I’m trying to move away from a fitbit, once in a while I forget to charge it and I have to install the app and fork over all of my data to fitbit to set the time.
Anyone have any recommendations, I need something with a decent heart monitor, that’s really the only thing I care about.
I use a Xiaomi Smart Band 7 and pair it with Gadgetbridge, and it works fine for my purposes, which is HR-monitoring during the day, sleep and workout sessions. I rarely interface with the watch itself (which is by design), so if you want more functionality out of your watch, then this might be a little on the light side feature wise. I tend to keep Bluetooth off, so I connect to it maybe once a day to sync data with Gadgetbridge, which I again export for analysis. A bit clunky to connect - I have to search for it first in the Gadgetbridge app, and only when it has found it can I attempt to reconnect. Maybe this is easily fixable, but I have not bothered to do it because I only sync once a day.
You do need to obtain a key first though, which requires a login to the Xiaomi servers. I used a throwaway e-mail for the registration. Gadgetbridge has no access to the internet.
Garmin Fenix! The new ones are very expensive ($1000), but I picked up a used Fenix 5X a few years ago when it was the most recent model for $350 and I love it! Battery charge lasts about 3 weeks on mine and 6 weeks on the newest ones. It has sports tracking activities for just about anything you’d ever do, a great phone app interface, doesn’t need to be charged for weeks at a time, and has GPS topo maps that you can use while backpacking, cycling , jogging, or even driving. I was able to track how far I paddled in my kayak thanks to the GPS. Anyways, it’s a great watch if you’re looking for a fitness tracker as well as a smart watch to give you phone notifications, music controls, and that sort of thing. The only drawback is that the screen resolution isn’t great on the older ones since they use eInk screens instead of fancy screens. The new one uses OLED, so it’s supposed to look better. Oh, and they’re not touch screens. That was a little clunky for me when I first got it, but it doesn’t bother me now.
Only one I recall (smartwatch open source)
https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
Does this fit the bill for you?
That’s pretty cool but I don’t even wear a dumb watch, let alone a smart one.
Maybe a watch supported by asteroid os is something.
Some models have support for heart monitor. Don’t know if there is a fitness app or something like that.
I like my Garmin gps watch, though they have gotten what i would consider too expensive…
Does the Garmin app require location services to be turned to use like fitbit?
So, I just checked under the app information in Android. The location permission was turned on. I disabled it, and started the app up and it seems to work fine.
Location services have to be turned on in Android whenever you’re searching for Bluetooth devices.
This isn’t because they’re necessarily using your location but because scanning Bluetooth/wifi devices could be used to localise you.
As far as I can tell, Garmin does not use location on the phone. Weather updates come through the phone’s internet connection but only work based on the watch location.
My phone has CalyxOS so I don’t need to
You don’t need to what?
I can search for Bluetooth devices without location services
I’m pretty sure Garmin has a good privacy policy - mozilla seemed to like them - and I got a fenix6 sapphire on ebay used for about $250 and I love it. Way better than my apple watch, particularly because I care more about fitness tracking and hate having texts show up on my watch.
I’ve been considering the Bangle.js 2, and while I don’t think the heart rate monitor is really good yet, there is active development and discussion about how to make it better. If you’re interested in helping out, this could be a fun project!
Was going to ask if anyone owned a bangle.js 2, it’s on the top of my list so far but still unsure whether to pull the trigger
@e-ratic @mossy_capivara @thejevans I am using a bangle 2. For privacy is one of the best. There were others that I can not remember the name…
I am happy with it, but using it with graphene os I can not put it to work completely. No notifications on it… Using with android is OK :)
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I use a Fossil Hybrid watch with gadget bridge. Works really well, though one caveat is that while you can read and dismiss messages on the watch, you can’t reply from it. This isn’t a problem for my use case, but YMMV. The couple weeks of battery life is a great plus, though. (E-ink screen)
Can I ask which one you have and does it work well with gadgetbridge?
I have been eyeing a watch from them for a while now but gadgetbridge.org seems to only list two compatible watches (or I misunderstand the Fossil naming scheme).
Basically any Fossil / Skagen (they’re the same thing) Hybrid (meaning e-ink) watch will work with Gadgetbridge. I personally have the Fossil Machine Gen 6 Hybrid which works great. Ignore the ‘Alexa’ bit, that does nothing via Gadgetbridge (and in fact you can just flat out remove that ‘app’ in the GB app). Heart Rate and Message/Notification/Call control functions all work fine. Step tracking works, but sleep tracking does not (Fossil doesn’t have it done on the watch, it’s done in their app, so until/unless GB replicates that functionality it won’t work).
I use the Fossil Collider HR with Gadgetbridge and it’s pretty great. Three are some downsides though:
- The set-up is a little bit of a hassle. You need to get the Collider’s secret key, and that requires installing a jailbroken version of the Fossil app
- Any changes you want to make to the watch display have to be made in the Fossil app, which means you have to install that app and do a bit of a runaround whenever you want to change something
But aside from that, it’s been a good year with my Collider HR and Gadgetbridge
