Between the Apple Watch kind of watches on one side, and Pebble kind of watches on another side, there's the whole Garmin ecosystem, a mention of which is notably absent from the article. They are a nice technological middle ground (though maybe not always a price middle ground), especially the classic models with non-OLED transflective screens. Granted, they are more sports/fitness oriented, but that's hardly a drawback honestly.
Yeah I love my forerunner 945. Got it used in 2020 and when it died in 2023 Garmin replaced it for $150 including tax and shipping. Couple friends have got the new fancier touchscreen models but I like the simplicity of my watch. I blocked most texts from coming through as a buzz except immediate family or 2FA but it would be nice if Apple's focus modes worked better with it automatically. Been wondering if Pebble would be a good move to get even further away from proprietary software though as someone who runs or hits the gym monday through saturday
Before owning a Garmin watch (Epix Pro Gen 2 in my case) I had no idea just how useful always having a flashlight* with you is. I'd put this feature near all the health/digital features in terms of usefulness. I have it set to red light mode by default and double-pressing the light button gives me instant and unobtrusive night vision. I have also turned on the Red Shift mode for the display which makes the watch itself much more pleasant to use.
I’ve found Coros to be great too. I’ve used my Vertix to track GPS for 48 hours continuously during a race. It’s been beaten up against rocks, soaking wet and filthy for extended periods and still works 100%. Just yesterday it saved me from a minor emergency when I got lost on a new trail and needed to backtrack. After years of use it still has weeks of battery life for tracking daily workouts. I don’t use any of the smartwatch features like notifications though and wear a mechanical watch as my daily driver.
Electronic devices that only need to do a handful of basic things like smartwatches and ereaders theoretically have less software complexity, which makes writing good software for them theoretically easier. in the age of ai, the threshold of "complex" has changed drastically- giving rise to even more open source adoption. Open source versions of these sw/hw tools seem to be a natural step forward.
I've tried a handful of smartwatches, and own a Pebble 2 Duo. While I'm interested in picking up a newer Pebble device (hopefully with a bit nicer build quality), I've found my sweetspot to be a Garmin. I bought a Forerunner 165, have never needed to pair it to my phone so I can be happy in the data privacy department. Additionally the battery life is fantastic and it gives me all the data I need for my health and fitness goals.
"There is NO way for a 3rd party smartwatch to compete with Apple Watch. Apple restricts 3rd parties in major ways. For example, 3rd party watches on iOS cannot send replies to notifications."
After wearing an analog watch for two years, I'll never buy another smart watch.
I do not need to be so connected to my phone that my wrist vibrates when someone texts me. The little reminders to stand up are ignored. The guilt at the end of a day when I didn't get enough steps in is gone. And I have a newfound appreciation for the pure craftsmanship that goes into making this tiny analog device on my wrist that is powered by tiny springs and gears and somehow crafted well enough to be accurate within seconds per day. It's also the one piece of jewelry that is socially acceptable for every single man to wear and can be a fun expression of self given the sheer variety of watches in the world.
I think the battery life of a smart watch cannopt be underestimated. I have all the old pebbles which I love darely but then I got a Amazfit Bip and I stayed with it until today. One month (!) of battery time with a HR sensor and notifications is all I need so why ever change.
I dont know why apple, samsung and google are not getting it. But I would not even touch one of their products with a 2 feet long pole.
Just my experience and 2 ct.
And one thing: Pebble2 is really really nice, but 200 euro? The Amazfit Bip is (was) 40 euros. Why the price difference?
Garmin for daily use, galaxy watch for social events. I have zero notifications and sensors running in the galaxy watch, just use it with the Google wallet for a very convenient credit card.
I immediately went down the preorder track, but found that I had an existing pre-order for May (purchased Jan), which I never got a single update about.
On one hand, super glad they caught that, but otoh, why not let me know it was delayed so severely?
I'm still wearing my Pebble Steel. It has a highly visible screen, great battery life, and it's easy to write whatever apps or games I want for it and deploy them immediately, without any signing BS.
My $10 Casio is infinitely a more reliable timepiece. It doesn't need charging so it can be taken off-grid for months at a time, easy to read the digits when half asleep and your eyes aren't working, has a built-in little light if needed, and if for some strange reason I need to replace it, it'll cost me $10.
When I need something more akin to a piece of jewelry, I reach for my Citizen eco-drive ($99), or my Seiko automatic ($150), both of which don't need recharging. ;)
Maybe this pebble will finally fit into a cost-conscious, and reliable model that existing timepieces already fill, but I'm not convinced through the quality of this article.
For those who do not want notifications, of course you can disable it (all/per app). On my side i need agenda notification, and that brillant. Never miss a planned event, so i'm not going back to analog watch. Since the watch has memory, event if you are disconnect with the phone, you have most of them synched on your hand.
The only issue I had with Pebble Time Steel was the battery, even after changing it, was up for maximum a week. Now with a almost a month + a keychain charger type C adapter, i can't but stuck with an empty battery.
Looking forward to use "find my phone" feature on Ubuntu Touch (I think it's already here on Android)
I have been using a "withings" smartwatch for the last 8 years. The battery now last 3 weeks instead of a month. It has all the features I need spite of being an oldy: heartbeat, steps, calories, countdown, sport mode, etc. The newer ones even have gps and more.
But the thing is: it looks analog, the smart is almost hidden away, that's how I like the tech, because the watch looks really cool. It can receive messages, but I never enabled that feature.
