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

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

#191

Post by abstract_put » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:51 PM UTC

jerlam wrote: post #13

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.

Acknowledging I'm in a small niche, programmable high quality GPS watches are kind of not really a thing. As a developer, I find the hardware offering compelling and is something I jumped on. Agreed that it won't reach mass market with that mentality though.

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

#192

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 3:41 PM UTC

briffle wrote: post #4

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #2

I do like the idea of USB-C, the garmin's power plug is nothing but annoying. It's really just a matter of battery life and what sort of software integration it has. Although, it's hard to beat the Garmin ecosystem.

I think battery life is the most important. My Garmin Instinct 2 goes about 3.5 weeks between charging (the older non-OLED screen). It has solar, so I usually go over a month. But a watch, something people will wear swimming, sweaty, in the rain, etc, is something that should ideally follow the wireless charging standards, and not have a plug taking up space, and being a spot for leaks...

Wireless would be ideal, assuming there's still some way to connect to my PC.

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

#193

Post by _giorgio_ » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 7:15 PM UTC

roryirvine wrote: post #140

_giorgio_ wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The missing heart-rate monitor is a pretty big limitation for a lot of users. LOL. Imagine writing a review and leaving the heart rate in last place. Just don’t write a review then.

GP is talking about a model that was released 14 years ago, and is closely based on one from 2009. Seems to me that "still working well after more than a decade of use" is a more useful piece of info than "newer models include additional features".

Is a stone working after 1000 years? Yep, still a stone though.

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

#194

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 7:15 PM UTC

dspillett wrote: post #141

_giorgio_ wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The missing heart-rate monitor is a pretty big limitation for a lot of users. LOL. Imagine writing a review and leaving the heart rate in last place. Just don’t write a review then.

He's talking about an 11 year old device of a 15 year old (long since discontinued) design, even flagship devices were less featureful then than some mid-market devices are now. Imagine expecting a review of such a device to be enticing to someone comparing modern options… Also, not everyone with a GPS watch cares that much about heart rate. I am a runner (well, less so now that I used to be, but working on fixing th…

[deleted]

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

#195

Post by _giorgio_ » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 7:17 PM UTC

dspillett wrote: post #141

_giorgio_ wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The missing heart-rate monitor is a pretty big limitation for a lot of users. LOL. Imagine writing a review and leaving the heart rate in last place. Just don’t write a review then.

He's talking about an 11 year old device of a 15 year old (long since discontinued) design, even flagship devices were less featureful then than some mid-market devices are now. Imagine expecting a review of such a device to be enticing to someone comparing modern options… Also, not everyone with a GPS watch cares that much about heart rate. I am a runner (well, less so now that I used to be, but working on fixing th…

That's just an old and not useful device.

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

#196

Post by mikestew » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

weakfish wrote: post #189

mikestew wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple certainly doesn't let you. There are several apps[0] off the top of my head that pull data from Apple's HealthKit. Apple even has a framework for it: HealthKit. That said, I've never written to that API myself, but it observational evidence indicates that you can pull data from Apple just fine. The app I use to pull data off Apple and ship to Strava says as much. [0] RunGap and HealthFit

Oh yeah, I should've clarified, I mean via a REST API. I thought about building an app for myself to do what I wanted to do, but it's frustrating that I can't just set up a Cron on my homelab to pull my data. Unless I'm missing something and HealthKit does provide this.

RunGap will export a FIT file (w/o looking, I think it’s FIT) to iCloud and Dropbox. So it’s technically possible to glue some pieces together. Practically? Dunno, but it might worth a look at RunGap’s web page to see where they’ll export, maybe something will work for you.

Too bad Garmin turned into buttholes about their API. It used to be a lot easier to deal with.

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

#197

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 5:01 AM UTC

exabrial wrote: post #171

mikestew wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Epix Gen3 is $500 w/ Garmin Discount. iWatch ultra is $800. And iWatch doesn't have a flashlight. And iWatch doesn't have the same battery life.

[deleted]

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

#198

Post by microtonal » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 3:08 PM UTC

the_real_cher wrote: post #175

microtonal wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price is also insane nowadays though. IMO they are very vulnerable to the likes of Coros, who also have MIP watches that last for weeks, have much faster mapping and are less than half the price.

I know. I got a health perk at work for the year and used it all on the watch. I don't know if it would have been worth it to me without that. How's the accuracy on the Coros watches?

I haven't compared it with a heart rate band yet. GPS accuracy is good since I enabled dual-frequency (MAX), before I had some inaccuracy in (urban) canyons.

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

#199

Post by abstract_put » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 3:53 PM UTC

ajnin wrote: post #138

Not to pile up on the negativity, but looking at the SDK, first reaction is it's fucking C++ ? Can't wait for my watch to crash in the middle of something. And second reaction, when I see signatures like this : void TrackFaceTotal::setDistance(float dist, bool isImperial); void TrackFaceOverview::setPace(float pace); and bool unitsImperial; littered everywhere, it makes my heart sink a little. Can't we have some data…

The TrackFace stuff is in example apps (consumers of the SDK), so AFAICT it's doing what you want: unit conversion in the front end.

That said, while I think you picked an example that undermines your point, the point does still stand. The SDK has a lot of rough edges (just not this specific one).