@bugger I’m sure this is nowhere near as good as an apple watch, but it’s also 1/10th the price.
No matter what watch you get though, yet another thing to remember to charge each night. That’s why my martian watch from here years ago got put in the drawer after a few weeks…
Probably makes sense anyone thinking of getting an apple watch to get one of these first. Spend $30 to see if you’re a smart watch kind of person before splurging on an apple.
No matter what watch you get though, yet another thing to remember to
charge each night.
Garmin and Fitbit (Google) make smart watches that don’t need to so much baby sitting. Garmin’s watches only need charging about every 2 weeks. Fitbits are closer to 1 week.
@bugger@OnionSoup the quality of the optical sensors, accelerometers, gps etc will be vastly different. Likely better to just not wear anything at all than pretend this is tracking anything with any kind of accuracy.
Maybe good for kids who want the cool look.
Other than that, would be fine for the “smart features “ like notifications, alarms, weather but integration will be highly restricted on apple devices.
@bugger@OnionSoup@Tipop Yep, the Apple watch sucks and I regret getting it instead of a Garmin. Either you can’t wear it all day, making it useless as a watch, or you can’t wear it overnight, making the health and vibration alarm features useless.
@bugger@OnionSoup
Yes, that is a VERY smart idea.
I’ve gone through 2 smart watches already and the first thing that hit me was the constant annoyance of all the notification I receive throughout the day. There are ways to configure it, but the best smart watch imho is a clock + activity tracker with GPS
@bugger@OnionSoup ^ This. My wife is constantly on her phone, so I got her an Apple Watch. She loves it. I, on the other hand, spend almost no time on my phone. She got me an Apple Watch… and I don’t use it at all. Guess I’m not a smart watch kind of guy.
@bugger@OnionSoup That’s exactly what I did. Went through 2 Martian watches (the original, and then a “Voice”), both of which crapped out within a year or so. Found a refurb Samsung Watch 3 for $100 a couple years ago, and it’s fantastic! Works a treat, looks great, and daily battery life 14-18 hours. The cheap “smart” watches are uniformly “dumb” and “cheap.”
@aarond12@bugger@OnionSoup Well, even if you don’t use your phone much, it’s still handy to get notifications on your wrist. That way you can leave the phone on vibrate at all times and still know if someone’s texting or calling you.
@bugger@OnionSoup@Telanis I wouldn’t call it useless. It just means you have to take it off for 15-30 minutes a day to charge it. You can put it on the charger each time you take a shower, for example. I just find it to be a headache after a while.
@f00l if you think you’re going to be the target of some nefarious cloning or biowarfare masterplan, I think it’s safe to say your existing medical records offer more information than your heartrate, steps per day, and water intake info can provide. This watch will not be the key to unlocking any sensitive data.
I’ve had a bunch over the years some old ones I don’t remember the model numbers of
Remember that huge one one?
Lately, I’ve had a fenix 5 and a 945.
I don’t really use advanced functions that I got these for stupid cheap
I’m disappointing the Garmin didn’t put for heart afib detection functionality into watches until now I think they have 1 that does it and is designed for the gym not outdoors?
—-
If Garmin catches up the lab-confirmed health detection capacities to Apple. I’ll buy Apple and Garmin if I can afford them.
What I really want is continuous or frequent blood glucose, detections in a watch with no needles
I’m not diabetic or not yet
But I imagine anybody interested in their health could profit from continuous blood glucose info
@f00l agreed! While I know that as individuals, none of us likely interesting enough to warrant health surveillance by the corporate/govt complex, I still don’t like sharing data, just on the principle. So for me, the question is, who can do the least damage to my life if they DID act in some way on my health data… and for that reason, I prefer going Cheap Chinese over Big American Tech.
If China knows that we (as individuals or as a whole) are a bunch of fat lazy slobs, there’s not a lot they will do. Maybe get a bit more agressive globally, assuming we’re too lazy to stand up to them. But if my health insurace provider buys a bunch of data off google or apple and then decides to deny care because they find that i’ve been too inactive for the past few years… well then I will be pissed. And seeing the way things are going, I wouldn’t put it past them. We already see auto insurance pushing people to put trackers in their cars “for better rates”
@f00l@Turken And failing medical underwriting creates problems when it comes to getting long term care insurance, can affect your rates with individual (non ACA, non company) health insurance and in some instances life insurance. There is probably more…
@haydesigner Yeah, I’ll buy that watch in an instant, price be damned. But don’t expect insurance to cover it any more than they cover other CGMs. I pay a discounted rate for Freestyle Libre (about $30 a pop), but Dexcoms aren’t covered at all with my ACA plan.
@f00l how’d you like your fenix? i know you said you didn’t use a lot of the fancier functions, but overall? i just picked up a fenix 7. had my eye on it for about a year now and finally found a price that made me pull the trigger.
i agree that CGM would be a huge plus for anyone that could figure it out. but, i’m thinking that might put the watch in the medical device category and the FDA would get involved. i work at a medical software company, and the FDA rigmarole is ridiculous. that’s just my 2 cents though.
@carl669
liked it even tho weighty. i liked having “awesome” on my wrist.
then got a 945 for stupid cheap and lent the fenix to a friend who actually does marathons and ironmans. it’s loved, and i prob wont ask for it back.
for some reason i liked wearing the 945 better, but was hardly using it as anything but a connected watch.
right now i’m going first to the apple 7 watch. cause lightwight maybe. dunno. i get into watch moods.
re buying a garmin now …
dunno. I’m pissed off that they got way behind on a bunch of fine heart detection stuff (like behind, by years). they’re still prob as good as it gets for serious outdoors and serious fitness tho.
