- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
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I have been using a PineTime for quite a while now which is an absolute no-brainer for 27$.
Even if it’s marketed for tech/foss enthusiasts it’s really easy to use, would recommend if you just want simple step tracking and heart rate monitoring.Casio for sure! Best quality. Made in Japan
Apple Watch just makes sense if you are already on iPhone. I resisted it for a long time but now after getting one it is so useful for things like having access to DUO codes on your wrist without a phone and maintaining healthy habits
When I had an Note 10 Lite, I had a xiaimi smart band. I still think that it’s impressive for the price, but the little guy had issues left and right with any app that wasn’t xiaomi’s own apps. (although sometimes, even those had issues)
Then I got an iphone, and later a apple watch. It just works, even with third party apps. Expensive as hell though
Love my Apple Watch! Its main downside compared to the rest is weak battery life, you basically need to charge it every day. It’s an easy habit to form though (I just throw mine on the charger when I shower).
My battery health has gotten awful recently too. I’ve got a series 5, so yes it’s 4 years old, but I genuinely only get about 12 hours of battery life these days. I went through and uninstalled every single app I don’t use, but it’s still awful.
Love everything else about it though, so I set a slickdeals alert to hopefully pick up a cheaper series 8 sometime between now and when the series 9 launches
Look into an SE version 2, those aren’t half bad either if you’re trying to save a bit of money.
Mine lasts about 3 days before I have to charge it, but I’m also largely ignoring it and use it as a watch / timer / notification reader. I had one with the cell modem but when I broke it was during the pandemic and just wasn’t on-site where I’d often leave my phone at the desk.
Mine chargers super fast and so yeah I can charge it while I do my bed time routine and have it 100% to track sleep and be ready for the next day
I’ve been an Apple Watch user for several years now. When I first purchased one I wondered if it might turn out to be a bit of a gimmick. But now I don’t think I would want to be without one.
The Apple Watch integrates seemlessly with the iPhone. The fitness features may not be quite as in depth as Garmin offers, but they are good enough for casual exercise and have been effective and keeping me more active. If you are numbers person the value of seeing your activity metrics can’t be overstated.
Apple Pay and hands free messaging come in handy often.
I also like the general design. The Apple Watch is square, and I think a square display works much better for a smartwatch. There is also a thriving marketplace for alternate watch bands and they are super easy to swap - no more mangling my finger nails trying to fiddle with those spring pins most watches use.
Yeah I just picked up an Ultra after not having one since the first gen. Very useful for sleep tracking, short cuts (if you have a smart home) and all kinds of other crap. Works nice with AirPod max too.
personally i am fine with the garmin on ios, only annoyance is double notifications
Garmin’s are great step trackers, I have read in reviews they are a lot more accurate in that regard compared to Apple Watch. The other integrations into the apple ecosystem is what I appreciate about my series 8
Casio need to market their watches better, they have the Smartest dumbwatch**** of them all -
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.
How are you liking it so far?
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.
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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 like fitbit but that’s because I basically strictly use it for calorie counting. The battery life is good enough that I just charge it when I’m in the shower and it’ll never die on me.
For the most detailed exercise/health tracking, I’d highly recommend Garmin watches. First, no subscription fees, you buy the hardware and you own it and can customize it a lot. Second, the battery life can’t be beat. Third, stats, graphs, analytics! Plus it works just as well whether you’re an apple or android user.
I have the Forerunner 265 and it is so much fun for a stats and graph loving nerd like myself. My gf chose the Venu 2 Sq because she wanted a square screen and she is really happy with it.
Can you use apps with Garmin? I’m getting into weightlifting a bit and want to use the Strong app to record my lifting routine without needing to take out my phone. The only other features I really want are decent heart rate monitoring and good pairing with AirPods.
I’ve never had a smartwatch. I’ve been looking to get a used one. I was leaning towards a slightly older series Apple Watch but open to something different
It probably would not communicate directly with a smaller fitness app other than some major ones like Strava and my fitness pal. You CAN track weightlifting in the Garmin app, and I do, the watch can even auto track your sets and it attempts to auto detect the lift type but isn’t always right so I correct them after I’m done. For lifting workout structuring, it probably won’t be as good as your lifting specific phone app. Garmin is very good at running and other cardio activities, most smart watches struggle to measure weight lifting.
The watches can connect to a second Garmin app on your phone called Connect IQ which is their app store where they support third party developers to make apps, widget, ultra customizable watchfaces, integration of new connected sensors.
