Looking for "Smart"watch Recommendations

[nite_monkey]

Hey DC community! So I'm looking for a smartwatch to replace my LG watch urbane 2. (it looks nice, but doesn't do the primary function I want it for very well) I put smart in quotations in the title, because the watch really doesn't have to be super smart.
All I am really looking for is a cheap watch with the following:
1. Good battery life (At least one full day, I charge my oneplus 6t every day when I go to bed, so I don't have a problem with charging my watch every day too, but would like it more if the watch could last 2+ days)
2. Vibrate when I get a notification on my phone (android), and then let me view the notification. (my urbane 2 doesn't vibrate when I get a new notification, and when my phone is on vibrate, most of the time I don't feel it vibrate in my pocket.
3. (This one is 100% optional, but would be a nice to have feature) A heart rate monitor and accurate step counter (I work in retail, and walk around the store all night, and am curious how many steps I take a night).

TLDR: I'm looking for a smartwatch that won't murder my bank, has good battery life, and that will let me view my phone's notifications without having to take it out of my pocket.
I literally only use my current watch to view my phone's notifications without having to take it out of my pocket. (which it doesn't do a good job)

I've been looking at the fitbit versa, however I have never used a fitbit device before, and have no experience with the OS. However, the youtube videos that I have watched makes the watch seem like its not a bad watch.

[mouser]

I'm interested in this too.

[nite_monkey]

I've actually been doing a little more research, and the amazfit bip is sounding like an almost perfect match. It's a super basic fitness tracker based watch that states having up to 30 days of battery life, which the reviews have said that without heavy gps usage (which I haven't used once on my current, and previous watch) people have been getting about 3 weeks of usage on a single charge. It also doesn't have the ability to add new apps to it (which doesn't bother me at all, because I already don't use any of the apps on my current watch). You can only view, but not interact with your phone's notifications (which I can probably get used to, because the only notifications I really interacted with were emails, which I would delete the ones I didn't care about via my watch, and I only replied to sms and answered phone calls from my watch when I first got it, but quickly stopped doing that, because the coolness factor wore off.

With all that being said, I'm still curious what everyone else would suggest, but unless someone suggests a watch that isn't super expensive, and has some super unique features, I might go with the bip.

[wraith808]

I currently have a Garmin Vivoactive 1st Generation and have had it since it hit the market.  It's a great watch and interfaces well with my s9.  That said, it's about 5 years old.  I constantly research other models, as I'm ready to upgrade.  I looked at the Fenix, but it's a bit pricier (unless I go with the older Fenix 3, which I almost did).  I also looked at the Samsung Galaxy Watch, and Garmin Instinct.  I've almost pulled the trigger on the Amazfit Stratos a few times.  The only thing that I've determined so far is that I'm more confused after looking than I was before.

My requirements for my watch would be

(a) running, cycling, and swimming
(b) daily fitness tracking
(c) 2 weeks+ battery life (would tolerate less with GPS)
(d) GPS
(e) Pair with android
(f) not incredibly oversized
(g) durable

My current watch has all of these, though I've noticed with age that the battery (using GPS daily for about 30-45 mins) is about 4 days, so that's the primary reason that I've started to look.

[tsaint]

I purchased an amazfit bip about 5 months ago, after seeing it mentioned by, I think, 4WD.
Use it with an android phone (galaxy S8). I used to use a samsung gear watch - that now sits in a drawer, because I got sick of needing to charge it so frequently.
 I wanted it to map tracks, water tanks, gates on a sheep station. Too old/lazy/disinterested to take note of the fitness capabilities of the watch.
I'm very happy with it:
1. battery matches the claims made. I don't even think about charging it, until every now and again, I think "strewth, been a while since charging". Typically, I've still got >30% battery remaining.
2. GPS accuracy has been excellent. I've compared tracks from the watch and a dedicated gps tracking device and they closely agree. Does require a 3rd party app to be able to extract the route tho.
   I can't say whether that implies the fitness "stuff" is therefore accurate or not.... maybe it does for cycling, but not walking.
3. Notifications work fine.
4. Screen viewability in the sun is good.
5. Cost was great.

Negatives
1. For MY use, I need a 3rd party app. From memory, about $3
2. extracting route info sometimes a bit fiddly. If I used it daily, this would disappear, but as it is, I do this "mapping"  on an irregular basis.

Tony

[4wd]

Just a couple of notes on the BIP:

• For the basic stuff nothing other than the supplied app is required, (Mi Fit), so it's fine for Notifications, Step Counter, Heart Rate, Sleep Analysis, etc, etc.
• The BIP2 is soon to be available, (was available for pre-order for a short time) - 5ATM Water Resistance, slightly narrower, loses the Barometric sensor, albeit at a higher price - but it may prompt sales on the BIP1.

I think Apple has the best Smart Watch.

-Sean123 (March 06, 2019, 06:04 PM)

I'm looking for a smartwatch that won't murder my bank, has good battery life, and that will let me view my [Android] phone's notifications without having to take it out of my pocket.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 10:52 AM)

0 out of 3 ain't that bad ... I guess.

[tsaint]

FWIW, by chance, I just came across this article at "makeuseof" about new Fitbits.
https://www.makeuseo...-edition-smartwatch/

[wraith808]

Just a couple of notes on the BIP:

• For the basic stuff nothing other than the supplied app is required, (Mi Fit), so it's fine for Notifications, Step Counter, Heart Rate, Sleep Analysis, etc, etc.
• The BIP2 is soon to be available, (was available for pre-order for a short time) - 5ATM Water Resistance, slightly narrower, loses the Barometric sensor, albeit at a higher price - but it may prompt sales on the BIP1.

