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We're bringing Pebble back

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Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#541

Post by bdavbdav »

nym3r0s wrote: post #500

The primary use for a smartwatch for myself (and many of my family, friends) is fitness and health tracking. Card payments, notifications, WatchFaces etc. are all secondary. Basically what Whoop is doing with their strap - but minus the subscription model. I know a ton of people who tried the whoop but felt it was extremely pricey and didn't have the accuracy of an apple watch. I would be happy to pay ~$400-500 up fr…

Surely a Garmin is what you want? No subscription, 7 day+ battery life, smart watch features are there but largely secondary.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#542

Post by jgalt212 »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #531
jgalt212 wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but people who tend to prioritize personal health also tend to be richer than the average bear.

Well yes, because prioritising personal health is expensive. High quality, healthy food is much more expensive per calorie than hyperprocessed, high calorie/low micronutrient, carcinogenic food. Gym memberships are pretty expensive, even without any of the personal coach and flex location fluff. And for someone with a lower paying job, time is more scarce as well, in addition to the job itself likely being more harmf…

> High quality, healthy food is much more expensive per calorie than hyperprocessed, high calorie/low micronutrient, carcinogenic food.

Largely true, but frozen vegetables are inexpensive. And they are healthier than fresh vegetables. Veggies are the key to good health for the poor.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#543

Post by bdavbdav »

asdff wrote: post #382
ctkhn wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gotta be honest I feel like Garmin is the perfect balance of pebble vs apple watch

I can't get over garmins predatory business model. The way they bin their products by activity is terrible if you have multiple hobbies. All of these devices are just a gps reciever, screen, battery, yet they sell it to you a dozen different ways for $500+ a pop usually because why unify the software and make it easy for the consumer?

That’s just marketing surely? Is there any activity that you’d want, apart from diving, missing from a fenix/epix?

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#544

Post by bdavbdav »

seanhunter wrote: post #405
ctkhn wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gotta be honest I feel like Garmin is the perfect balance of pebble vs apple watch

Garmin is the perfect solution if you want a smart watch with a gps that takes 5mins to possibly sync 50% of the time and a touchscreen-only interface that doesn’t work if it gets wet or say sweaty. Ie during most of the activities it’s supposedly designed for. When I got a garmin smartwatch I was astounded by how poor the basic ux is in almost every single way. If I’m swimming, how do I stop my work out? The touchsc…

What garmin is this? My Epix (just a Fenix 7 with a fancy screen) seems to hit GPS near instantly, and you can disable the touchscreen. AFAIK it’s only the very basic ones / fashion smartwatches that are touch only (or touch and one or two buttons)

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#546

Post by iamacyborg »

trabant00 wrote: post #525
nym3r0s wrote: post #500

The primary use for a smartwatch for myself (and many of my family, friends) is fitness and health tracking. Card payments, notifications, WatchFaces etc. are all secondary. Basically what Whoop is doing with their strap - but minus the subscription model. I know a ton of people who tried the whoop but felt it was extremely pricey and didn't have the accuracy of an apple watch. I would be happy to pay ~$400-500 up fr…

If you watch TheQuantifiedScientist you must have found out by now that optical sensors on the wrist have no chance of ever being accurate enough for health and fitness tracking. No matter how much they massage their algorithms they simply don't have the right sensors at the right positions on the body. At the same time the fitness features add cost, bulk, the uncomfortable sensor bump and cost battery life. The orig…

Modern optical sensors are pretty dang accurate on garmin watches.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#547

Post by iamacyborg »

timanderson wrote: post #436
seanhunter wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Garmin is the perfect solution if you want a smart watch with a gps that takes 5mins to possibly sync 50% of the time and a touchscreen-only interface that doesn’t work if it gets wet or say sweaty. Ie during most of the activities it’s supposedly designed for. When I got a garmin smartwatch I was astounded by how poor the basic ux is in almost every single way. If I’m swimming, how do I stop my work out? The touchsc…

Opposite experience here. Went from Apple Watch to Garmin, couldn't be happier. Never had an issue with the charging point chafing, it is recessed and no problem. Buttons to start/stop/pause/resume activity work as expected, so much better than trying to swipe and tap the Apple Watch screen especially in wet conditions. GPS sync never been an issue for me, you can start an activity before it syncs and it figures it o…

The metal in the charging point can cause some allergic reactions, nothing a small silicone cap doesn’t fix though

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#548

Post by parpfish »

bluGill wrote: post #538
coryfklein wrote: post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain the point of the health tracking features for watches? I have an Apple Watch and I do exercise regularly, but I found that the annoyance of starting and stopping workouts was bothersome so I turned the feature off. Is it about inducing more exercise? Or is it the timer aspect that it records how long your workout is? (in which case I don’t understand why it’s so much better than a stopwatch?) For…

A few years ago my mom looked at her smart watch (fitbit in her case) and it said she did 4 hours of aerobic exercise that day and her heart was elevated. She worked a retail job, so while on her feet all day, it was not aerobic. She immediately went to the doctor despite no other symptoms and they found cancer (which was then treated and so she is alive today). It isn't clear how much longer it would have been befor…

Is this in the US? Because i can’t fathom just being able to casually drop in to visit a doctor like this. Any time I need to talk to a doctor, I have phone tag with their understaffed receptionist for a few days, then we set up an appointment 4-6 months in the future.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#549

Post by bdavbdav »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #248
Avamander wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Alas, maybe the whole thing was over once Apple, and Samsung got their marketing wheels spinning. Totally possible, like Nokia vs the iPhone. Difficult to say for sure though, seeing vendors like Fitbit and Garmin still operate in the same space.

Not as ergonomic, no e-paper, and not hackable . They're fitness gadgets, not tools.

I’d strongly disagree with tool vs fitness gadget here. Compare a Garmin to an Apple Watch or pebble, and it absolutely is a tool. Arguably the MIP display beats out the ePaper, ergonomics are great (I can use the buttons even while swimming), and it’s built like a brick. Not knocking the pebble too hard, but it certainly seems like an enthusiasts toy. I’m not sure what else would last me a week while tracking exercising for an hour or two each day.

Re: We're bringing Pebble back

#550

Post by iamacyborg »

abraxas wrote: post #166
llimllib wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't swim, but I have done thousands of runs with my series of garmin watches and I can say that the UX for them is spectacular, everything is in a sensible place for me to do without thinking. Not sure what problems you've had with it specifically

Getting into the swim app itself takes a couple of different buttons presses. But then it tries to be both too smart and too stupid at the same time. All I wanted to begin with was lap counting with a big number on the centre of the display. Can't configure it and can't even start to get it to count laps without some ceremony of setting up interval training and it only gets more convoluted from there. It's useless fo…

Sounds like you might need to turn off a few defaults to make it easier.

It should just be a case of pressing the start button, navigating to the pool swim activity and pressing start.

Use the lap button to record rest intervals at the wall, everything else is automatic

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