Besides just notifications, what tips or advice can you give to using the watch to the full potential?
Xiaomi mi band 8.
Specifically with gadgetbridge. It’s the main reason why I got this one. At the time it was the cheapest watch that gadgetbridge supported.
Other than notifications it’s mainly used as an alarm clock. Anything on the nightstand would wake up the rest of the house before it manages to wake me up. While since I sleep with my arm under my head. I basically have the watch up against my ear…
Also. While it’s still notifications in the end. I have a small script running on my homeserver/pi that checks when there are issues with the train I use to commute to work (delays. Reroutes cancellations. Etc…) If there are any issues. It just uses ntfy.sh to send notification on my phone. Which I rarely pull out at work since I work up on scaffoldings most of the time. (Unfortunately the national train service’s app lacks this kind of notifications built-in. But at least they make train data easily accessible)
Apple Watch 2. I use it for regulating my emotions. Any time my rage needs managing I ask it a simple question like “Battery?” and its complete inability to hear, understand, and respond in less than five attempts really gets the rage pumping.
Garmin Fenix 6 sapphire, this has been the best watch I’ve ever har. At this point I’ve had it for like 6 years and the battery still lasts a week at max power and a month on battery saver. It can record GPS for like 2 straight days on one charge
No touch screen which is excellent because the button input is extremely intuitive to the point where I can often use it without looking if I’m running or working on something.
The spO2 and HR monitors are nice to haves for me for working out but I use them more for differential readings more than absolute.
I keep wanting to upgrade to the newer ones especially to have mobile Internet connectivity but I can’t justify it cause this thing has been bulletproof.
Also been using a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro since 2020 and agreed with everything you’ve said. 10 day battery life still holding strong and the screen is essentially bullet proof (non-saphire version here). It’s smart enough to where I’ll get notifications from my phone but not smart enough that I’ll be composing a fully fledged out response through it, that’s what the phone is for. Thought about the newer ones, but I think at this point I just want to run this one until it’s dead.
Sits in a drawer. I look at my phone for the time.
I have a Garmin Vivoactive 6, and I use it for the following:
- sleep quality tracking. It judges me in the morning.
- steps and calories burned so that I can justify eating or drinking something shitty.
- whether or not to pull out my phone and respond to a text message
- how far from the green I am
That’s… about it. Would love other ideas.
How you judge your sleep massively influences how you feel, so I always judge how I slept, then check the watch if it agrees. If I think I slept well and the watch says no, I say technical malfunction. If I felt I slept bad and the watch says I slept well, I feel better about my sleep. Win win
Multiple Refurbished Apple Watch SE
80% setting timers.
15% exercise tracking.
5% finding phone, checking weather and compass.
I’ve tried to go without it - but the ease of setting common timers pulled me back.
Refurb SE2 here-
50% Telling the time! (no clocks within view at work)
50% kilojoule/exercise tracking.
you never check the time on it?
Garmin 6S Solar Pro
I use it to:
- Tracking my steps and walks
- Tracking biking & hiking
- Monitoring my sleep
In the past I also used it to pay in grocery stores
Pebble Time 2.
I use it primarily for notifications and secondarily for step / sleep tracking. I also currently use it for media control, home assistant, and various other generic watch things (timer, clock,stopwatch, etc)
Still getting used to it. Perviously had (in order) a CMF Watch, PineTime, Garmin Venu, PineTime, and some nameless Amazon watch (ticwatch maybe?)
As far as advice, personally I load a ton of stuff on every watch I’ve had thus far, and then remove stuff slowly as I realize that I don’t need it. I usually get rid of around half of the stuff I initially added. Honestly, just try new stuff, go through whatever app store your watch uses and find new cool stuff. There’s cool stuff hidden all over the place.
I have the Garmin instinct 1, and will be getting the 3 sometime soon.
I love it, because it gives me all of the features I want in a smart watch without all the bells and whistles that I’ll never use. The battery still lasts for nearly 2 weeks, and this is 6 years after purchase. It’s great if you do any nature activities, and even comes in a version that has a solar panel in the face to extend the battery.
The one thing I did wish it did is broadcast BLE packets so I could use it in my smart home setup to track my movements around the house and turn lights on and off and such
I use the PineTime, a fully open-source smartwatch, but it’s not very smart. It shows me the time and my notificafions, which is all I need. (It also does more things I dont use). It only costs like 35 euro as well.
I use one too. Only thing I wish for is longer memory for notifications. It only does a very limited number of characrers, and with a long group chat name the message often gets cut off.
Samsung watch 6.
Got it to monitor my heart which does not work on me for medical reasons though. It’s one of the cheapest but is still full featured (imo) but only with Samsung mobiles.
Really nice for managing notifications and using for media controls. A little fitness tracking.
Home assistant usage was great like until a year ago and now it simply doesn’t really work anymore.
Garmin Instinct Solar: I use it for regular watch stuff, finding my phone when I misplace it, controlling music, and checking notifications.
It can do more, but that’s mostly what I use it for. Also, the battery life is great compared to other smart watches, including the efficient ones like the OG Pebble. I charge maybe once a month.
I had a pixel watch 2, and my main activity with it was charging. Then I got a OnePlus watch R2, and that thing is way better. I mainly use it to track my activities, sleep, etc. But another benefit I wouldn’t want to miss is to quickly check what has been ringing up my phone without taking my phone out. Oh, and having a quick look at the temperature/rain forecast before I go out has saved me thousands of times.
I’ve had a few. I mostly use it to tell time, overview the weather and get notified about calls. I have a toddler that sleeps with me. I am also on-call for work half the time, so if I get called in the middle of the night it wakes me up so that I can sneak off to work a bit without waking the kid.
My pebble time had a great Google maps app for navigating. It was great. Nothing screams tourist like walking around with your phone to navigate.
Pebble Time 2.
Mostly sleep and step counting. Media controls on occasion. Just got it so not had a chance to customize it much yet.
Coming from, in order: Garmin Vivoactive 5, 4, 3, 2, Pebble Time, Pebble OG.
Preferred the healthstats on the Garmin out of the box. Great indicator if I’m getting sick based on its measurements or if I’m not being as active as I should be.
