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Hey resident smartwatch experts, is there a good watch that monitors sleep and has excellent battery life (measured in weeks not hours)? I use the Withings (ex

Hey resident smartwatch experts, is there a good watch that monitors sleep and has excellent battery life (measured in weeks not hours)? I use the Withings (ex-Nokia) Steel HR, but it … kinda sucks. The bluetooth pairings very often lose sleep data, it's very inaccurate, the reporting sucks for non-24s, and the leather bracelet is of very poor quality, keeps breaking. I really don't care for the fitness/step tracking which, as someone else here put it, thinks typing on a keyboard or eating is a step. I also briefly tried an Oura (https://ouraring.com/ https://ouraring.com/), but I never got it to work and had to send it back. I also don't care much for any of those "sleep quality" trackers that try to detect if I snore and what not. I can do sleep studies in my own time, I just want to have accurate stats on whether and when I am asleep.

fredley 7y ago
I have a Garmin 235. Battery lasts a week, all monitoring is on the device, it'll work completely disconnected from bluetooth and sync up later. Newer models may be better.
- js2 7y ago
  I had the 230 and now the 935. Sleep monitoring seems comparable from what I remember. The monitoring jives with my subjective feel of my sleep quality the next day. I have variable sleep and wakeup times and the watch definitely captures those accurately.
Youden 7y ago
> it's very inaccurate That's going to be the case for any kind of wrist-based or bed-based sleep monitor. It simply isn't possible to derive accurate information about sleep by observing basic heart-rate and/or movement readings. If you want real accuracy, look at the headband sleep trackers like Dreem or the Philips SmartSleep Headband. These use EEG to measure your brain activity. Personally, I'm very happy with Dreem.
- DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
  I have an Apple Beddit. It was surprisingly accurate for me - but then it stopped working completely.
- scrollaway 7y ago
  I dunno, I feel like there's inaccurate and very inaccurate. The Withings does detect my sleep times but it can vary by up to an hour, and it doesn't detect when I wake up for ~15 mins then fall back asleep. I'm looking at the Dreem and SmartSleep headbands right now. Can you tell me more about them? They both claim to "improve sleep" but their marketing site doesn't really say how. Keep in mind that all I want in the end is to have the numbers of when I was asleep, and when I was not. My goal being to have a graph of those numbers to see when I actually sleep. (eg. how much do my sleep times drift every day, how much do i sleep per week, etc) Edit: Actually, the Dreem looks a lot closer to what I want. My main problem with it is I wouldn't be wearing it constantly, so it wouldn't catch a powernap unless I both carry it with me, and remember to take it with me. Nethertheless, shoot me your referral code, I may end up buying it.
  - Youden 7y ago
    Personally I only use Dreem so I can't tell you much about SmartSleep. > Can you tell me more about them? They both claim to "improve sleep" but their marketing site doesn't really say how. For Dreem, there are a few ways it's intended to improve your sleep: - Directly: It applies "stimulations" to "enhance" your deep sleep. These are sounds that are meant to intensify certain kinds of brain waves. I don't know much about them and can't say that they've improved my sleep quality. - Education: In addition to simply showing you how much you sleep (which I find immensely useful) and how well you sleep (duration, stages of sleep, every single time you wake up during the night, no matter how short), the mobile app includes what I can only call training programs that are intended to help you improve your sleep yourself. These range from the introductory "this is how to use the headband" to a full-fledged CBT course. - Small improvements: The app has a sleep routine feature that reminds you with a mobile notification when it's time to go to bed and automatically sets the alarm in the morning. The alarm sound is produced by a bone conduction speaker embedded in the headset. You can allow the headset to wake you early and if you do so, it will try to find the least disruptive time to wake you within the allowed period. Finally, it can play various sounds through the speaker to help you get to sleep, both ambient sounds (e.g. birds, waves, rain etc.) and guided-meditation type stuff. > Keep in mind that all I want in the end is to have the numbers of when I was asleep, and when I was not. My goal being to have a graph of those numbers to see when I actually sleep. (eg. how much do my sleep times drift every day, how much do i sleep per week, etc) For regular sleep at night it will do that perfectly. For random naps and dozing during the day, it won't be any help at all. However the app is integrated with Apple Health, so if you wear something else that can detect those short dozes during the day, you can unite the two devices there.
