4 ms·

PebbleTime 2 has a pedometer, HR monitor, and sleep tracking. You can set it to do continuous HR measurements during activities. This covers all the basics. GP

by cyberax 2mo ago

PebbleTime 2 has a pedometer, HR monitor, and sleep tracking. You can set it to do continuous HR measurements during activities. This covers all the basics. GPS is covered by the phone that you're going to be carrying anyway. Really the only missing part is NFC payments.

danilafe 2mo ago
> GPS is covered by the phone that you're going to be carrying anyway Unless you go for a run, for example. > Really the only missing part is NFC payments. And custom applications, not the least of which are navigation tools like Google Maps or Citymapper.
- cyberax 2mo ago
  > Unless you go for a run, for example. You can bring your phone with you! Then you can combine its GPS tracks and the information from Pebble. > And custom applications, not the least of which are navigation tools like Google Maps or Citymapper. They won't work without the phone connection because Pebble does not have a cellular modem. But there are mapping apps for the Pebble that use the phone's GPS: https://apps.repebble.com/maptastic_52e7521679f937c182000004 https://apps.repebble.com/maptastic_52e7521679f937c182000004 or https://apps.repebble.com/maps-nav_99279aadf6df4c0fadfdb39a https://apps.repebble.com/maps-nav_99279aadf6df4c0fadfdb39a
  - flowardnut 2mo ago
    >You can bring your phone with you! You can, but it's pretty awful. put it in a pocket and it flops around. Wear a band that slides in your phone in and get it soaked (i'm a sweat monster). I own a pebble, but I'll gladly just run without a phone.
    - cyberax 2mo ago
      Have you tried one of these upper arm holsters? Actually, you gave me an idea! There are button-sized Bluetooth GPS loggers. They can record a GPS track, and you can later download the data from them. Since it's freaking GPS, it automatically has timestamps, so it's easy to correlate with other activity. As a bonus, I think it should be possible to connect them directly with the phone. BRB, I think I have a ESP-based Tiny Arudino somewhere...
      - sliken 2mo ago
        Heh, I used to use bluetooth GPS tracker with my nokia 770. It worked well since I could place the gps where it got the best signal. I could start a track, have it record it, and then check in with the n770 only when I needed to see a map. That way I made the most of my n770's battery life, but still got continuous tracking. Beware that they take much longer to start since they don't know the GPS coords of the nearest cell tower, nor do they download the GPS almanac over the cell connection. They will however remember the almanac so you can leave it on for 30 minutes and not have to redownload it the next day.
        cyberax 2mo ago
        I have a small Meshtastic device, not quite button-sized but still tiny. The chip on it supports aGPS, so I can upload the almanac and prime it with the approximate location. I'm very familiar with this process, I wrote a small utility for my cell phone back in ~2010 after I screwed up its factory image by installing Cyanogen.
        sliken 2mo ago
        Nice, I have a few mestastic widgets, but do want something small enough for a dog collar. That way my wife and I can carry a radio and keep one in the car so we have a good chance getting in range. Sad that most of ham radio, which has similar APRS for tracking, doesn't do async or multi-hop.
        cyberax 2mo ago
        I found this one when searching for something similar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF6QL9S9 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF6QL9S9 - it should even be hackable. I have not tested it, but it should be hackable. I have a couple of discrete RAK chips, and I've ordered a PCB with a trace antenna for them.
        sliken 2mo ago
        Looks nice for some uses, but pretty big for a dog collar, almost 3" on a side. I've some long/thin dev boards that I could pair with an 18650 that should be closer to 1".
VertanaNinjai 2mo ago
OP specifically called out GPS in relation to a watch as a desired feature. You can’t just summarily dismiss that with a hand wave of “you have a phone don’t you?”
- cyberax 2mo ago
  It can mean different things: support for fully autonomous GPS or for the phone-assisted GPS.
hutattedonmyarm 2mo ago
> GPS is covered by the phone that you're going to be carrying anyway. I leave my phone at home when I go for a run. Connect my headphones to ma watch (which as my podcasts and audiobooks on there), remove the house key from my keychain and carry nothing with me besides key, watch and headphone. Feels so much better than having a phone with me
NetMageSCW 2mo ago
That isn’t advanced health tracking. Advanced health tracking is when my Apple Watch watched my activity versus heart rate over time and warned me it saw signs of hypertension, which caused me to buy a wrist BP and do a health log for BPmin Apple Health, then produce a report and go to a doctor who prescribed medication for me. Does the PebbleTime do that?
- cyberax 2mo ago
  Pebble Time has the HR sensor, and it has activity monitoring. You can upload the data into Google Health or Apple's health tracker. So it should work? It's the same data, after all.

