Comment by foobarian | Hacker News Reader

Comment by foobarian | Hacker News Reader

I've been dabbling in smartwatches because of the built-in step counters, trying to get healthy, etc. The main thing I found I appreciated is the automatic time sync including DST switchover.

There is a long list of negatives:

- Battery life is miserable compared to a classic watch

- Screen activation is unreliable. Imagine a classic watch not visible when you look at it.

- Bad UX. Somehow the brightness settings I apply randomly get reset/reverted. This is probably hit or miss depending on brand, I expect Apple's devices have this nailed.

- Outdoor performance. This is the worst one. The screen is just not readable under bright sunlight. I find myself making a little tent out of whatever I have on and furiously shaking my wrist to activate the screen just so I can tell the time. This is what's going to make me ultimately switch back to a classic watch unless I can find one with e-ink. I'm not sure how Apple's devices fare here beyond friends saying 'it works fine.'

Have you looked at/tried the Garmin smart watches? I wear an Instinct 2, and from your list I’d say:

- Battery life is around 25 - 30 days (it would be longer if I was outside more and got more benefit from solar charging)

- The screen is always visible

- The UX on the watch is pretty terrible, not going to lie.

- Not a problem at all. When it is very, very, dark I have to press a button to temporarily activate the backlight.

When it is very, very, dark I have to press a button to temporarily activate the backlight.

The Fenix 3 I wore like ten years ago had a setting to turn the backlight on when I turned my wrist. It was not as reliable as the same functionality on Apple Watch, but good enough.

I’m an Apple Watch guy myself, but I’ve got a drawer full of Garmins, and they might make a fine choice for OP.

I don’t think the instinct line does this, but it does highlight something worth mentioning for anyone considering Garmin watches — these aren’t like Apple watches, where there are a few key differences between the various models. The UX and feature set is wildly different, and there isn’t even a real hierarchy where you can say “model a has features 1 and 2; model b has that plus feature 3; etc.”

I second the Garmin Instinct Solar as a really good everyday watch. I got tired of charging my Apple Watch everyday and getting annoying notifications all the time. I just wanted something to keep track of my walks, track my sleep and give me basic watch functions such as alarms, timers and stopwatch. The Instinct is perfect for that.

I also have it set so that the backlight turns automatically on when it's dark and I flip my wrist. I wear it to bed (sleep tracking) and I can always check the time if I wake up in the middle of the night.

You might like Withings Steel HR. It easily lasts a month on a single charge. Conversly, I now have their more premium Scanwatch, and I feel the UX regressed, while the added functions are not for me.

Compared to ordinary smart watches the Whitings watches feel a lot more "grown up" to me.

(I also liked Kronaby a lot, but those were quite expensive)

I had a basic Withings, not the Steel, and there was a lot I liked about it, particularly getting many months out of each battery, and the step counter being a dial from 0 to 50 to 100% of whatever target number of steps one set in the companion app.

But, for me, the lack of a second hand and backlighting or glow-in-the-dark hands & numbers, combined with the strong potential that my health data was being snooped on, convinced me to return to a traditional analog face wristwatch.

But I may look into the OP's original Casio - a sturdy watch with a barometer and compass built in, that would be handy.

It may not be an option for you based on your other tech choices, but I feel like the Apple Watch excels at all of the things you mention here except, obviously, battery life vs. a conventional nonsmart watch.

I supposed UX can be a matter of taste, but I've found it's simple enough to set up an Apple Watch such that I have rapid access to the features and functions I need in a given situation.

In particular, outdoor usage -- even in bright sun -- is pretty great. I've done no small amount of hiking with mine, and use it often when cycling. Readability is fine!

Most Garmin GPS watches (except for newer expensive models) have an LCD screen that's perfectly readable under sunlight, only when it's dark I need to tap the screen to activate the backlight. At least one model has an integrated solar panel which can significantly extend battery life while GPS isn't used.

But personally I have fiddled around with 5 different Garmin watches and think their UX in menus is simply horrible on average, mine is okay for my use-case but I'd advise to never buy them blindly.

What watch are you talking about? Apple watch 7 is perfectly usable for me outdoors. It has 1000 nits screen.

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP860

look at the pebble community threads for recommendations as they generally want the same thing. for example heres one where many seem to suggest the 'fossil collider' https://www.reddit.com/r/pebble/comments/v9966o/comment/ibw0...

Heh, I recently got the chance to discover that my trusty W-86 automatically adjusts for DST.

On the topic of battery life, it's still going after 6 months!

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