I have been using a Pebble Time Steel for years even after their acquisition by Garmin Someone corrected me it was FitBit not Garmin thanks to Rebble, a modded firmware that gives it new life, but I would like a smartwatch that can track my heart rate.
I don’t mind using an older device especially if it means a cheaper price. A bonus for me would be if it still had some kind of community around it or a custom firmware like Pebble watches do.
I found an original Moto 360 with a functional battery for about $30 but I am not sure if due its age its functionality would be greatly limited.
Edit: It seems like Garmin and FitBit might be worth looking at. But I wouldn’t know what devices to look at or if there have been any major improvements with recent revisions.
Edit: Just an update I bought a Garmin VivoActive 3 used and locally. It seems to have some solid build quality but appears to have significantly less apps and features compared to my Pebble. The heart rate sensor seems to work alright though. I am a dork for metrics so I feel like that should make up for it.
I’ve got a cheap fitbit and the god damn thing can’t even track heart-rate without you doing this weird ass finger-pinch bullshit on it. So I’d love to know this as well.
I’ve still got my eye on the https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/ – but it’s an open source project and while I may be highly devoted to promoting open source things, there are times when open source just isn’t…solid enough for daily use. This is one of those times. Cool to see an open development platform for a smartwatch though :)
I have a PineTime and admittedly I haven’t used it in a while since it’s original release but the heart rate monitor, at least then, was all over the place. I am going to try to see if I can charge it up and update the firmware to test and see if it makes a difference.
I daily drive it for almost 2 years. Can totally recommend. With the latest firmware it lasts half a month for me.