Hacker News Reader

Comment by GordonS | Hacker News Reader

I quite like the idea of a smart watch, but having to charge it every day is much less appealing.

I thought the same, but after I got one, I really haven't minded. To be fair, I've never been able to sleep with a watch on, so putting it on its charger has just reduced the likelihood I forget where I put it down in the morning.

Sleeping with it on is like half the reason why I wear a wrist watch in the first place

I sleep with it on (sleep tracking app) and use it all day -- I charge it for about 15 minutes twice a day while I shower in the morning and as I get ready for bed only.

Never used Apple Watch, my GF had v3 for a long time. I ordered a Withings sport a while back and when she saw that it tracks pretty much the same stuff, has notifications and doesn't need to be charged for 20+ days she got one in a week. I remember a couple of instances where she would forget to charge it and didn't have the charging cable with her - probably less of an issue with newer models and wireless charging, but anyway she said it was annoying to keep track of another battery.

People are saying "charge it during showers" - IMO that's just too much inconvenience for no benefit - I shower in the gym - do I go and charge it then ? Or when I'm tired and want to go to bed - another thing I can easily forget. I like the idea of a smartwatch - would be nice to have a better screen and more rich interface than my Withings - but sub 3-4 days battery is a no-go for me. I've seen some smartwatches that fit that criteria tho - so will need to do some shopping around and see the tradeoffs

I agree with this sentiment. But then I discovered the Fitbit has a 7 day battery life. That's a game changer.

I got a Fitbit for this reason but I've been incredibly dissatisfied with the quality. I'm now on my 3rd device in ~6 months. First one stopped taking a charge, second the screen went out. Hopefully the 3rd time is the charm

I've had all 3 gens of FitBit and never had hardware issues. My gripes have all been on software (refusing to integrate with Apple Health, I don't like the new "sleep score", and I don't want a "premium" monthly payment). I did upgrade when the previous ones were no longer functional, but I had used them constantly for a few years each time.

However, I used to leave the charger plugged in my bathroom because I would charge it when I showered. I noticed the charging posts got crud on them and got smaller over time until my FitBit would no longer charge. Eventually, I started unplugging it except for when I was charging and that fixed my issue.

I had the same experience with multiple FitBit devices. Every single one of them had to be replaced, after only a few months, within the warranty period. The only device I ever owned that didn't need a warranty replacement was a FitBit Aria scale and that was a return/replace with the store after the first one was DOA.

Try a Garmin Forerunner or Fenix.

My wife and I have had the same bad luck with most wearables. I went through 3 MS bands, she went through 2 fitbits and all of them physically broke.

I had a Motorola Android Wear and Polar M600, both of which degraded to less than 24 hours of battery life after less than a year of ownership of each.

I have a Garmin 645M, which I've had since launch, and it still works fine and has days of battery life, even when doing morning runs listening to spotify from the watch. I finally convinced my wife to try a Garmin 245, and she hasn't destroyed it yet.

Garmin or Suunto provide much better quality than Fitbit, Fitbit is a cheap quality. Garmin, Apple and Suunto aren't. Just check what the pros are using :)

Can you make a call from your Fitbit?

Considering how fast Apple Watch charges, a 7 day battery life isn’t that compelling considering how much you get from an Apple Watch compared to Fitbit.

If you need a watch that can make phone calls then the Fitbit is not a good watch choice. I personally don't like making any phone calls and if I have to, my phone is usually near by. But that's a very personal choice.

Take a look at Withings. You can get weeks to months of the battery life with limited but very useful features set.

Have you tried the new Withings with ECG? I'm curious about that, this winter I'm going to switch to something new and it's basically between the Withings and the Apple Series 5

My Xiami Mi Band 4 has 4 weeks of battery life, basically does same things as Fitbit

I could certainly live with charging every 4 weeks. But isn't that more a "fitness tracker watch", rather than a "smartwatch"? When I think of smartwatches, I'm more thinking of ones running an Android or Apple OS, with apps available etc.

You pretty much throw it on the charger when you put down your wallet when getting home. I put it down when I get home, wear it to sleep, charge it again when I wake up and shower, then wear it all day. It's a few seconds added to my routine.

Same. This is something I wouldn't have anticipated before buying the watch. Somehow, my habit formed around charging it when it needs charge rather than overnight.

The problem for me is “putting it down when I get home” as I’m either still using it, or trying to do a workout. Inevitably if I’m not careful about battery life, it will die in the middle of said workouts. I’m honestly thinking I might get a second cheaper Watch just to keep motivated. I just wish there was broader support for fitness equipment compatibility, then maybe it could reduce battery life drain while tracking workouts...

Just like your cell phone and laptop? My Apple Watch 4 lasts for 2 days. I still throw it on the charger most nights along with my phone.

That's my point though - I have enough devices to charge already. I'm also very used to charging my phone and laptop - I change my watch battery once every couple of years or so.

My phone lasts more than a day of typical use on a charge ("Standby time: Up to 10 days"). When I'm using my laptop for anything more than an hour, it's easy (and not inconvenient) to find an outlet and plug in.

For a watch, 18 hours might not even cover a full work day.

This is why I stopped wearing mine. You can have the coolest stand in the world on your nightstand that makes it super easy to plop onto every night, but having yet another device you have to mentally track the battery for just isn't worth it.