I've taken it deep under water, clashed against climbing walls, kettle-bells and it has a few scratches on it. I'm not a pro at anything so I don't need the garmin precision. I only had to change the wrist thingy once. I don't want another screen in my life. I recommend it as an alternative to all these "wrist-phones"
After just not wearing a watch because I have a smart phone in my pocket all the time I'm out which has, amongst other functions, a lock on it and I can actually interact with one handed...I will continue simply not wearing an utterly redundant piece of technology.
Does anyone use their oxygen sensor on their wrist device? I have a garmin vivosmart 5 with an oxygen sensor but turned it off because its reading seems to wholly be related to how tight I have the band.
With the o2 sensor off my battery lasts a couple of weeks. With it on only a couple of days.
I have a good fingertip sensor for this that I bought during Covid.
I bought a lightly used Apple Ultra Watch 2 6 months ago and it solved all my issues with my previous Apple Watch - specifically battery life.
I can use it as a sleep tracker and only need to charge it once every 2 days unless I take extensive hikes or use a lot of camera remote control.
The latter is magical btw especially for solo travelers - ability to set a scene on the iPhone camera while being in it by glancing on your watch is science fiction!
My favorite "smart" watch at the moment is the casio G-shock (because i do not need any health monitor device). Battery life: at least 2 years, count your footstep (butyou don't have to care), have sunrise and sunset, tides, notifications when activated (the app is a bit shitty and it like some configuration though), can stay in the water for a long time (down to 50m deep).
To me, smartwatches have two useful feature: notifications and health monitoring. I don't need the second feature, so any "smart"watch with the first one is enough.
Casio needs to improve their app though. it shouldn't be that mid in 2026.
My favorite gadget watch is my Soundbrenner, with powerful vibrating metronome. I don’t actually use it for practice much ( I use a phone metronome for that ), but if I’m going to be idle for a while I’ll dial up a nice brisk tempo. Just like that, I’m instantly doing no-instrument practice, mapping out songs in my head.
This is what I feel about the Withings ScanWatch 2. It's an "analog watch" that can also do fitness tracking and show notifications if I want. I owned a pixel watch 1. It was too much.
31 comments
[ 0.28 ms ] story [ 30.9 ms ] thread* not all Garmin watches have it AFAIK
Whenever I look at my Apple Watch, it's a reminder that Apple owns it and requires it to look a certain way.
"There is NO way for a 3rd party smartwatch to compete with Apple Watch. Apple restricts 3rd parties in major ways. For example, 3rd party watches on iOS cannot send replies to notifications."
I do not need to be so connected to my phone that my wrist vibrates when someone texts me. The little reminders to stand up are ignored. The guilt at the end of a day when I didn't get enough steps in is gone. And I have a newfound appreciation for the pure craftsmanship that goes into making this tiny analog device on my wrist that is powered by tiny springs and gears and somehow crafted well enough to be accurate within seconds per day. It's also the one piece of jewelry that is socially acceptable for every single man to wear and can be a fun expression of self given the sheer variety of watches in the world.
I dont know why apple, samsung and google are not getting it. But I would not even touch one of their products with a 2 feet long pole.
Just my experience and 2 ct.
And one thing: Pebble2 is really really nice, but 200 euro? The Amazfit Bip is (was) 40 euros. Why the price difference?
On one hand, super glad they caught that, but otoh, why not let me know it was delayed so severely?
I mean .. I have a phone which shows time, plays music and can tell me who called / sent me a signal message.
I have issues with having to charge my phone so having another device that I will have to charge will not make my life any better.
When I need something more akin to a piece of jewelry, I reach for my Citizen eco-drive ($99), or my Seiko automatic ($150), both of which don't need recharging. ;)
Maybe this pebble will finally fit into a cost-conscious, and reliable model that existing timepieces already fill, but I'm not convinced through the quality of this article.
For those who do not want notifications, of course you can disable it (all/per app). On my side i need agenda notification, and that brillant. Never miss a planned event, so i'm not going back to analog watch. Since the watch has memory, event if you are disconnect with the phone, you have most of them synched on your hand.
The only issue I had with Pebble Time Steel was the battery, even after changing it, was up for maximum a week. Now with a almost a month + a keychain charger type C adapter, i can't but stuck with an empty battery.
Looking forward to use "find my phone" feature on Ubuntu Touch (I think it's already here on Android)
But the thing is: it looks analog, the smart is almost hidden away, that's how I like the tech, because the watch looks really cool. It can receive messages, but I never enabled that feature.
I've taken it deep under water, clashed against climbing walls, kettle-bells and it has a few scratches on it. I'm not a pro at anything so I don't need the garmin precision. I only had to change the wrist thingy once. I don't want another screen in my life. I recommend it as an alternative to all these "wrist-phones"
With the o2 sensor off my battery lasts a couple of weeks. With it on only a couple of days.
I have a good fingertip sensor for this that I bought during Covid.
I can use it as a sleep tracker and only need to charge it once every 2 days unless I take extensive hikes or use a lot of camera remote control.
The latter is magical btw especially for solo travelers - ability to set a scene on the iPhone camera while being in it by glancing on your watch is science fiction!
To me, smartwatches have two useful feature: notifications and health monitoring. I don't need the second feature, so any "smart"watch with the first one is enough.
Casio needs to improve their app though. it shouldn't be that mid in 2026.
https://ericmigi.com/blog/apple-restricts-pebble-from-being-...