I don’t know if i would get a fenix 6 or 7 now, unless the price is seriously low. or unless i was doing really dedicated training.
The fenix 8 and most of their new release better running watches will prob have the added heart afib and ecg capacities that the 6 and 7 don’t have.
Which will just push up the price even more.
Top Garmin watches are amazing if you need and will use the capacities.
BTW i am not a fan of touchscreens in a dedicated running or ironman watch. what a PITA.
I am annoyed with fucking Garmin tho. Given those damned $$$$ prices, how did they get so far behind on wrist health tech?
Rumors are that the new Apple Watch 9 might contain blood pressure monitoring capacity. Dunno. if likely. If it does, then, again, Garmin is behind.
I was hoping for blood glucose in the AW9 but I’m not seeing rumors so I guess that’s not a thing. Maybe AW10, I hope.
It would be so cool if glucose could be monitored non-invasively on the wrist.
Regarding the medical device category of smart watches in sports watches
Several current watches,
including the Apple Watch, possibly one by Withings recent Garmin watches, and I think some watchOS watches, but I’m not sure which ones
Have been tested for certain heart monitoring functions by medical labs that certified devices and have been excepted. I believe by the FDA as accurate in some functions.
Sleep detection is a problem for many of the devices are not terribly accurate
Step detection can be really iffy
Eighth of detection I think the watch is it do it and advertise it have all passed very serious and rigorous testing in terms of their accuracy
Heart rate detection I believe many of them have been certified as being close to medical equivalent
Breath detection is I think kind of spotty
Same with pulse ox
Some devices are better than others in these categories
In terms of endurance sports, use a running cycling swimming, hiking, navigating, etc. you can’t beat the dedicated sports watches
There are a number of good brands
Garmin polar Suunto coros Amazfit I think Withings and some others
The mi band whatever the latest version is does everything cheaply mine is to three generations old and was pretty good. I think the place to buy them is probably Ali express.
They be more expensive on Amazon and probably on eBay if you wanted the latest one
But if you get on AliExpress, some of the cheapest ones are knock off fakes
I sort of learned by instinct how to avoid the knock off they have to be in the basic price range of the biggest sellers not too much cheaper
Also, if you get anything off AliExpress or any other Chinese site, you have to make sure you are getting the international version
If you get just something not labeled the international version that is the Chinese version you have to set your nationality to China or something even if you said the language to English and it’s all very weird and I think the privacy considerations are quite different for the Chinese market versus the international market so get an international one
Some of the sellers say global instead of international, but it’s the same thing
Anyway, the Mi band is a lot of bang for the buck has been well reviewed in the past although I don’t know about the current version
And has some degree of positive history with reviewers and users
If somebody’s interested in it, probably the thing to do is check out the dedicated sub Reddit
In general, you can pick up the latest version on aliXpress for between 38 and 50 bucks but you have to wait for it to arrive from China
And I don’t know how good Ali expresses refund policies are if you wind up getting a knock off
—
In the smart watch category rather than the sports watch category
The Apple Watch has been certified in a number of areas to be as accurate as medical equipment although on some other areas I’m sure it’s not
They seem to be the industry standard in terms of nobody is better
I’m guessing the pixel watch and whatever Samsung’s offering is are also decent at what they do
Both in terms of smart watches and sports watches you have to pay attention to the generations, because some updates are barely update, where there is other generational updates are very significant
And the up-to-date Apple watches on, and Garmin watches can set you back.
—-
If you want to try a sports, watch from a brand that has a reputation, and just see if it works for you well you might try older models of one of these from.
Venu
2xx forerunner
Instinct
The venue was really kind of design for daily life in the gym and yoga class. What have you although it can be running watch
It’s attractive, but it doesn’t look to me to be quite as rugged and it has a touchscreen, which means you won’t get the same battery life as you will, and some of the others
All of these can be had for not catastrophic money on eBay or Swappa
Garmin pricing for their latest models is comparable to or higher than Apple‘s so if you’re looking at latest model fénix or Epix or 9xc or 2xx those can get real spends
If you’re in the market for Apple stuff, then get an Apple Watch SE or an older Apple Watch and just see if you like it
On the android side, I think that the pixels watches and the Samsung watches are decent, but I haven’t use them
If you’re mostly looking for pulse, sleep and step counting, probably a Fitbit charge of one of the other Fitbits
If you don’t mind buying from China or from a Chinese brand, then the Mi band
If you just want to try something cheap and maybe today’s watch, here is the thing but the fact that you do or don’t like it doesn’t mean you might or might not like some other smart, watch or sports watch
——
If you want to deep dive all this, Reddit is good
The wirecutter at the New York Times, which is their consumer products testing and recommendation site
And the DCrainmaker site which test the sports capacities of the bigger names to what seems to be an infinite degree
—-
Some people are very persnickety about whether the GPS places them within 1 foot or 1 yard or 3 yards
If that’s you then, make sure you specifically check out what the reviews say about that aspect
On the very serious sports watches, if you’re some kind of ultramarathon, fanatic, or some thing and you want to watch to last through a really long run with the GPS turned on
You can control how often GPS heart rate, etc. or samples in order to conserve battery life
If you are using these watches on the water
Pay attention to what people say about screen readability you probably want a more primitive screen technology, then won’t wash out on the water with reflection and you also want to pay attention to whether you want gorilla glass or some other glass not only based on protection but if the glasses to reflective it can be really hard to see on the water
Some of the Slickdeals threads about the Garmin watches have users to go in depth into their experiences with these devices that can be pretty educational
Some of the companies that make these watches, in particular, Garmin, polar Suunto and Withings and maybe some others
Also, manufacture, dedicated medical devices and veterinary devices
I think polar, for instance, makes a lot of equipment used on the training of the very best thoroughbred racehorses
And some of them make appointment certified for hospital use
Garmin owns one or more companies that specialize in heart data and its value and accuracy
I suspect some of these other watch manufacturers are in those businesses are also in those businesses
From the Itouch website faq, the sleep monitor only functions for sleep between 10p-8pm so for those of us who catch some shut eye at other hours , this function is pointless.
