I go back and forth. The better battery life and face size of the Apple Watch Ultra makes it more useful for me than my old Apple Watch 3. But I still just wear a $30 Timex Expedition a lot of the time.
I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
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Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#32I always find it interesting that so many people that work in tech are quite into retro Luddite stuff. I’m not entirely not guilty myself - I love me some old school manual transmission sports cars more than the latest Tesla.
But I find genuine utility in having a smartphone and smartwatch. I have a relatively expensive mechanical watch but it rarely sees use other than date nights. The time is usually off, and I don’t care because that’s not the point. I don’t use it to keep time - that’s what my iPhone is for. Instead, the watch is purely jewlery, no different from my wife’s bracelet.
On the other hand my Apple Watch stays on my wrist almost perpetually.
I too hear about watches like the F91 or various g-shocks and get tempted to pick one up out of curiosity. But I know it’s going to be even less useful to me than my expensive automatic watch since it can’t even function as jewelry.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#33Importantly, F91W can run FOSS software with a custom board [1], which also makes it easily programmable in C with no "app store" shit. I have two boards sitting next to me and two Casio watches waiting for a transplant. [1] https://www.sensorwatch.net/
Hmm, this is like saying "The '69 Mustang can run on electric power, if you replace the engine."..
Sure, apart from one is a $20 watch and an insignificant investment of time and energy versus a lot of expensive, risky hoops with a high-level of skill to pull off. People always lean on this analogy of cars, but frequently there's no analogy required. The watch mod isn't for you and that's fine.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm, this is like saying "The '69 Mustang can run on electric power, if you replace the engine."..
Sure, apart from one is a $20 watch and an insignificant investment of time and energy versus a lot of expensive, risky hoops with a high-level of skill to pull off. People always lean on this analogy of cars, but frequently there's no analogy required. The watch mod isn't for you and that's fine.
Thanks for the condensation. It's just a philosophical comment along the lines of the Ship of Theseus, can it still be called the F91W if you replace a major component? Especially saying "Ah yeah the F91W can run custom software, just gut it out add a component to run that software!".
Maybe philosophy isn't for you, and that's fine.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#35tldr; the answer to the clickbait: "I’m having a rest before another challenge crops up, and I really don’t want to think about my heart rate variability, whether I slept well, or even have notifications on my wrist at all – I just want to give my brain a break. "
I'm guessing that the only reason he wore it to be able to write this article with this headline.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#36Ehh the F91W is not very accurate at all as the article claims. It's not temperature compensated. If you leave it lying on a desk at room temperature yes. Wear it outside in all weather it'll be pretty inaccurate. I prefer the F-105W myself. It's basically the same watch but with a great blue EL backlight.
How many seconds of time accuracy have you found that this watch loses over the course of its 7-year-long battery life? I think I can handle it losing 30 seconds of accuracy per year.
It's more like 30 per month. It really depends a lot how much you wear it outside because it's not temperature compensated.
I don't really mind a lot because I will just adjust it once in a while. But I wouldn't claim it to be an accurate movement.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#37Casio stainless steel version is pretty dope.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#38Ehh the F91W is not very accurate at all as the article claims. It's not temperature compensated. If you leave it lying on a desk at room temperature yes. Wear it outside in all weather it'll be pretty inaccurate. I prefer the F-105W myself. It's basically the same watch but with a great blue EL backlight.
W-800H is my daily-wear cheap watch here I had a Pebble and then an Apple Watch. I came to the conclusion I prefer my watches to be tools and not devices. Watches that are tools are cool. Aviation watches, dive watches, etc etc. So much cooler than a smartwatch.
To give a counterpoint, I have worn watches every day for the past 20 years and own both a nice Bauhaus watch, a diver and a cheap field watch. I finally decided to buy an Apple Watch last year to mostly use as a running watch and see what the fuss was about. I’m never coming back. This thing cut my phone use like nothing before. Having access to notifications at a glance without taking your phone out is awesome.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> normally MUCH easier to access on those watches than an Apple Watch You should try placing them as widgets on a compatible watch face, or set them be sticky in your recents app's list, if you haven't already.
Hard to beat two clicks on the mode button, then one click on start button to start the last timer I used. Just an uncustomizable appliance, which is nice when I don’t want to fiddle with something much.
On the other hand I can’t fathom a better workout partner than my Apple Watch. A few seconds from racking the weights or whatever I can fire up my rest timer with 1 press and mute the vibration with another press when it’s time to get back to lifting. This works great when you want to do some interval of rest paired later with intervals of activity. Having favorited a few timers I can reach them within 1 to 2 presses. I haven’t found a similar watch with a range of timers that are as easy to use.
Re: I test the best smartwatches – so why am I wearing a $15 Casio?
#40Importantly, F91W can run FOSS software with a custom board [1], which also makes it easily programmable in C with no "app store" shit. I have two boards sitting next to me and two Casio watches waiting for a transplant. [1] https://www.sensorwatch.net/
I was disapointed by the default firmware: it adds noticable lag and is missing polish (for ex you can no longer hold buttons down for repeated press). I mean to write my own some day but realistically speaking that'll never happen.