Pebble Round 2 • Hacker News Board

Re: Pebble Round 2

#301

Post by chrneu » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 8:22 PM UTC

4ggr0 wrote: post #240

apparent wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Eric posted about this, and it was an impressive distance. Obviously YMMV based on the size of your house and how thick the walls are, but my old Pebble worked in much of my house and I would expect that as BT has gotten better (on both the phone and watch) in the last decade, the new versions will have even more range.

also probably depends on the building you live in. not trying to start a flame-war, but i can imagine that you get quite some range in the US, if you live in one of those cardboard-inner-walls houses. in the 30cm thick solid wall apartment i live in my pebble looses connection the next room over, i almost need line-of-sight for it to work. working at my desk, get up, walk 5 meters to the bathroom, watch looses connec…

bluetooth is 2.4ghz so if you're in a super congested area(lots of wifi) bluetooth can often struggle.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#302

Post by jsbisviewtiful » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 2:04 AM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #292

majesticmerc wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a runner, so obviously biased, but I implore everyone (to the point of annoyance) to check out some of the cheaper Garmin smart watches. They use MIP displays so the battery life runs about 2 weeks, you get phone notifications, the ability to find your phone, sleep scoring, step counting, heart rate monitoring. Then there's the obvious GPS run recording which you don't have to use. There's more stuff as well but…

Every Garmin I've tried has been a complete mess, laggy, and deeply unstable in its connection and what notifications it supported (if any), whether it was cheap or expensive. I'd love an alternative, but from the models I've tried I don't think Garmin is anywhere near what I liked about Pebbles. Closer than some brands, but not anywhere near what I'd consider "close". Bangle.js is closer, for all its (many) flaws.

I switched over to Coros devices and have been fairly impressed with the performance over the last 5 months. Excellent battery life on the APEX series.

Re: Pebble Round 2

#303

Post by rkj » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

I loved my Pebble back in the day, but honestly Garmin overtook it by a long shot. Very similar philosophy