Sleep Tracking
June 27 2022 2:54pm
Our watches currently have an automatic sleep monitor that will track your sleep between the hours of 10pm-8am. If you sleep at any time during these hours, sleep data will be captured and transmitted back to the mobile app in the morning as long as you are within Bluetooth range*.
Many sports watches have low power nin touchscreen displays.
Some of them hand hugr batteries. Some of them have very efficient design.
The android and apple smartwatches are designed to serve as near-phone-functionality substitutes on the wrist. So they have to do kind of everything the phone does or close to it.
Throw in the Hi-Rez color, touch screens plus all that processing capacity and you wind up with something that uses a bit of power
Dedicated sports watches, such as the Fitbit, the Garmin, the polar, the amazfit, and whatever else don’t have to replicate, nearly everything your phone does, and they can be specifically designed to be efficient at what they intend to do, which is monitor your activity, and certain health metrics
Many of these watches can be programmed in terms of how often they sample data such as movement a heart rate or location or various functions can be turned on and off to maximize battery life
I’ve taken a bunch of apps off my Apple Watch, and it can sometimes go two days
My garments are good for maybe a week I don’t know they want them going onto the charger long before they need it just because that’s my habit.
Some of the garments also have solar charging, and some of the G shocks do that as well
@dtwsportsfan@mehvid1
my problem with the sleep function is my ‘sleep time’ is HIGHLY variable. For instance, last week I worked 1445 to 2315 most days, but one day was in our ER from 2245 to 0715 so I took a nap at 200 to 2215 before giong in, then came back for my normal 1445 shift that afternoon after sleeping a couple of times for a couple of hours each time. On my off week I may go to bed at 2200, 2300 or after midnight… depending on what we are doing the next day and what we are watching on the Roku…
This week my sleep pattern is all over the place as I recover from a hip replacement. I use a fitbit, and would have to constantly be changing my sleep times to keep it accurate.
I love inexpensive smart watches, and have had my Virmee VT3 Plus for a couple of years (well past the $25 price tag expected lifespan). But when 90% of the reviews on the Walmart link start with “[This review was collected as part of a promotion.]”, I’m out. Pay for praise is a strong sign of a pump and dump. To their credit, at least they left the 1 and 3 star reviews there, and they did give one (albeit benign) response to a reviewer.
I might have bit on this a week ago when my Fitbit Charge 5 died due to the company pushing a bad firmware update that bricked a large number of customers’ devices.
Alas, I moved on from Fitbit to an Amazfit / Zepp device and while I’m not thrilled that the Chinese government potentially knows how many steps I take a day, the device checks all the smartwatch boxes.
Pass on this one because Meh wasn’t psychic enough.
@f00l not yet…just offering 35% off to out-of -warranty customers, and in-warranty customers keep having their replacements delayed due to demand. Worst customer service debacle I’ve ever personally experienced.
As far as I know, the updates are automatic and cannot be disabled.
I wasn’t considering one, because I don’t do smart watches… but suddenly thought, might be good when Kayaking. I’ve wanted a cheap dumb watch that is waterproof for kayaking. If this can send texts via bluetooth to my phone while leaving my phone in the dry bag, this might actually be worthwhile.
Anyone know if it CAN send texts, I presume it gets them at least.
@OnionSoup
Notice that with an ipx 67 it’s only rated for 1 m of water. Anything deeper than that might be problematic. Falling out of your kayak would probably constitute more intrusion than ipx67 could handle
@chienfou only time I’ve ever fallen out of my kayak was when riding the kayak like a tobaggan down a steep slick clay slope into the water (I do flat water to class II max in my kayaks).
Can’t say I’ve ever been deeper than 1m into the water, nor that I ever expect my arm to go that deep.
@OnionSoup From the “manual” linked to above,
“The watch can display call, text, social media, and other app notifications from your smartphone.”
But it is mum on how you actually do that. And no mention of initiating a text. A word search finds “text” in the manual only two times. IME with manuals, omission of mention doesn’t mean the feature is not there.
It might be a feature of the bespoke app.
Inability to text would be negligible to me, as I don’t even care for texting from the small face of a phone. I’m sure I wouldn’t like trying to text from a watch face. But necessity could override that.
I think manuals are written something along the lines of:
“Are you through mopping that floor? OK, take 10 minutes and write us a manual. Don’t use too many words; that would take too many pages.”
@mappiahpadi TIL. I always just assumed they worked by some kind of pressure sensor, not optical.
