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I wish there was a heartbeat-measuring watch with the battery life of a dumb watch. My watch goes like 5 years (I've lost count honestly) on its original batter

I wish there was a heartbeat-measuring watch with the battery life of a dumb watch. My watch goes like 5 years (I've lost count honestly) on its original battery. I'd love to have something watching out for my health but I just can't see myself moving to a smartwatch that needs recharging every 18 hours when I don't even need the smartness crap...

paxswill 8y ago
Purely anecdotal, but my Series 3 goes about two days on a full charge. I can usually get away with just charging it in the morning while I shower and get ready, and otherwise just wearing all the time. Workouts deplete the battery more, mostly because I’m usually using the GPS in addition to the more frequent heart rate monitoring.
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  I feel like if I got a watch that did this I'd want it to last at least 3 months on a charge, so I could stop having to remember to charge it... otherwise it's like having a second phone on my hand that I don't need.
  - rootusrootus 8y ago
    Everyone has their own threshold, and I respect that, but personally I haven't found it too onerous. I don't wear watches to bed, so I 3D printed a base for the watch charger (it's a magnetically attached inductive charger, no plug) and I just take the watch off my wrist and set it on the charger as I go to bed. Faster than when I had a dumb watch, because I still had to set it down the same way, and the Apple Watch unlatches with a single pull. But ... like I said, everyone has their own needs. And if you don't want all the smart crap, it's a pretty expensive heartbeat monitor.
    - mehrdadn 8y ago
      It's not really the issue of it being 'onerous' (although it is), but that for me, in a watch, reliability is king... heck, if it wasn't, I'd just be using my phone, like many people already do (and which I've also been tempted to do). But there are times when I forget to, say, charge my phone. [1] It's not often, but stuff goes wrong once in a while. Now if I'm short on time the last thing I need is to have to discover I'm out of battery and waste time having to fiddle with a battery pack or something. None of this is an issue when you have a normal dumb watch that lasts a few years. You always have a way to tell what time it is and to set yourself alarms so you can meet your commitments no matter what goes wrong. [1] Or it crashes, or randomly starts draining its battery insanely faster because Google decided to force feed it an update or due to other reasons I can't fathom... but that's another story.
      - DennisAleynikov 8y ago
        thats essentially what makes apple watch a non-starter for my smartwatch needs, it accepts only the most regular of charge schedules. I much prefer the pebble or samsung gear which I charge like once a week only for an hour and can rely on as my wallet and sleep tracking even if my phone is dead. I don't want to baby multiple devices, one main work tool is fine to manage battery on a daily basis for instance AirPods charge roughly once a week or less depending on usage pattern. There's plenty of tech that balances battery and powerdraw appropriately. I find apple watch misses this mark unless a lot of functions are turned off.
        davidgould 8y ago
        I take Apple watch off when I shower and put it on the charging puck. After the shower, I put it back on my wrist. Seems pretty easy if one bathes regularly.
  - mehrdadn 8y ago
    Really confused how this comment went from a -3 accumulated over several hours to 0 in the span of maybe 10 minutes...
thisacctforreal 8y ago
A fitbit might be a good match, my girlfriend's Alta HR lasts a handful of days between charges. I bought it for her primarily for the hypnograms.
- fouc 8y ago
  My fibit charge 3 goes more than week before needing a charge.
crdb 8y ago
My Amazfit Bip ($99) is supposed to have 45 days and lasts about 30 days on minute heart rate monitoring intervals (based on a month and a half of trying it). I wanted something a bit smaller, to fit under the shirt cuff, so got the Mi Band 3 ($50) which lasts about 10 days (probably 20 days if you don't allow it to display notifications and set a higher HR interval). The Mi app is pretty bad, which forces you to buy an extra app (for me, Notify & Fitness, for Google Fit sync).
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  Huh, interesting, thanks for the pointers! 45 days might be bearable.
- ValentineC 8y ago
  I second the Amazfit Bip. Mine has around 40 days of battery life. On iOS, I use AmazTools [1] to sync the heart rate data to the Health app. [1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amaztools/id1386033880?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amaztools/id1386033880?mt=8
- calgoo 8y ago
  In regards to the Mi Band 3, there is an app called Mi Band Master, which works a lot better then the original. It exists for both Android and iPhone. I use it for sleep monitoring, and notifications. Battery lasts for about 2 weeks.
