I have been using a Pebble Time Steel for years even after their acquisition by Garmin Someone corrected me it was FitBit not Garmin thanks to Rebble, a modded firmware that gives it new life, but I would like a smartwatch that can track my heart rate.
I don’t mind using an older device especially if it means a cheaper price. A bonus for me would be if it still had some kind of community around it or a custom firmware like Pebble watches do.
I found an original Moto 360 with a functional battery for about $30 but I am not sure if due its age its functionality would be greatly limited.
Edit: It seems like Garmin and FitBit might be worth looking at. But I wouldn’t know what devices to look at or if there have been any major improvements with recent revisions.
Edit: Just an update I bought a Garmin VivoActive 3 used and locally. It seems to have some solid build quality but appears to have significantly less apps and features compared to my Pebble. The heart rate sensor seems to work alright though. I am a dork for metrics so I feel like that should make up for it.
If you want something similar in terms of display and size, take a look at the BangleJS2, which is also supported by Gadgetbridge.
The firmware and the user-made apps are all open-source.
The Withings one is a good option if you want one that just looks like a normal watch.
Definitely withings. I have had a steel HR for 2,5 years now and I still love it. You can buy any standard wristband that you like and the battery lasts a month. It’s also waterproof so no worries there. Plus I like the more traditional look, so it still looks good when wearing a bit more formal clothes.
Unfortunately very few watches for android have great heart rate sensors, but Huawei’s are the most accurate for android. For a less expensive watch, the huawei band 8 just got released, and it has among the best in heart rate tracking.
Check out the quantified scientist’s best of 2023 smart watches. He actually verifies their accuracy with vigorous testing, unlike most reviewers.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
the quantified scientist’s best of 2023
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
The Fitbit Versa series give me the vibe that this is where pebble could have headed if they hadn’t gone under. Since Fitbit bought the Pebble estate I guess that’s plausible. If you care more about health than fitness I would look into the Fitbit “Sense” series. They have most of the fitness options from Versa but also ECG and stress tracking.
No 3rd party apps, but they’re pretty good on battery life (My partner’s Versa 3 will last 11 days on a charge).
Do you pay for their premium service?
I do not. The “free” feature set is good enough for my needs.
You could look into the Fossil hybrid smartwatches, the battery lasts up to two weeks and they have a decent amount of sensors
I really like my hybrid HR. Had it for years and still going strong.
Like you said, weeks of battery life, decent activity tracking, always shows the time, and notifications work great.
I don’t care one bit for mobile data via my watch, nor calling, nor voice interactions. It does things I want a smartwatch to do, and only the things I want a smartwatch to do.
Sorry I don’t have an answer to your question.
Watch heart rate monitors are terribly inaccurate for me. Unusably so. I’ve always wondered if it’s like that for everyone or just me?
Heart rate sensors usually work best when the watch is worn tightly. Most people tend to wear their watch too loosely on their wrist, which lets in a lot of background light. Since these sensors are optics-based, that light translates to interference. Try wearing it one notch tighter than you usually do (or slightly higher on your wrist, if tightening isn’t an option for you), and see if that makes a difference.
Also, for what it’s worth, accuracy isn’t as important as consistency. If one device consistently reads you at 120 BPM and another consistently reads you at 130 BPM during the same activities, you at least know that you’re getting the same (albeit slightly scaled) results. As with most things in this space (quasi-medical equipment), most readouts are going to be an algorithmic estimate, as opposed to a true live reading.
