polpo parent
Yes, you can sync a playlist to the watch so it can play it independently: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204691
Cool. Didn't know that. I was leaning towards picking up a Garmin Fenix, but this makes the Apple Watch a bit more compelling. Still not sure I can deal with the frequent charging. Hmmmm.
Edit - nevermind - looks like only a single playlist can be synced. That's a pretty major flaw in the system.
IIRC the shuffle can only handle a single playlist too -- how would you switch playlists?
BTw in practice I haven't found charging an issue on my 0th gen apple watch and I use it to track both exercise and sleep. It's not "fire and forget" but neither was the iphone for a long time either.
The shuffle does multiple playlists. Hold the voice button (short push reads song name/artist) to access playlists, device reads playlist title, user clicks voice button to select the one they want. Not a great user experience, but it works.