by cyberax 2mo ago

danilafe 2mo ago

> GPS is covered by the phone that you're going to be carrying anyway Unless you go for a run, for example. > Really the only missing part is NFC payments. And custom applications, not the least of which are navigation tools like Google Maps or Citymapper.

cyberax 2mo ago
> Unless you go for a run, for example. You can bring your phone with you! Then you can combine its GPS tracks and the information from Pebble. > And custom applications, not the least of which are navigation tools like Google Maps or Citymapper. They won't work without the phone connection because Pebble does not have a cellular modem. But there are mapping apps for the Pebble that use the phone's GPS: https://apps.repebble.com/maptastic_52e7521679f937c182000004 https://apps.repebble.com/maptastic_52e7521679f937c182000004 or https://apps.repebble.com/maps-nav_99279aadf6df4c0fadfdb39a https://apps.repebble.com/maps-nav_99279aadf6df4c0fadfdb39a
- flowardnut 2mo ago
  >You can bring your phone with you! You can, but it's pretty awful. put it in a pocket and it flops around. Wear a band that slides in your phone in and get it soaked (i'm a sweat monster). I own a pebble, but I'll gladly just run without a phone.
  - cyberax 2mo ago
    Have you tried one of these upper arm holsters? Actually, you gave me an idea! There are button-sized Bluetooth GPS loggers. They can record a GPS track, and you can later download the data from them. Since it's freaking GPS, it automatically has timestamps, so it's easy to correlate with other activity. As a bonus, I think it should be possible to connect them directly with the phone. BRB, I think I have a ESP-based Tiny Arudino somewhere...
    - sliken 2mo ago
      Heh, I used to use bluetooth GPS tracker with my nokia 770. It worked well since I could place the gps where it got the best signal. I could start a track, have it record it, and then check in with the n770 only when I needed to see a map. That way I made the most of my n770's battery life, but still got continuous tracking. Beware that they take much longer to start since they don't know the GPS coords of the nearest cell tower, nor do they download the GPS almanac over the cell connection. They will however remember the almanac so you can leave it on for 30 minutes and not have to redownload it the next day.
      - cyberax 2mo ago
        I have a small Meshtastic device, not quite button-sized but still tiny. The chip on it supports aGPS, so I can upload the almanac and prime it with the approximate location. I'm very familiar with this process, I wrote a small utility for my cell phone back in ~2010 after I screwed up its factory image by installing Cyanogen.
        sliken 2mo ago
        Nice, I have a few mestastic widgets, but do want something small enough for a dog collar. That way my wife and I can carry a radio and keep one in the car so we have a good chance getting in range. Sad that most of ham radio, which has similar APRS for tracking, doesn't do async or multi-hop.
        cyberax 2mo ago
        I found this one when searching for something similar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF6QL9S9 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GF6QL9S9 - it should even be hackable. I have not tested it, but it should be hackable. I have a couple of discrete RAK chips, and I've ordered a PCB with a trace antenna for them.
        sliken 2mo ago
        Looks nice for some uses, but pretty big for a dog collar, almost 3" on a side. I've some long/thin dev boards that I could pair with an 18650 that should be closer to 1".

VertanaNinjai 2mo ago

OP specifically called out GPS in relation to a watch as a desired feature. You can’t just summarily dismiss that with a hand wave of “you have a phone don’t you?”

cyberax 2mo ago
It can mean different things: support for fully autonomous GPS or for the phone-assisted GPS.

hutattedonmyarm 2mo ago

> GPS is covered by the phone that you're going to be carrying anyway. I leave my phone at home when I go for a run. Connect my headphones to ma watch (which as my podcasts and audiobooks on there), remove the house key from my keychain and carry nothing with me besides key, watch and headphone. Feels so much better than having a phone with me

NetMageSCW 2mo ago

That isn’t advanced health tracking. Advanced health tracking is when my Apple Watch watched my activity versus heart rate over time and warned me it saw signs of hypertension, which caused me to buy a wrist BP and do a health log for BPmin Apple Health, then produce a report and go to a doctor who prescribed medication for me. Does the PebbleTime do that?

cyberax 2mo ago
Pebble Time has the HR sensor, and it has activity monitoring. You can upload the data into Google Health or Apple's health tracker. So it should work? It's the same data, after all.