Garmin 945

Yeah I love my forerunner 945. Got it used in 2020 and when it died in 2023 Garmin replaced it for $150 including tax and shipping. Couple friends have got the new fancier touchscreen models but I like the simplicity of my watch. I blocked most texts from coming through as a buzz except immediate family or 2FA but it would be nice if Apple's focus modes worked better with it automatically. Been wondering if Pebble would be a good move to get even further away from proprietary software though as someone who runs or hits the gym monday through saturday

The problem is that 30 hours slowly becomes far less over time with software bloat and battery degradation. What I hated when I had a watch with a tiny batter like this is that if I wanted both sleep tracking AND the ability to track my morning workout, I absolutely had to remember to charge before bed. If I forgot, I'd wake up with a dead or almost dead watch and have to delay my workout. I went though a number of android wear smart watches ~10 years ago and had the same problem with all of them. I absolutely loved my Garmin 940M. I had it for years with hardly any battery degradation and it typically gave me 70-80% of the advertised battery life for many years until it was accidentally physically destroyed (caught the watch on a heavy backpack I was taking off, which ripped off the watch pin anchor from the case). The Fenix 6 I have now is not nearly so good. It advertises 2 weeks of battery and I'm at 53% after only 4 days or so. I blame this partially on their crappy iOS support where you cannot filter apps out, so every #$%#$%^ slack message I get buzzes my watch. I had a Pixel phone when I had the 945, where you can filter out garbage notifications. This is really Garmin's fault, since apparently Coros and Pebble can filter notifications on iOS. I'll switch to one of those when this Garmin dies unless they fix their iOS support.

I have the Forerunner 945 and it's the only thing that has ever filled the void left by Pebble. Garmin is so good.

I use a Garmin Forerunner 945 with Garmin Connect. Works pretty good. For me the “analytics” part of Garmin Connect is better then Apple Activities (switched from Apple Watch 1 year ago).

If you're in the market for a smart watch, and you're a cyclist, I'd recommend checking out Garmin. They have a massive array of sensors and record very precise data that is aggregated on Garmin Connect. It's been invaluable to me for assessing training effectiveness over time. They make Apple watches look like toys. If you want the latest and greatest, the Forerunner 945 is probably what you're looking for, but the older models can be found for cheap and are still solid watches. If you want emergency alerts, you'll have to stick with newer models though.