, and has been washed every now and then and kept looking fresh. The only disadvantage is if it gets thoroughly damp, it takes a bit longer to dry but for daily wear, it’s not a big tradeoff.

Apple Watch SE 3 Scoreboard

Final Thoughts

In hindsight, this wasn’t the smartwatch that I wanted to buy for the trip but it was one of the more useful things I did while traveling. It did exactly what it needed to do, it required little learning curve and after three months, it still works without complaint. It needs a bit of discipline to charge the battery everyday, and sometimes I wish that some of the health sensors of the more expensive watches were included, but for the price, and the daily use, the Apple Watch SE 3 got a place on my wrist.

If you have an old watch that has been long in the tooth and are either considering waiting to research thoroughly or simply taking the safe and sound route, my word of advice is to go for the Apple Watch SE 3, no matter how long it’s been in the oven.