Antoninus 7y ago
I've only had the apple watch 4 and the fitbit charge 3, so I'm no expert. For the past 3 months I've been using the Xiaomi Band 4. Battery life is coming on 16-17 days of a single charge, has plenty of watch faces, push notifications and music control and its waterproof for around 35usd. I use it mostly to track my heart rate and sleep. The stock Mi Fit is garbage but recommend a notify which is a 3rd party app. https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Mi-Band-4/dp/B07T4ZH692 https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Mi-Band-4/dp/B07T4ZH692 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mc.miband1&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mc.miband1...
m11a 7y ago
Depends what types of sleep you want to track. Simply if you're sleeping or not? Oura is studied to be relatively accurate at determining if you're asleep or not. What stage of sleep you're at, and if you're at REM? They all seem to fail this. In all cases, apps (phone/watchOS) are pretty much universally bad. Hardware like Beddit doesn't seem to pass the test either [0]. Oura has some OK results for basic tracking but it isn't great either [1]. This source talks about Oura more comprehensively [2]. Fitbit Ultra seems to be OK at sensitivity [3]. There's an interesting test from an undergrad researcher at Brown University from 2017 too [4]. There's a couple of other studies and also studies interpreting other studies you can find on the topic. The short version is that it depends what you're after. If you're happy with just knowing whether you're asleep or awake Oura and Fitbit seem to be the best the market has to offer with reasonable accuracy. Oura has some results with OK estimations of deep sleep, but nothing I would rely on for accuracy. If you have the money there's some FDA approved products that are pretty expensive. I must say it's slightly amusing that we're fear-mongering over self-aware superintelligent AI taking over the world while we can't even reasonably replicate polysomnography on a consumer device. [0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30853052 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30853052 [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28323455 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28323455 [2]: https://nutritionalrevolution.org/2019/07/20/why-the-oura-ring-sucks-for-tracking-sleep-and-might-be-harming-your-health/ https://nutritionalrevolution.org/2019/07/20/why-the-oura-ri... [3]: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/38/8/1323/2417994 https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/38/8/1323/2417994 [4]: http://sleep.cs.brown.edu/comparison/ http://sleep.cs.brown.edu/comparison/
- brlewis 7y ago
  > Oura and Fitbit seem to be the best the market has to offer with reasonable accuracy I don't speak for Fitbit, but I do work there. I'll take it as a compliment that you see us as the best the market has to offer even though you're looking at the Ultra, introduced in 2011, that didn't even have heart rate. Sleep tracking has gotten a lot better since then.
  - scrollaway 7y ago
    Since you work there, which Fitbit device in your opinion is best at sleep tracking and has a multi week battery life? I don't care about any other feature.
ndonnellan 7y ago
Yes, THIS. I've switched back to the silicone band since the leather one basically started deteriorating after 6 months. I think the sleep tracking is _ok_, I care more about the heart rate monitoring and like the long battery life. Have you tried searching for a replacement strap not from Withings?
hellogoodbye 7y ago
My Garmin forerunner 245 does the job really well.
AgloeDreams 7y ago
Honestly... you might want to try a bed pad based sleep monitor, you don't have to wear anything and they more accurately detect movement. If you do that you are less limited on your watch choice (as honestly the low-battery smart watches really are much better at the day to Day use.)
Tylast 7y ago
In regard to the "sleep quality", I would say it's probably because they don't work well at all. The only one I had that worked really well was the Basis Peak. It had a galvanic skin response sensor. Too bad Intel intentionally bricked it! https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/09/basis-peak-obituary/ https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/09/basis-peak-obituary/

