TL;DR The author determined the most accurate are the Garmin Epix Pro and the Fitbit Inspire 3
I have a PineTime which I think is pretty good for what it is. In fact, I am very happy with it and recommend wholeheartedly the device.
Still, my favourite is even more basic. I have a standalone pedometer. This one, which has a website tha belies the product’s quality. I find it very accurate. It does some basic calorie calculations for you, and distance. And the battery lasts…ages.
Man, I loved my Fitbit One, but damn was it so fickle. So easy to lose and not waterproof, and spotty bluetooth. It was just a basic pedometer with calorie calculations.
FWIW I have an Inspire 3 and it’s reasonable. It has a chime to find it, Bluetooth seems solid enough, and it’s definitely waterproof as I run it under the sink to wash it every day. Cheap, too, so I don’t really care if it breaks. Small, so not a big, clunky fashion statement or something.
I just wish it tacked my heart rate a little better while I’m working out. Mine loses track what seems like immediately once I start sweating a little. It can recover with a little jostle or sometimes moving the band up a notch if possible, but man it’s annoying.
Hmm true. It does sometimes stop tracking, which is extremely annoying.
Another annoyance (that’s probably not unique to it) is that I’m doing calorie counting, and I’ve found I have to halve the calories it reports to get an accurate number.
Been wearing a pinetime pretty much constantly since the start of the year, it only tracks walking though afaik but luckily that’s my main source of exercise (and way of getting around the city)!
It does track heartbeat too but I don’t use that either. What I really like is that the software has gotten so much better since I bought it and upgrading it is really easy
I like the garmin venu 2 that I bought used, it’s been very reliable. I pretty much forget about it since it just works with minimal fuss. Battery lasts 2 weeks too which is nice.
I remember researching fitbit and it just seemed like more hassle, and some features were locked behind subscriptions and stuff like that.
Garmin Forerunner 55.
It's the most basic one in the running series, but it works well enough for what I need it to do.
It's the first real "closed ecosystem" device I own, as usually I go the open source route for everything, but Garmin has a good track record and the device has helped me train for a half marathon really well. I put a "casio"-style watch face on it, and I enjoy it a lot.
Something to note is that Garmin watches are Linux-friendly and can be used without signing up to their cloud services. You can access the watch as a USB storage device and manually grab the .FIT files on it, which you can then import into tools of your choice (or convert to .GPX for wider compatibility).
I'm very aware of this thanks, however for training to run I went for convenience.
I like comparing with my friends in the app and using the training plans etc.
The fit to gpx converter is a good way to extract hiking data though!
I like my Garmin Vívoactive 3. It has all the basic features (for casual walking/running) and looks okay.
I really like the look of the “hybrid” watches like the Garmin Vívomove or Withings watches. They look great but as far as I know none of them have in-built GPS.
Would be very interested in checking out the BangleJS 2 as well.
I have a Garmin Vivosmart 4; does all the things I need it to do, and isn’t big or distracting. All I wanted was a step tracker and the ability to set multiple alarms.
My preferred one is Withings one’s. They’re hybrid watches which means they largely have a regular watch face with a little screen and a heart rate sensor/gyroscope. Best of both worlds in my opinion.
I have a Garmin Instinct 2S. Works really well for me, it has all the smart watch functions I need and great battery life. It’s also quite rugged. The stats are a good motivation to get me out cycling more often.
I got the same watch last month, the non-s version though. I have always struggled to keep a watch on my wrist. With a phone I no longer needed to keep the time on my wrist. I did get a smart watch a few years ago but just couldn’t get on with it. It ended up in the draw to never be used again.
Last month I started looking again and settled on the Instinct 2. Initially I wanted a colour screen but in reality I am actually very happy with the monochrome display. It’s always on and has a long battery life. I’m actually really impressed with how good it is at tracking your health etc. I tracks all activities I do. It’s quite granular too in that I can choose from road, mountain bike, gravel bike etc. It also records kayaking and standup paddle boarding.
At £200 it was one of the more reasonably priced smart watches. Certainly compared to the Fenix which is another £400 extra.
I have Withings Scanwatch Horizon. I love the look and the battery life. I average 22 days between recharging. Steps are reasonably accurate, it measures a bit on the low side but this means I do another few hundred steps occasionally to meet my goal. The app is pretty good. I use it to track walks and gym sessions mainly.
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