I have been using a Pebble Time Steel for years even after their acquisition by Garmin Someone corrected me it was FitBit not Garmin thanks to Rebble, a modded firmware that gives it new life, but I would like a smartwatch that can track my heart rate.

I don’t mind using an older device especially if it means a cheaper price. A bonus for me would be if it still had some kind of community around it or a custom firmware like Pebble watches do.

I found an original Moto 360 with a functional battery for about $30 but I am not sure if due its age its functionality would be greatly limited.

Edit: It seems like Garmin and FitBit might be worth looking at. But I wouldn’t know what devices to look at or if there have been any major improvements with recent revisions.

Edit: Just an update I bought a Garmin VivoActive 3 used and locally. It seems to have some solid build quality but appears to have significantly less apps and features compared to my Pebble. The heart rate sensor seems to work alright though. I am a dork for metrics so I feel like that should make up for it.

  • @MrVilliamEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    I bought a mid range (~$200) smart watch pretty recently. It’s the amazfit t-rex 2. I didn’t want to pay what Samsung and Google were charging, but I wanted more than basic. The battery lasts like a week, it’s water resistant (I wore it in a pool and it was fine), it buzzes for calls and texts, and it tracks sleep and activity. The app is meh but works fine. The watch itself isn’t always intuitive to navigate since what you’re looking for could be in any of like five separate locations, but you’ll only find it in one of them.

    Anyway, I love it. For the price, it’s surprisingly close to what premium shit is doing, and premium shit is double the price. I get annoyed at times, but everything is annoying at times. It might be out of your price range, but if you’re on the fence, I’ve banged it up a few times at work and it’s still like new. However, I have a coworker who was impressed by it when I showed it to him, so he bought one and it died on him after like 2 months. So maybe I got lucky, maybe he got unlucky. Keep it in mind and hold onto your receipt so you can do a return if my recommendation goes south.