• Redex@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Wait, the basic version has a compas and barometer without a heart rate monitor, but the more expensive one has a heart rate monitor and no barometer or compass? Why?

    • taanegl@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Because that’s the feature people actually want. The biggest use of these watches is having an active heart rate monitor, as evident by even most of the cheaper watches having them.

      Pebble is now playing a gambit, whereby they think they will sell more of the premium model to people who will be using it for exercise and health reasons.

      Either that, or the hardware chosen specifically separates the heart rate monitor so that vendors strike a better deal with the factories to get specially designed chips.

      Either way, someone is getting taken for a ride.

      • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 hours ago

        Because that’s the feature people actually want. The biggest use of these watches is having an active heart rate monitor, as evident by even most of the cheaper watches having them.

        Seriously, even my $30 PineTime has a heart rate monitor.

        I’ve never once used a compass on my watch, mostly because the phone it’s attached to is a much better compass and even has its own barometer built-in. Plus it’s a pain to use a compass on a watch because you have to hold your whole arm up.

      • cley_faye@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        Pebble is now playing a gambit, whereby they think they will sell more of the premium model to people who will be using it for exercise and health reasons.

        There’s an explicit line in their site that says these are not made to be fitness trackers, and that garmin are good for that (or some other brand, can’t remember). It would be very odd to say that if it was their target.

        • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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          5 hours ago

          Dammit, I wanted to use this as a fitness tracker like garmin

          Edit: found this

          Software features

          Each watch runs open source PebbleOS. This enables all the baseline Pebble features like receiving notifications, timeline, watchfaces, alarms, timers, calendar, music control, basic fitness tracking, etc.

          You’re looking for a fitness or sports watch. That’s not what we’re making. From what we hear, Garmin watches are great for runners/cyclists/triathletes!

          https://ericmigi.com/blog/introducing-two-new-pebbleos-watches/

          • smayonak@lemmy.world
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            46 minutes ago

            For fitness its probably decent but Garmin seems to have placebo sleep tracking. In order to get anything remotely accurate the sleep tracking algorithm has to be compared to a lot of polysomnograph data. But because companies don’t want to spend any more than they need to sleep tracking is usually just tacked on. Garmin hasn’t shown a good track record in this regard.