r/smartwatch

Hi, I just got a Garmin Vivoactive 5 today (bought in the US through a friend and brought to India), and I’m slightly panicking about the battery.

The watch was sitting unused in the box for a little over a month after my friend charged it once. When I opened it today, it was at 68%, so I assumed battery was fine.

But during initial setup (not even connected to a phone yet because my phone situation is a mess right now), the battery dropped from around 68% to 6% in maybe ~20–30 mins. I was mostly just entering details and looking through settings. The green HR light was also continuously flashing while worn.

Now I’m charging it fully and planning to test again tomorrow with Pulse Ox + always-on display turned off.

Has anyone seen massive battery drops on first boot/setup that later stabilized after a full charge cycle?
Could this just be battery percentage calibration being weird after sitting idle in the box for weeks? Or does this sound like an actual defective battery?

The watch itself seems otherwise fine:

• touchscreen works
• sensors work
• no overheating so far
• charges normally (I think)

Just trying to figure out if I should actually worry or if I’m spiraling for no reason 😭

I can buy through Samsungs official site the gw7 for $180usd or the gw8 for $250usd, both are 44mm and Bluetooth cause I always have my phone on me which is an s24u, they have similar specs from what I can tell except the gw8 has 10mah more than the gw7, 3000 nits, more health tracking, and wider variety of band types. My use cases would be contactless payment, music control, and interest in my sleep cause ive always slept poorly, I'm not someone that really works out maybe a rare walk depending on weather. I'm mostly just curious about smart watches as of late and I've always been into technology and have never had a smart watch and would like to try one out without breaking the bank

Edit: Upon further research i could also get the galaxy watch 8 classic for 270

Hi,

I've been vibe-coding a personal project to get AI to analyse my Garmin activity data using sports science literature and it offers more insights than the normal gGarminapp / 'ai' https://github.com/dandwhelan/garmin-stats-ai

Another important factor in the AI and Dashboard analyse is the new Garmin Feature called 'Lifestyle Logging': every day, you enter data whatever you like, e.g., tracking daily energy levels, caffeine, stretching, sunlight, alcohol, or even creating your own custom data points Garmin, by default, doesn't do much with the data, hence why I started making the AI tool/graphs based on Lifestyle data. Women who enter menstrual cycle data into Garmin can also view the data in graphs / ask the bot about it.

It has multi-user support, it's intended to run on a laptop or desktop and not be accessed online, as there is no authentication.

Arphanghosh84 did the original work with grafana / garmin connect script, but I've changed it all within one interface, and no extra databases need to be created. https://github.com/arpanghosh8453/garmin-grafana

Hopefully, people find it helpful.

Dashboard

gif of some dashbaords

Here is some anonymised menstruation data which I got Gemini to tweak.

The newly launched realme Watch S5 claims up to 20 days of battery life, and honestly that feels way more practical than charging a smartwatch every 2 days. Most people I know eventually stop using smartwatches regularly because battery anxiety becomes annoying.

I’ve been so confused which one to pick. For context I’ve been slowly running more this past year. I want to track my pace, miles, heart rate during a workout, calories burnt for running, hiit classes and swimming. And I want a few health metrics sprinkled in. And advice?

I’m looking for a good budget smartwatch (under £130) that will track my cycling to work, must be able to connect to Strava and a bonus if it has the ability to display maps. Does anyone have any recommendations?

The race for the next big wearable isn’t happening on screens anymore.
It’s happening in what users *don’t* want to see.

From Whoop and Oura Ring to Google’s new Fitbit Air, the strategy shift is becoming very clear:

→ Fewer notifications
→ More recovery insights
→ Longer battery life
→ Passive, continuous health intelligence

But the bigger story is the consumer behavior shift behind this category.

People are experiencing screen fatigue.
Smartwatches slowly became extensions of work notifications, emails, and constant distraction.

Screenless wearables are winning because they feel intentional.

Users now want:
• Accurate recovery & sleep data
• 5–10 day battery life
• Digital detox without losing health insights
• Minimal, discreet form factors
• Passive wellness instead of constant interaction

That’s exactly why smart rings and screenless bands are growing faster than traditional smartwatches right now.

The industry is moving from: More features on your wrist to Less interruption and better intelligence.

And honestly, this feels less like a hardware trend…
and more like the beginning of ambient health computing.

The next wearable winners may not be the companies with the best screens but the ones that disappear seamlessly into daily life while delivering meaningful health intelligence.

Coros pace 4 new ($186)

Suunto race s new ($278)

I can get a refurbished pace 4 for $199 or a suunto run for $179. Abyone have these and want to provide some insight?

I run, swim, lift weights and do interval training but not to the extent of me doing marathons or anything like that.

Anyone else getting lots of “immeasurable” gaps in Body Battery/stress on Garmin watches?

I bought a Lily 2 because I love my Garmin Index Sleep Monitor for sleep/body battery, but wanted a smaller daytime option for steps and Body Battery.

The watch has good skin contact, but I’m seeing frequent black unmeasurable gaps when I wear it. Whether moving or resting. My Index sleep armband senses continuously unless I’m exercising hard.

Confused I reached out to Garmin support who confirmed wrist movement can count as steps, while walking without arm movement may not ie a walking pad while working.

Are others experiencing either of these issues as well? I've had it 3 days and I'm ready to return it. For almost $300 it should know the difference between washing dishes and walking.

Hey guys, this is the first time I'll be buying a Garmin watch (I have bought some very low-end, cheap brand watches), and I wanted to know which one I should get. My uses are mainly for gym workouts, but I also play once or twice a week (something like tennis, badminton, soccer, etc). Are Garmin watches actually worth it or should I look at some other brands?

Thank you for your help!

Hi! I've been researching health tracking wearables for the last few months trying to decide if I should invest/which wearable to get if yes. Needless to say, I'm completely overwhelmed by my options. I know there are no perfect products and there will be people who love and hate each one, but this would be a fairly significant financial investment for me so I don't want to just buy one and hope it works out.

I've seen a lot about Oura (obviously), Whoop, Panther, and a few others. I want something with a strong ROI for what I'm paying. I'd prefer it not be huge and bulky but it's not my top priority. Ideally, I buy a product that I can wear almost everywhere (including strength training which has turned me off of Oura a bit) that's as accurate as possible. Data privacy is important to me, but I'm not delusional about the reality of data privacy in the US right now.

If anyone has thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I'm 24 and would like to learn more about my wellbeing while I have the ability to make really meaningful habit changes if needed. Any and all perspectives are greatly appreciated.

I have an OLD galaxy watch that lasts days and does everything I want and lasts for days except the buttons are failing so its becoming more and more frustrating.

I am android on a samsung phone and I want a new watch that lasts at least a few days (think weekend Scout camp), has a mic and speaker for calls as I do use that on occasion, the ability to reply to whatsapp without getting my phone out of my pocket, tracks walks and hikes.
What I don't need is sleep tracking as I take it off every night (except on camps), high levels of fitness tracking (that would require me to actually conduct some exercise), LTE as it will always be near the phone.

I have ruled out the samsung watches as the battery life is simply too short.
I'm not sure on the Pixel Watch as the same battery life may be too short (plus I'm trying to keep to a budget)
OnePlus Watch3 ticks more boxes but if they pull out of the UK - no support
Garmins either too pricey or fitness focussed
Amazfit I see good things but then having to use zeppflow to reply whatsapp wasn't what I really wanted, I don't usually find voice recognition very good for that sort of thing .

Am I just being too picky or am I missing something.