Wearable: can I ask here? Best under $200

[Perseus Legend]

Hi there,

I want to buy a wearable to measure the basics such as, oxygen, heart rate, atrial fibrillation, sleep, and so on. I'm on Android, so no Apple watch for me.

I thought the new Google Pixel Watch could be a good candidate, but I see there are several drawbacks: short battery life, it requires a Fitbit subscription for some features, etc.

After some research I ended up considering Coros Pace 2, but if I'm not mistaken it doesn't measure the oxygen.
Then there's Fitbit Charge 5, which seems to be still a valid choice in 2022.

Is there any other good alternative I could take into account?

 

[B. Diddy]

I moved this from the General News forum to the Fitness Trackers forum. Another option is the Buyers Guide forum, but let's see what kind of traffic you get here.

Have you looked into Amazfit? They have a pretty good reputation. https://www.amazfit.com/us/

 

[Perseus Legend]

Thanks B. Diddy,

I totally overlooked the Fitness Trackers forum!
Thanks for moving the thread in the appropriate place, and for the link, I'll check it out.

 

[Perseus Legend]

The Amazfit looks interesting indeed.

I'm looking at the GTS 4.
It doesn't have ECG, though it does use a BioTracker PPG. I'm not clear on whether the ECG are actually useful on wearable or not, it seems it's not accurate. So, I wonder if the BioTracker PPG could be enough.

The thing is, on top of the other biometric data, I want to keep an eye on my hearth, and even though none of the wearable around are meant to be taken as a professional medical evaluation, I think the hearth rate should still be useful to keep an eye on.

Hope someone can shed some light.

Thanks again for the Amazfit link.

 

[me just saying]

do you want one that you can tap and pay as well with with google pay? Also you need to check whether or not the fitness basics are even activated. For example, samsung watches has the ability for blood pressure and other but not approved for use in the US. It's been that way for years.

 

[B. Diddy]

The Amazfit looks interesting indeed.

I'm looking at the GTS 4.
It doesn't have ECG, though it does use a BioTracker PPG. I'm not clear on whether the ECG are actually useful on wearable or not, it seems it's not accurate. So, I wonder if the BioTracker PPG could be enough.

The thing is, on top of the other biometric data, I want to keep an eye on my hearth, and even though none of the wearable around are meant to be taken as a professional medical evaluation, I think the hearth rate should still be useful to keep an eye on.

Hope someone can shed some light.

Thanks again for the Amazfit link.

It's worth pointing out that in order to record a true single lead ECG, the user has to touch the crown with their other hand, thus completing an electrical circuit through their body (across both arms, so as to measure the electrical current generated by the heart muscle). From what I understand, the Apple Watch (and other watches) can do this, but when the user is otherwise just wearing the watch without completing that circuit, the Apple Watch relies on reading the pulse via plethysmography (i.e., using the LED light on the back of the watch to figure out when a pulse is happening), and by using a proprietary algorithm, can determine if the heart is in atrial fibrillation (and probably atrial flutter as well, depending on how variable the atrial block is). However, it canNOT determine if the user is having a heart attack, nor is it very useful in determining any other serious arrhythmia.

Atrial fibrillation/flutter is an important condition to detect, so I'm not discounting the benefit of that function -- but it may be helpful to know that it probably doesn't have much other benefit beyond that.

Here's an article discussing the issue: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1050173819301495

 

[Perseus Legend]

That's very interesting, and informative.
Once again, I thank you B. Diddy for your help, I'll read the article.
@me just saying
Good points!

I'm not too interested in the paying options, but yes on the other basics that need to be available in the U.S.
I'll make sure to check that part carefully. Thanks!

 

[tismydroid]

The Galaxy Watch 4 is currently $199.99 at Best Buy. It does do heart rate, oxygen, sleep tracking, and I believe it also does ECG. It also does most everything and anything else you might want it for. Might be worth looking into.

