What is the battery health of your 3?! I upgraded from a 4 that needed to be charged twice a day after battery dipped below 80, which made it not very useful for me.
So now I have it as a backup and it gets turned on like once a week when I need a watch but my 7 is charging! (If you go this route, make sure to charge old watch to at least 60% and then turn OFF from the settings menu til you need it next time).
You could also save some $ and buy the 8 on holiday sale? Depends how much spouse would use new chip (double-tap and on-board Siri). Not sure on color choices of 8 tho if pink is a dealbreaker.
I have a LOT of free time on my hands, and never have I ever spent even a single thought on which watch face I dislike the most. I found several that I liked and ignored the rest cause humans all have unique preferences and what works for some is ‘the absolute ugliest one’ to others. Why bring in that negativity into my brain, the reality of the world does that enough for me as is, and that I can’t control…
Do you find yourself needing to charge more often than you prefer? Are there features specific to AWU other than longer battery that you’re interested in?
I just needed to replace my S4, looked at all my options and got a (refurb) stainless steel 7 that has 90% battery health, because ultras are too big for my preference, and nothing offered in the S8 / S9 was worth the added expense. Now I still have the 4 as a backup for those rare times I need a watch while the S7 is charging, and we will see what watch SX brings next year if my 7 battery health is lagging in a year. And even then 99$ for a new battery is pretty affordable for such a pretty watch!
My first AW was a refurb S4 that arrived to me a year ago with like ~82% health, so it was a few years old when I got it, but still had day long battery. Eventually it dropped and is now 78% which means it will last all day as long as I don’t use it TOO much, but a workout or listening to music meant charging 2x a day. So I found a refurb S7 last month and it has 90%, easily lasts 1 day including a workout and music, plus I kept my 4 as backup (charge to at least 60% then turn OFF in settings menu til I need it).
The only difference between which 2 models? The Series 8 added the most recent additional sensor, which was a temp sensor and used specifically for (moon) cycle tracking. The S9 did not add any sensors this year, instead the chip was updated to allow for onboard Siri (faster response and better dictating texts) and better integration of the “double-tap” gesture, making it easier to interact with your watch without touching it.
Each year brings 1 or 2 new features, from the chip to the screen to the sensors, so it really depends which 2 models you are comparing to know if one has more sensors than another.
Is that price for the new S9 for a stainless or titanium case? U1 has been on discount (in the US anyway) basically since the U2 was released, so if the used U1 is priced similarly to an aluminum S9 new, in terms of value for cost, the used U1 seems the way to go. Otherwise if you’re looking at a new stainless steel S9, I would think you’d be able to find a new U1 for a better price than that used one. (Disclaimer - I did no money conversion, so that could be confusing me)