this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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As a longtime Fitbit user, the writing is on the wall. The Google buyout has been horrible, features disappearing, support sucking, no more web dashboard, payment issues, calorie goals no longer customizable, etc.
They bought the company for user data and patents. Merge what they want into their watches and discontinue the rest. Absolutely minimize maintenance costs by dropping features and firing employees. They'll keep the Fitbit name, maybe roll that into a watch sub-series, but the buyout was definitely a gut-and-dump deal.
Too bad the antitrust suit won't save what used to be a great product and company in time.
What are the good alternatives? Been a fitbit user for a few years now and not sure who to switch to next.
As s former Fitbit user: Garmin. Excellent hardware, excellent software.
I was just going to second Garmin. I have an instinct solar and it's absolutely amazing. If you get good sun exposure it only needs charging once every 2 weeks in normal mode.
I was also leaning towards Garmin, but the price and style kept me with Fitbit for now. I really wanted to jump ship recently though.
Garmin watches, IMHO more rugged and they do not put their software behind a paywall. You'll pay for it in the cost of the watch.
I've been using Garmin for fitness since about 2013, I have use a Charge HR for steps/fitness alongside my Garmin watches when I used them only for activities.
Eventually I replaced that with a garmin Fenix 3HR that did steps, activities and looked good enough to wear all the time
I have a Fenix 6 now.
I feel like I was too hard on Garmin. Their GPS hardware in the late 2000s were outdated and so I rooted for Apple/Google to replace them with map software and phones.
And here I am watching Google destroy Fitbit and eyeing Garmin again.
I'd like their upper watches to have some more smart features, but not at the expense of battery life.
My Fenix has NFC payments, it gets notifications. Holds music/podcasts so I connect headset directly to it.
But reading and responding to notifications is clunky.
Still, for me Garmin is the way to go.
I got a pixel watch 2 last year when I bought a Pixel phone and tried wearing it. Loved the extra smart features but couldn't stand the battery life. Just a non starter for me
I've read that Samsung and Apple smartwatches are better than Garmin at detecting cardiac issues tho.
Problem with the smarter fitness watches is battery life. My Fenix can go about 2 weeks with running 4 days a week. I do t want to have to manage charging my watch so often it's a pain to capture my life. (Sleeping, steeps, activities)
TBF I'm rocking a 30€ smartband connected to GadgetBridge lol
It gets ~1week battery life regardless of activity tracking
A week isn't bad. I just use mine to track a lot if activities, even sailing. So hours of GPS tracking. I'm really happy with my Garmin.
Garmin if you want a watch that receives notifications and can do basic replies. Anything else if you want a mini phone.
Spoken from an ex Pebble user here that's been rocking a Garmin 245 since 2020. Finally now starting to get a bit meh in the battery department and I will probably upgrade maybe next year to another Garmin?
Garmin. Vivoactive 3 purchased in 2017 is still working perfectly today. I’ve upgraded because I’m an unethical consumer but my mom now wears it. Other than less battery capacity, works perfect. Touchscreen, waterproof, and all.
Fitbit wristbands are faulty and keep detaching.
What kind of battery life does it get? One of the mains draws for sticking with Fitbit for me was only having to charge once a week or so.
Now it gets about 5-6 days. My new garmin gets charged once a month.
Whoa, what model only requires a monthly charge?
Instinct 2 solar
Not a direct replacement by any stretch, but I've been looking at the PineTime. Not sure how accurate anything it has is, but it's FOSS, so that's nice.
Other than that, the last time I looked for watches, it was between FitBit and Garmin for me, so I'll echo what others are saying.
I've been really interested in the PineTime, for the price point it seems like a neat little gadget. I've never had a smartwatch and I'd want something cheap to see if I like it, and with the PineTime I know it's going to be less sketchy than anything else at that price point.
But everything I've read implies it's not really a polished product yet. I'm really curious where it's at and I'm perfectly fine with some garden variety FOSS jank but how much are we talking here?
Idk, I don't have one, so I don't know how janky it is. I have heard good things about InfiniTime though, so that's what I'd probably use. Maybe do some research about that and see if it interests you.
I been looking at nabbing an amazfit and setting it up with gadget bridge (and then uninstalling the huawei spyware app into the ocean)
The poor Sense 2 was supposed to be the value feature phone of smart watches, and it was absolutely gutted. I’m sure it was simply purchased to remove it from the market so as not to compete with the Pixel Watch.
The antitrust won't save shit, it's just a move to let other vulturous companies have a piece of the public corpse, not for any kind of consumer protection.