101–110 of 125 posts
What is the most programmable wearable? I'd love to have access to my watches display, sensor, and communications features.
So long, farewell! Don't let the door hit you on the butt. Fitbit totally killed itself for me when it decided to launch its own ecosystem without integrating itself into HealthKit and Google Fit. I understand that they thought they were creating an ecosystem for their users but by choosing to ignore the platforms that the major OS manufacturers had created, they essentially locked everyone out of integration with no…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is a problem with wearables in general. All in all, I've never seen a wearable last more than 9-10 months. I'm not that rough on them either. My MS Band 1 lasted ~8 months before it suddenly died. MS replaced it. I then borrowed a friend's Band2 which had already been replaced 4 times. It died twice for me. MS replaced it once, then issued a refund check when they ran out of stock. And then there is the…
meanwhile I'm still in love with my perfectly working apple watch (1st gen). There was (and is) laughter about the topic and apple doing it, but really, this $300 device integrated in my daily life to the point of missing it when not wearing. Plus, it is way more than "just" a fitness wearable. Where I live (northern germany) I see more and more people silently migrating to one, it is even impossible to get a watch a…
The good: Apple replaced it no questions asked. The bad: It took 4-5 weeks to send me a replacement.
Interestingly, I didn't miss the watch at all while it was out for a replacement. Honestly, I don't find it that useful, I got it because I wanted a new toy. I will admit that the latest WatchOS makes the slowness a lot more tolerable, but still painful.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is a problem with wearables in general. All in all, I've never seen a wearable last more than 9-10 months. I'm not that rough on them either. My MS Band 1 lasted ~8 months before it suddenly died. MS replaced it. I then borrowed a friend's Band2 which had already been replaced 4 times. It died twice for me. MS replaced it once, then issued a refund check when they ran out of stock. And then there is the…
meanwhile I'm still in love with my perfectly working apple watch (1st gen). There was (and is) laughter about the topic and apple doing it, but really, this $300 device integrated in my daily life to the point of missing it when not wearing. Plus, it is way more than "just" a fitness wearable. Where I live (northern germany) I see more and more people silently migrating to one, it is even impossible to get a watch a…
I now feel very foolish for how much I've spent on various FitBit devices that constantly failed.
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Consider also the Fenix 3 - it was plagued with software bugs when launched but the firmware is now stable and delivers what it says on the tin. You get a nice smartwatch and fitness tracker with GPS/GLONASS and good integration to other sensors (Bluetooth and ANT). Plus, as the icing on the cake: you can easily get a week or more of use with a single charge, if you don't use the GPS.
I have a Fenix 3 HR, and unfortunately I couldn't disagree more. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Automatic sleep tracking is abysmal (regularly off by >4 hours, sometimes more). The wrist heart rate monitor tends to have inaccurate spikes at least once a day, and when the watch doesn't detect motion the wrist heart rate sensor is essentially turned off (sampling rate goes to greater than once every 30 minutes). Re…
It works almost flawlessly. GPS pickup is less than 30 seconds in nearly all situations. The wrist-based HR is accurate to within 1-2 BPM during activities when measured against Wahoo Tickr and Polar heart-rate straps (but the flaw: it's slow to pick up sudden jumps in HR, such as during intervals). The battery lasts at least a week with 2 hours of active GPS use a day (and almost 2 weeks with battery saving features enabled and GLONASS off). I've dropped it on asphalt, concrete, and rock and it doesn't even have a scratch.
My guess is that most of your problems are on the iOS end. Apple is notorious for breaking interoperability with wearables through iOS "updates" since the iWatch was released. Polar and Suunto watches also seem to have issues for iPhone users that don't crop up for people syncing their watches with their computers or Androids.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: A big part of Fitbit's problem is the poor hardware quality of their products, especially considering the high price. A lot of people, me included, will never buy another Fitbit after having been burned. Their warranty only lasts one year, yet I've had to replace both Fitbit devices I've had twice within that one year. I'm now Fitbit-less because the latest, a Charge HR, fai…
That said, I did have an issue with the band just above the screen starting to delaminate. Heard they'd send me a new one so I made a claim and got a new one.
For $150, does about what I'd expect, and is about as durable as I'd expect.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: A big part of Fitbit's problem is the poor hardware quality of their products, especially considering the high price. A lot of people, me included, will never buy another Fitbit after having been burned. Their warranty only lasts one year, yet I've had to replace both Fitbit devices I've had twice within that one year. I'm now Fitbit-less because the latest, a Charge HR, fai…
But this is endemic to the industry. I still caution fitness band buyers that they should consider themselves early adopters who should expect some troubles while the quality evolves. I owned a Microsoft Band 1 and Microsoft Band 2 since the day they came out. My Band 1 broke twice in two different ways, and my Band 2 died 3 times. Microsoft replaced them free of charge every time, which was great. So in 2 years with…
So long, farewell! Don't let the door hit you on the butt. Fitbit totally killed itself for me when it decided to launch its own ecosystem without integrating itself into HealthKit and Google Fit. I understand that they thought they were creating an ecosystem for their users but by choosing to ignore the platforms that the major OS manufacturers had created, they essentially locked everyone out of integration with no…
My Fitbit Charge 2 activity appears on Google Fit. Google Fit tends to recalculate some of the values (e.g. distance and calories) based on what Fitbit transmitted / pulled from Fitbit (haven't bother to check). I don't know this happens via their API, or bluetooth over my phone or both.
So buying Pebble was nothing but their previous try at surviving in a challenging wearable market? It's really difficult to wrap my head around these two recent moves in a way that makes sense.
I think its pretty easy, Pebble adds some additional "watch" market, and if you lay off the people you've added more customers without adding a lot of additional cost. Long before it was 'trendy' the monitoring your hearbeat etc market was there for serious athletes. That is, and continues to be a niche market. So there are too many players chasing too few customers who aren't going to upgrade their equipment every y…
Unless they actually launch a revised Time 2 under a different name, I'm flummoxed as to how they'll capture my interest.