Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly • Hacker News Board

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#11

Post by throwway120385 » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #8

I really want to like this watch. Price is certainly right, and it does all of the things I'd want out of a Garmin or Apple Watch Ultra. But what problem does this solve for me? In the Apple Watch use case, a replaceable battery would be nice. But in contrast to Garmin, I've never replaced a Garmin because the battery wouldn't hold charge anymore. I've never broken a screen (if one has a habit of that, Garmin and App…

USB-C would suck. Part of the purpose of that proprietary plug is that it's very water resistant and very durable. Imagine getting mud or coarse sand in your USB plug and not being able to charge anymore.

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#12

Post by weakfish » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #8

I really want to like this watch. Price is certainly right, and it does all of the things I'd want out of a Garmin or Apple Watch Ultra. But what problem does this solve for me? In the Apple Watch use case, a replaceable battery would be nice. But in contrast to Garmin, I've never replaced a Garmin because the battery wouldn't hold charge anymore. I've never broken a screen (if one has a habit of that, Garmin and App…

For me, I want an open API I can pull my data from. Last I checked, you have to be a business to use Garmin's API.

Apple certainly doesn't let you.

My goal is to have a cron that runs on my homelab that pulls my health data into a DB I own, from various sources, and visualize it in Grafana.

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#13

Post by jerlam » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

Any "open ecosystem" product needs to be a competitive product out of the box, otherwise it's just a development toy. Developers aren't going to enhance your product to fill in all the gaps unless there are customers, and preferably paying ones.

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#14

Post by pimlottc » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

They hardly even mention the software, but isn't that half the value of Garmin devices?

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#15

Post by iancarroll » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC

I've wasted so much money on vendor charging cables in the past 10 years while traveling or moving that I would probably buy this just for the USB-C port, assuming it is actually splash proof.

I wonder what HR sensor they use. Samsung apparently has an average error of 7% which is pretty bad, so I wonder if this would be worse. [0]

[0] https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/i-ran-30-miles-testing-5-sm...

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#16

Post by asats » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

weakfish wrote: post #12

mikestew wrote: post #8

I really want to like this watch. Price is certainly right, and it does all of the things I'd want out of a Garmin or Apple Watch Ultra. But what problem does this solve for me? In the Apple Watch use case, a replaceable battery would be nice. But in contrast to Garmin, I've never replaced a Garmin because the battery wouldn't hold charge anymore. I've never broken a screen (if one has a habit of that, Garmin and App…

For me, I want an open API I can pull my data from. Last I checked, you have to be a business to use Garmin's API. Apple certainly doesn't let you. My goal is to have a cron that runs on my homelab that pulls my health data into a DB I own, from various sources, and visualize it in Grafana.

you can use https://github.com/cyberjunky/python-garminconnect to pull your data from garmin, I've been using it daily with no issues

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#17

Post by yread » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

2.5MB RAM, FreeRTOS!

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#18

Post by pockybum522 » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:52 PM UTC

slibhb wrote: post #3

> Can I swim with UNA? > UNA is currently a non-submersible device due to its innovative modular design. So, swimming is not something we offer as an activity, nor do we advise it. UNA is IPX5 rated, which means it is splash & showerproof to a high degree.

Damn. But hopefully they improve on that. I would absolutely be considering one if this wasn't the case

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#19

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:52 PM UTC

hxbdbdb wrote: post #7

USB-C really does not make sense for such a device. It's significantly too bulky and is hard to get water proof

Is it hard to get waterpoof, considering that every modern smart phone is both usb-c and waterproof? Important to note that this watch doesn't claim to be waterproof.

Re: Una GPS smart watch – Repairable, USB-C charging, developer-friendly

#20

Post by lrae » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 5:59 PM UTC

Some good points were already brought up in the comments (IP5X, USB C charging), but I have the feeling that it's also just not a good fitness tracker/smartwatch.

I see a single unboxing of the watch from three weeks ago on Youtube and zero reviews on YT or websites. Just posts based on their PR release that it's available now. (Though some clearly already shipped.)

Thus, it's unfortunately very likely that the product is also not good at its main purpose, tracking activities, workouts and health. If it would only even come somewhat close to the performance of all the competitor smartwatches/trackers, they'd be louder about that part.