UKH

Obviously I don't have to get one,  but I've been recently looking at the garmin forerunner and new Samsung galaxy watches. 

My main reason for wanting one is so I can go running without my phone and still be able to record with Strava and listen to music. However my phone does squeeze into the little arse-pocket in my running shorts so it would very much be a convenience thing. I would also use it as a watch day to day. 

I've read it will tell me my heart rate and VO2 max but I've no idea what these are useful for or if they would benefit me in anyway. For info my running is likely to be up to about 10 miles maximum and whilst I'm interested in progressing my fitness/speeds I'm not going to be training to do this.

So, what benefits does your watch bring and why? I'm trying to decide if it's worth spending a fairly large amount on...

from what you say it sounds like something nice to have but not indispensable to you. In my opinion you will be better off without it. Not succumbing to the consumerism "urge to own" can only be a positive, in my view. Life is already clattered with gadgets that often steal time and wellbeing from us rather than adding anything of value, apart from the short lived pleasure of novelty.

take the phone with you when you go running, enjoy the run without having to track the not so important data the clock will spit at you, live the moment.

Like you say, you don't need one, but there are some reasons you might like one if you're happy to spend the money on it. Some personal experience:

I run a lot, about 3000km a year so fitness and step counting have never really bothered me because I know I do enough. However I've always used a GPS watch to track my runs and I'm pretty scientific about following a planned schedule and analysing the data.  Last spring I upgraded to the Garmin Fenix 5.

It's the first watch I've had that actually combined the smart watch features (notifications, syncing with phone etc) and fitness tracker (sleep measurement, all-day HR, steps etc) as well as being what I primarily wanted it for, a good sports watch with a great battery and accurate GPS.

For years I only ever wore my running watch while I was running - phones have pretty much made watches redundant (for telling the time at least). Now I wear my watch all the time since I really like having the extra stats around my training that come from all the biometric data taken during the day. 

For instance, tracking all-day resting heart rate is useful for knowing if you're getting fatigued or overtraining - and having an average taken throughout the day is more accurate than checking it on a regular basis. I'm tapering for a big race right now and this is reassuring.

My Garmin tends to be able to tell me when I'm overdoing it too - sometimes I ignore it but often it's a good indicator that it might be time to ease up for a day or two.

VO2 max - is useful in the sense that if it's going up, you're getting fitter (or losing weight) as its simply the amount of oxygen per litre of air you gulp in that you can get to your muscles. The more, the better - I think, like HR, comparing it to other people's is pointless but if you track your own trends then it can tell you something about where your training is going.

Finally, I like wearing a watch again. I quite like look of it (after getting a decent strap) and its nice to have things like compass and barometric altimeter on it for everyday life. I turn the notifications off though as I figure I don't need to be hassled about every Outlook meeting, Whatsapp message or Instagram post on my wrist.

Just as an interesting addition to this point, I was much of the same vein of thought until I bought my Apple Watch. Now I find I spend less time looking at my phone and more time engaged in real life, because I can read/reply to messages at the flick of a wrist, and not get distracted by numerous other apps as I would on my phone.

I gave up on Apple Watch - charging every night was tedious and tended to get forgotten about, also needing reading glasses makes it much less convenient to use.

The Garmin Fenix doesn’t need charging every day unless you have had a very long day out running the GPS. When I was in the Alps I charged it every other day and now I just do the odd half hour run it gets taken off for charging once a week.

I find it brilliant apart from the sleep tracking, which just makes up random numbers. 

Just make sure your phone is new enough. I got a top of the range fitbit smartwatch as a present and then had to fork out several hundred pounds upgrading my iphone as it was one model too early.

I couldn't (wouldn't?) wear a watch in bed anyway so it makes little odds to me, personally. Thankfully age is on my side so I can read it just fine, however!

I just use the free Runtastic app on my phone; gives me times / km and approximate height profile. Not amazingly accurate, but was for me perfectly ok for my marathon training last year.

in your case than is probably money well spent. it could work  for some. Personally I will still consider the "real" need for it, before buying it, but that's just me. I feel that I am more and more dependent from such things so I am overcautious and try to cut back rather than add.