Apple

I had an S6 for 3 years, and recently upgraded to an SE2. I’m happy, I don’t miss anything and couldn’t justify the difference in cost to get an S9.

I upgrade slow and don't the newest and best. I picked up the se last month and it's been a blast.

I’m one of those who keeps banking on the SE — I’ve had the first generation, upgraded to the second generation (the 2022 one).

I got the S7 refrubished for less. If you're lucky you can still get Apple Care. Regardless if it's refurbished or not, Apple won't cover you for water damage.

I have one, it’s great. Kinda wish I got the 44m over 40mm version. Apart from that, it does everything I want it to, and was £140 cheaper than s8 at the time.

Got my 2 months ago. 2nd hand. I use it mostly for workouts including crossfit, lifting weights, ball hockey and swimming. It's great! Gotta keep charging it every day though.

I love mine. I get two days a charge easy

I’m on my second SE. When my first died this year I just bought a replacement. Battery is fine and it was so much cheaper. Much better bang for the buck.

I bought the 44m SE2 refurbished from Apple, couldn’t be happier. The bezels aren’t that bigger compared to the other series, and battery life lasts me easily 48 hours without Low Power Mode

I have an SE I got years ago. I personally haven’t had a single issue with battery life, even when the update was tanking a lot of peoples’ battery. I probably just got lucky with that. I really like mine, it does everything I need it to do. I actually found out I have a heart condition due to the heart rate monitoring, although you certainly shouldn’t rely on a watch for that purpose.

A Series 8 would probably be a great deal if you can find one on a sites like Amazon. An always-on display matters more than you might think.

I bought my SE 2nd gen a few weeks ago and I love it! It has everything I need. I charge it once a day. I have no complaints about battery life.

I love my SE as an upgrade from my series 3. It does everything I want the Apple Watch to do, and the battery lasts all day for me. I charge it when I sleep and I never take it off otherwise (even to shower because it’s waterproof).

The SE 2gen is the best deal on Apple Watch ever. Bought it to my wife, and honestly I don’t see any real benefit on my Watch 9 over the SE

I’m pretty sure the series 9 is out already so I’m not sure if Apple will keep selling the series 8

Still on gen1 SE and it does everything i need... tell me the weather, track my steps, my workouts, and tells me the time and weather. No complaints it's a great watch :)

I’ve bought the SE2 a year ago after being skeptical about Apple Watches and have been absolutely loving it. Would really like to upgrade to the ultra two someday for the better battery life, water temperature while swimming and the more expansive heart rate tracking. SE2 is much better value though

I had a refurbished SE for a few years. It was fine. My main gripes were that the battery was about dead by evening time and it had to be recharged overnight, that the GPS accuracy was somewhat poor, and that the fitness functionality is lacking a bit.

Now I have a refurbished Garmin Vivoactive 4. The battery lasts about 6 days. It has less smartwatch stuff than the Apple Watch (most of which I don’t miss at all), but it’s a way better fitness watch.

I have the SE2, it was awesome for the first few months for sleep and activity tracking…the novelty has since worn off and I still wear it daily but get very little use out of it since i usually have my phone nearby. Unless the nicer models add a lot more features in the future, I cannot see myself spending $$ on another Apple Watch ever again.

So I know that price is the motivating factor here but a watch isn’t like a phone you swap out every couple years. I would definitely not buy a previous years model, and further, after getting a S9 myself, I think the new Double Tap gesture is going to become a major user input tool going forward, and I wouldn’t want to buy something that I’m planning on using for the next five years that cannot do what is bound to be an integral part to the UI/UX in subsequent OS updates.

I’d do whatever you can to splurge for the 9, just to future proof your purchase as much as possible

Started on the SE after 3 years I upgraded to S9 and the battery and always on are seriously underrated

It is the same experience as the other apple watches except that it doesn't have always on display

Been using an SE 1 since late 2020 and have no complaints! The battery still lasts me a full day and everything.

Yes been using daily since September 2020, I love my watch. Got the 44m size and honestly it’s the best I don’t need more features. I use it for fitness daily, and love the notifs on the wrist

I got mine in March and it does everything I need it to.

I've had my SE 2 for a couple months now and I'm very happy with it. I've had no problems with battery life. I'd say I could probably get a 24 hours out of it. Just from looking at my battery settings it looks like it goes down about 10-15% per 6 hours, which is honestly great for me. Honestly I just charge it once a bit at night and/or the morning just to keep it topped off. Not having always on display has not really been an issue for me but I had the pixel watch before that recommend turning it off so I guess i don't know what I'm missing lol.

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Overall I think it's really good for the price point and a great way to get into Apple products. I'd say the only real con is there's some features that are missing like skin tempature and blood oxygen. I personally didn't really care about that stuff but just so you know. I'd say give it a shot!

Got my SE 2.5 years ago and it's still going strong. For the most part, battery life lasts me the entire day. (6 am to 10 pm, and usually still has 30% or so left.) The features it doesn't have are ones I'd never use anyway, so I don't miss them at all. My watch does fine in water; my wife wears her SE while swimming, and I'll wear mine in the shower. No problems at all. Charging time is usually pretty fast; I don't know offhand how long it takes because I usually charge overnight (it serves as my alarm clock), but I'm pretty sure it usually charges from half to full pretty fast.

The SE is a great entry level watch to see if you like it. That said, if Apple has refurbs for S7 or S8 and they’re similar in price, I’d go for one of those. Sleep tracking, always on display, and smaller bezels are wonderful. Not essential, but wonderful.

The SE has been awesome since I bought it. I got it because it was my first Apple Watch and I just needed the features the SE had. If you can't charge your watch at the end of each day I would look for something else - maybe the Ultra or another brand (I got an Amazfit Bip 5 for my mom and she loves it - battery lasts a week).

The new OS has some bugs as expected. It messed with battery life for a little while. I'm sure they'll fix the bugs though.

I love the plain old sport band which is based on Marc Newson's Ikepod watch design. It works well, stays on, and is super comfy for me.

Have the se2, still haven’t charged it since 7 am and I have 50 % battery left. Don’t need AOD or temp sensor

Just upgraded from the original SE to a S9. The thing that I really want/need from SE is the always on display. Honestly it has been a game changer for me but if that’s not important to you, then there is no need.

Also S9 is able to measure ECG and blood oxygen level that SE is not able to.

I love my SE, the cellular stuff would be nice I guess but it's almost unheard of for me to be without my phone and watch at the same time. The rest of the features I have no use for anyway.

Bought a SE gen 1 (2020) for like $150 early this year after I did some research and found it’s barely any different from the gen 2. Note that with newer versions of watchOS this old watch has more features than it did at the time of its release, which causes many sources/reviews to underestimate it. For example it can track 4 stages of sleep just fine, not just 2 (awake/asleep). The relevant hardware is actually the same as in the gen 2.

Battery lasts almost 2 days. I’m happy with it.

I purchased the SE2 shortly after release. I like it, but wish I had gotten the regular one.