I do like the idea of USB-C, the garmin's power plug is nothing but annoying. It's really just a matter of battery life and what sort of software integration it has. Although, it's hard to beat the Garmin ecosystem.
> UNA is currently a non-submersible device due to its innovative modular design. So, swimming is not something we offer as an activity, nor do we advise it. UNA is IPX5 rated, which means it is splash & showerproof to a high degree.
> "UNA is currently a non-submersible device due to its innovative modular design. So, swimming is not something we offer as an activity, nor do we advise it. UNA is IPX5 rated, which means it is splash & showerproof to a high degree."
If I had a dollar for every time some project that was ipx5 rated failed after getting caught in the rain one too many times...I'd have enough to buy another Garmin Fenix.
Cue to younger me that discovered the difference between water resistant and water proof when I found out that my "7 melodies electronic watch" didn't survive after a few minutes in the swimming pool.
Will the UNA hint us with a little bit of fog on the window?
Yeah, and drop your iPhone, in a ruggedized case, into 3 inches of bath water for 5 seconds from a height of one foot and then realize apple's IP68 claim is laughable.
I got all the way to the order screen thinking it was IP68 because my eyes scanned over "UNA features a universal IP68 rated usb-c charging cable" and thought the port was IP68.
The CABLE is IP68? But the watch is IPX5? This is just up to the line of criminally deceptive false advertising. It's not criminal because the fine print, but what an absolute loss of trust. They know what they're doing. IPX5 is a no-go, which they know, which is why they're being so deceptive.
I really want to like this watch. Price is certainly right, and it does all of the things I'd want out of a Garmin or Apple Watch Ultra. But what problem does this solve for me? In the Apple Watch use case, a replaceable battery would be nice. But in contrast to Garmin, I've never replaced a Garmin because the battery wouldn't hold charge anymore. I've never broken a screen (if one has a habit of that, Garmin and Apple make watches with raised bezels). I just hold on to the Garmin for six or seven years, by which time it's so beat to hell that it's time for a new watch anyway. But I'm wondering if the subtle message isn't aimed at Apple and not Garmin.
USB-C charging would be awesome, instead of Garmin's proprietary plug and a cable that's made from spider silk. I'd prefer, though, wireless charging like Apple. Never once have I pulled an Apple Watch off a charger and said, "WTF? Why didn't it charge?" Garmin, OTOH...
I'm no triathlete, but the "no swimming" kinda puts a damper on my enthusiasm as well.
I wish them well, I love the idea even if I probably won't buy one.
Any "open ecosystem" product needs to be a competitive product out of the box, otherwise it's just a development toy. Developers aren't going to enhance your product to fill in all the gaps unless there are customers, and preferably paying ones.
Acknowledging I'm in a small niche, programmable high quality GPS watches are kind of not really a thing. As a developer, I find the hardware offering compelling and is something I jumped on. Agreed that it won't reach mass market with that mentality though.
I've wasted so much money on vendor charging cables in the past 10 years while traveling or moving that I would probably buy this just for the USB-C port, assuming it is actually
splash proof.
I wonder what HR sensor they use. Samsung apparently has an average error of 7% which is pretty bad, so I wonder if this would be worse. [0]
Some good points were already brought up in the comments (IP5X, USB C charging), but I have the feeling that it's also just not a good fitness tracker/smartwatch.
I see a single unboxing of the watch from three weeks ago on Youtube and zero reviews on YT or websites. Just posts based on their PR release that it's available now. (Though some clearly already shipped.)
Thus, it's unfortunately very likely that the product is also not good at its main purpose, tracking activities, workouts and health. If it would only even come somewhat close to the performance of all the competitor smartwatches/trackers, they'd be louder about that part.
so it's been out for less than a month. That's why you've seen zero reviews on websites, it's an indie Kickstarter. They don't have the marketing budget of a big wearables brand.
It has a GPS, IMU, and heart rate sensor: That's enough, obviously, to track activities, workouts, and health which their competitors do with the exact same set of sensors. It remains to be seen how accurate those are, or how well the manufacturer and community can develop useful algorithms to turn raw sensor data into activity logs and actionable health insights, but step 1 is to release an MVP to get people wearing the watch and logging data, and step 2 is to use the data to improve the algorithms.
Not that it changes any of the rest of your comment, but from their Kickstarter campaign updates it seems like there are at least ~800 watches out there (and the public store just launched).
I ordered the watch and just had it show up this week. The software side of it seems pretty immature (as you'd expect from first launch), but there's visible progress from the tiny team already. Appeals to me to be able to write my own activities and utilities, though I'm mindful of how far their "openness" extends. Nothing is locked down on the watch so you can dump the firmware, but they don't make the firmware publicly available AFAICT.
