I bought a piece of 1.5 inch stiff foam to try to fix a sag in a bed. It didn’t work but having that thick piece of solid foam around has been a life saver.
Need something flat to put a laptop on? Throw it on the foam. Going to be doing something that requires you to be on your knees for a while? Get the foam!
It went from stupid purchase to something I’d gladly replace if it broke.
This one really shocked me, too! I got a Fitbit to monitor my heart rate because of a genetic condition, but fast forward a couple years and I’m running a mile and exercising multiple times a week.
Didn’t see that coming, but a nice result!
Tbh, I hate the Fitbit though. I hate that it’s owned by Google and they charge me to see my own data. I’d love to switch, but I can’t find alternatives that check all the boxes from a Charge 5…
Edit: if you’re looking to get a Fitbit and wanna save some money, thrift stores often have electronic sections full of em! My bf got his charge 5 for 50$ from a goodwill. Same one 100$ more in the target across the street.
Albeit a bit more pricey I love the Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches. There is a very wide variety at many different price points, no subscription and access to all data, integrates well with other services. Not sure about the OLED versions but I love the non OLED ones. Touch display, color (although not as vibrant), smartphone connectivity (e.g. notifications) and even payment (credit card on the watch, no phone needed)… with all that the battery still lasts about 2 weeks.
Sorry for shilling. There was a time when I hated Garmin. But their watches have come a long way.
I wrote a huge reply about Garmin watches and felt like a shill, too, but it got lost. I will just add on to your reply to say Garmin watches rock. They cost more upfront but it feels like I’m wearing a scientific instrument vs a watch, for all the info it gives. Battery life is amazing, as you said.
Pro tip from a fellow rambler: before submitting a lengthy, in-depth, top-tier comment. Highlight some text. Hit ‘Select All’. Copy. That way your shit isn’t lost & your time isn’t wasted. 🙂
The internet wants your honest, detailed opinions. That’s how we all learn! 😌
I used to think Garmin watches were way overpriced but then I got involved in wearable fitness monitor validation studies as part of my graduate degree lab and they were by and far the most reliable and accurate for everything we tested. I went from a Fitbit Versa to a Garmin Instinct and loved it so much that after it broke, I got their Fenix 7X. It’s literally everything you could ever want In a fitness tracking watch with smart features. A full charge lasts me nearly 20 days due to the solar charging.
https://youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist has a lot of detailed videos on smartwatches’ accuracy
I went from a Pebble Time to a Garmin Forerunner. Amazing battery life (2 weeks vs 5 days). But the software on the now defunct Pebble was massively superior. Sleep tracking on the Garmin sucks despite it having many more sensors. The Pebble pretty much always recognized short naps, and was pretty accurate with sleep/wake times.
The Garmin’s UI is also dogcrap. For example, if you get a text, it first pops up with the name of who’s texting you. You have to wait two seconds before the actual text shows up. If someone texts you again, the name pops up. You kinda have to wait for the other person to stop sending texts to be able to read anything.
I wish we could have Pebble’s software in the body of a Forerunner. Sadly Fitbit bought Pebble and subsequently threw it in the trash.
Tbh, I hate the Fitbit though. I hate that it’s owned by Google and they charge me to see my own data. I’d love to switch, but I can’t find alternatives that check all the boxes from a Charge 5…
That’s the issue that so far has kept me from buying a smart watch/fitness monitor.
I’ve had my eye on a PineTime for a while now, but I’m not sure if it’s ready for general consumer use or still an early-adopter kind of product. (Although I’m an engineer, I don’t necessarily want to buy a project in this particular instance.)
I haven’t checked if this works with all the premium features but I know for the sleep tracking ones you can get them by linking your Fitbit account to Google Fit and viewing it in the Google Fit app.
I’ll check that out! They might at the very least have more there.
They also give you a cute “animal” profile for your sleep style when you pay. It was meaningless, but fun. I always got the dolphin during my free trial because I apparently have no idea how to sleep for more than 3 and a half hours.
Oh the animal thing does not cross over. I would totally pay if it was a reasonable price but $9.99 a month is kind of ridiculous
Charged to see your Fitbit data? What does that mean? I have no problem going back years across various devices.
They hide their in depth graphs and readings from you unless you pay for premium. You can get basic data going back years, but if you want to know how long it took you to enter REM sleep for example, your only option is trying to guess using their vague graph charts, or pay premium for the in depth graphs.
Did they change it recently maybe? I got one earlier this year and could see my sleep data before getting premium (just using the free 6 months now).
