Garmin Instinct 2 Solar gives me 31 days on a full charge if it doesn’t get any sunlight. It is smart enough to vibrate me awake without waking my partner and receive notifications, no matter what Android/iOS phone I use.
At the launch a lot of the features like sleep tracking were paywalled behind Fitbit, and you had to use Fitbit instead of Google Fit which I had been using.
After a week of using the Fitbit app I just found it annoying and pushed the social media aspect far too much for my liking. It felt more like a Fitbit than an Android Watch and that’s not what I was looking for.
Prior to trying the Pixel I had an LG Watch Sport that I really enjoyed.
The Garmin while it lacks the ability to do things like control smart lights or integrate heavily into phone controls like the Pixel Watch did, its battery life is amazing, the sensors are great, it gets the alerts I need from the phone, and I’ve actually become very very fond of the gimmicky flashlight that’s built in.
I can easily export health and data to CSVs, and move it if I want to.
The full offline map capabilities are also big if I go backpacking.
There is a Home Assistant app for Garmin watches that is pretty usable. The flashlight is surpassingly, hilariously, one of my favorite features though.
Now your comment has piqued my curiosity…I never considered a bigger smartwatch, and have kept myselft mostly to the Xiaomi band, which does more or less what I need it to…But I’m now curious how well does a Garmin cover the main points for me:
-Read messages from SMS, Whatsapp, Telegram, etc (can I also reply to them, maybe voice-type or similar?)
-Obviously tracking fitness, routes, heart rate and sleep etc it is probably way bounds out of the miband’s league.
-Can it pair to a headphone and use it to play music during a fitness run? Does it have esim support or similar to use data? (these are a clear no-no on the miband, but then again, heh…about 25 bucks it costed me!).
Hmmm the music storage… How does it work? Can you just send an mp3? Or does it need to be from a specific service? Bummer about the esim, I was wanting to rid of the phone while I’m out running.
Awesome… Thanks! On second thought i think I’ll hold out about the esim part. I can control the privacy on my phone decently enough but that would fly out of the window if the smart watch can call home on its own.
Another vote for Garmin, wearing a Descent mk2i as my daily and dive computer. Two weeks on a charge, all the tracking I could ask for. It’s big, but so am I so it doesn’t look ridiculous.
A Pixel, minor gripes with it. I’m considering a Samsung for my next one though, last non-pixel or Nexus phone I’ve used was a Samsung Note 2 over a decade ago.
Me too. I don’t see the point. My life is already full of distractions and I bet the batteries in those are hard to replace when they inevitably don’t hold charge any more.
They’re useful for people with sleep issues, and people who are trying to get fit or lose weight. The sleep and fitness tracking features are great for statistic nerds like me. Or people with a heart condition who don’t want to carry a bulky ECG machine with them everywhere. But if you fall into neither of those categories, I can understand why you would say such a thing.
I don’t go anywhere without my smartwatch. Only time I take it off is to shower and charge. Owning one has improved my life for the better. For example, I found out that I have sleep apnea because of my watch. And I can track whether or not my workouts are burning muscle or fat, and adjust accordingly.
I mean LOOK at everyone in this thread. “Muh TerribleCo SlaveBuilt 4 is only a week old and they’ve stopped pushing updates and the battery doesn’t last the whole day anymore I have to charge it at lunch.”
“What’s it for?” “Text messages hit by brain 4 seconds faster.”
Everyone? Well let me be a change then. I love my smart watch. It vibrating wakes me up easier than alarm. Step and sleep tracking is really useful to me. While a gimmick sure, I really enjoy being able to update and change my watch face on a whim. Even with always on display, constant heart rate tracking and step tracking, my watch easily lasts 48 hours and charges within an hour while I’m in the bathroom getting ready in the morning.
I get it’s not for everyone but far cheaper than a Rolex and way more functionality.
Which I imagine like everything else Pine64 does will remain permanently in a state of “industry seconds some dead pixels are to be expected this is for developers and enthusiasts only no returns or refunds.” I don’t think they have any plans to ever bring a consumer ready product to market.
I have one. No dead pixels. It doesn’t necessarily do fancy things but that’s sort of why I got it. $30 and it tells the time, shows me notifications and lasts over a week before I have to charge it. Eeeeevery now and then I’ll use it to control media or play 2048. Hey it even counts my steps!
I had a Motorola one about 7 or 8 years ago. I was working at a grocery store at the time and we weren’t allowed to take our phones out on the job, so I could use it to see and reply to important texts from my parents. I also drove my parents’ car to and from that job. Their car at the time had no phone integration at all. Just a Bluetooth to 3.5mm headphone jack dongle plugged into the AUX input. So when driving that car, I used the watch as a makeshift hands-free system. Not actually hands free mind, but I could use it to skip songs and pause without taking my eyes off the road while listening to Spotify.
A problem I deftly sidestepped by avoiding “smart” watches altogether.
Garmin watches are semi-smart and have great sensors. My Epix 2 Sapphire runs for 11 days on a charge as well.
Tried a Pixel, returned it for refund. Don’t use iPhone or Samsung phone so their bespoke software wouldn’t work for me.
Garmin Instinct 2 Solar gives me 31 days on a full charge if it doesn’t get any sunlight. It is smart enough to vibrate me awake without waking my partner and receive notifications, no matter what Android/iOS phone I use.
What were your main gripes with the Pixel watch?
At the launch a lot of the features like sleep tracking were paywalled behind Fitbit, and you had to use Fitbit instead of Google Fit which I had been using.
After a week of using the Fitbit app I just found it annoying and pushed the social media aspect far too much for my liking. It felt more like a Fitbit than an Android Watch and that’s not what I was looking for.
