Garmin for sure.
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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I've had a Fitbit, Samsung Smart, and Garmin. Fitbit and Samsung were almost a daily charge where my Garmin Solar lasts about a week. Both Fitbit and Samsung died on me roughly after a year and a half, Garmin has shown no issues.
I'll be switching to Garmin next time for other reasons, but my current Fitbit (Versa 3) actually has great battery life. 6-7 days between charges, unless I'm using the screen a lot.
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Apple Watch just makes sense if you are already on iPhone. I resisted it for a long time but now after getting one it is so useful for things like having access to DUO codes on your wrist without a phone and maintaining healthy habits
Love my Apple Watch! Its main downside compared to the rest is weak battery life, you basically need to charge it every day. It’s an easy habit to form though (I just throw mine on the charger when I shower).
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I’ve been an Apple Watch user for several years now. When I first purchased one I wondered if it might turn out to be a bit of a gimmick. But now I don’t think I would want to be without one.
The Apple Watch integrates seemlessly with the iPhone. The fitness features may not be quite as in depth as Garmin offers, but they are good enough for casual exercise and have been effective and keeping me more active. If you are numbers person the value of seeing your activity metrics can’t be overstated.
Apple Pay and hands free messaging come in handy often.
I also like the general design. The Apple Watch is square, and I think a square display works much better for a smartwatch. There is also a thriving marketplace for alternate watch bands and they are super easy to swap - no more mangling my finger nails trying to fiddle with those spring pins most watches use.
When I had an Note 10 Lite, I had a xiaimi smart band. I still think that it's impressive for the price, but the little guy had issues left and right with any app that wasn't xiaomi's own apps. (although sometimes, even those had issues)
Then I got an iphone, and later a apple watch. It just works, even with third party apps. Expensive as hell though
personally i am fine with the garmin on ios, only annoyance is double notifications
Garmin’s are great step trackers, I have read in reviews they are a lot more accurate in that regard compared to Apple Watch. The other integrations into the apple ecosystem is what I appreciate about my series 8
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For the most detailed exercise/health tracking, I'd highly recommend Garmin watches. First, no subscription fees, you buy the hardware and you own it and can customize it a lot. Second, the battery life can't be beat. Third, stats, graphs, analytics! Plus it works just as well whether you're an apple or android user.
I have the Forerunner 265 and it is so much fun for a stats and graph loving nerd like myself. My gf chose the Venu 2 Sq because she wanted a square screen and she is really happy with it.
I've been a happy Fitbit user for years, but am finding their Premium push increasingly annoying. I shouldn't have to pay a subscription fee to see data that my tracker is already getting. I almost switched to Garmin last time but didn't, and I regret that now. My current Fitbit is still in great shape so it'll be a while until I can justify a new tracker.
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There's only one smart watch that matters! This was the boyo!
All my phone numbers, my entire school lesson schedule, a calculator - everything 10 year old me ever needed!
If you had one of these when the TV came out in class, you were a god:
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I tried random Android watches. They all sucked.
I bought a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. I love it. Charge it when I shower and that gets me by, have never had to charge it overnight. Battery is at 15 days currently.
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Still miss my pebble...
Rocked a Garmin a few years, now I'm trying galaxy watch 5 pro. Miss the week long battery but 2+ days is "ok", a lot less annoying then I first thought it would be.
Exelent integration with my phone is a big plus. (For instance the Garmin never let me respond to alarms from the Samsung clock app :/ )
Upvote for Pebble. It was the best of all time. I could operate the buttons without even looking.
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The Pebble watches. They may not be made anymore, but they are the only smart watches I have used that felt like an actual smart watch instead of a phone for your wrist. Once mine dies, I may switch to a BangleJS.
Isn't the point of making a watch smart is that you can get your phone onto your wrist?
In some ways yes, but I think a smart watch is optimal for performing tasks quickly and and giving me information at a glance. A smart watch should feel like a dashboard on my wrist that stops me from using my phone unnecessarily. Most smart watches feel like a small second display for my phone with a worse user experience that make me want to always perform those tasks on my phone.
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I'm happily on the garmin ecosystem. Felix 5x is still going strong for about 2 weeks battery on normal use. takes a beating and still looks new. only had to replace the band. I use garmin on my bike too
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Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. It's light and durable, solar charging with several weeks between charges when using GPS tracking pretty regularly.
