[bad_username]

Between the Apple Watch kind of watches on one side, and Pebble kind of watches on another side, there's the whole Garmin ecosystem, a mention of which is notably absent from the article. They are a nice technological middle ground (though maybe not always a price middle ground), especially the classic models with non-OLED transflective screens. Granted, they are more sports/fitness oriented, but that's hardly a drawback honestly.

[ctkhn]

Yeah I love my forerunner 945. Got it used in 2020 and when it died in 2023 Garmin replaced it for $150 including tax and shipping. Couple friends have got the new fancier touchscreen models but I like the simplicity of my watch. I blocked most texts from coming through as a buzz except immediate family or 2FA but it would be nice if Apple's focus modes worked better with it automatically. Been wondering if Pebble would be a good move to get even further away from proprietary software though as someone who runs or hits the gym monday through saturday

[francisofascii]

I have the Forrunner 955, and also love it. It has actual push buttons all the features I need in one watch with the running, biking, swim, golf, and hiking modes.

[jerlam]

Garmin and Pebble also are the watches with custom watch faces. You can change them to serious or silly or incomprehensible.

Whenever I look at my Apple Watch, it's a reminder that Apple owns it and requires it to look a certain way.

[jebarker]

I’ve found Coros to be great too. I’ve used my Vertix to track GPS for 48 hours continuously during a race. It’s been beaten up against rocks, soaking wet and filthy for extended periods and still works 100%. Just yesterday it saved me from a minor emergency when I got lost on a new trail and needed to backtrack. After years of use it still has weeks of battery life for tracking daily workouts. I don’t use any of the smartwatch features like notifications though and wear a mechanical watch as my daily driver.

[rpozarickij]

Before owning a Garmin watch (Epix Pro Gen 2 in my case) I had no idea just how useful always having a flashlight* with you is. I'd put this feature near all the health/digital features in terms of usefulness. I have it set to red light mode by default and double-pressing the light button gives me instant and unobtrusive night vision. I have also turned on the Red Shift mode for the display which makes the watch itself much more pleasant to use.

* not all Garmin watches have it AFAIK

[Auguste]

Yeah, my Garmin Instinct Solar 3 gets a 4-week battery life. I never looked back at my Pebble Time.

[Ingon]

4-week battery life, if you don't go outside. Solar charges the watch relatively slow (e.g. it takes 3 hours of just sitting under the sun to charge a day), but if you get out frequently it just pushes the battery day just a little further. Funny experience, when I charged it the first time and got outside in the sun, it showed infinity days battery remaining :D

I also appreciate that most of the data is available right there on the watch (although sometime buried). And I even used the torch a couple of times!

[Auguste]

The torch is super underrated. I use it regularly, like when getting out of bed in the middle of the night. The best torch is the one you always have on you.

[mc32]

Unfortunately I think in the general consciousness people treat Garmins as “legacy” devices even as their systems are in some ways superior to the flashy upstarts and newcomers.

[darrmit]

I came here to say this. I had abandoned smartwatches entirely and gone back to mechanical watches because smartwatches just did too much and the small utility I got from them (i.e. health) came with the tradeoff that they had to be charged every couple of days. I ended up trying the Garmin Instinct and it has been exactly what I was looking for. I turn off all notifications and just use it for the data it gives me and for the fitness tracking.

[Auguste]

That's exactly how I use it. Apart from the calendar and calls, I keep all notifications off. For me, this is the perfect smartwatch. Colour displays and touch screens don't interest me.