Smart watch for wife.

[Venod]

No not a swap, the daughter and granddaughter both have Fitbit watches the wife is impressed, and would like something similar.

Any recommendations? its her birthday soon.

Gps not essential, HR, steps and phone notifications the most important and not too big.

I have had several Garmin watches but they are more sports orientated, I have looked at smart watches and the choice is bewildering, they all offer similar, I wondered if one stood out.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Fitbit are great, the more you want the more you pay.

You link to phone, so if the wife is a Apple fan maybe an Apple watch,but the cost is a bit prohibitive like everything Apple

 

[Venod]

You link to phone, so if the wife is a Apple fan

She has a Samsung S8, so Android, should have put that in the OP

 

[vickster]

I’ve an Apple Watch, had a Fitbit Charge HR 2. The Fitbit would alert to phone ringing or a text but not able to respond. If you just want HR and steps, Fitbit great. If you want full functionality akin to a phone, then that’s an Apple Watch (maybe there are similar Android ones).
Now of course the AW costs about 4x as much as a Charge!

Edit, I’m guessing the Samsung Gear watch or whatever it’s called is similar to AW?

 

[Mo1959]

I’ve an Apple Watch, had a Fitbit Charge HR 2. The Fitbit would alert to phone ringing or a text but not able to respond. If you just want HR and steps, Fitbit great. If you want full functionality akin to a phone, then that’s an Apple Watch (maybe there are similar Android ones).
Now of course the AW costs about 4x as much as a Charge!

Edit, I’m guessing the Samsung Gear watch or whatever it’s called is similar to AW?

I am a bit of an Apple lover, but have been put off the watch by the battery life. It quotes 18 hours so not even a full day, unlike my Garmin Forerunner 935 that lasts over a week. If they could even get it close to a couple of days battery life, I would definitely like one.

 

[vickster]

I am a bit of an Apple lover, but have been put off the watch by the battery life. It quotes 18 hours so not even a full day, unlike my Garmin Forerunner 935 that lasts over a week. If they could even get it close to a couple of days battery life, I would definitely like one.

I just charge it overnight, easy

 

[Mo1959]

I just charge it overnight, easy

......but then it can't record your sleep. How long does it take to charge?

 

[Jody]

I've got the Galaxy Active 2 which is a great bit of kit. It has full functionality, make/recieve calls, read/reply to texts, GPS and all sorts. Depends how much you want to spend but the first Watch Active looks decent for the money. I think you can pick them up for about £150. I think the main thing it loses out on is ECG (when it gets enabled on the Active 2). It will be a really slick device if it's anything like the Active 2.

YouTube is a good place to start when comparing. Lots of people running through funciontality, pros and cons.

One thing I would consider though is battery life. I'm happy charging mine every couple of days as I can do it when on my PC but some might not be. Battery life is 2 days or just over.

 

[vickster]

......but then it can't record your sleep. How long does it take to charge?

A few hours fully. I don’t record sleep anyhow, made me obsessive when I did with the Fitbit. How do you record sleep now? Just carry on using that at night?
I don’t think it does a great job anyhow, there’s no inbuilt App.
It’s also fairly chunky to sleep in (I never slept in a traditional watch for example).
It’s a great bit of kit in terms of what it can do, I dithered about buying one for ages. It is a toy ultimately, certainly not essential (even the guy in Apple store said that!)

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Withings is the way to go if you don't want to look like a person who wears a fitness watch (8,621 steps so far today, for 3.84 miles ). Much cleverer than they look, iyswim. Battery lasts donkeys (as in many months) which is useful.

https://www.withings.com/uk/en/watches

 

[fossyant]

She has a Samsung S8, so Android, should have put that in the OP

So, Samsung GALAXY WATCH. Comes in 3 forms, two of which are watches. The rose gold ones are very smart looking - my wife has the 'bigger' Galaxy Watch, not the Active. It's been more reliable than the Garmin watch she had before.

 

[fossyant]

Withings is the way to go if you don't want to look like a person who wears a fitness watch (8,621 steps so far today, for 3.84 miles ). Much cleverer than they look, iyswim. Battery lasts donkeys (as in many months) which is useful.

https://www.withings.com/uk/en/watches

Those look very good value !

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Those look very good value !

They are. They go their own way, in a positive sense.

 

[dodgy]

I am a bit of an Apple lover, but have been put off the watch by the battery life. It quotes 18 hours so not even a full day, unlike my Garmin Forerunner 935 that lasts over a week. If they could even get it close to a couple of days battery life, I would definitely like one.

Apple have famously downplayed the battery life for I don't know what reason. But go and read any number of reviews and they'll say the same. If you want a cyclist's view, check out DC Rainmaker's review of it. In reality you will get easily 2 full days of use. If I charge mine now, it will last until wednesday morning no problem whatsoever.

They are expensive, but usually high quality kit is. Value is another question, I'd buy another if I lost mine.

 

[Mo1959]

Apple have famously downplayed the battery life for I don't know what reason. But go and read any number of reviews and they'll say the same. If you want a cyclist's view, check out DC Rainmaker's review of it. In reality you will get easily 2 full days of use. If I charge mine now, it will last until wednesday morning no problem whatsoever.

They are expensive, but usually high quality kit is. Value is another question, I'd buy another if I lost mine.

You might have convinced me