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The spring bars are not a quick swap and they are not easy or painless. I have a small watch collection and a larger strap collection :P, but I'd never call it

The spring bars are not a quick swap and they are not easy or painless. I have a small watch collection and a larger strap collection :P, but I'd never call it easy or convenient. Now, there are some straps, even in budget category, that have a small lever that manipulates the spring and it's fairly easy to switch - but only if all your straps have the same mechanism. This is then compounded by different widths and types and whatnots. As ever, Apple reaps the benefits (as well as drawbacks) of the basically single hardware device - you can build a massive ecosystem around a predictable, controlled, singular, homogeneous product line. Or to put it other way - any one of my friends or family can and do change apple watch straps. 96% of them would be either unable or unwilling or both to change a regular strap. Even myself, I prefer the Nato straps on my regular watches as they are easier to swap than conventional straps.

somat 3y ago
As a fellow convert to the church of the nato strap this made me lookup the situation for the apple watch. Unfortunately a real contentious nato strap is incompatible with the watch due to it's wrist sensors. So you end up with two piece nylon straps calling themselves nato bands. I guess if you were fine being classified dead by your watch you could probably put a nato band on one. The casio g-shock has a problem with nato bands as well. the g-shock has a laughably small band pin width(16 mm). so to get a nato strap(24 mm) on one you need a band width adapter. which undoes most of the advantage of the nato strap. I am not really sure why they made it so small. My mechanical engineering is a bit weak does a small pin have less side load than a large pin?
asdgkasdngionio 3y ago
>but only if all your straps have the same mechanism. You might choose to replace all your bands if you want to use only captive spring bar mechanisms, but you must replace them if you buy an Apple watch. A captive spring bar with a lever solves the problem entirely, and in a way strictly superior to Apple's approach. It is smaller and cheaper than the Apple solution. It will work with any watch from any manufacturer. It will allow you to keep your old bands if you choose. If you can think of any advantage Apple's system has, I am all ears. >you can build a massive ecosystem around a predictable, controlled, singular, homogeneous product line Spring bars are also entirely predictable, controlled, singular, and homogeneous. You can buy a band in any standard width and be confident it would fit any watch. We had a far larger ecosystem before the fruit companies got involved. This gives the lie to Apple's supposed genius. "Tight integration" is completely unnecessary when there are standards. They just want a monopoly. >Even myself, I prefer the Nato straps on my regular watches as they are easier to swap than conventional straps. Completely incompatible with the Apple watch, of course.

somat 3y ago

As a fellow convert to the church of the nato strap this made me lookup the situation for the apple watch. Unfortunately a real contentious nato strap is incompatible with the watch due to it's wrist sensors. So you end up with two piece nylon straps calling themselves nato bands. I guess if you were fine being classified dead by your watch you could probably put a nato band on one. The casio g-shock has a problem with nato bands as well. the g-shock has a laughably small band pin width(16 mm). so to get a nato strap(24 mm) on one you need a band width adapter. which undoes most of the advantage of the nato strap. I am not really sure why they made it so small. My mechanical engineering is a bit weak does a small pin have less side load than a large pin?

asdgkasdngionio 3y ago

>but only if all your straps have the same mechanism. You might choose to replace all your bands if you want to use only captive spring bar mechanisms, but you must replace them if you buy an Apple watch. A captive spring bar with a lever solves the problem entirely, and in a way strictly superior to Apple's approach. It is smaller and cheaper than the Apple solution. It will work with any watch from any manufacturer. It will allow you to keep your old bands if you choose. If you can think of any advantage Apple's system has, I am all ears. >you can build a massive ecosystem around a predictable, controlled, singular, homogeneous product line Spring bars are also entirely predictable, controlled, singular, and homogeneous. You can buy a band in any standard width and be confident it would fit any watch. We had a far larger ecosystem before the fruit companies got involved. This gives the lie to Apple's supposed genius. "Tight integration" is completely unnecessary when there are standards. They just want a monopoly. >Even myself, I prefer the Nato straps on my regular watches as they are easier to swap than conventional straps. Completely incompatible with the Apple watch, of course.