The hardware seems top quality (looking past the waterproofing concerns, don't love that). On first blush it seems like its in the same league as my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro for tracking though, with obviously way fewer features at this point. I intend to do a side-by-side with the Fenix 6 and a heart rate strap to compare HR and GPS to see how it shakes out under tree cover and bouncing around, but the hardware seems up for it.
If it has a flashlight and is beyond waterproof, I would maybe consider it.
My Garmin Epix watch is practically bullet proof. I've dove with it in open ocean. I've jet skied with it. I rock climb with it. It's surived 108miles of Unbound (the race) in mud, sun, sweat. I've water rafted with it. I've swam in crappy lakes, streams and jumped off cliffs. Hottubs? also no problem.
Zero chance a iWatch would ever survive these conditions.
Oh and despite all of this, the screen has not scratched, not even a little. Plus it has 5-10 days of battery life... and did I mention I always have a flashlight on me?
The title is misleading at least, to compete with garmin you need the similar offering, with swimming/waterproofing being the huge outliar here but also the ecosystem and like it or not features like the notifications.
Very valiant first effort for sure but after 6 years with a Garmin Fenix still holding 90% of its battery (and being able to replace it), I'm not their potential customer.
For me the value of Garmin (Forerunner) is their proprietary algorithm for calculating Stress Level from HRV. It is the basis for the Body Battery measure. I find it useful to see how food and activity affects my stress levels.
I guess it would be possible to reverse engineer a similar stress level calculation. Perhaps AI-powered?
This is cool because we need more open competition for the app/identity locked ecosystems of sports related electronics like gps watches, bike computers, and action cams. I hate how none of the major brand ones will work without at least signing up for an account and most wont work at all without the manufacturers app.
Doesn't this also use its own app and services? The only "open" part of it I saw in the docs was that there's an sdk to write your own app that runs on the watch. Better than nothing, i guess, but not quite what I was hoping for.
I like this a lot. USB-C is obviously not ideal for a super durable plug but with the right cap (sounds like they use a rubber insert?) it could be great. Especially since it would allow direct data access.
What might be cool for a version 2:
1. Custom hardshell "door" to cover the USB-C port. Something that cannot fall off the watch. The port itself could be well sealed like a phone and then have this additional layer of physical protection.
2. Wireless charging of some type (or even add pogo pin as well). Would be nice to top up charge without having to expose the USB-C and probably increase the plug life. Does this require a glass back? Because obviously that would not be ideal in a watch.
3. Better waterproofing. I dont personally use my Garmin for swimming often but would be nice to not have to worry about it.
Anybody know about the battery life in real world use?
I just finished swimming, tracked by a Garmin Forerunner 910x which I bought back in 2015 and I have been constantly using since. Wrist band replaced once each side. Battery lifetime still amazing, even with longer bike rides and GPS. Data can be analyzed locally. Uptime since I bought it: almost 100%.
Amazing peace of Hardware.
Also their algorithms are cool. If the watch tells me to rest more than 24 hours, I know, I will be tired the next day.
The two features that I miss are built in heartrate monitor and temperature sensor. I payed around 500€ back then. Over the years I use this watch, the price became very reasonable.
Honestly, Garmin watches are amazing. Going from a watch I had to charge daily (Samsung Gear line) to one I charge about 3 times a month feels incredibly liberating, particularly for travel. _And_ it feels almost as slim and light as my old Pebble Time Round.
As a former very very fast swimmer, i never found a watch that worked. The ones with the features were to heavy/draggy. So i always bought dirt cheap ones that i could leave at one end of the lane. Cheap ironmans. They got stepped on every day. People would apologise and i would throw the watch across the deck to show how much i did not care about scratches. Try this: put your watch on your other wrist. The weight/drag difference will be dramatic.
The missing heart-rate monitor is a pretty big limitation for a lot of users. LOL. Imagine writing a review and leaving the heart rate in last place. Just don’t write a review then.
I have a Garmin Vivoactive 3. Fantastic watch but I find the HRM underwhelming. Not very accurate and drains battery. I pair a chest band with it instead for much better quality monitoring.
Nice, this might be the right thread to ask a question i have had on my mind for a while: is there a watch that can track some biological metrics (heart rate, steps, sleep data etc) but allowing my to pull data off it without using some proprietary platform? Basically i want to store my data in my own database.
Love the idea, but I can't handle the big screens on these smart watches. To me it feels like having a fisher price toy on my wrist. Hopefully a more open alternative to Withings will emerge
This is a comparatively small one: 40.25mm diameter screen, 14.4mm thick, at 50g.
My Fenix 6 Pro has a 47mm face, is 14.7mm thick, and weighs 80g (but as a Fenix that's the stainless bezel one, the plastic bezel watches are closer to 50g).