Sent from my SM-S908U using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Perseus Legend]

I looked at the Galaxy Watch 4, and despite being a great watch, it has a few downsides for me: the battery life isn't great, it needs full immersion in the Samsung world in terms of apps, registration, and the privacy part doesn't seem too clear.

After reading articles, and watching some YT videos, I think I'm nailing down my choice to something more like a Garmin Forerunner 245 then a more generic smartwatch. Not that I do any particular workout, running, or hiking activity (those are kind of sporadic for me), but I like the fact that the Garmin is more oriented to the activities in general as opposed to the smartwatch features of say Google, or Apple. Even the fact that it is not touch-screen it's actually a good thing for me. The battery life is really good, about 7 days. Also, the smart trainer, and Garmin connect app look quite solid.
That said, it doesn't have ECG

 

[tismydroid]

I looked at the Galaxy Watch 4, and despite being a great watch, it has a few downsides for me: the battery life isn't great, it needs full immersion in the Samsung world in terms of apps, registration, and the privacy part doesn't seem too clear.

After reading articles, and watching some YT videos, I think I'm nailing down my choice to something more like a Garmin Forerunner 245 then a more generic smartwatch. Not that I do any particular workout, running, or hiking activity (those are kind of sporadic for me), but I like the fact that the Garmin is more oriented to the activities in general as opposed to the smartwatch features of say Google, or Apple. Even the fact that it is not touch-screen it's actually a good thing for me. The battery life is really good, about 7 days. Also, the smart trainer, and Garmin connect app look quite solid.
That said, it doesn't have ECG

I don't know much about the Garmin watch but Garmin is a good make & it sounds like a great watch even if it's doesn't have ECG. Battery life is going to be stellar. And your are right, the GW4 does not have the greatest battery life. And I'm not sure what limits the GW4 has on a non-samsung phone.

Definitely give us your real life review of the Garmin if you do decide to get it.

Sent from my SM-S908U using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Perseus Legend]

This reply is long overdue, but better late than never.

I got the Forerunner 245, which I loved.

The good.
Light, great display (more on this in a moment), great battery life with about 6 days of average use, accurate GPS, fast charging (and I mean, fast).

The display uses transflective memory-in-pixel, nothing like an Amoled display. In fact, it's not glossy, it feels more like a rugged display meant for a watch to be used outdoor than a fancy looking object to be worn for fashion purpose (that doesn't mean it looks bad though). The nature of the display allows to have the on-screen always on without affecting the batter life.

The bad
Heart rate is off, way too off. Every day I was getting extreme hearth beat rate alerts, when everything was in fact normal. Eventually, this was the main deal breaker for me, and so I returned it back.

What I got instead.
Garmin Venu 2.
Even though I wanted to love the Forerunner, this watch definitely feels more accurate.
It comes with a much better heart rate measurement, oxygen reading, bigger display, some useful utilities which I use a lot, like the Health Snapshot where the user can take a snapshot of heart rate, oxygenation, respiration, stress.
The watch despite carrying a bigger display than the Forerunner, feels light.

What I love about Garmin is their software which is accessible from both your phone, and from the web site. Is very well designed, clear, with plenty of helpful information, super detailed in every aspect of the different measurements.

I've been using the Venu 2 for a month now with no complains.
If I had to mention one annoyance it would be the speedometer. It gets fooled by the wrist movement. So, if you wear the watch while brushing your teeth, washing your face, or cleaning the dishes, before you know you easily end up with hundreds of extra steps without even having moved by an inch.
It's a known issue, not sure Garmin will ever address it. I simply take the watch off in those cases.

 

[happycat9]

I just purchased a cheap Amazfit for my husband. I will be interested to see how it works and holds up. My husband expressed interest in a pedometer so I went with this. The main features that attracted me were long battery life…he should only need to charge once per week…reputed to have a 9 day battery life…and it was inexpensive…I not sure he will really use this. He doesn’t need phone or text capability since he only gets a handful of calls per year!