Smartwatches / Fitness Trackers

Selix_sl said:

It's less that then people wearing it and just forgetting. It's a watch and for some watches, like a Pebble, which you wear a week at a time it's easy to forget it is even on your wrist.

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Who the fuck sleeps with a watch on?

$349 Apple Watch Only Costs $83.70 To Make According To Reportapparently they're ridiculously high profit (as no one was shocked)

Neph_sl said:

If you wear a smartwatch in an area that prohibits it, you're essentially putting your job at risk. Why put your job at risk for a vanity item? Or you could take it off before going in there. Or just not buy a smartwatch.

Edit: if I sound salty, it's not personal. I'm in the same boat

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People do dumb stuff all the time. A lot of places I have to go on site for contract work ban all cell phones because they have a camera. At least once a month I hear about someone who got canned because they had their cell phone out texting or doing facebook or whatever. This wasn't the case of they forgot it, normally they got a warning and then fired the next incident.

BrutulTM_sl said:

I'm kind of surprised that they haven't banned watches in secure areas altogether. Even when I was there 6 years ago they were worrying about watches with built in SD drives. Of course since you can smuggle a 128G micro-SD card in your nostril these days, a watch doesn't make it that much easier to sneak in a flash drive if you really want to.

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A lot of places I go into the contractors on site like engineers and project mangers have their USB disabled I assume so they can't copy stuff onto them. If I get a permit for a camera which is pretty normal and I take pictures on site I have to either find an upper managers office to let us look at them or back to my office offsite and email it to the PM or engineer.

Android Wear pushed an upgrade that lets an android smartwatch connect to your phone via wifi. The devices don't have to be on the same network and the phone can also be connected using a data plan.

I don't know how often I'm out of my phone's bluetooth range, but enabling the feature hasn't at all deteriorated my battery lifetime. Maybe it is turned on only if the phone isn't within range.

Borzak_sl said:

People do dumb stuff all the time. A lot of places I have to go on site for contract work ban all cell phones because they have a camera. At least once a month I hear about someone who got canned because they had their cell phone out texting or doing facebook or whatever. This wasn't the case of they forgot it, normally they got a warning and then fired the next incident.

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Yea for us it's immediate suspension and the second time is termination. It's really kind of disturbing how much checking facebook or texting a friend is worth to people, they'll knowingly risk getting terminated and when they do get termed, it's STILL not their fault. The funny part is it's never 'uhoh ring tone went off', it's someone catches them having it OUT and texting.

Vaclav_sl said:

$349 Apple Watch Only Costs $83.70 To Make According To Reportapparently they're ridiculously high profit (as no one was shocked)

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That's the power of a brand name, especially with the Apple iHerd as the target audience. They -know- that the people who are interested in their products will spend silly amounts of money to say they have their products, so bumping the price up is really just good business practices.

Palum_sl said:

Yea for us it's immediate suspension and the second time is termination. It's really kind of disturbing how much checking facebook or texting a friend is worth to people, they'll knowingly risk getting terminated and when they do get termed, it's STILL not their fault. The funny part is it's never 'uhoh ring tone went off', it's someone catches them having it OUT and texting.

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It really isn't about productivity (FB browsing) as it is the huge security risks. You are bringing devices that interface and integrate over wireless connections. That is a HUGE no no in the IT world. The wrong piece of malware could get these devices broadcasting all sorts of information from in / around your office. You can tell people to leave their cell phone off, or in a desk drawer, or in their car but these new wearable devices like watches are a different threat to deal with. They are only going to get more and more sophisticated and powerful as time goes on.

Bump.

Don't know why, but I've been getting the itch to get an activity tracker or smartwatch. To the people who bought one when this thread was still active 4-6 months ago, do you still use yours? Any big recommendations / ones to avoid?

I know iPhones aren't super popular here, but for what it's worth, I still wear my apple watch every day. If I could go back and do it again, I'd definitely go with the cheaper model (sport).

Using Maps (and I think Google just updated their app to work with the watch) for directions while driving is nice. It feels easier to look at my wrist then down at the phone, and as dorky as it looks, I have used the watch to take calls from time to time.

Battery life is usually around a day to a day and a half for me, and with watchOS 2, it works great on my nightstand when it's charging. 3rd party apps are also running way better now that Apple opened it up a bit.
I've taken mine in the shower and swimming (just laps at the gym, nothing too strenuous/deep) and had no issues.

If you go the apple route, pretty sure you can take it back after like a week if you don't like it.


The new Pebble is pretty popular, though I heard some of the early batches had some issues with quality of the case. Functionally, I don't think they are much different then a Pebble 1 which can be had pretty cheap these days.

A few of my friends are using Fitbits, and one of them was telling me they are notifications for texts/phone calls on their phone.