brandonb 8y ago
You might like the Withings Steel HR, which has a traditional mechanical watchface, a heart rate sensor, and about 25 days of battery life: https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr/36rgw/shop?screen=desc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-OXXt4qI4QIVix6tBh3YkgZ-EAQYAiABEgKQa_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr/36rgw/shop?screen=de... Some Garmin and Fitbit models have good battery life — often about a week.
- roganartu 8y ago
  I have worn both the original Fitbit Charge HR and the more recent Charge 2 daily for the past few years. Aneceotally, because the watch isn't really water resistant (not least because the bands bubble if they get wet often), I have had it run out twice in that time and both times I was on holiday somewhere with no power. Because you are unlikely to actually wear it in the shower, just leave the charger permanently in your bathroom and get in the habit of taking it off and putting it on the charger when you shower. Even if you forget for one or two days it will almost always be sufficiently charged.
- killjoywashere 8y ago
  What we need is a Seiko Kinetic with HR.
- wingworks 8y ago
  Watch out for the Withings watches, I bought the generation before the HR one and it was rather thick, much thicker than I was expecting, I ended up returning it. I love the style of the Withings watches, but way too thick for me compared to the traditional watches. I'm waiting for the smartwatches to get down in thickness before trying another one.
- windexh8er 8y ago
  I'm the type of person that loves watches and doesn't like smart watches. Personally I find them to be too much distraction. I'm more of a G-Shock wearing type of user, although I've owned many Garmins over the years for working out, but none enough to wear daily. That was until the Garmin Instinct [0]. You can easily get 10-15 days out of it depending on how much you work out and use the GPS for tracking. I also don't sleep with a watch on, so it's shut off at night. Anyway, point being the Instinct is just enough "smart" yet rugged enough for daily use. One of my favorite watches I've ever owned. [0] https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/621802#overview https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/621802#overview
nhooyr 8y ago
get a wireless charger and put it on your nightstand, problem solved.
- Eric_WVGG 8y ago
  In my experience you can wear it 23.5 hours a day as long as you charge during your morning shower and checking your email.
ezconnect 8y ago
I bought a 9 usd band that travks heartbeat every minute that last for a week or more before recharging
ndnxhs 8y ago
My pebble watch lasts 10 days. Its kind of an awkward length though because things that I charge nightly I do all at once but I often forget to change my watch. Thankfully it falls back to dumb time only mode for a day before turning off
martin_bech 8y ago
My apple watch 4th edition, gets about 3 days on a charge, and charges quite fast. Its very easy to manage.
kylekyle 8y ago
I've done a fair amount of research and am still pretty conflicted. I really only care about having a smart watch for the gym. I definitely need music and heart rate tracking but I would also like some app support for workout tracking. Most recently I've started using http://fitbod.me http://fitbod.me. My main goal is to not carry my phone around at the gym and not be any more connected (read: distracted) than I currently am with my phone. The Garmin Forerunner 645 Music covers what I need short of the app support. The Nike Apple Watch Series 3 looks very tempting but I really don't like the aesthetic and I feel like it's just perpetuating the problem of being too online all the time. Though it's a far more feature rich device for less than the 645. I'm thinking I'll sit back and wait for broader app support.
camelNotation 8y ago
You should look at brands like Garmin and Polar, then. Samsung and Apple put these bright, colorful OLED panels on their smartwatches and drain the batteries too fast. Garmin in particular does a good job of building smartwatches with almost all the features of a Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch, but with a lot more battery life because they aren't wasting so much energy on the bright, pretty screen. Instead, they focus on lower energy LCD panels with backlights. The reason they do this is largely because they are fitness and sports focused and you don't want your watch dying on a two day hike and leaving you stranded, but in day-to-day activity I love having that extra battery life. It makes the drawbacks of a less vibrant screen totally worth it. I still get all my emails, texts, calls, music, etc. except I also get sleep tracking (because I'm not taking it off every time to charge) and less stress.
eldenbishop 8y ago
The Suunto 9 GPS watch claims up to 120 hours between charges depending on how you configure the GPS. It's mostly marketed to ultra-runners and hikers who need that kind of battery life.