I guess that’s because I never really considered those little finger clip-ons they use in dr’s offices to check oxygenation levels. Those def have a low-level light that penetrates to whatever extent.
This says it has a 10 inch band, but can anyone tell me how large of a wrist it will actually fit? My wrist is a bit over 9 inches around, so I have trouble finding stuff that fits.
Honestly, this watch would be good for anyone who is potentially interested in a smartwatch, but who isn’t sure if they would regularly use one. This is a cheap price for a waterproof watch and you can test it out without having to worry about wasting hundreds of dollars if you don’t end up using it. If you find you do use it and you start getting annoyed by the limitations of this watch, that will be a good sign you might be ready to lay out the money on a smartwatch from a bigger name company.
I did something similar years ago, before I purchased my Apple Watch. I also got a friend to do something similar and he ended up not using it after a while. He saved a lot of money that way.
The smartwatch resale market isn’t very good. You don’t get much, if anything, from reselling an expensive watch you don’t use, so trialing a cheap watch really makes sense.
@mehric It’s not a bad idea as a tester, but this is actually about the normal price for a basic bottom tier smart watch on Amazon and there are even cheaper ones that have the same functionality. Honestly, I’ve always been too cheap to buy the name brands, but have bought one of these bottom tier ones about every couple of years and have been reasonably satisfied for the price and longevity. They may have their quirks, but are still quite usable. The main issue I’ve encountered that requires replacement has been deteriorating battery capacity, which also happens with the name brands. Typically when it gets to where I need to charge every couple of days is when I just get a new one. Definitely worth it over Apple or Samsung at 10-15x the cost, especially when you’re not already locked into their ecosystem.
This one is probably just as good for $14, unless you just want the round display, which I find less useful for reading emails and texts as they tend to crop more or use smaller fonts.
The only problem with your thesis is that for me, and for several other people, I know we’ve been through a number of smart watches, and highly functional sports. Watch it before we found what we like.
It just survived a lot of experimentation some watches fit in always other ones not at all
So this watch might be wrong and another watch better, or v v.
About the resale market
Recent gen Apple Watches hold value reasonably
Sam, with high end, recent Garmin watches
Some Garmin watches even for five years ago, are still showing for a decent amount on Swappa or eBay
Some recent fitments do tolerably
Resell value really depends on the model and its reputation and the demand for it highly variable
I’ve had the same analog divers watch for at least 25 years. The fastfix watch place at the mall regrets selling me the lifetime battery replacement deal about 20 years ago.
my mom gave me a cheap smart watch that she got free from the casino. Back when her local casino was giving gifts for gambling. It’s around somewhere but I’ve never worn it.
Specs
Product: iTouch Explorer 3 Smartwatch
Model: 500228, 50229
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$98.99-$103.99 at Amazon
$59.99-$113.80 at Walmart
$59.99 at Walmart
Warranty
1 Year Manufacturer
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Sep 11 - Wednesday, Sep 13
It cracked in a fight with my hammer. Doesn’t sound too smart to me.
Tracks water intake? How on earth? Do you have to wear this watch around your tongue?
@OnionSoup ah… It doesn’t it just beeps or buzzes every so often to tell you to drink.
@OnionSoup it watches you… get it? Watches… because it’s a watch.
I’m doing Apple. No need for this 3 star rating thang
@bugger I’m sure this is nowhere near as good as an apple watch, but it’s also 1/10th the price.
No matter what watch you get though, yet another thing to remember to charge each night. That’s why my martian watch from here years ago got put in the drawer after a few weeks…
Probably makes sense anyone thinking of getting an apple watch to get one of these first. Spend $30 to see if you’re a smart watch kind of person before splurging on an apple.
@bugger @OnionSoup
Any watch that collects your data and your health data …
Maybe get a used Apple or a used Garmin cheap
@bugger @OnionSoup
Garmin and Fitbit (Google) make smart watches that don’t need to so much baby sitting. Garmin’s watches only need charging about every 2 weeks. Fitbits are closer to 1 week.
@bugger @OnionSoup the quality of the optical sensors, accelerometers, gps etc will be vastly different. Likely better to just not wear anything at all than pretend this is tracking anything with any kind of accuracy.
Maybe good for kids who want the cool look.
Other than that, would be fine for the “smart features “ like notifications, alarms, weather but integration will be highly restricted on apple devices.
@bugger @OnionSoup It says 7-day battery life. That alone makes this a contender against the “charge once a day” Apple Watch.
@bugger @OnionSoup @Tipop Yep, the Apple watch sucks and I regret getting it instead of a Garmin. Either you can’t wear it all day, making it useless as a watch, or you can’t wear it overnight, making the health and vibration alarm features useless.
@bugger @OnionSoup
Yes, that is a VERY smart idea.
I’ve gone through 2 smart watches already and the first thing that hit me was the constant annoyance of all the notification I receive throughout the day. There are ways to configure it, but the best smart watch imho is a clock + activity tracker with GPS
@bugger @OnionSoup ^ This. My wife is constantly on her phone, so I got her an Apple Watch. She loves it. I, on the other hand, spend almost no time on my phone. She got me an Apple Watch… and I don’t use it at all. Guess I’m not a smart watch kind of guy.
@OnionSoup I tried to like that Martian for a few months and then I dumped it on ebay for around $20. Pure Meh.