I have an iPhone, so am definitely considering an Apple Watch. Thing is though, my primary interest is fitness tracking and apparently optical wrist heart rate trackers aren't good at tracking weight lifting. So I've been considering other cheaper smart watches, or other smart bands, or even just getting a Bluetooth chest strap.

The other option is to just not get one as I've gotten along fine without it, which isn't as fun

Wearing any HRM (heart rate monitor) while weight lifting is a pointless effort. Weight lifting does not = cardio, which is what all these HRM / trackers are calculating.

Steady state cardio is what all of the algorithms are focused on calculating. Also, if you have one of the older Fitbit trackers that does not incorporate a true HRM, it is just a dumb guess and does not incorporate any actual output / exertion on your part.

My advice is to buy a nice Bluetooth HRM Chest Strap like the Polar H7.
Amazon.com : Polar H7 HR Sensor BLE BLK M-XXL USA : Heart Rate Monitors : Sports Outdoors

Download Endomondo app and pair the BT HRM with your smartphone. It is not only the cheapest option, but performs better than most of the outdated smart watch fitness trackers and it's quiter versatile. Endomondo has tracking for just about any activity you can think of, has a great web interface, tracks lots of things like your personal bests, social connection with friends, group challenges, local routes for running, biking, etc.

I like my Apple Watch but it is a TOTALLY unnecessary luxury buy. I'd like to have the steel version but no way could I convince myself to go that high.
I use it mostly for these activities.
My daily workout.
General App notifications (specific slick deal alerts mostly, CNN and other news alerts, Podcast alerts in some cases)

Message notification and for iMessage sometimes quick response (This is probably an edge case for most people. I have A LOT of messages coming to me during the day and many of them I just need to be made aware of while some I actually need to pull out my phone and respond to. It's nice to be able to flick my wrist and see a message without pulling my phone out in the middle of a meeting. It's also REALLY nice when the message is important and I have to make a quick exit)

Calendar notifications (Same as above. I average 9 meetings a day. No way do I bother trying to keep track of them all and pulling out my phone after every meeting is fine but flicking my wrist and having it already showing up just gravy)

Two factor authentication. My RSA key shows up on my watch and I have to enter in a dozen or so times a day. Nice to just flick to a glance and bam there it is.

Knock to Unlock (disclaimer it only works about 60% of the time. Though that has improved somewhat with watchOS2)

Pausing/Playing whatever current audio book I am listening to. (While working out and using bluetooth headphones or wired headphones my phone is generally tucked away somewhere tight and flipping my wrist and tapping a button is just easy.


My usage is probably an edge case for most people but I get a LOT of use out of the watch. The battery lasts about 70% or 80% of the day depending. No way does it last 24 hours for me unless it is a non-working weekend. I've had it die on my mid-day only 2 times since I owned it and I think both of those were because I didn't put it on the charger fully.

One more plus (or maybe a minus depending on how you look at it?) for the apple watch...it charges really really fast.

Haven't pulled the trigger on any tracking device yet. Decided to just go with apps for now: Under Armour Record and Stronglifts 5x5. Record covers the steps, sleep, and exercise tracking (though manual input for the latter two). Stronglifts is good for a simple 5x5 routine and you input how many reps you accomplish as you lift. It'll suggest weights for next time and it also gives you a timer between reps.

Another thing about the Apple Watch I didn't realize is that you can't check off your reminders on it. Seems like a pretty big oversight; I always use Siri / reminders to add stuff to my shopping list, would be nice to quickly check them off without pulling out the phone.

Jysin_sl said:

Wearing any HRM (heart rate monitor) while weight lifting is a pointless effort. Weight lifting does not = cardio, which is what all these HRM / trackers are calculating.

Steady state cardio is what all of the algorithms are focused on calculating. Also, if you have one of the older Fitbit trackers that does not incorporate a true HRM, it is just a dumb guess and does not incorporate any actual output / exertion on your part.

My advice is to buy a nice Bluetooth HRM Chest Strap like the Polar H7.
Amazon.com : Polar H7 HR Sensor BLE BLK M-XXL USA : Heart Rate Monitors : Sports Outdoors

Download Endomondo app and pair the BT HRM with your smartphone. It is not only the cheapest option, but performs better than most of the outdated smart watch fitness trackers and it's quiter versatile. Endomondo has tracking for just about any activity you can think of, has a great web interface, tracks lots of things like your personal bests, social connection with friends, group challenges, local routes for running, biking, etc.

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Weight lifting does not = cardio? So what you're saying is when a person lifts weights there is no increase in HR? You're either a dumb fuck or a pussy, grab some heavy weight (for you) and lift at 30s-1m intervals. Chest straps are the best way to calculate HR while doing circuit training/lifting weights, and are pretty accurate. I've tested my chest strap against a pulse ox and it's pretty accurate.