It does not support common phone apps or have incredible advanced phone integration like an apple or Google watch would have but we like that because we already get enough screen time. I’m able to see and reply to text messages though, see and interact with all notifications, control audio/media that is playing and more though so it’s not devoid of features at all.
It seems like it has some great features. I think I saw the battery life is quite good which would be nice. I know next to nothing about smartwatches so I’m just trying to figure out what would work for me. I’m pretty sure I will end up getting something used, I just haven’t decided on what. Apps are an pretty important factor for me.
If you are an apple user, then the Apple watch is clear choice. As an Android user, Huawei could be a decent option but not in the United States. The Google watch is still first generation and might be ok for early adopters but I’m weary of it, and that’s coming from a long time google phone user since the first one. I’m hoping they release more generations of it with improvements.
I have an iPhone. Apple Watch probably makes more sense for me, I think I’ll try to get an old used one and see how I like it. I could see Garmin being really good for a lot of people though.
I’ve been a happy Fitbit user for years, but am finding their Premium push increasingly annoying. I shouldn’t have to pay a subscription fee to see data that my tracker is already getting. I almost switched to Garmin last time but didn’t, and I regret that now. My current Fitbit is still in great shape so it’ll be a while until I can justify a new tracker.
I’ve always associated Garmin with big over the top styling, but I like that Venu Sq 2. Garmin also seems best quality
I have a vivoactive 4s and it’s got all the features I want in a smartwatch while also being discreet and small. It doesn’t feel any different on my wrist than an analog watch and that’s what I love most
Been going through their product line now and this is the one I’ve landed on. Battery?
I can get mine to last 5-6 days depending on usage. The GPS function obviously drains it faster so if I’m going on bike rides multiple days in a row it’ll be about 4 days tops, but if I do stationary bike and weight lifting it’ll get 5 days easy, even going on GPS walks it usually doesn’t drain as bad as the bike tracking.
Also worth noting I don’t have any phone notifications on my watch because I just don’t need another device getting my attention. So I think that helps to extend my battery life.
Additionally, I disabled the Pulse Ox sensor by default as that thing drains juice so fast. My girlfriend had hers on 24/7 and was getting like maybe 2 days out of a full charge.
Waiting for the new garmin smartwatch to finally move away from fitbit.
yeah that’s the issue for me with choosing a watch. I like the Charge 4 because it’s sorta small and doesn’t have a huge face.
I have this watch and can confirm it is excellent
I’m happily on the garmin ecosystem. Felix 5x is still going strong for about 2 weeks battery on normal use. takes a beating and still looks new. only had to replace the band. I use garmin on my bike too
5x is great. Still working perfectly and looks great. That sapphire glass is fantastic. I have friends with scratches in their pixel watches already yet with all my yard work, stone work, building things and sports - not a scratch.
You can definitely scratch the sapphire. I took a mtb spill and got a tiny scratch on my 5x.
I’m a cyclist, so I use a dedicated cycling computer (currently a Karoo Hammerhead)
If y’all want good takes on fitness trackers, check out DC Rainmaker
I still like fitbit. The metrics are solid, and the battery life is decent.
Same. A solid watch. And lightweight and comfortable. And a style I enjoy. A decent app. Just too bad it ate another smart watch company, before itself got eaten by google, who so far has done nothing with it except slowly killing features. We are truly living in the age of #enshittification.
I bought it years ago because it was the most accurate on tracking sleep. The fact that the battery lasts a week is also great. I wonder if there’s been any new tests on the other metrics (heart rate, temperature etc)
Yep. I love my Charge 5 and don’t foresee changing to anything else in the near future. My only annoyance is google taking it over and enshitifying the app experience.
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. It’s light and durable, solar charging with several weeks between charges when using GPS tracking pretty regularly.
I only really need something to keep track of my notifications, and maybe as a flashlight occasionally. So I just wear a PineTime, and it links up with my phone with Gadget Bridge. It’s really nice, completely free and open source, and it’s pretty cheap too. Week long battery life is nice, but I don’t know what it’s like with other smartwatches.
Whoop. It’s something I can easily sleep with. I don’t want extra displays and it works with everything like bike computers as a heart monitor. Steps are worthless strain/HRV is more meaningful.
Amazfit with Gadgetbridge, FLOSS smartwatch app, a recent really good discovery!
Garmin Instinct
Ohhh I knew I picked right. I got my dad one too. The esports edition was only 100 bucks and I love It. I stopped using my fitbit versa 2 over it.
I wear an analog which has nothing to track and connect to a phone. Just like the good ol’ days.
