Is there one that exists that isn’t ugly, can last for weeks and isn’t the size of a dinner plate? (i t s not even the diameter thats the problem, its the thickness. I absolutely hate thick watches)
When they invent one that meets that criteria, let me know and I’ll consider it.
Have you looked into withings? They’re analog watches with a small lcd for notifications, fitness tracking, etc. They last a month between charges and are not too big.
Had to look them up. They are by far the best looking smart watches that I’ve seen. I’ll have to see what their capabilities are but if I get one, th3se will be near the top of my list.
I have a galaxy watch 5 but even 3 days of batteryife is irritating enough I’m looking longingly at the Garmin’s. Really don’t need a lot of the fluff they come with
I also have a Watchy. The thing is in no way a consumer device but it lasts over a week and the eink display is great. Reminds me of what we lost when pebble went away…
I have the Fenix 7 sapphire solar and it’s a perfect trooper. 3 weeks or so in normal mode. And you can use it everywhere. Beach and sea, physical labor, swimming pool, gardening.
On and off… it’s more just a fun thing to program and make better… the default software is pretty basic… essentially it’s an esp32 with an eink display bolted onto it.
It isn’t remotely water resistant - a light rainshower would write it off.
I’ve got a pinetime coming as well which is much more something that could be used as a daily driver whilst still being hackable.
Battery life last over 3 weeks, before need charge. Amazfit GTR 3
Meets my needs: shower proof, great battery life (21+days), connects to phone (limit app/notify), sleep/heart/steps track, and can change the watchface for free w/ many choices.
I never remove it for wash hand/dishes, shower. Super battery life. Might not be super accurate, but I only need a # count. Very affordable. No issues with it. Would recommend.
Has anyone tried the current Ticwatch Pro? I heard decent things about the previous model but I’m a bit leery of the their app on my phone, plus that they are still pending a WearOS update and various features (Google assistant etc)
Casio have several lines that support Bluetooth - essentially will beep and vibrate on Notifications, calls and messages. Does basic fitness tracking. It also does all of this whilst basically being indestructible and a battery life of atleast 3 years.
No one seems to know this and I blame Casios poor marketing - I didn’t know any of this until I bought a new G-Shock and realised it had a BT label in the manual.
Ive got two BT enabled G Shocks, one of them my daily driver for the past year and I can’t fault it. It’s just a normal watch, with normal watch battery life and normal G Shock robustness - except that it savese having to pull my phone out of my pocket everytime I get a notification.
Going to be completely honest, havnt delved into the fitness tracking much - the watch appears to have a step counter but unsure if this is app dependant or not.
I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 to replace my Garmin Vivoactive 3, but I prefer the Garmin. It’s got a bit less by way of bells and whistles, but I also think that the watch might have been overkill for the most part. I don’t end up using the onboard replies as much as I thought I would, and things like ECG and Blood Pressure monitoring are just troublesome enough that it’s not worthwhile (Blood Pressure requires recalibration with a proper machine every once in a while).
The only issue that I had with the Garmin was mostly that the body is a bit too fragile. It’s just plastic, so the corner will break off due to age, which is what happened with mine. If it wasn’t made of plastic, but more durable metal, like the Samsung, I’d still happily wear it. The battery life tended to be better too.
If it was still around, and not incredibly uncomfortable, a Pebble might also not go amiss. I personally don’t need a lot of features in my smartwatch (just timers, alarms, activity/HR tracking, and notifications), so a cheaper, hardier one would serve just fine.
I loved my Pebble. Was eagerly awaiting the last model when the Kickstarter went silent and Fitbit bought them. I did Garmin as well, but one of the features I’ve really come to want/like was NFC payments and they have terrible support across card providers.
Samsung was pretty bad for that too, but at least their newer watches support Google Pay which works with damn near anything.
The one I wish still existed: The Pebble Steel. This beast had a battery that lasted an entire week on a single charge, kept basic step tracking, etc., and notifications from my phone to my wrist. It was the perfect device. I was devastated when mine stopped working.
What I used for a long time: Fitbit Versa / Versa 2. Same deal, shittier battery life. But worked really well. Build quality declined dramatically, and I had to warranty my original Versa something like 4 times and ended up with a Versa 2 as a “We’re all out of the 1st gen, take this and shut up” upgrade.
What I use now: The Pixel Watch. The battery life is trash, but the features are solid. I’ve used an Apple Watch while carrying an iPhone for a few months, and the integration with my Pixel phone is just as seamless. The weird transition from Fitbit to Pixel Watch and how the apps interact make it blindingly obvious Fitbit as a brand is done and Google intends the “Pixel Watch” brand to replace it. I actually appreciate the round watchface.
My selections are always driven though, by my desire to see data from my continuous glucose monitor (type 1 diabetes) on my wrist. Android Wear / WearOS handles that far better than an Apple Watch, and I didn’t need the insane features (or price point) from a lot of the other WearOS devices out there.
I've been a loyal Fitbit user for a decade, but Google's killed all the features that made it good (challenging friends, playing silly games). I'm thinking of picking up a Garmin next
Garmin apps are much better for privacy. If I’m going to be wearing a biometric tracker 24/7, I don’t want that data being sold to advertisers. That’s more important to me than most other features
Not many people care about privacy anymore. I mention it to my family, friends, etc and how they should do certain things online to stay more ‘private’ (not anonymous) and they laugh it off saying they have nothing to hide / don’t care about their stuff being online… Sucks.
I get that as well, or when people care about the issues but not enough to change up how they are used to doing things.
It is getting better though, I’m finding more friends are moving to the better options. It’s even easier when the privacy respecting option is as good as the alternatives. I guess Garmin is a decent example since people were recommending the watches even without the privacy aspect.
Garmin is mainly based on quality, with the benefit of privacy. I know many family friends who hike, run, bike, etc and use garmin because it is reliable.
Hope this privacy stuff becomes more common, kind of hate having to modify software or installing custom OSs for my day-to-day stuff.
Add comment