fredley 7y ago

I have a Garmin 235. Battery lasts a week, all monitoring is on the device, it'll work completely disconnected from bluetooth and sync up later. Newer models may be better.

js2 7y ago
I had the 230 and now the 935. Sleep monitoring seems comparable from what I remember. The monitoring jives with my subjective feel of my sleep quality the next day. I have variable sleep and wakeup times and the watch definitely captures those accurately.

Youden 7y ago

> it's very inaccurate That's going to be the case for any kind of wrist-based or bed-based sleep monitor. It simply isn't possible to derive accurate information about sleep by observing basic heart-rate and/or movement readings. If you want real accuracy, look at the headband sleep trackers like Dreem or the Philips SmartSleep Headband. These use EEG to measure your brain activity. Personally, I'm very happy with Dreem.

DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
I have an Apple Beddit. It was surprisingly accurate for me - but then it stopped working completely.
scrollaway 7y ago
I dunno, I feel like there's inaccurate and very inaccurate. The Withings does detect my sleep times but it can vary by up to an hour, and it doesn't detect when I wake up for ~15 mins then fall back asleep. I'm looking at the Dreem and SmartSleep headbands right now. Can you tell me more about them? They both claim to "improve sleep" but their marketing site doesn't really say how. Keep in mind that all I want in the end is to have the numbers of when I was asleep, and when I was not. My goal being to have a graph of those numbers to see when I actually sleep. (eg. how much do my sleep times drift every day, how much do i sleep per week, etc) Edit: Actually, the Dreem looks a lot closer to what I want. My main problem with it is I wouldn't be wearing it constantly, so it wouldn't catch a powernap unless I both carry it with me, and remember to take it with me. Nethertheless, shoot me your referral code, I may end up buying it.
- Youden 7y ago
  Personally I only use Dreem so I can't tell you much about SmartSleep. > Can you tell me more about them? They both claim to "improve sleep" but their marketing site doesn't really say how. For Dreem, there are a few ways it's intended to improve your sleep: - Directly: It applies "stimulations" to "enhance" your deep sleep. These are sounds that are meant to intensify certain kinds of brain waves. I don't know much about them and can't say that they've improved my sleep quality. - Education: In addition to simply showing you how much you sleep (which I find immensely useful) and how well you sleep (duration, stages of sleep, every single time you wake up during the night, no matter how short), the mobile app includes what I can only call training programs that are intended to help you improve your sleep yourself. These range from the introductory "this is how to use the headband" to a full-fledged CBT course. - Small improvements: The app has a sleep routine feature that reminds you with a mobile notification when it's time to go to bed and automatically sets the alarm in the morning. The alarm sound is produced by a bone conduction speaker embedded in the headset. You can allow the headset to wake you early and if you do so, it will try to find the least disruptive time to wake you within the allowed period. Finally, it can play various sounds through the speaker to help you get to sleep, both ambient sounds (e.g. birds, waves, rain etc.) and guided-meditation type stuff. > Keep in mind that all I want in the end is to have the numbers of when I was asleep, and when I was not. My goal being to have a graph of those numbers to see when I actually sleep. (eg. how much do my sleep times drift every day, how much do i sleep per week, etc) For regular sleep at night it will do that perfectly. For random naps and dozing during the day, it won't be any help at all. However the app is integrated with Apple Health, so if you wear something else that can detect those short dozes during the day, you can unite the two devices there.

Antoninus 7y ago

I've only had the apple watch 4 and the fitbit charge 3, so I'm no expert. For the past 3 months I've been using the Xiaomi Band 4. Battery life is coming on 16-17 days of a single charge, has plenty of watch faces, push notifications and music control and its waterproof for around 35usd. I use it mostly to track my heart rate and sleep. The stock Mi Fit is garbage but recommend a notify which is a 3rd party app. https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Mi-Band-4/dp/B07T4ZH692 https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Mi-Band-4/dp/B07T4ZH692 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mc.miband1&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mc.miband1...

m11a 7y ago

Depends what types of sleep you want to track. Simply if you're sleeping or not? Oura is studied to be relatively accurate at determining if you're asleep or not. What stage of sleep you're at, and if you're at REM? They all seem to fail this. In all cases, apps (phone/watchOS) are pretty much universally bad. Hardware like Beddit doesn't seem to pass the test either [0]. Oura has some OK results for basic tracking but it isn't great either [1]. This source talks about Oura more comprehensively [2]. Fitbit Ultra seems to be OK at sensitivity [3]. There's an interesting test from an undergrad researcher at Brown University from 2017 too [4]. There's a couple of other studies and also studies interpreting other studies you can find on the topic. The short version is that it depends what you're after. If you're happy with just knowing whether you're asleep or awake Oura and Fitbit seem to be the best the market has to offer with reasonable accuracy. Oura has some results with OK estimations of deep sleep, but nothing I would rely on for accuracy. If you have the money there's some FDA approved products that are pretty expensive. I must say it's slightly amusing that we're fear-mongering over self-aware superintelligent AI taking over the world while we can't even reasonably replicate polysomnography on a consumer device. [0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30853052 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30853052 [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28323455 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28323455 [2]: https://nutritionalrevolution.org/2019/07/20/why-the-oura-ring-sucks-for-tracking-sleep-and-might-be-harming-your-health/ https://nutritionalrevolution.org/2019/07/20/why-the-oura-ri... [3]: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/38/8/1323/2417994 https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/38/8/1323/2417994 [4]: http://sleep.cs.brown.edu/comparison/ http://sleep.cs.brown.edu/comparison/

brlewis 7y ago
> Oura and Fitbit seem to be the best the market has to offer with reasonable accuracy I don't speak for Fitbit, but I do work there. I'll take it as a compliment that you see us as the best the market has to offer even though you're looking at the Ultra, introduced in 2011, that didn't even have heart rate. Sleep tracking has gotten a lot better since then.
- scrollaway 7y ago
  Since you work there, which Fitbit device in your opinion is best at sleep tracking and has a multi week battery life? I don't care about any other feature.

ndonnellan 7y ago

Yes, THIS. I've switched back to the silicone band since the leather one basically started deteriorating after 6 months. I think the sleep tracking is _ok_, I care more about the heart rate monitoring and like the long battery life. Have you tried searching for a replacement strap not from Withings?

hellogoodbye 7y ago

My Garmin forerunner 245 does the job really well.

AgloeDreams 7y ago

Honestly... you might want to try a bed pad based sleep monitor, you don't have to wear anything and they more accurately detect movement. If you do that you are less limited on your watch choice (as honestly the low-battery smart watches really are much better at the day to Day use.)

Tylast 7y ago

In regard to the "sleep quality", I would say it's probably because they don't work well at all. The only one I had that worked really well was the Basis Peak. It had a galvanic skin response sensor. Too bad Intel intentionally bricked it! https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/09/basis-peak-obituary/ https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/09/basis-peak-obituary/