67 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 4.9 ms ] thread> UNA is currently a non-submersible device due to its innovative modular design. So, swimming is not something we offer as an activity, nor do we advise it. UNA is IPX5 rated, which means it is splash & showerproof to a high degree.
If I had a dollar for every time some project that was ipx5 rated failed after getting caught in the rain one too many times...I'd have enough to buy another Garmin Fenix.
Will the UNA hint us with a little bit of fog on the window?
The CABLE is IP68? But the watch is IPX5? This is just up to the line of criminally deceptive false advertising. It's not criminal because the fine print, but what an absolute loss of trust. They know what they're doing. IPX5 is a no-go, which they know, which is why they're being so deceptive.
USB-C charging would be awesome, instead of Garmin's proprietary plug and a cable that's made from spider silk. I'd prefer, though, wireless charging like Apple. Never once have I pulled an Apple Watch off a charger and said, "WTF? Why didn't it charge?" Garmin, OTOH...
I'm no triathlete, but the "no swimming" kinda puts a damper on my enthusiasm as well.
I wish them well, I love the idea even if I probably won't buy one.
I wonder what HR sensor they use. Samsung apparently has an average error of 7% which is pretty bad, so I wonder if this would be worse. [0]
[0] https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/i-ran-30-miles-testing-5-sm...
I see a single unboxing of the watch from three weeks ago on Youtube and zero reviews on YT or websites. Just posts based on their PR release that it's available now. (Though some clearly already shipped.)
Thus, it's unfortunately very likely that the product is also not good at its main purpose, tracking activities, workouts and health. If it would only even come somewhat close to the performance of all the competitor smartwatches/trackers, they'd be louder about that part.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unawatch/meet-una-the-m...
so it's been out for less than a month. That's why you've seen zero reviews on websites, it's an indie Kickstarter. They don't have the marketing budget of a big wearables brand.
It has a GPS, IMU, and heart rate sensor: That's enough, obviously, to track activities, workouts, and health which their competitors do with the exact same set of sensors. It remains to be seen how accurate those are, or how well the manufacturer and community can develop useful algorithms to turn raw sensor data into activity logs and actionable health insights, but step 1 is to release an MVP to get people wearing the watch and logging data, and step 2 is to use the data to improve the algorithms.
The hardware seems top quality (looking past the waterproofing concerns, don't love that). On first blush it seems like its in the same league as my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro for tracking though, with obviously way fewer features at this point. I intend to do a side-by-side with the Fenix 6 and a heart rate strap to compare HR and GPS to see how it shakes out under tree cover and bouncing around, but the hardware seems up for it.
My Garmin Epix watch is practically bullet proof. I've dove with it in open ocean. I've jet skied with it. I rock climb with it. It's surived 108miles of Unbound (the race) in mud, sun, sweat. I've water rafted with it. I've swam in crappy lakes, streams and jumped off cliffs. Hottubs? also no problem.
Zero chance a iWatch would ever survive these conditions.
Oh and despite all of this, the screen has not scratched, not even a little. Plus it has 5-10 days of battery life... and did I mention I always have a flashlight on me?
Very valiant first effort for sure but after 6 years with a Garmin Fenix still holding 90% of its battery (and being able to replace it), I'm not their potential customer.
I guess it would be possible to reverse engineer a similar stress level calculation. Perhaps AI-powered?
What might be cool for a version 2:
1. Custom hardshell "door" to cover the USB-C port. Something that cannot fall off the watch. The port itself could be well sealed like a phone and then have this additional layer of physical protection.
2. Wireless charging of some type (or even add pogo pin as well). Would be nice to top up charge without having to expose the USB-C and probably increase the plug life. Does this require a glass back? Because obviously that would not be ideal in a watch.
3. Better waterproofing. I dont personally use my Garmin for swimming often but would be nice to not have to worry about it.
Anybody know about the battery life in real world use?
Amazing peace of Hardware.
Also their algorithms are cool. If the watch tells me to rest more than 24 hours, I know, I will be tired the next day.
The two features that I miss are built in heartrate monitor and temperature sensor. I payed around 500€ back then. Over the years I use this watch, the price became very reasonable.
Just put it on your wrist.
You CAN decide to use garmin-connect for apps/updates or pair it with your phone, but I never have and I'm fine.
Apple watch and others require activation.
Round watches are bad. A circle is the worst shape for watches. Good watches are not round. Roundness is an anti-feature.
Really. Just use a rounded rectangle shape. It will end up _smaller_.
Might this be it?
https://unawatch.com/products/una-watch
My Fenix 6 Pro has a 47mm face, is 14.7mm thick, and weighs 80g (but as a Fenix that's the stainless bezel one, the plastic bezel watches are closer to 50g).