@bugger @OnionSoup That’s exactly what I did. Went through 2 Martian watches (the original, and then a “Voice”), both of which crapped out within a year or so. Found a refurb Samsung Watch 3 for $100 a couple years ago, and it’s fantastic! Works a treat, looks great, and daily battery life 14-18 hours. The cheap “smart” watches are uniformly “dumb” and “cheap.”
@aarond12 @bugger @OnionSoup Well, even if you don’t use your phone much, it’s still handy to get notifications on your wrist. That way you can leave the phone on vibrate at all times and still know if someone’s texting or calling you.
@bugger @OnionSoup @Telanis I wouldn’t call it useless. It just means you have to take it off for 15-30 minutes a day to charge it. You can put it on the charger each time you take a shower, for example. I just find it to be a headache after a while.
@bugger @OnionSoup
I think I still have my now dead and useless martian watch somewhere
@bugger @f00l @OnionSoup oh man, I forgot about my Martian watch that went straight in the bin.
Thwy saud it best:
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
If so, I can’t imagine why
We’ve all got time enough to cry
@hchavers
Is it 25, @narfcake? Or is it 6 to 4?
@haydesigner @narfcake At least twice a day.
@haydesigner @narfcake @phendrick
Walking down the street one day …
@f00l @haydesigner @narfcake @phendrick
A pretty lady looked at me
And said her diamond watch had stopped cold dead
And I said
Where “edge” is defined as “where the display ends”.
@awk seamless… right up to the edge… which is kinda like a seam… what’s that over there?
This is the worst possible name for watch. I hope they don’t make one for kids.
@jwoody27 should’ve gone with a safe name like iDiddle, like diddling the buttons and dials and stuff.
Hm. Normally I’m a sucker for a cheapass smart watch (although I am no longer awaiting my pallet of obsolete Martians), but this is… kinda ugly.
@brainmist it looks like they saw a g shock through a frosted window and tried to copy it.
Meh, I like my watches as stupid as possible.
@violue
Imma gonna watch my money and not buy this deal.
I use Apple and garmin
Have messed with others, Samsung, polar, etc.
Which companies do you trust with your health data? Do you have any clue who they share it with?
To me, that’s a big issue with these sorts of devices, which may or may not otherwise be fine
@f00l if you think you’re going to be the target of some nefarious cloning or biowarfare masterplan, I think it’s safe to say your existing medical records offer more information than your heartrate, steps per day, and water intake info can provide. This watch will not be the key to unlocking any sensitive data.
@warpedrotors
Data data data.
: )
@f00l which Garmin?
@carl669
I’ve had a bunch over the years some old ones I don’t remember the model numbers of
Remember that huge one one?
Lately, I’ve had a fenix 5 and a 945.
I don’t really use advanced functions that I got these for stupid cheap
I’m disappointing the Garmin didn’t put for heart afib detection functionality into watches until now I think they have 1 that does it and is designed for the gym not outdoors?
—-
If Garmin catches up the lab-confirmed health detection capacities to Apple. I’ll buy Apple and Garmin if I can afford them.
What I really want is continuous or frequent blood glucose, detections in a watch with no needles
I’m not diabetic or not yet
But I imagine anybody interested in their health could profit from continuous blood glucose info
I’d be all over a watch that can accurately monitor blood sugar. Price be damned.
In fact, bet a number of insurance companies would pay for much, if not all, of it.
@f00l agreed! While I know that as individuals, none of us likely interesting enough to warrant health surveillance by the corporate/govt complex, I still don’t like sharing data, just on the principle. So for me, the question is, who can do the least damage to my life if they DID act in some way on my health data… and for that reason, I prefer going Cheap Chinese over Big American Tech.
If China knows that we (as individuals or as a whole) are a bunch of fat lazy slobs, there’s not a lot they will do. Maybe get a bit more agressive globally, assuming we’re too lazy to stand up to them. But if my health insurace provider buys a bunch of data off google or apple and then decides to deny care because they find that i’ve been too inactive for the past few years… well then I will be pissed. And seeing the way things are going, I wouldn’t put it past them. We already see auto insurance pushing people to put trackers in their cars “for better rates”
@f00l @Turken And failing medical underwriting creates problems when it comes to getting long term care insurance, can affect your rates with individual (non ACA, non company) health insurance and in some instances life insurance. There is probably more…
@haydesigner Yeah, I’ll buy that watch in an instant, price be damned. But don’t expect insurance to cover it any more than they cover other CGMs. I pay a discounted rate for Freestyle Libre (about $30 a pop), but Dexcoms aren’t covered at all with my ACA plan.
@f00l I cannot imagine companies wanting anything more than your health data. Imagine the power they’d hold if they could only know your heart rate.
@f00l how’d you like your fenix? i know you said you didn’t use a lot of the fancier functions, but overall? i just picked up a fenix 7. had my eye on it for about a year now and finally found a price that made me pull the trigger.
i agree that CGM would be a huge plus for anyone that could figure it out. but, i’m thinking that might put the watch in the medical device category and the FDA would get involved. i work at a medical software company, and the FDA rigmarole is ridiculous. that’s just my 2 cents though.
also, fuck.
@f00l @Turken
I think they’ve already figured that out.
@carl669 fucking welcome back carl!
