I upgraded my S5 to a S8, after finding an unusual deal on ebay. Purchased and open box AW S8 for $270+warranty, which brought it up to $300 even.
When I received the watch, it was still operating on OS 9, but I've updated it about 3 days later to 10.1, and it's been running smooth still. The battery life has been much better than my S5(with AWD turned Off). I think I've only charged it to 100% once, and I get a solid 1.5 days out of the watch before it even hits 20%. This is with normal use and workouts included as well.
It seems to have all the features that the S9 has, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it! Anyone else got some feedback they want to provide?
I haven't gone hiking with it just yet, so I'm ready to see how that will work and do with the battery life.
I own a S8 aluminum. I considered updating to the s9 but while waiting for the released, a great deal I found for a stainless steel S7 Hermes edition. I haven’t worn my S8 since which seals the fact that the s9 wouldn’t have made any marked upgrade value for me. I saved money, got a better build quality and didn’t waste the money on features I never used or wanted. Battery life on my used S7 is 97%. I get all the cool faces and the features I actually want and will use. Hell, even if they added the finger gestures I don’t think I’d use them. I manage a restaurant where all the teens have went to the s9 and outside of showing off the features they never use that feature.