paxswill 8y ago

Purely anecdotal, but my Series 3 goes about two days on a full charge. I can usually get away with just charging it in the morning while I shower and get ready, and otherwise just wearing all the time. Workouts deplete the battery more, mostly because I’m usually using the GPS in addition to the more frequent heart rate monitoring.

mehrdadn 8y ago
I feel like if I got a watch that did this I'd want it to last at least 3 months on a charge, so I could stop having to remember to charge it... otherwise it's like having a second phone on my hand that I don't need.
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  Everyone has their own threshold, and I respect that, but personally I haven't found it too onerous. I don't wear watches to bed, so I 3D printed a base for the watch charger (it's a magnetically attached inductive charger, no plug) and I just take the watch off my wrist and set it on the charger as I go to bed. Faster than when I had a dumb watch, because I still had to set it down the same way, and the Apple Watch unlatches with a single pull. But ... like I said, everyone has their own needs. And if you don't want all the smart crap, it's a pretty expensive heartbeat monitor.
  - mehrdadn 8y ago
    It's not really the issue of it being 'onerous' (although it is), but that for me, in a watch, reliability is king... heck, if it wasn't, I'd just be using my phone, like many people already do (and which I've also been tempted to do). But there are times when I forget to, say, charge my phone. [1] It's not often, but stuff goes wrong once in a while. Now if I'm short on time the last thing I need is to have to discover I'm out of battery and waste time having to fiddle with a battery pack or something. None of this is an issue when you have a normal dumb watch that lasts a few years. You always have a way to tell what time it is and to set yourself alarms so you can meet your commitments no matter what goes wrong. [1] Or it crashes, or randomly starts draining its battery insanely faster because Google decided to force feed it an update or due to other reasons I can't fathom... but that's another story.
    - DennisAleynikov 8y ago
      thats essentially what makes apple watch a non-starter for my smartwatch needs, it accepts only the most regular of charge schedules. I much prefer the pebble or samsung gear which I charge like once a week only for an hour and can rely on as my wallet and sleep tracking even if my phone is dead. I don't want to baby multiple devices, one main work tool is fine to manage battery on a daily basis for instance AirPods charge roughly once a week or less depending on usage pattern. There's plenty of tech that balances battery and powerdraw appropriately. I find apple watch misses this mark unless a lot of functions are turned off.
      - davidgould 8y ago
        I take Apple watch off when I shower and put it on the charging puck. After the shower, I put it back on my wrist. Seems pretty easy if one bathes regularly.
- mehrdadn 8y ago
  Really confused how this comment went from a -3 accumulated over several hours to 0 in the span of maybe 10 minutes...

thisacctforreal 8y ago

A fitbit might be a good match, my girlfriend's Alta HR lasts a handful of days between charges. I bought it for her primarily for the hypnograms.

fouc 8y ago
My fibit charge 3 goes more than week before needing a charge.

crdb 8y ago

My Amazfit Bip ($99) is supposed to have 45 days and lasts about 30 days on minute heart rate monitoring intervals (based on a month and a half of trying it). I wanted something a bit smaller, to fit under the shirt cuff, so got the Mi Band 3 ($50) which lasts about 10 days (probably 20 days if you don't allow it to display notifications and set a higher HR interval). The Mi app is pretty bad, which forces you to buy an extra app (for me, Notify & Fitness, for Google Fit sync).

mehrdadn 8y ago
Huh, interesting, thanks for the pointers! 45 days might be bearable.
ValentineC 8y ago
I second the Amazfit Bip. Mine has around 40 days of battery life. On iOS, I use AmazTools [1] to sync the heart rate data to the Health app. [1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amaztools/id1386033880?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amaztools/id1386033880?mt=8
calgoo 8y ago
In regards to the Mi Band 3, there is an app called Mi Band Master, which works a lot better then the original. It exists for both Android and iPhone. I use it for sleep monitoring, and notifications. Battery lasts for about 2 weeks.

