Bluetooth with onboard music (on some newer fitness watches) really sealed the deal for me. After going through a Pebble some years ago, I realized that I didn't actually care about the "smart" features as long as my next watch had excellent GPS performance, Spotify or some other music platform, and an always-on display to tell the time.
Any recommendations? I would love a watch that was dumb as a brick but played music and had gps. Bonus points if it is extremely simple.
a variety of garmin watches have gps, built-in maps and music
Check out Garmin, tom-tom
I'm in the market for a similar smart watch/fitness tracker and have settled on the Garmin Vivoactive 4. It hits the sweet spot between a sports watch and a fitness tracker for me, plus the battery should last about a week between charges.
I've been loving my COROS. It's quite simple, and the battery life is astonishing. No music functionality though, if that's a dealbreaker for you. I got the APEX 42mm about 5 months ago.