Prior to trying the Pixel I had an LG Watch Sport that I really enjoyed.
The Garmin while it lacks the ability to do things like control smart lights or integrate heavily into phone controls like the Pixel Watch did, its battery life is amazing, the sensors are great, it gets the alerts I need from the phone, and I’ve actually become very very fond of the gimmicky flashlight that’s built in.
I can easily export health and data to CSVs, and move it if I want to.
The full offline map capabilities are also big if I go backpacking.
There is a Home Assistant app for Garmin watches that is pretty usable. The flashlight is surpassingly, hilariously, one of my favorite features though.
Now your comment has piqued my curiosity…I never considered a bigger smartwatch, and have kept myselft mostly to the Xiaomi band, which does more or less what I need it to…But I’m now curious how well does a Garmin cover the main points for me: -Read messages from SMS, Whatsapp, Telegram, etc (can I also reply to them, maybe voice-type or similar?) -Obviously tracking fitness, routes, heart rate and sleep etc it is probably way bounds out of the miband’s league. -Can it pair to a headphone and use it to play music during a fitness run? Does it have esim support or similar to use data? (these are a clear no-no on the miband, but then again, heh…about 25 bucks it costed me!).
Hmmm the music storage… How does it work? Can you just send an mp3? Or does it need to be from a specific service? Bummer about the esim, I was wanting to rid of the phone while I’m out running.
So it seems it is specifically those services I found more info here
Awesome… Thanks! On second thought i think I’ll hold out about the esim part. I can control the privacy on my phone decently enough but that would fly out of the window if the smart watch can call home on its own.
I have mine working with Navidrone without any issues.
I’ve never heard of that before. It looks awesome and I’m going to look into it!
Another vote for Garmin, wearing a Descent mk2i as my daily and dive computer. Two weeks on a charge, all the tracking I could ask for. It’s big, but so am I so it doesn’t look ridiculous.
What phone do you use, if I may ask?
A Pixel, minor gripes with it. I’m considering a Samsung for my next one though, last non-pixel or Nexus phone I’ve used was a Samsung Note 2 over a decade ago.
Oh dang.
Me too. I don’t see the point. My life is already full of distractions and I bet the batteries in those are hard to replace when they inevitably don’t hold charge any more.
Buy g-shock, know time. Good.
They’re useful for people with sleep issues, and people who are trying to get fit or lose weight. The sleep and fitness tracking features are great for statistic nerds like me. Or people with a heart condition who don’t want to carry a bulky ECG machine with them everywhere. But if you fall into neither of those categories, I can understand why you would say such a thing.
I don’t go anywhere without my smartwatch. Only time I take it off is to shower and charge. Owning one has improved my life for the better. For example, I found out that I have sleep apnea because of my watch. And I can track whether or not my workouts are burning muscle or fat, and adjust accordingly.
Fair enough.
Best watch I ever owned cost me $7 at Wal Mart. I don’t wear a wrist watch anymore.
Massive congratulations
I mean LOOK at everyone in this thread. “Muh TerribleCo SlaveBuilt 4 is only a week old and they’ve stopped pushing updates and the battery doesn’t last the whole day anymore I have to charge it at lunch.”
“What’s it for?” “Text messages hit by brain 4 seconds faster.”
Everyone? Well let me be a change then. I love my smart watch. It vibrating wakes me up easier than alarm. Step and sleep tracking is really useful to me. While a gimmick sure, I really enjoy being able to update and change my watch face on a whim. Even with always on display, constant heart rate tracking and step tracking, my watch easily lasts 48 hours and charges within an hour while I’m in the bathroom getting ready in the morning. I get it’s not for everyone but far cheaper than a Rolex and way more functionality.
There’s not a vendor out there I trust with an always on internet connected EKG on my wrist.
Cool, good for you.
I don’t really give a shit who knows whether my heartbeat is irregular.
Pinetime
Which I imagine like everything else Pine64 does will remain permanently in a state of “industry seconds some dead pixels are to be expected this is for developers and enthusiasts only no returns or refunds.” I don’t think they have any plans to ever bring a consumer ready product to market.
I have one. No dead pixels. It doesn’t necessarily do fancy things but that’s sort of why I got it. $30 and it tells the time, shows me notifications and lasts over a week before I have to charge it. Eeeeevery now and then I’ll use it to control media or play 2048. Hey it even counts my steps!
damn I mean I agree with you I think they’re mostly dumb and haven’t recovered from my loss of pebble but what an appropriate handle
You trying to say my username checks out? Yeah.
I had a Motorola one about 7 or 8 years ago. I was working at a grocery store at the time and we weren’t allowed to take our phones out on the job, so I could use it to see and reply to important texts from my parents. I also drove my parents’ car to and from that job. Their car at the time had no phone integration at all. Just a Bluetooth to 3.5mm headphone jack dongle plugged into the AUX input. So when driving that car, I used the watch as a makeshift hands-free system. Not actually hands free mind, but I could use it to skip songs and pause without taking my eyes off the road while listening to Spotify.
I loved my Fossil watch. And eventually I switched over to iPhone (which was a painful transition but 95% fine now), and Apple Watch is fantastic.
I also hear the Garmin ones are really nice.
I like my Bangle.js 2.
Withings is the limit then?
wut?
Withings is a company that makes some health related tech products, like a watch. I bought a scale from them 5 or so years ago.
My bathroom scale is mechanical.
Fascinating. Now tell us about your toothbrush.
(For those who don’t know: Withings makes an analog-looking watch with an excellent and discreet read-out on steps and sleep. I have watch-envy)