@carl669
liked it even tho weighty. i liked having “awesome” on my wrist.
then got a 945 for stupid cheap and lent the fenix to a friend who actually does marathons and ironmans. it’s loved, and i prob wont ask for it back.
for some reason i liked wearing the 945 better, but was hardly using it as anything but a connected watch.
right now i’m going first to the apple 7 watch. cause lightwight maybe. dunno. i get into watch moods.
re buying a garmin now …
dunno. I’m pissed off that they got way behind on a bunch of fine heart detection stuff (like behind, by years). they’re still prob as good as it gets for serious outdoors and serious fitness tho.
I don’t know if i would get a fenix 6 or 7 now, unless the price is seriously low. or unless i was doing really dedicated training.
The fenix 8 and most of their new release better running watches will prob have the added heart afib and ecg capacities that the 6 and 7 don’t have.
Which will just push up the price even more.
Top Garmin watches are amazing if you need and will use the capacities.
BTW i am not a fan of touchscreens in a dedicated running or ironman watch. what a PITA.
I am annoyed with fucking Garmin tho. Given those damned $$$$ prices, how did they get so far behind on wrist health tech?
Rumors are that the new Apple Watch 9 might contain blood pressure monitoring capacity. Dunno. if likely. If it does, then, again, Garmin is behind.
I was hoping for blood glucose in the AW9 but I’m not seeing rumors so I guess that’s not a thing. Maybe AW10, I hope.
It would be so cool if glucose could be monitored non-invasively on the wrist.
LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!
@carl669
Regarding the medical device category of smart watches in sports watches
Several current watches,
including the Apple Watch, possibly one by Withings recent Garmin watches, and I think some watchOS watches, but I’m not sure which ones
Have been tested for certain heart monitoring functions by medical labs that certified devices and have been excepted. I believe by the FDA as accurate in some functions.
Sleep detection is a problem for many of the devices are not terribly accurate
Step detection can be really iffy
Eighth of detection I think the watch is it do it and advertise it have all passed very serious and rigorous testing in terms of their accuracy
Heart rate detection I believe many of them have been certified as being close to medical equivalent
Breath detection is I think kind of spotty
Same with pulse ox
Some devices are better than others in these categories
In terms of endurance sports, use a running cycling swimming, hiking, navigating, etc. you can’t beat the dedicated sports watches
There are a number of good brands
Garmin polar Suunto coros Amazfit I think Withings and some others
The mi band whatever the latest version is does everything cheaply mine is to three generations old and was pretty good. I think the place to buy them is probably Ali express.
They be more expensive on Amazon and probably on eBay if you wanted the latest one
But if you get on AliExpress, some of the cheapest ones are knock off fakes
I sort of learned by instinct how to avoid the knock off they have to be in the basic price range of the biggest sellers not too much cheaper
Also, if you get anything off AliExpress or any other Chinese site, you have to make sure you are getting the international version
If you get just something not labeled the international version that is the Chinese version you have to set your nationality to China or something even if you said the language to English and it’s all very weird and I think the privacy considerations are quite different for the Chinese market versus the international market so get an international one
Some of the sellers say global instead of international, but it’s the same thing
Anyway, the Mi band is a lot of bang for the buck has been well reviewed in the past although I don’t know about the current version
And has some degree of positive history with reviewers and users
If somebody’s interested in it, probably the thing to do is check out the dedicated sub Reddit
In general, you can pick up the latest version on aliXpress for between 38 and 50 bucks but you have to wait for it to arrive from China
And I don’t know how good Ali expresses refund policies are if you wind up getting a knock off
—
In the smart watch category rather than the sports watch category
The Apple Watch has been certified in a number of areas to be as accurate as medical equipment although on some other areas I’m sure it’s not
They seem to be the industry standard in terms of nobody is better
I’m guessing the pixel watch and whatever Samsung’s offering is are also decent at what they do
Both in terms of smart watches and sports watches you have to pay attention to the generations, because some updates are barely update, where there is other generational updates are very significant
And the up-to-date Apple watches on, and Garmin watches can set you back.
—-
If you want to try a sports, watch from a brand that has a reputation, and just see if it works for you well you might try older models of one of these from.
Venu
2xx forerunner
Instinct
The venue was really kind of design for daily life in the gym and yoga class. What have you although it can be running watch
It’s attractive, but it doesn’t look to me to be quite as rugged and it has a touchscreen, which means you won’t get the same battery life as you will, and some of the others
All of these can be had for not catastrophic money on eBay or Swappa
Garmin pricing for their latest models is comparable to or higher than Apple‘s so if you’re looking at latest model fénix or Epix or 9xc or 2xx those can get real spends
If you’re in the market for Apple stuff, then get an Apple Watch SE or an older Apple Watch and just see if you like it
On the android side, I think that the pixels watches and the Samsung watches are decent, but I haven’t use them
If you’re mostly looking for pulse, sleep and step counting, probably a Fitbit charge of one of the other Fitbits
If you don’t mind buying from China or from a Chinese brand, then the Mi band
If you just want to try something cheap and maybe today’s watch, here is the thing but the fact that you do or don’t like it doesn’t mean you might or might not like some other smart, watch or sports watch
——
If you want to deep dive all this, Reddit is good
The wirecutter at the New York Times, which is their consumer products testing and recommendation site
And the DCrainmaker site which test the sports capacities of the bigger names to what seems to be an infinite degree
—-
Some people are very persnickety about whether the GPS places them within 1 foot or 1 yard or 3 yards
If that’s you then, make sure you specifically check out what the reviews say about that aspect
On the very serious sports watches, if you’re some kind of ultramarathon, fanatic, or some thing and you want to watch to last through a really long run with the GPS turned on
You can control how often GPS heart rate, etc. or samples in order to conserve battery life
If you are using these watches on the water
Pay attention to what people say about screen readability you probably want a more primitive screen technology, then won’t wash out on the water with reflection and you also want to pay attention to whether you want gorilla glass or some other glass not only based on protection but if the glasses to reflective it can be really hard to see on the water
Some of the Slickdeals threads about the Garmin watches have users to go in depth into their experiences with these devices that can be pretty educational
@carl669
Some of the companies that make these watches, in particular, Garmin, polar Suunto and Withings and maybe some others
Also, manufacture, dedicated medical devices and veterinary devices
I think polar, for instance, makes a lot of equipment used on the training of the very best thoroughbred racehorses
And some of them make appointment certified for hospital use
Garmin owns one or more companies that specialize in heart data and its value and accuracy
I suspect some of these other watch manufacturers are in those businesses are also in those businesses
@f00l damn… that was a whole lot of fucking info. thanks!
