I pre-ordered this watch and was excited about the upgrade from my Gear Fit. The Active has a lot of functionality, is smaller than other huge mens-sized smart watches, and has great screen quality and durability.

::PROS::
Comfortable. It has a soft silicone band that fits nicely and is easy to adjust and secure. I was weary of other Galaxy watches because they looked humungous, but this is a perfect size for my small wrists (see pictures).

Highly customizable, from the watch face to the apps widgets, backgrounds, and notifications it displays. I changed my watch face to the one pictured so I can see all my stats at a glance. Super handy!

Functionality! I have never owned any other Galaxy watch besides the Gear, so I am generally impressed and satisfied - everything I need is there; time, steps, heart rate, exercise tracking, weather, messaging, music... It can pretty much do the same stuff your phone can. Texting can be done through drawing the letters, voice, or typing on a keyboard, and there are also preset messages (even emojis). There are two buttons, "home" and "back" but otherwise you swipe the screen depending on what you need to do. You can even control settings and modes directly from any screen by swiping down and revealing the quick settings menu. There are several different modes to choose from, too - water lock, theater, good night, etc.

Charging. It comes with a magnetic charging base, just take your watch off and plop it on for a fast 1-2 hour charge!

::CONS::
Battery life. When fully charged, the watch will last approximately 1.5 days (see picture). This is significantly lower compared to the Gear Fit, which lasted about 3 days even after owning it for almost 2 years. This is the only reason I didn't give the watch 5 stars. Short battery life can be attributed to the higher functionality though; out of the box, it automatically tracks heart rate, exercise, weather, and other info continuously. I'm note sure yet if there's a way to disable that. I have to time the watch life just right if I want to be able to wear it throughout the day, during exercise, and at night to track my sleep.

Limited app availability. It comes with 18 built-in apps, which are the normal Samsung apps (messages, email, Bixby, etc.) that you can add to a quick menu. If you use anything but the regular messaging app it limits functionality with it. For example, I sync SMS with my FB Messenger, and when I receive SMS I can't reply except with preset responses. If I change the default SMS app to the Samsung Messages though, it works fine. Not sure if there are settings that can be adjusted to fix that.

Overall, I am very happy with this watch. It is worth it if you want an option that's cheaper than the regular Galaxy watches but has more functionality than regular fitness watches.

First off I'd like to say that this is the first smart watch that I've ever owned so I cannot compare it to any previous devices.

I love this watch. It's light, the strap is very comfortable (had to change the the large), touch screen works well and love the notifications. I use a galaxy S7 and it allows me to send messages back when I receive them through messaging or FB messenger. That being said, you get three options for typing. First, you can go back to the late 90s early 2000's and use the number pad to type. You can also use voice to text, or use the not super accurate drawing feature that mistakes certain letters and auto corrects to the wrong word. I don't see this as a huge problem considering I have my phone with me anyway, though it is nice to send a quick "ok" or "thanks". Now, my wife has the rose gold version and uses an iPhone 6 and hers did not come with the type back feature or an email app and I cannot understand why.

The heart rate monitor seems to work well and fairly accurate. Other nice features like workout trackers and calories burned which I don't have any intention to use. Not a huge amount of apps available at the moment and the ones that are available don't seem to bode well. Battery life is a small concern considering it went from 77% at setup to 35% in about 8 hours. My usage I'll probably come very close to using all the battery in one day.

Great price point, comfortable and plenty of features!

Zero complaints. This thing lasts. I dropped it too many times and that's why i no longer have it but more than 5 years is satisfying to me. Will buy again.

I have had this watch for a few years. I have absolutely loved it and still do. I'm a server in a restaurant, and I am constantly using water, chemical cleaning and extremely rough on this watch, and you would never know. It still looks new and I never loose a charge for days at a time. Plus in charges within an hour or less. I've never worn a watch before, and now I can't go a day without it or I feel lost! I've always been a fan if Samsung and this is exactly why. Because their products last and can withstand extreme conditions without a flaw. Highly recommend!

I've had this watch for almost a month and this watch is fantastic! On average I use about 25% of the battery life with the heart rate monitor set to occasionally monitor. I charge during my nightly shower and it is fully charged within 15-20 minutes. The step counter seems to be right on the money. It syncs with the app seamlessly which has always been an issue with fitbit and Samsung phones. Another issue that this addressed for me was that I frequently push my daughter in a stroller and with fitbit it wouldn't track my steps because my arm wasn't moving. With this watch and a Samsung phone you can easily hack that issue by putting your phone in your pocket! Playing and running with my daughterion the playground is easily logged as activity and tracked as a dynamic workout. Apps were pretty much a non-priority for me on this watch so I can not speak to the degree of functionality on those but I can say that the speech to text works well for replying to text on the watch which is really handy. But Bixby assistant is still useless. This wasn't surprising to me though so it was less disappointing. It's not going to kill me though to pull out my phone to use Google assistant. Overall this watch is a solid win for me and is beating my previous fitbit experience by miles. Thanks again Samsung for delivering a quality product!

Update 5/6/19:
Still loving my watch but I think it's worth noting that I downloaded an aftermarket watch face and saw a significant decrease on battery life. Using it drained it down to 36% in one day! I went back to using the preinstalled breathe watch face and went back to using only 25% of the total life in one day. So if you buy this and find that your battery is draining really fast it's likely that your downloaded watch face is the culprit! Just an fyi!

Update 1/4/2020:
The watch is still going strong! I've done everything with this thing on. Swimming, dishes, it has no problem being submerged once the water setting is turned on. The band is still really comfortable. Haven't noticed any decrease in battery life. I still use about only 25% of the battery everyday. Pretty pleased with my purchase.