The Garmin Lily is genuinely pretty and clearly designed for women ✅ but it's CA$400 for a device that's probably a great fitness tracker but pretty dumb as smart watches go.

I can get just as good (maybe?) a fitness tracker from FitBit but that's also a smart(ish) watch for CA$150 but it's ugly as sin.

Apple Watch SE is probably the best as smart watches go, it's an okay tracker, but it's aesthetically meh.

Given how many people wear them, it's not like they look that out of place with anything and you at least have a lot of options when it comes to bands. But, seriously, the slightly rounded rectangle really isn't it when it comes to watch aesthetics.

I'm gonna end up being a basic bitch and getting an Apple Watch, aren't I?

At least with the Apple Watch, there's a lot of band options available to take it from "not ugly" to "kinda cute".

But, gods… why is that the bar? And why do I have to hand over CA$400 to the fruit gods to meet that bar?

I think I’m leaning towards the Garmin Lily.

Ugh... And the engineer in me knows exactly WHY they made the trade-offs they did. Dropping from 42 to 35mm cuts out a LOT of area/volume. Area drops by radius squared and you're already burning some for the enclosure. Making a 35mm smart watch requires smaller electronics, a smaller battery, etc. So of course it's going to be dumber.

The LCD display is also probably a battery saving measure. The fact that the battery is smaller but people still expect multiple days out of it, while still running Linux (probably) and all that fitness/monitoring tech really squeezes your power budget. Since the screen is often one of the biggest power draws, cutting back to a LCD makes sense.

@kirtai And this is 100% a pink tax situation. It's clearly possible to make a small fitness tracker. It's also clearly possible to make one that doesn't look terrible. Why is there literally only one option which combines both of these and why is it so expensive?!?

It's going to be a compromise no matter which I choose. They're about the same price. (The Apple Watch and the Garmin Lily.) The Apple Watch is visually very meh but a good smart watch and an okay fitness tracker. The Garmin is a solid fitness tracker, a pretty meh smart watch, and looks pretty.

I really hate that this is a "choose 2 out of 3" situation.

I really hate how it's "pay more for it to not look ugly as sin". Really? Why? Does everyone who wears a fitness tracker really want to advertise to everyone that they're the kind of person who wears a fitness tracker?

@luana For the first 3, the Lily looks great. But it’s very much in the semi-smart category. About the only thing it offers beyond a few fitness apps is notifications.

@faithisleaping Are you talking about the added price of nicer-looking Apple Watch bands? If so, I recommend going aftermarket / third party. Apple’s bar for watch band quality is mid. No-name or mainstream watch strap brands match it easily at a fraction of the price.

@webslinger Yeah, I assume I'd want to buy a 3rd party band. I've already found some on etsy that are pretty cute. They're not that expensive, though. Like $30.

@faithisleaping I have a Garmin watch since 2017, it still works well and even with a heavily degraded battery it lasts for a week and a half.

(tho i did replace every part at least once since then, so it's kind of a watch of theseus situation).

@faithisleaping That's the one my girlfriend uses (I should get her on Fedi, right?)

@ooze How does she like it? Any complaints?

@faithisleaping She likes it, but there are a few features that are enabled by default that can be annoying (like interrupting to suggest doing breathing exercises). This model has to be switched to an activity mode to calculate heart rate and movement accurately; the default is a battery saving mode that is fine for low activity intensity.

@ooze That's the thing that's getting me. You sacrifice a LOT for that size. If I'm willing to go with a 41-42mm watch, The Vivoactive is like $50 more and is a proper smartwatch. Or at that point, I can just get an Apple Watch.

@faithisleaping
That doesn't stop it from being annoying though

Also, pink tax, we hates it.

@kirtai It doesn't. It's annoying as hell.

@faithisleaping Well, can always get fun bands, that’s what I do.

@freehours9 Yeah… The good thing about the Apple Watch is that there’s a lot of bands to choose from even if the thing itself isn’t all that attractive.

@faithisleaping consider it a form mating plumage.

@yantor3d Yeah, bit I don't think I want to mate with anyone who's attracted to smartwatches.

@faithisleaping To each their own.

For a time my hypothetical green flag was "can she beat me in a sword fight?"

@yantor3d Oh, that’s entirely fair. But I’m not sure wearing a Fitbit implies that. There’s a whole lot of fitness culture that’s super toxic and I don’t want to attract that.

@faithisleaping I had to look into it, this is a cute watch but there's seriously no third-party app support? That's wild considering their other watches do support it

@rpgwaiter Some of their other smart watches are aesthetically okay, too. But, again, cost vs. aesthetics vs. capability it's hard to justify.

Like, I kinda like the 41mm Venu but it's CA$800. What am I getting for all that $$$?

@faithisleaping I'm enjoying my Garmin Venu 4 I got recently. What do you think you'll miss from the smart features?

@luana The Venu and the Lily are totally different devices. The Venu is an actual smartwatch. It also costs 2x as much.

What do I think I’d miss? I’m honestly not sure and that’s part of the problem. If I had a better idea of what exactly I want, it might be easier to prioritize and narrow down the options.

I think, roughly:

• Fitness tracker with heart rate and O2 monitor. Bonus points for GPS.
• Integrate with Apple Fitness so I can get it all in one place. Though if Garmin has a banger app, that might override Apple.
• Looks good with clothes that didn’t come from Lululemon.
• Smart watch, maybe? This is where I’m really not sure. I’ve never had one so I don’t know what I’d want or miss. I think I want notifications and some app control might be nice. I’m really not sure, though.

@faithisleaping what smart features would you want to use that aren't on the Lily?

The silver smaller Venu (comes with a lavender band by default) looks really good imo

I havent downloaded the Garmin app, I'm using it with GadgetBridge, but I think the Garmin app should sync with Apple Fitness fine

Honestly I disabled the watch notifications feature, as I started feeling it was quite invasive to have notifications in my wrist (even before, when I had an Apple Watch)

@luana I don't know. I've never had one so I don't know how I'll use it or what I'd miss. Maybe a lot? Maybe nothing?

@faithisleaping ye idk, I basically only use fitness/health tracking even back when I used an Apple Watch

@luana Yeah, and if that's where I land, that changes the calculus.

@luana I think the thing that annoys me about the Lily is how much it costs. It's 2-3x the cost of the equivalent (in terms of fitness stuff) Fitbit and you don't even get a proper smartwatch for that. You do get something I wouldn't mind wearing every day, though.

@faithisleaping Yeah, the Garmins are priced similarly to the Apples

@luana How is the Garmin fitness app in comparison? I think that might be enough to push me over the edge.