>mentally track the battery for

Meaning what? I can't even think of a single time where I actually had to think about what the battery level is and I only charge it while I'm in the shower in the morning.

Meaning literally ever worrying about finding yourself in a situation where your watch is dead. Or looking at the battery throughout the day and worrying about whether it'll make it through. Or worrying about bringing its charger on trips, etc.

If you enjoy your watch, that's cool and totally great. I stopped wearing mine and it was mentally freeing not having one extra device's battery to monitor throughout the day. Would definitely recommend.

>mentally freeing not having one extra device's battery to monitor throughout the day

I don't have to do that, though. That's my point. It wouldn't free me from anything because I currently don't think about it ever.

It's great to hear your watch never dies on you, and you never have to worry about its battery. Surely you've worried about your phone, laptop, or headphones/earbuds batteries before -- if you want to sympathize, it's kind of like any of those. It adds to the list of devices you worry about. Subtracting from that list means less worries.

Are you being intentionally obtuse? If you never have to worry about the battery on the watch, what's the need to sympathize? You say "it adds to the list of devices [I] worry about" but I'm explicitly telling you that it doesn't add to that list because I don't have to worry about it.

Okay? I'm saying I worried about it. My watch died during the day sometimes because the battery only lasted about a day per charge. It also died whenever I forgot to charge it, and occasionally when I was out longer than expected (out late after work, etc).

I'm not claiming you worry about it or even that everyone else worries about it. I'm saying some people like myself worry about it, and not having to worry about it is nice. If you don't have to worry about it _and_ wear it, that's nice too.

I don't understand what you're trying to argue here, but I'm done with this thread.

Considering that you repeatedly used the phrase "you have to worry about it" or "list of devices that you worry about", I was arguing that your assertion isn't accurate. I don't worry about it, it doesn't add to the list of devices I have to worry about, and, based on the comments from others on these threads, it wouldn't be something you'd have to worry about either unless you intentionally didn't charge it at night. Worry implies that you're expecting it to die on you or that you have to monitor it throughout the day and we're telling you that's not the case.

I have the AW 4. I keep it on from wake, through my workout, and throughout the day until I go to bed then I just take it off and toss it on my charger.

I use it to roughly track calorie burn and movement throughout the day so I like to keep it on as much as possible. I don't track my sleep metrics except for time.

It goes on the charger when I go to bed at the same time, and right beside my phone. It works. The most tedious thing I do is change the band from my leather one to silicon that I wear during my time at the gym.

Depending on what you want the watch to be able to do, there are much better options.

The Garmin Fenix can last up to two weeks on a charge - I usually charge mine once a week, and with 5 workouts where I have chest band in use it's usually down to about 47% when I connect the charger. I mainly use it for the fitness tracking, but I have notifications enabled for text messages and other chat apps and the calendar.

I use a Fitbit, as does my girlfriend. Hers (Charge 2) has a life of about a week, mine (Versa) has a battery life of about 4 days.

Like these sibling comments, after owning one, I really don't mind. I waited until the 4th generation Fossil Explorist started to go on sale and got it for well under $200. I plug it in when I plug my phone in. About the only issue is that I ended up buying a $4 surge protector because I'm low on outlets near my bed.

Offtopic, but the ”splitter” is called a surge protector in NA? How interesting. Seems like calling your car an exhaust filterer.

Not all splitters are surge protectors, but most surge protectors are splitters (though single outlet surge protectors do exist). It is likely that when OP said "surge protector", they meant something like this: https://imgur.com/qHR9UFu

Yes. We often say "power strip" to better indicate that you plug in one end to get a strip of outlets to use. Ideally it's also a surge protector, so if something goes badly wrong, the things plugged in are protected.

I keep a charger on my desk at work and if I remember I top it up sometime in the afternoon, if not I charge it in the evening.

I do miss the week long battery from my Pebble Time, but having to charge it daily hasn't been a real problem. The main nuisance is needing to bring the proprietary charger when I travel for a couple days.

> proprietary charger

Yikes, that would be a total deal-breaker for me. I have enough chargers and cables to remember as it is.

Kind of difficult to see why they'd use anything other than micro-USB anyway?

I could see making this argument with a nice cable like USB-C, but micro-USB is legacy garbage.

It’s an inductive puck thing that the watch aligns itself to with magnets, honestly a lot nicer than needing to plug and unplug a cable. Feels like it will last longer, and it’s much more reliable than Pebble’s spring loaded charging pins were.

Would be even better if it could charge on standard Qi pads, but no such luck. Maybe there’s something about the size of the coils, who knows?

Apple could have made ”mini Qi” if they wanted to, but they don’t want to. It’s been their MO for decades.

It can charge on many, but not all, standard qi pads. I’d swear that launched years ago. I use one when car-camping.

Ah, OK, that does make a difference. I have a Plantronics headset that has a similar charging point, and it is great to be able to almost throw it onto the charger and just have it work.

But - the heatset also has a micro USB port built in, so if I don't have the charging point (or the charging case, which it also came with), I can just use a USB cable. This seems the best approach, IMO.

I consistently get away with charging every other day with my S2, hoping the S5 performs similarly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com