Just Watch (Literally)

Last week, my Fitbit Versa 4 started acting up. It's done that before, and there's a good chance that once the battery has had time to completely drain I can re-set it and have it functional again.

But do I really want to?

In theory, fitness trackers and "smart watches" are very useful and convenient. They'll helpfully buzz when your connected phone receives a call, text, or app notification. If you want to set up Google Pay, you can "tap to pay" at the gas pump and so forth.

I find that all a little busy and annoying.

I like having a step counter, but I can just buy a dedicated pedometer for that if need be, and at this point I've got a good handle on where and how far to walk each day to meet my fitness goal. All the other stuff it tracks (blood oxygen, sleep quality, etc.) seem pretty stable to me and I seldom actually look at the stats.

I do like the "buzz on wrist" thing for one function -- connected to Google Maps, it will buzz when I have a turn coming up. That's helpful on the motorcycle, as it's hard to hear the voice coming from my phone on the handlebar. But I can definitely get by without it.

So, while waiting for the battery to drain (it may take a week or more), I decided to go back to wearing a watch. Not a smart watch. Not even a digital watch. Just one of those old-fashioned dials with hands on it.

I wasn't going to waste a bunch of money on one until I decided to stick to this, so I ordered a $10 watch. Green canvas band, white face, black frame and numbering, glows in the dark (but in this watch's case, it's usually dim before dawn).

Three days in, I think I like it. I may never go back to the Fitbit.

If not, I'll just order a cheap pedometer for step count, stop worrying about the other stats (or maybe get a "smart ring" to handle that stuff), and eventually buy a better, more durable/trustworthy watch -- a $100-$200 Fossil, maybe, or if I'm feeling like a somewhat bigger spender, a Timex Pan Am or Expedition or a Citizen/Bulova (the former company owns the latter). I don't feel any need to own an Omega or Rolex, just something that I can expect to still be working when I stop having a heartbeat that a "smart watch" would track.

I'll probably replace the factory band with a wide olive drab canvas band with Velcro cover, just because I found that comfortable and unintrusive back when I used my old Timex with extra sweep second hand to e.g. match outgoing mortar rounds to aircraft time over target for Suppression of Enemy Air Defense missions. Not sure what ever happened to that old Timex, but I suspect it would still be keeping time on my wrist right now if I still had it.