7 ms·

Meanwhile try one, then try an older Apple watch, the Fitbit is straight up trash (with nicer battery life.) Fitbit UX is bad, and requires tons of interaction

Meanwhile try one, then try an older Apple watch, the Fitbit is straight up trash (with nicer battery life.) Fitbit UX is bad, and requires tons of interaction between the phone and watch and is remarkably hard to use, even switching watch faces requires digging multiple screens into the fitbit app and a 30+ second sync period, on the Apple watch this is known as 'swiping right' or at worst, holding down and tapping 'add new'. The Pebble was worlds better at this, when I used the Versa I was surprised by it. It sells tons even though Wear OS is way ahead.

fragmede 7y ago
> with nicer battery life Don't discount this feature on a fitness tracker. The most recent Apple Watches are better in this respect compared to the first one, but the battery life is still measured in hours, rather than days. The UX for a Fitbit as a smartwatch is honestly horrible. The Pebble acquihire prioritized watch apps, in (what I see as) a belief that watch apps are necessary to compete with Apple. Resources would be far better spend improving the first-party UX and apps first, before opening up the ecosystem to outside developers. The iPhone dev kit trailed far behind the initial iPhone launch.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Resources would be far better spend improving the first-party UX and apps first, before opening up the ecosystem to outside developers. The same could have been (rightfully) said about the Apple Watch.... The iPhone dev kit trailed far behind the initial iPhone launch. The iPhone launched July 2007. The dev kit was released in April 2008. The App store launched around July 2008
- harikb 7y ago
  A watch that needs to be charged once in a few days is actually worse than one that could use a charge every night. Charge at night is a habit that can easily be adjusted to our daily schedule. btw Apple watch does last a full day (I meant 16+ hrs) with decent use, unless you are playing music out of it all the time or obsessively checking time/calendar. Only advantage of fitbit is that some models are easier to wear to sleep, particularly if you don't need to charge at night. However, even here, apple one is way ahead - the theater mode will make sure the super bright led at the bottom won't wake you up.
  - solarkraft 7y ago
    I want a watch that only needs to be charged once in a few days, because I want to wear it at night for it to track my sleep and wake me up and I could charge it while I shower (every 2 days, in case you're wondering).
    - encoderer 7y ago
      My wife does this with her Apple Watch and she only charges it while she’s in the shower and 15 mins or so before bed. It always lasts the full day. I was surprised when I learned this. So it might not be there for you yet. But it’s close.
      - sa1 7y ago
        I charge it for half an hour after my morning workout(while taking a shower and getting ready) and for 15 minutes once in the evening I sleep. I track both my sleep and workouts, and keep it wearing throughout the day otherwise.
    - onlingyding 7y ago
      While it might not be as 'smart' as some other ones out there. The Nokia/Withings Charge HR has sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, vibrates and does notifications too. The battery easily lasts a month sometimes longer. It also looks like an actual adults watch too.
  - mcv 7y ago
    No, charge every night would be way worse. My wife uses her Fitbit to track her sleep, and it does this very well (much better than her previous smartwatch). She also tracks how much she walks during the day. A smartwatch that has to be charged every day would be useless to her. I have no idea about the UI that some people complain about, but my wife seems to have managed to get access quite a bit of functionality in her Fitbit, so I'd say it's good enough for its purpose.
    - Retric 7y ago
- Denzel 7y ago