To be fair to it, it does everything I use my $300 Samsung Galaxy Gear S3 for routinely
Dave burned 319 calories today and took 8126 steps while averaging 62 beats per minute. Commence Operation Vacciclone! Next step: world domination!
From the Itouch website faq, the sleep monitor only functions for sleep between 10p-8pm so for those of us who catch some shut eye at other hours , this function is pointless.
https://support.itouchwearables.com/en_us/sleep-tracking-H1yj6lrOc#:~:text=Our watches currently have an,you are within Bluetooth range*.
Sleep Tracking
June 27 2022 2:54pm
Our watches currently have an automatic sleep monitor that will track your sleep between the hours of 10pm-8am. If you sleep at any time during these hours, sleep data will be captured and transmitted back to the mobile app in the morning as long as you are within Bluetooth range*.
@dtwsportsfan that’s… that’s insipidly stupid!!
@dtwsportsfan how do they get the battery to last a week? By only monitoring sometimes
@oldmantick E-ink display, pebble watches had the same thing and lasted almost a week.
@dtwsportsfan sounds like you can probably change the times during which sleep is detected. “… Currently, sleep time is set between 10:00pm - 8:00am.”
@dtwsportsfan @oldmantick
Many sports watches have low power nin touchscreen displays.
Some of them hand hugr batteries. Some of them have very efficient design.
The android and apple smartwatches are designed to serve as near-phone-functionality substitutes on the wrist. So they have to do kind of everything the phone does or close to it.
Throw in the Hi-Rez color, touch screens plus all that processing capacity and you wind up with something that uses a bit of power
Dedicated sports watches, such as the Fitbit, the Garmin, the polar, the amazfit, and whatever else don’t have to replicate, nearly everything your phone does, and they can be specifically designed to be efficient at what they intend to do, which is monitor your activity, and certain health metrics
Many of these watches can be programmed in terms of how often they sample data such as movement a heart rate or location or various functions can be turned on and off to maximize battery life
I’ve taken a bunch of apps off my Apple Watch, and it can sometimes go two days
My garments are good for maybe a week I don’t know they want them going onto the charger long before they need it just because that’s my habit.
Some of the garments also have solar charging, and some of the G shocks do that as well
@f00l Um, your garments need to be charged, and only last a week?
Maybe you’re shopping for clothes in the wrong store.
@f00l @pixelated She must be a nun. Only her habit needs charging.
@gageaa75 @pixelated
I dictate some posts and then don’t proofread.
: )
All errors are the responsibility of Google and Siri.
@dtwsportsfan @mehvid1
my problem with the sleep function is my ‘sleep time’ is HIGHLY variable. For instance, last week I worked 1445 to 2315 most days, but one day was in our ER from 2245 to 0715 so I took a nap at 200 to 2215 before giong in, then came back for my normal 1445 shift that afternoon after sleeping a couple of times for a couple of hours each time. On my off week I may go to bed at 2200, 2300 or after midnight… depending on what we are doing the next day and what we are watching on the Roku…
This week my sleep pattern is all over the place as I recover from a hip replacement. I use a fitbit, and would have to constantly be changing my sleep times to keep it accurate.
Does the iOS app for this pass your data through to Apple Health?
Hey, guys, watch this!
Eh?
Eh??
I’ll show myself out.
I love inexpensive smart watches, and have had my Virmee VT3 Plus for a couple of years (well past the $25 price tag expected lifespan). But when 90% of the reviews on the Walmart link start with “[This review was collected as part of a promotion.]”, I’m out. Pay for praise is a strong sign of a pump and dump. To their credit, at least they left the 1 and 3 star reviews there, and they did give one (albeit benign) response to a reviewer.
I might have bit on this a week ago when my Fitbit Charge 5 died due to the company pushing a bad firmware update that bricked a large number of customers’ devices.
Alas, I moved on from Fitbit to an Amazfit / Zepp device and while I’m not thrilled that the Chinese government potentially knows how many steps I take a day, the device checks all the smartwatch boxes.
Pass on this one because Meh wasn’t psychic enough.
@fargonia
I have a charge 5 lying around somewhere.
For some reason I didn’t love it so haven’t worn it in a while.
Should I avoid updates?
Has Fitbit compensated or replaced for the customers?
@f00l not yet…just offering 35% off to out-of -warranty customers, and in-warranty customers keep having their replacements delayed due to demand. Worst customer service debacle I’ve ever personally experienced.
