Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

unawatch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 199 posts

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

#31

Post by gwill »

notesinthefield wrote: post #26
exabrial wrote: post #21

If it has a flashlight and is beyond waterproof, I would maybe consider it. My Garmin Epix watch is practically bullet proof. I've dove with it in open ocean. I've jet skied with it. I rock climb with it. It's surived 108miles of Unbound (the race) in mud, sun, sweat. I've water rafted with it. I've swam in crappy lakes, streams and jumped off cliffs. Hottubs? also no problem. Zero chance a iWatch would ever survive…

> the screen has not scratched I believe this the least!

i have one too with a sapphire screen (fenix 7). the watch is beaten up but the screen looks brand new. really phenomenal watches.

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

#32

Post by Melatonic »

gbil wrote: post #22

The title is misleading at least, to compete with garmin you need the similar offering, with swimming/waterproofing being the huge outliar here but also the ecosystem and like it or not features like the notifications. Very valiant first effort for sure but after 6 years with a Garmin Fenix still holding 90% of its battery (and being able to replace it), I'm not their potential customer.

I would say the big outlier is the battery life (for Garmin). Theres other options for waterproof stuff and a lot dont need something good enough for swimming. Of course its a huge plus.

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

#33

Post by gwill »

lrae wrote: post #30
notesinthefield wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the screen has not scratched I believe this the least!

Same. Both have plenty of scratches here. I also don't see why an Apple Watch wouldn't survive all those mentioned things. Pretty sure I did all those things with an Apple Watch on, except for the specific 108 mile gravel race. But I don't see why it would fail that. And both might absolutely scratch while climbing, and if you're unlucky and hit it in the wrong spot, also crack. That said, if I were an athlete in any…

the sapphire screens are incredibly resilient. mine looks brand new and is several years old. tested against plenty of bouldering

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

#34

Post by scheme271 »

arnejenssen wrote: post #23

For me the value of Garmin (Forerunner) is their proprietary algorithm for calculating Stress Level from HRV. It is the basis for the Body Battery measure. I find it useful to see how food and activity affects my stress levels. I guess it would be possible to reverse engineer a similar stress level calculation. Perhaps AI-powered?

I'm not sure the body battery/stress measures are that great. Garmin is infamous for having an awful sleep algo and it still has a lot of trouble detecting naps. It doesn't bode well for being able to get stress data. I think it's good for generally determining high stress vs low stress and when you've overdone exercise recently but probably not much more.

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

#35

Post by mikestew »

PaulHoule wrote: post #25
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…

The charging situation with Garmin is terrible, enough that when Venu quits charging I might go for the Apple Watch or anything that takes a charge...

And it's always been terrible, as long as I've been using Garmin watches (their bike computers seem to charge fine, mainly because they use whatever the standard USB plug is at the time). I remember the 410 had some suckass plug that didn't work well. I think it was the 610 with that gawd awful clip. And the 9xx series continues to use that delicate snowflake plug that has to plug in juuuuust right, maybe wiggle the cable a little, otherwise no 5 hour Sunday run for you.

Whereas I throw my Apple Watch in the general vicinity of the magnetic charger, it locks into place, and charges just fine, 100% of the time. Fine, don't use induction like Apple, use two exposed, flush pins and a magnet like my Coros armband HR monitor, because that works 100% of the time, too.

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

#36

Post by kilroy123 »

arnejenssen wrote: post #23

For me the value of Garmin (Forerunner) is their proprietary algorithm for calculating Stress Level from HRV. It is the basis for the Body Battery measure. I find it useful to see how food and activity affects my stress levels. I guess it would be possible to reverse engineer a similar stress level calculation. Perhaps AI-powered?

Yes, and the sleep tracking that adds or subtracts. While not super accurate, it's good enough for me.

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

#37

Post by mikae1 »

gbil wrote: post #22

The title is misleading at least, to compete with garmin you need the similar offering, with swimming/waterproofing being the huge outliar here but also the ecosystem and like it or not features like the notifications. Very valiant first effort for sure but after 6 years with a Garmin Fenix still holding 90% of its battery (and being able to replace it), I'm not their potential customer.

Can you analyze the data your watch and body generates locally using FOSS without uploading it all to surveillance capitalists? That'd be the true alternative.

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

#38

Post by Melatonic »

I like this a lot. USB-C is obviously not ideal for a super durable plug but with the right cap (sounds like they use a rubber insert?) it could be great. Especially since it would allow direct data access.

What might be cool for a version 2:

1. Custom hardshell "door" to cover the USB-C port. Something that cannot fall off the watch. The port itself could be well sealed like a phone and then have this additional layer of physical protection.

2. Wireless charging of some type (or even add pogo pin as well). Would be nice to top up charge without having to expose the USB-C and probably increase the plug life. Does this require a glass back? Because obviously that would not be ideal in a watch.

3. Better waterproofing. I dont personally use my Garmin for swimming often but would be nice to not have to worry about it.

Anybody know about the battery life in real world use?

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

#39

Post by mikestew »

exabrial wrote: post #21

If it has a flashlight and is beyond waterproof, I would maybe consider it. My Garmin Epix watch is practically bullet proof. I've dove with it in open ocean. I've jet skied with it. I rock climb with it. It's surived 108miles of Unbound (the race) in mud, sun, sweat. I've water rafted with it. I've swam in crappy lakes, streams and jumped off cliffs. Hottubs? also no problem. Zero chance a iWatch would ever survive…

Zero chance a iWatch would ever survive these conditions.

Mine survives such things just fine.

My Garmin Epix watch is practically bullet proof.

And your Epix cost about twice as much as the Una watch does.

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

#40

Post by lrae »

gwill wrote: post #33
lrae wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Both have plenty of scratches here. I also don't see why an Apple Watch wouldn't survive all those mentioned things. Pretty sure I did all those things with an Apple Watch on, except for the specific 108 mile gravel race. But I don't see why it would fail that. And both might absolutely scratch while climbing, and if you're unlucky and hit it in the wrong spot, also crack. That said, if I were an athlete in any…

the sapphire screens are incredibly resilient. mine looks brand new and is several years old. tested against plenty of bouldering

They are, they still scratch though (just google e.g. Fenix 7 Sapphire scratches). It's also not on all models. I guess part of it is also just layers on top of it scratching and not the sapphire itself.

But, Apple Watch Ultras and also Titanium models since Series 6? ship with Sapphire crystal too.

Post reply on HN