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Amazon currently has the Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) available for just $189. However, this is limited to a single colorway. That’s the 44mm size, with the Starlight watch case, and Starlight Sport Loop band. Others are on sale for $219, as is this one. However, this Starlight option does have a $19.01 coupon on the page, which brings it down to $199.99.
Currently, the Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) is the cheapest Apple Watch that the company sells. It is a little over a year old at this point, but that is perfectly fine. Apple only just stopped support for the Series 3 and 4, while the SE (2nd Gen) came out with the Series 8. So it’ll continue to be supported for quite some time.
The Apple Watch SE is one of my favorite Apple Watches. I did use it for a few months before ultimately deciding to upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra – huge upgrade, I know. The Apple Watch SE does a lot of great things at a pretty low price. Not only can it deliver notifications to your wrist, but you’ll also get Apple Pay and all kinds of health metrics.
Apple’s health measurements are pretty much the industry standard these days. The Watch SE is able to measure your heart rate from your wrist and is actually very accurate. This is surprising since measuring your heart rate that far from your heart is usually very inaccurate. However, scientific tests by companies that were not paid by Apple have shown it to be super accurate. Apple also included crash detection here, so when it detects that you might have been in a crash, you can quickly call for help. There’s sleep tracking, too, which, to be honest, leaves a bit to be desired. It really only works if you set a sleep schedule, unlike most of its competitors.
Now, on the flip side, there are some things here that are missing from something like the Apple Watch Series 9 (also on sale). Like the ability to take an ECG. There’s also no always-on display here, and the bottom of the watch is made of plastic versus glass. There’s just glass around the sensors. This does help to make it lighter, though the 40mm was already pretty light.
If you want to get into the Apple Watch world without spending a ton of cash, this is an excellent way to do just that.