As far as I know, the updates are automatic and cannot be disabled.
Too bad the watches don’t say “iTouch” across the bezel. Convicted child molesters on parole could be made to wear them.
@phendrick And I imagine bad connotations were taken into consideration when the watches were designed and the logo omitted.
I wasn’t considering one, because I don’t do smart watches… but suddenly thought, might be good when Kayaking. I’ve wanted a cheap dumb watch that is waterproof for kayaking. If this can send texts via bluetooth to my phone while leaving my phone in the dry bag, this might actually be worthwhile.
Anyone know if it CAN send texts, I presume it gets them at least.
@OnionSoup
Notice that with an ipx 67 it’s only rated for 1 m of water. Anything deeper than that might be problematic. Falling out of your kayak would probably constitute more intrusion than ipx67 could handle
@chienfou only time I’ve ever fallen out of my kayak was when riding the kayak like a tobaggan down a steep slick clay slope into the water (I do flat water to class II max in my kayaks).
Can’t say I’ve ever been deeper than 1m into the water, nor that I ever expect my arm to go that deep.
@OnionSoup From the “manual” linked to above,
“The watch can display call, text, social media, and other app notifications from your smartphone.”
But it is mum on how you actually do that. And no mention of initiating a text. A word search finds “text” in the manual only two times. IME with manuals, omission of mention doesn’t mean the feature is not there.
It might be a feature of the bespoke app.
Inability to text would be negligible to me, as I don’t even care for texting from the small face of a phone. I’m sure I wouldn’t like trying to text from a watch face. But necessity could override that.
I think manuals are written something along the lines of:
“Are you through mopping that floor? OK, take 10 minutes and write us a manual. Don’t use too many words; that would take too many pages.”
@phendrick sadly that probably means it can only retrieve them and not send them. Which is better than nothing, but not great.
@OnionSoup @phendrick I wouldn’t be surprised if it will only display the notification of the message, and not the actual message itself.
Not only do I not want a smart watch, this one’s kinda ugly.
I’m tempted by this watch but I have been burned in the past by cheap smartwatches whose heart rate monitor doesn’t work on dark skin.
@mappiahpadi TIL. I always just assumed they worked by some kind of pressure sensor, not optical.
I guess that’s because I never really considered those little finger clip-ons they use in dr’s offices to check oxygenation levels. Those def have a low-level light that penetrates to whatever extent.
Oh good - it’s been a while since I’ve tossed a junk smartwatch into my junk smartwatch drawer.
This says it has a 10 inch band, but can anyone tell me how large of a wrist it will actually fit? My wrist is a bit over 9 inches around, so I have trouble finding stuff that fits.
Honestly, this watch would be good for anyone who is potentially interested in a smartwatch, but who isn’t sure if they would regularly use one. This is a cheap price for a waterproof watch and you can test it out without having to worry about wasting hundreds of dollars if you don’t end up using it. If you find you do use it and you start getting annoyed by the limitations of this watch, that will be a good sign you might be ready to lay out the money on a smartwatch from a bigger name company.
I did something similar years ago, before I purchased my Apple Watch. I also got a friend to do something similar and he ended up not using it after a while. He saved a lot of money that way.
The smartwatch resale market isn’t very good. You don’t get much, if anything, from reselling an expensive watch you don’t use, so trialing a cheap watch really makes sense.
@mehric It’s not a bad idea as a tester, but this is actually about the normal price for a basic bottom tier smart watch on Amazon and there are even cheaper ones that have the same functionality. Honestly, I’ve always been too cheap to buy the name brands, but have bought one of these bottom tier ones about every couple of years and have been reasonably satisfied for the price and longevity. They may have their quirks, but are still quite usable. The main issue I’ve encountered that requires replacement has been deteriorating battery capacity, which also happens with the name brands. Typically when it gets to where I need to charge every couple of days is when I just get a new one. Definitely worth it over Apple or Samsung at 10-15x the cost, especially when you’re not already locked into their ecosystem.
This one is probably just as good for $14, unless you just want the round display, which I find less useful for reading emails and texts as they tend to crop more or use smaller fonts.
https://www.amazon.com/Watches-Fitness-Tracker-Pressure-Activity/dp/B0BL6XY523
KuoH
@mehric
The only problem with your thesis is that for me, and for several other people, I know we’ve been through a number of smart watches, and highly functional sports. Watch it before we found what we like.
It just survived a lot of experimentation some watches fit in always other ones not at all
So this watch might be wrong and another watch better, or v v.
About the resale market
Recent gen Apple Watches hold value reasonably
Sam, with high end, recent Garmin watches
Some Garmin watches even for five years ago, are still showing for a decent amount on Swappa or eBay
Some recent fitments do tolerably
Resell value really depends on the model and its reputation and the demand for it highly variable
I’ve had the same analog divers watch for at least 25 years. The fastfix watch place at the mall regrets selling me the lifetime battery replacement deal about 20 years ago.
my mom gave me a cheap smart watch that she got free from the casino. Back when her local casino was giving gifts for gambling. It’s around somewhere but I’ve never worn it.
@ironcheftoni
Do you dive…? I haven’t been in ages and kinda miss it.
@chienfou I used to ages ago.
@ironcheftoni
It’s probably been well over 10yrs since I logged a dive…
DOA
Received my watch yesterday and charged it overnight and it wont turn on…
@chefmutt Contact meh.com/support