While there are a lot of comments saying Garmin, I haven't seen people mention the privacy aspect
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/categories/wearables/
Garmin apps are much better for privacy. If I'm going to be wearing a biometric tracker 24/7, I don't want that data being sold to advertisers. That's more important to me than most other features
Not many people care about privacy anymore. I mention it to my family, friends, etc and how they should do certain things online to stay more 'private' (not anonymous) and they laugh it off saying they have nothing to hide / don't care about their stuff being online... Sucks.
I get that as well, or when people care about the issues but not enough to change up how they are used to doing things.
It is getting better though, I'm finding more friends are moving to the better options. It's even easier when the privacy respecting option is as good as the alternatives. I guess Garmin is a decent example since people were recommending the watches even without the privacy aspect.
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I am an avid Garmin user. I have tried the Vivoactive and am currently using the Fenix series. Highly recommend!!!
I wear an analog which has nothing to track and connect to a phone. Just like the good ol' days.
Got my first fitness watch couple months ago. It was a Garmin and tbh I freaking love it!!! As a lot of comments already mentioned, Garmin gave very detail information, and the battery life just can't beat I would definitly do it again!
Is there one that exists that isn't ugly, can last for weeks and isn't the size of a dinner plate? (i t s not even the diameter thats the problem, its the thickness. I absolutely hate thick watches)
When they invent one that meets that criteria, let me know and I'll consider it.
Have you looked into withings? They're analog watches with a small lcd for notifications, fitness tracking, etc. They last a month between charges and are not too big.
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I have been using a PineTime for quite a while now which is an absolute no-brainer for 27$.
Even if it’s marketed for tech/foss enthusiasts it’s really easy to use, would recommend if you just want simple step tracking and heart rate monitoring.
Casio need to market their watches better, they have the Smartest dumbwatch**** of them all - 
Casio have several lines that support Bluetooth - essentially will beep and vibrate on Notifications, calls and messages. Does basic fitness tracking. It also does all of this whilst basically being indestructible and a battery life of atleast 3 years.
No one seems to know this and I blame Casios poor marketing - I didn't know any of this until I bought a new G-Shock and realised it had a BT label in the manual.
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Only had the pixel watch but I really like it
Second this. Battery life is only good for like 1.5 days but it charges in like 15 mins so it's not a big deal for me. Sleep tracking and fitness tracking have been good. Only thing I don't like is the default strap it comes with; it was irritating my skin. The stretchy fabric one is so much better.
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Pebble Time. It was the best ever until the battery swelled. My Fitbit Versa 2 was good until the battery gave out. My latest Fitbit has worse software with less features than the last and I hate it. There are no apps available anymore.
I have a garmin epix 2, best Damn watch ever. It lasts roughly 2 weeks on a charge. All the same features as the Fenix but OLED display.
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I still like fitbit. The metrics are solid, and the battery life is decent.
Same. A solid watch. And lightweight and comfortable. And a style I enjoy. A decent app. Just too bad it ate another smart watch company, before itself got eaten by google, who so far has done nothing with it except slowly killing features. We are truly living in the age of #enshittification.
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Amazfit with Gadgetbridge, FLOSS smartwatch app, a recent really good discovery!
Anything that works with Gadgetbridge is a good choice.Or maybe pinetime or bangle.js those look pretty cool too.
I really like Samsung's Watch 5, both in terms of appearance but also software and tracking performance. It's the only sleep tracker that actually matches my subjective experience with sleep (how tired I feel, how many times I remember waking up, etc).
If they didn’t lock features to Samsung phones I might be interested in the 6.
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I've only tried my Pixel Watch, and it's not perfect, but I do really enjoy it. Fitness tracking is pretty on point with sleep tracking being really solid and important for me since sleeping has always been a more difficult part of my life.
Withings Scanwatch is cross-platform. No need for a branded device to use it, does all the usual tracking stuff plus afib detection. One of the reasons I chose it was that it looks like a watch and not a toy. Also, depending on how you use it, it can go for days between charges. Most of the similar "brand locked" devices seem to only go 1 or 2 days max.
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I just want something that auto tracks my fitness, shows the time, and shows notifications from my phone on a nice looking display. Everything else is bloat for me.
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Withings. All the features without looking like your wearing a computer on your arm
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