This was a really great post. I’ve had similar experience. I use my sports watches to death and have used Garmin, FitBit, TomTom, Soleus, Mageline, Suunto and not Stratos.
I have had the Stratos for 2 years now and it has been amazing. The only other watch that has lasted longer has been my Suunto, but it is lacking the functionality that the Stratos gives me.

Part of me wants to tell everyone else about how good it is, the other part of me is happy to keep it to myself.