  Exactly this. I’ve grown tired of Fitbit’s lack of cohesive bug-free products — simple things like adjusting the volume of Bluetooth headphones were known bugs for years without progress — and I had to make a choice between jumping off the bandwagon or sticking with Fitbit. Battery life kept me. Being able to go 4-7 days without thinking about the watch is paramount. I also don’t want to charge every night because I want to track my sleep! So Fitbit won out. I wish they could succeed independently. They have so much love and stickiness in my friend group and we all love the simplicity of simply an advanced fitness tracker without all the weight of a full-fledged phone on your wrist. Sadly, it seems like they don’t know how to run a company effectively. Which is a shame because I really really don’t want to move to Apple or Google products or anything else in this category until they solve battery life.
  - tw04 7y ago
    Just a heads up: you can get literally weeks out of garmin watches, depending on model and usage patterns. Your concern is exactly why I sold my moto360 and never looked back.
- AgloeDreams 7y ago
  Oh I totally agree, but Apple's advertised battery life is to ensure CSAT and does not reflect reality. Fact of the matter is that my Series 4 watch has about 2 and a half to three days of battery life, rather than the marketed 16 hours, especially when used like a fitbit (Apple's estimate bundles in music streaming, navigation, and hardcore workouts, and is tested on the smaller model, which has a smaller battery.) I was a huge pebble fan, I still use my Pebble 2 and Time Round sometimes, the Apple watch is in another league as per what it can do, but I honestly think the Pebbles were still a better product than Fitbit's watch at doing what fitbit is trying to do. Sure the Fitbit has a nicer screen, but what do they do with it?
fluidcruft 7y ago
Well I've had a Versa for over a year and it's been great. Basically it's a fitbit that also shows notifications from my phone. It has some simple apps that you can use for workouts or some other single-use trivial things. The configuration part of the fitbit companion app is frustrating. But that's where the UI belongs and where it should be fixed. I have zero interest in a watch that's an even smaller and more frustrating phone UI. Mostly I like only having to charge my watch every 3-4 days because it's long enough to forget about needing to charge it.
- AgloeDreams 7y ago
  The real problem to be seen with the Versa lies in the source of its software being a better example of how to build their product. I had a Pebble since their first kickstarter and the work Pebble did to make exactly what you are talking about blew Fitbit's current product out of the water (Even though Fitbit bought them and used their tech to make the Ionic and Versa). The Pebbles were faster, lighter, smaller, with better battery life (2+ weeks!) and a fantastic UX (By the same people who worked at Palm on WebOS). Sure they didn't have a touch screen, but they also intentionally had enough buttons to not need one. (Meaning they worked better with gloves) Then you talk software quality, after using the Versa for a little while, the biggest problem is that its UI is such a mess to use. If you don't want to configure a watch face on the Watch, the Apple watch has that feature too and it is instant and easy to use, just like the Pebble was. Once you use everything else it's really clear that the smart features on the Versa are an afterthought that Fitbit tasked some scrum team to get done and shoved in the app in a week, marked the task as done, and moved on, forgetting that for the casual user, that is the only other thing you want to do with the app. The other entire problem is that the Apple Watch is complex...but only as complex as you want it to be. If you never click the home button it can do everything you do with your watch with a nicer (bigger) screen, an easier, and a faster UI, and plus it has Siri and much better notification access. Fitbit is stuck between Apple and Garmin and they justy can't pick one. I imagine the Google sale would fix that pretty fast.
  - fluidcruft 7y ago
    Buying a fitbit is just buying a fitbit like buying a Casio is just buying a Casio. If Apple Watch were some agnostic thing that didn't require dragging an entire ecosystem I don't live in with it, I'd probably consider it. Assuming the battery life didn't suck. As is I'll probably go with Garmin when it's time. Google is the kiss of death and if Fitbit is being shopped to Google then they're dead already.