brandonb 8y ago

You might like the Withings Steel HR, which has a traditional mechanical watchface, a heart rate sensor, and about 25 days of battery life: https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr/36rgw/shop?screen=desc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-OXXt4qI4QIVix6tBh3YkgZ-EAQYAiABEgKQa_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://www.withings.com/us/en/steel-hr/36rgw/shop?screen=de... Some Garmin and Fitbit models have good battery life — often about a week.

roganartu 8y ago
I have worn both the original Fitbit Charge HR and the more recent Charge 2 daily for the past few years. Aneceotally, because the watch isn't really water resistant (not least because the bands bubble if they get wet often), I have had it run out twice in that time and both times I was on holiday somewhere with no power. Because you are unlikely to actually wear it in the shower, just leave the charger permanently in your bathroom and get in the habit of taking it off and putting it on the charger when you shower. Even if you forget for one or two days it will almost always be sufficiently charged.
killjoywashere 8y ago
What we need is a Seiko Kinetic with HR.
wingworks 8y ago
Watch out for the Withings watches, I bought the generation before the HR one and it was rather thick, much thicker than I was expecting, I ended up returning it. I love the style of the Withings watches, but way too thick for me compared to the traditional watches. I'm waiting for the smartwatches to get down in thickness before trying another one.
windexh8er 8y ago
I'm the type of person that loves watches and doesn't like smart watches. Personally I find them to be too much distraction. I'm more of a G-Shock wearing type of user, although I've owned many Garmins over the years for working out, but none enough to wear daily. That was until the Garmin Instinct [0]. You can easily get 10-15 days out of it depending on how much you work out and use the GPS for tracking. I also don't sleep with a watch on, so it's shut off at night. Anyway, point being the Instinct is just enough "smart" yet rugged enough for daily use. One of my favorite watches I've ever owned. [0] https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/621802#overview https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/621802#overview

nhooyr 8y ago

get a wireless charger and put it on your nightstand, problem solved.

Eric_WVGG 8y ago
In my experience you can wear it 23.5 hours a day as long as you charge during your morning shower and checking your email.

ezconnect 8y ago

I bought a 9 usd band that travks heartbeat every minute that last for a week or more before recharging

ndnxhs 8y ago

My pebble watch lasts 10 days. Its kind of an awkward length though because things that I charge nightly I do all at once but I often forget to change my watch. Thankfully it falls back to dumb time only mode for a day before turning off

martin_bech 8y ago

My apple watch 4th edition, gets about 3 days on a charge, and charges quite fast. Its very easy to manage.

kylekyle 8y ago

I've done a fair amount of research and am still pretty conflicted. I really only care about having a smart watch for the gym. I definitely need music and heart rate tracking but I would also like some app support for workout tracking. Most recently I've started using http://fitbod.me http://fitbod.me. My main goal is to not carry my phone around at the gym and not be any more connected (read: distracted) than I currently am with my phone. The Garmin Forerunner 645 Music covers what I need short of the app support. The Nike Apple Watch Series 3 looks very tempting but I really don't like the aesthetic and I feel like it's just perpetuating the problem of being too online all the time. Though it's a far more feature rich device for less than the 645. I'm thinking I'll sit back and wait for broader app support.

camelNotation 8y ago

You should look at brands like Garmin and Polar, then. Samsung and Apple put these bright, colorful OLED panels on their smartwatches and drain the batteries too fast. Garmin in particular does a good job of building smartwatches with almost all the features of a Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch, but with a lot more battery life because they aren't wasting so much energy on the bright, pretty screen. Instead, they focus on lower energy LCD panels with backlights. The reason they do this is largely because they are fitness and sports focused and you don't want your watch dying on a two day hike and leaving you stranded, but in day-to-day activity I love having that extra battery life. It makes the drawbacks of a less vibrant screen totally worth it. I still get all my emails, texts, calls, music, etc. except I also get sleep tracking (because I'm not taking it off every time to charge) and less stress.

eldenbishop 8y ago

The Suunto 9 GPS watch claims up to 120 hours between charges depending on how you configure the GPS. It's mostly marketed to ultra-runners and hikers who need that kind of battery life.