I think Apple has the best Smart Watch.

-Sean123 (March 06, 2019, 06:04 PM)

I'm looking for a smartwatch that won't murder my bank, has good battery life, and that will let me view my [Android] phone's notifications without having to take it out of my pocket.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 10:52 AM)

0 out of 3 ain't that bad ... I guess.

-4wd (March 06, 2019, 06:19 PM)

 

[nite_monkey]

Just a couple of notes on the BIP:

• For the basic stuff nothing other than the supplied app is required, (Mi Fit), so it's fine for Notifications, Step Counter, Heart Rate, Sleep Analysis, etc, etc.
• The BIP2 is soon to be available, (was available for pre-order for a short time) - 5ATM Water Resistance, slightly narrower, loses the Barometric sensor, albeit at a higher price - but it may prompt sales on the BIP1.

I think Apple has the best Smart Watch.

-Sean123 (March 06, 2019, 06:04 PM)

I'm looking for a smartwatch that won't murder my bank, has good battery life, and that will let me view my [Android] phone's notifications without having to take it out of my pocket.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 10:52 AM)

0 out of 3 ain't that bad ... I guess.

-4wd (March 06, 2019, 06:19 PM)

 

-wraith808 (March 06, 2019, 07:16 PM)

sold me on the apple watch, buying it right now!

Jokes aside, now I gotta go research the bip 2 and see if I need to wait for it or not.

[4wd]

Jokes aside, now I gotta go research the bip 2 and see if I need to wait for it or not.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 09:22 PM)

Not really much concrete info available atm just hearsay, speculation, rumours, and wish lists.  The pre-order page that was up is no longer accessible but the specs it had were similar to the BIP1 with the exceptions:

• 5ATM Water Resistance
• No Barometric sensor
• A little narrower

But I'd wait until it appeared on Amazfit's website before taking those as gospel.

[Stoic Joker]

I've been looking at the fitbit versa, however I have never used a fitbit device before, and have no experience with the OS. However, the youtube videos that I have watched makes the watch seem like its not a bad watch.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 10:52 AM)

I'm not sure if it's a versa, but I got the wife a Fitbit some-damn-thing-or-the-other for Christmas. The battery on hers will last just about a full week. And the UI is just about as elegantly idiot simple as it could be. She loves it and wears/uses it constantly. She is also a very nontechnical 65...

[nite_monkey]

I've been looking at the fitbit versa, however I have never used a fitbit device before, and have no experience with the OS. However, the youtube videos that I have watched makes the watch seem like its not a bad watch.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 10:52 AM)

I'm not sure if it's a versa, but I got the wife a Fitbit some-damn-thing-or-the-other for Christmas. The battery on hers will last just about a full week. And the UI is just about as elegantly idiot simple as it could be. She loves it and wears/uses it constantly. She is also a very nontechnical 65...

-Stoic Joker (March 07, 2019, 08:09 AM)

If you could figure out which fitbit she has, that'd be awesome. A full week of battery is a lot better than my current barely a day battery, and I'm still not 100% on the amazfit bip just yet.

[wraith808]

I've been looking at the fitbit versa, however I have never used a fitbit device before, and have no experience with the OS. However, the youtube videos that I have watched makes the watch seem like its not a bad watch.

-nite_monkey (March 06, 2019, 10:52 AM)

I'm not sure if it's a versa, but I got the wife a Fitbit some-damn-thing-or-the-other for Christmas. The battery on hers will last just about a full week. And the UI is just about as elegantly idiot simple as it could be. She loves it and wears/uses it constantly. She is also a very nontechnical 65...

-Stoic Joker (March 07, 2019, 08:09 AM)

If you could figure out which fitbit she has, that'd be awesome. A full week of battery is a lot better than my current barely a day battery, and I'm still not 100% on the amazfit bip just yet.

-nite_monkey (March 07, 2019, 08:34 AM)

I bought my wife the Fitbit charge 2 and she loves it and is very non-technical, and gets about a week out of it.

[nite_monkey]

I did some more research, and since my primary use case for the watch is to view my phone's notifications without having to pull my phone out of my pocket, I decided that I wanted to go the route of another wear os (android wear) watch. I looked at the ticwatch series, and ended up getting the ticwatch e2. It doesn't get anywhere near a week of battery life, however I can look past that since I already charge my phone every day, and was already charging my previous watch every day. It does however actually vibrate and notify me whenever I get a new notification on my phone (which my previous watch would not do. I had to wake the watch up from it's ambient screen, and physically check the notifications page to see if I had and new notifications.) So I am overall currently pleased with my purchase.

[wraith808]

https://www.digitalt...-ticwatch-e2-review/

https://smile.amazon...tible/dp/B07KJ8HWCJ/

[wraith808]

Massdrop has the Amazfit Biip for sale at 64.99 for the next 4 days.  Not sure if it's a good price, but if it is, just wanted to inform: https://www.massdrop...ches?mode=guest_open

[nite_monkey]

Massdrop has the Amazfit Biip for sale at 64.99 for the next 4 days.  Not sure if it's a good price, but if it is, just wanted to inform: https://www.massdrop...ches?mode=guest_open

-wraith808 (March 12, 2019, 09:34 AM)

Thats actually not a bad deal. Amazon has it for $80