fragmede 7y ago

> with nicer battery life Don't discount this feature on a fitness tracker. The most recent Apple Watches are better in this respect compared to the first one, but the battery life is still measured in hours, rather than days. The UX for a Fitbit as a smartwatch is honestly horrible. The Pebble acquihire prioritized watch apps, in (what I see as) a belief that watch apps are necessary to compete with Apple. Resources would be far better spend improving the first-party UX and apps first, before opening up the ecosystem to outside developers. The iPhone dev kit trailed far behind the initial iPhone launch.

scarface74 7y ago
Resources would be far better spend improving the first-party UX and apps first, before opening up the ecosystem to outside developers. The same could have been (rightfully) said about the Apple Watch.... The iPhone dev kit trailed far behind the initial iPhone launch. The iPhone launched July 2007. The dev kit was released in April 2008. The App store launched around July 2008
harikb 7y ago
A watch that needs to be charged once in a few days is actually worse than one that could use a charge every night. Charge at night is a habit that can easily be adjusted to our daily schedule. btw Apple watch does last a full day (I meant 16+ hrs) with decent use, unless you are playing music out of it all the time or obsessively checking time/calendar. Only advantage of fitbit is that some models are easier to wear to sleep, particularly if you don't need to charge at night. However, even here, apple one is way ahead - the theater mode will make sure the super bright led at the bottom won't wake you up.
- solarkraft 7y ago
  I want a watch that only needs to be charged once in a few days, because I want to wear it at night for it to track my sleep and wake me up and I could charge it while I shower (every 2 days, in case you're wondering).
  - encoderer 7y ago
    My wife does this with her Apple Watch and she only charges it while she’s in the shower and 15 mins or so before bed. It always lasts the full day. I was surprised when I learned this. So it might not be there for you yet. But it’s close.
    - sa1 7y ago
      I charge it for half an hour after my morning workout(while taking a shower and getting ready) and for 15 minutes once in the evening I sleep. I track both my sleep and workouts, and keep it wearing throughout the day otherwise.
  - onlingyding 7y ago
    While it might not be as 'smart' as some other ones out there. The Nokia/Withings Charge HR has sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, vibrates and does notifications too. The battery easily lasts a month sometimes longer. It also looks like an actual adults watch too.
- mcv 7y ago
  No, charge every night would be way worse. My wife uses her Fitbit to track her sleep, and it does this very well (much better than her previous smartwatch). She also tracks how much she walks during the day. A smartwatch that has to be charged every day would be useless to her. I have no idea about the UI that some people complain about, but my wife seems to have managed to get access quite a bit of functionality in her Fitbit, so I'd say it's good enough for its purpose.
  - Retric 7y ago
Denzel 7y ago
Exactly this. I’ve grown tired of Fitbit’s lack of cohesive bug-free products — simple things like adjusting the volume of Bluetooth headphones were known bugs for years without progress — and I had to make a choice between jumping off the bandwagon or sticking with Fitbit. Battery life kept me. Being able to go 4-7 days without thinking about the watch is paramount. I also don’t want to charge every night because I want to track my sleep! So Fitbit won out. I wish they could succeed independently. They have so much love and stickiness in my friend group and we all love the simplicity of simply an advanced fitness tracker without all the weight of a full-fledged phone on your wrist. Sadly, it seems like they don’t know how to run a company effectively. Which is a shame because I really really don’t want to move to Apple or Google products or anything else in this category until they solve battery life.
- tw04 7y ago
  Just a heads up: you can get literally weeks out of garmin watches, depending on model and usage patterns. Your concern is exactly why I sold my moto360 and never looked back.
AgloeDreams 7y ago
Oh I totally agree, but Apple's advertised battery life is to ensure CSAT and does not reflect reality. Fact of the matter is that my Series 4 watch has about 2 and a half to three days of battery life, rather than the marketed 16 hours, especially when used like a fitbit (Apple's estimate bundles in music streaming, navigation, and hardcore workouts, and is tested on the smaller model, which has a smaller battery.) I was a huge pebble fan, I still use my Pebble 2 and Time Round sometimes, the Apple watch is in another league as per what it can do, but I honestly think the Pebbles were still a better product than Fitbit's watch at doing what fitbit is trying to do. Sure the Fitbit has a nicer screen, but what do they do with it?

fluidcruft 7y ago

Well I've had a Versa for over a year and it's been great. Basically it's a fitbit that also shows notifications from my phone. It has some simple apps that you can use for workouts or some other single-use trivial things. The configuration part of the fitbit companion app is frustrating. But that's where the UI belongs and where it should be fixed. I have zero interest in a watch that's an even smaller and more frustrating phone UI. Mostly I like only having to charge my watch every 3-4 days because it's long enough to forget about needing to charge it.

AgloeDreams 7y ago
The real problem to be seen with the Versa lies in the source of its software being a better example of how to build their product. I had a Pebble since their first kickstarter and the work Pebble did to make exactly what you are talking about blew Fitbit's current product out of the water (Even though Fitbit bought them and used their tech to make the Ionic and Versa). The Pebbles were faster, lighter, smaller, with better battery life (2+ weeks!) and a fantastic UX (By the same people who worked at Palm on WebOS). Sure they didn't have a touch screen, but they also intentionally had enough buttons to not need one. (Meaning they worked better with gloves) Then you talk software quality, after using the Versa for a little while, the biggest problem is that its UI is such a mess to use. If you don't want to configure a watch face on the Watch, the Apple watch has that feature too and it is instant and easy to use, just like the Pebble was. Once you use everything else it's really clear that the smart features on the Versa are an afterthought that Fitbit tasked some scrum team to get done and shoved in the app in a week, marked the task as done, and moved on, forgetting that for the casual user, that is the only other thing you want to do with the app. The other entire problem is that the Apple Watch is complex...but only as complex as you want it to be. If you never click the home button it can do everything you do with your watch with a nicer (bigger) screen, an easier, and a faster UI, and plus it has Siri and much better notification access. Fitbit is stuck between Apple and Garmin and they justy can't pick one. I imagine the Google sale would fix that pretty fast.
- fluidcruft 7y ago
  Buying a fitbit is just buying a fitbit like buying a Casio is just buying a Casio. If Apple Watch were some agnostic thing that didn't require dragging an entire ecosystem I don't live in with it, I'd probably consider it. Assuming the battery life didn't suck. As is I'll probably go with Garmin when it's time. Google is the kiss of death and if Fitbit is being shopped to Google then they're dead already.