No, charge every night would be way worse. My wife uses her Fitbit to track her sleep, and it does this very well (much better than her previous smartwatch). She also tracks how much she walks during the day. A smartwatch that has to be charged every day would be useless to her.

I have no idea about the UI that some people complain about, but my wife seems to have managed to get access quite a bit of functionality in her Fitbit, so I'd say it's good enough for its purpose.

I recommend using a separate sleep tracker. I was using the Fitbit constantly and got some skin irritation when I forgot to swap wrists before bed. Though, I was using a narrow version which probably made things worse.

I solved the skin irritation issue by buying a third party metal strap (YMMV)

My wife has no skin irritation issue at all. (I probably would; I hate watches on my wrist.)

FWIW my Apple Watch S4 can go a whole weekend on a single charge. I don't use mine extensively, though I do use Apple Pay for every transaction that I can. You can def go 2-2.5 days on a single charge.

For comparison, a casio watch goes 3 years on a single charge.

I guess apple pay on a watch is marginally more convenient than taking out your phone, but $400 and having to charge it seems not really worth it?

That's right, a watch that does literally nothing but tell the time lasts a long time on a single battery charge. If having to charge your watch is not worth the benefits/luxuries provided by an expensive smartwatch, a smartwatch might not be for you.

> I don't use mine extensively, though I do use Apple Pay for every transaction that I can.

That is why I was asking. The only "benefit/luxury" you mention is apple pay and you say that you are not using it much.

To give a quick summary: I look at the upcoming weather, see the times of upcoming meetings, see messages people have sent me, pause/resume/skip tracks on currently-playing music, track hikes or walks, record audio, check my heart rate, check the current time/date, and pay for stuff.

> "For comparison, a casio watch goes 3 years on a single charge."

A fact that blew my son's mind when I explained why he didn't have to charge his watch.

You obviously don't use it for tracking fitness then.

Yeah man, pretty much - I don't track my activities because they are too irregular, I go on hikes and walks and that's it.

Wearing a watch during sleep is annoying and can actually lead to health issues. Get a proper sleep tracker (e.g. Withings) for this. Charging nightly is perfect for a watch, really is a pro for the Apple Watch.

What I've ended up doing is charging my fitbit for 15min every morning while I get dressed.

It's enough to go from ~60% to ~80% and fits in as a daily habit, so my watch is almost always between 65% and 80%, It can track my sleep (I exclusively use my watch for tracking sleep, tracking exercise, tracking heartrate and telling the time. I don't have notifications enabled)

Then perhaps the best feature of charging the watch in this way, is that if you forget to charge (or unexpectedly away from home), the watch will always last for 3 extra days.

And if you are going away on short weekend trips, you don't need to pack your charger, just make sure it's at 100% before you leave for a reliable 4 days of usage.

This is what I do too. However if you look at some of Fitbit's competitors the battery life is an order of magnitude better. Wondering what Fitbit is doing to make it drop so much in comparison. Lots of more features?

My Garmin only needs to be charged about once a week. If I'm using it a lot for fitness then twice a week. Once I traveled and forgot the charger, I managed to eek nearly two weeks out of the thing. I find this much better than daily charging and have steered away from watches that need to be charged daily.

Which Garmin model? I'm in the market for a running watch and/or a fitness tracker and want to buy a decent Garmin. Most online reviews seem all over the place.

Read reviews on DC Rainmaker. I've purchased several devices based on reviews there. They're very detailed and accurate in my experience.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews/garmin

I have a Garmin Instinct. When I don't have many workouts, it gives me 2-3 weeks of battery (including instant phone notifications over Bluetooth, constant heart rate, barometer, and step tracking)

I went on a 2 week trip to Europe and didnt even bring my charger -- lasted the whole time. I've had it for a year now and it's rock solid. It's been in the ocean with me, and been smashed into rocks on backpacking trips. Still in great shape.

I don't endorse many things very heavily but this thing is amazing. It's not sexy with it's black and white screen and small selection of watch faces... But it's so nice never needing to charge it, it's basically indestructible, and does everything you'd want a smart watch to do

I haven't charged my Garmin for a good 2 weeks, it's the forerunner 735XT. I honestly think it's the best fitness watch I've had.

This is just completely wrong. Garmin watches only need to be charged every few days of normal use and it's not a problem at all. Habits are irrelevant, just throw it on the charger for a few minutes when you see the battery gauge getting low.

I want a watch that only needs to be charged once in a few days, because I want to wear it at night for it to track my sleep and wake me up and I could charge it while I shower (every 2 days, in case you're wondering).

My wife does this with her Apple Watch and she only charges it while she’s in the shower and 15 mins or so before bed. It always lasts the full day. I was surprised when I learned this. So it might not be there for you yet. But it’s close.

I charge it for half an hour after my morning workout(while taking a shower and getting ready) and for 15 minutes once in the evening I sleep. I track both my sleep and workouts, and keep it wearing throughout the day otherwise.

While it might not be as 'smart' as some other ones out there. The Nokia/Withings Charge HR has sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, vibrates and does notifications too. The battery easily lasts a month sometimes longer.

It also looks like an actual adults watch too.

Oh come on, I get a little email about the battery life of of my versa when the battery life gets low reminding me to charge it.