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The Microsoft Band 2 is actually extremely nice. It isn't tied down by being forced to run Android Wear or Apple Watch OS or Samsung Gear, and instead runs "Microsoft Wearables" which is closer in design and lightness to the kind of realtime OS design you see in Pebbles. It has decent battery life (48h claimed, meets the requirement of >24h real world, but not >7 days real world), it is physically small and light, but is also a typical smartwatch. It has the right blend of both being an activity tracker and a smartwatch, but the only reason I won't buy one is it is insufficiently water proof. The only devices that will survive true day to day wear are currently being made by Garmin. Nothing that Fitbit or Jawbone makes is beyond IPX7, and all of Garmin's stuff (coming from the professional competition device pedigree that they do) has actual water rating marks (at least 50 meters, some models exceed that). So yeah, I've been recommending Garmin gizmos lately. Vivofit 3, $99 without heart rate tracking, battery life of a year with a standard coin battery, or Vivosmart HR, $149, battery life of 5 days, has heart rate tracking, both support Garmin Connect, thus every major app and ecosystem. |