Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm) vs Fossil Gen 4 Explorist: Which one I stuck with

I have been wanting a smart watch for the last year or two, but one of the biggest reasons I waited till now to get one is because I could not decide which one I wanted. I had it narrowed down between a Samsung Galaxy Watch (46mm) and a Fossil Gen 4 Explorist. But there was a couple features from each one that made it stick out.

There are major differences between the watches and each one had a few of my requirements in what I wanted from a watch, but neither had them all. So I just had to choose which one was worth the most to me.

To me, having the Android Wear OS was a HUGE benefit to the Fossil smart watch - enough that I almost decided to go with it. I would be able to use Google Assistant (the Galaxy Watch comes with Bixby which to me is nothing more than a joke), could use Google Maps while driving without having to make sure my phone don't fall over while I am driving, and could use Weather apps of my choosing.

So what was the final deciding factor in me sticking with my Samsung Galaxy Watch? The battery life. To me, taking off my watch every single night just to charge it would be very annoying. I am sure I would forget to put it on half the mornings, etc. According to most Amazon reviews, the Fossil Gen 4 watch requires it to be charge every night and sometimes don't even last a full day. After I got my Samsung Watch battery leveled out (will post battery saving tips later), I can go 3.5 days without having to charge it and without having to avoid using it to save battery. To me, being able to have a working watch is worth more than being able to do cool stuff on it, and lets be honest, how often and I really going to use my watch as a GPS?

Despite the watch only having Samsung's poor attempt of an App Store, the battery life alone was enough to make me want to keep it. I have yet to find any other watches that can even come close to life of the Samsung Galaxy Watch. Let me know if you know of any!

Why did you choose the smart watch you did? Or what features are a no go for you if you are still shopping?