Smart Watch Reccomendations

Shpox on 06/06/2018 - 22:40

What smart watch are you rocking?

I came off with a Fitbit Charge HR and upgraded to the 2 at the start of the year. The build quality of the Charge was terrible and after 3 replacements, the 2 had come out.

The 2 was much better but I had to return it today because the band developed play and fell off.

As an android user, I really like the direction of the Apple Watch, but it's a shame I'm not on their ecosystem to purchase one.

What alternatives are there? I do like fitbit's app UI and data monitoring (when it sync), but the build quality to cost ratio sucks. They're expensive for what they are…

I haven't gone the Garmin Route yet and the Android alternatives seem pretty shitty.

I mainly use my watch for fitness (gym) as I have my Garmin 520 for my bike, but I'd embrace something that could store music on it and stream something like spotify even. Charging I can deal with once a week, but not once a day as I like wearing my tracker for data collection and stats like sleep monitoring.

How are you guys going with the Xiaomi's too?

Open to any recommendations and not afraid of dropping coin on something decent. Maybe fitbit has soured me, but I'd love something I can also return easily because I just don't trust build quality after fitbit.

Electrical & Electronics Fitbit Smartwatch Watch

Comments

  • tomlikesbeetroot on 07/06/2018 - 00:13

    I have the withings steel hr, now called the nokia steel hr. Love the design as most people don't even realize its a 'smart' watch. Had the fitbit charge hr before this, build quality and battery life both much better

    • haytona on 08/06/2018 - 07:24

      I've been eyeing hybrid smart watches and the steel hr looks really nice. Do you use another app to get notifications other than calls/SMS? I'm leaning towards Garmin Vivomove HR.

  • Kiminoth on 07/06/2018 - 01:43
    +2

    Was on the Pebble Kickstarter, and eventually bought the Pebble 2 HR. Both were amazing watches, and were great in many aspects, best of which for me is battery life, and usability with a fairly rich app ecosystem.

    With Pebble's servers eventually closing, and I couldn't be bothered trying Rebble, in the last month I moved to the Fitbit Ionic, mostly due to (a) the battery life and (b) the transfer of Pebble devs to Fitbit (it means there's still hope for a similar improvement yet).

    However, before that transition, I got on the Kickstarter for the Ticwatch S. Good watch for the price, but you're right, once you get used to a decent battery life, tolerating <1.5 days becomes hard. I went back to the Pebble after a week. Even with all the functionality Wear OS provided.

    Compared to pebble, the Ionic looks better and significantly improves health tracking, however, I've had a few issues with consistent Bluetooth connectivity - it does the job.

    Is battery life important? As you mentioned you don't want once a day, and you use it to track your sleep, that limits a significant amount of watches.

    Do you prefer functionality over usability? i.e. would you prefer a watch that you can use an assistant with or a 'dumber' watch that you can use to read notifications, receive calls and some other applications? That's another thing to consider. Google Assistant is an amazing Assistant for Android. Bixby, hah.

    I had an old Fitbit too, can't even remember what it was. One of those Flex's or something. And you're right, it was rubbish. It eventually cracked and fell to bits.

    However, the build quality on the Ionic seems decent enough. I'm not sure about the Versa, but they definitely seem to have improved their quality.

    They do provide you the ability to load music, albeit manually through files or Americanised applications (Spotify isn't on their app store yet). The Ionic has inbuilt GPS, whereas the Versa does not, so going on rides will be fine without your mobile for GPS. It doesn't have LTE though, which can be a little annoying, however it doesn't have a microphone either, or means of responding to messages outside of canned responses, so even if it did, it's really not made for it. They've also grabbed Pebble's dev kit, so the growth on Fitbit can be big if they get enough people making apps.

    While I'm not well versed in the Gear range, if you're with Samsung then they might be an option. However, they only shine with Samsung Phones.

    Overall, there's a lot to consider.

    When I was looking for my watch, I didn't want to spend > $300, I wanted good battery life, good health tracking (including sleep), water proofing would be great (I now never take my watch off with the exception of charging), and GPS, while not necessary would be good for the occasional run, which while slow to initially connect, does the job.

    All of this landed me on the Ionic. I still have gripes with the watch from things I miss with my Pebble, however, fitbit is still fairly new to the Smart Watch game, perhaps in time the Pebble devs will shine through (it kind of already has started with the Versa).

    If GPS isn't important, go the Versa, only differing really in the inbuilt v connected GPS.

  • TheLurker on 07/06/2018 - 03:59

    I am using a Samsung Gear S3. With screen off I get maybe 3 days between charges. Not ideal if you need sleep tracking daily. Rotating bezel interface works really well and I do use features for GPS and health tracking, payments, and spotify. It does get wet a lot when I'm washing a sandy puppy daily, but seems fine. Mine was $359 last year as a bank promo when ANZ launched their payment partnership with Samsung and there have been other similar deals recently. As kiminoth said in the great update above, best if you use a samsung phone already

  • websterp on 07/06/2018 - 04:05
    +1

    https://www.mobvoi.com/
    Have a look and go through the reviews. Can't beat these when comes to value for money. Google themselves backed mobvoi to bring these watches out.
    I have also heard that google is releasing their own line of smartwatches soon. Perhaps hold on till then as they will most likely be better than any of the general purpose (not talking Tag , etc.) wearOS watches currently on the market.

    • Kiminoth on 07/06/2018 - 13:39

      As OP mentioned, unfortunately, he mentioned sleep tracking and disliked daily charging.

      I've had the Ticwatch S since it came through the Kickstarter, and the battery life is only really suitable for a daily charge. Two full days is pushing it. I couldn't handle the battery, so I went back to my Pebble 2.

      But you're right, it is a very good watch for the price.

      There have been many rumours around a Google Watch, it does sound like it would be pretty good, but again, without knowing the specifications i.e. battery life, it's still hard to tell if it will suit OP's use case.

  • akd on 07/06/2018 - 09:20

    Wish I could recommend Galaxy Fit 2. Although build quality and app on mobile is good but watch is average. Its readings does not match with Galaxy S7 and Fitbit. All three have different readings.Galaxy Fit 2 sometime forget to record steps, cycling and floor count. Battery life is 2 days maximum and needs reset after every update.

  • Chandler on 07/06/2018 - 13:15

    If you're set on Android Wear / WearOS (by Google) I give a solid recommendation to the Misfit Vapor. Good build quality, stainless steel case, stainless bands available (if that's what you want, it was for me), solid integration (of course, being an WearOS watch), does heart rate (I have no idea on it's accuracy but). Cons include no GPS, no NFC; but you'll be looking north of $500 for that in a WearOS watch.

    At just over $300 (with the stainless band, just under for the plastic sports band), very happy with it. Shipping from US was also very quick (I bought direct off Misfit since JB only had the black sports band).

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