So after a long wait, I[*] have got my hands (well, wrist) on an Una Watch from their Kickstarter campaign - a smar****ch from a UK company promising sustainable repair credentials.
Initial impressions are positive. I'll start by saying that if you're expecting a watch will all the features of a Fenix, you'll be disappointed, this is (out of the box) very much a sports tracker without a lot of extra features - think a Kindle rather than an iPad. I expect a lot of this will be added once there's a third party app store open to consumers, but as it stands there aren't a lot of frills - you can't even change the default face.
One thing I don't like is that Android's "silent notifications" are coming through so with phone notifications enabled, I'm constantly told that my Lezyne is running, and that my email client is checking for new messages. I'll be dropping them an email about that one.
I've got the developer kit, and I've spent the evening looking into the SDK, though I'm still some way off making anything useful.
As for their USP of sustainability and the availability of spare parts, that will have to wait and see - hopefully it will be a while before I need to switch out the battery, and hopefully parts availability continues a while for those who want them.
Anyone else got one, what do you think?
[*] Some readers may remember me as "that idiot who went through five batteries trying to fix his Garmin watch".
I've been keeping an eye on this so will follow this thread with interest. I just bought a second hand Epix so probably won't be investing, but I like the concept a lot.
I've been following them being local to me but my vivoactive is now 5 and a half years old. I'll maybe look into them more if my Garmin fails. I wish them all the best.
I love the concept. I will look at one when my Garmin fails.
if you're expecting a watch will all the features of a Fenix, you'll be disappointed, this is (out of the box) very much a sports tracker without a lot of extra features - think a Kindle rather than an iPad
That is very much me I am merrily wringing all thr life I can out of my V1 instinct solar.
The Una looks really interesting and is competitively priced but I really can’t tell much about it from their website though, The first thing I want to know about any watch is what is battery life like? What functions does it have? Maps/nav? Fatigue or sleep tracking? Or is it really just a tracker (my primary want from a sports watch TBH)…
Really silly question, is it button and/or touch screen operated? Their website gives very little away (at least the mibilr version doesn’t)…
The first thing I want to know about any watch is what is battery life like?
They claim 10 days, it's still reporting 100% charge after about 20 hours wearing it. I'll let you know how it goes.
What functions does it have? Maps/nav? Fatigue or sleep tracking? Or is it really just a tracker (my primary want from a sports watch TBH)…
No, there's none of that. The maps I'm not too fussed about - I always found a watch screen too small and I'd rather get my phone out if I'm lost. But the features really are feeling more sparse now I've worn it for a while; even the ability to set alarms seems to be one of the examples in their development kit, I'd have expected that to be core functionality.
Sleep / Stress / Fatigue is one area I think I really will miss - I imagine that things like weather and sunrise / sunset are reasonably straightforward to add as apps, but the "wellness monitoring" that the Fenix had I suspect needs rather more designed into the sensors of the watch, so I'm not sure if anything like as accurate measurements can be added by apps.
Really silly question, is it button and/or touch screen operated? Their website gives very little away (at least the mibilr version doesn’t)…
Buttons, four of them. There's no touchscreen.
even the ability to set alarms seems to be one of the examples in their development kit, I'd have expected that to be core functionality.
Disregard that, you can set alarms out of the box!
The code for the alarms functionality is just given as an example. I'd not clocked that they were already available under a different menu!
They claim 10 days, it's still reporting 100% charge after about 20 hours wearing it. I'll let you know how it goes.
Sounds Fair.
Sleep / Stress / Fatigue is one area I think I really will miss - I imagine that things like weather and sunrise / sunset are reasonably straightforward to add as apps, but the "wellness monitoring" that the Fenix had I suspect needs rather more designed into the sensors of the watch, so I'm not sure if anything like as accurate measurements can be added by apps.
I occasionally check the "Body Battery" on my Instinct which I think is mostly just looking at volume of rest (time at lower HR?) and "Stress" (Raised HR, and or more motion). TBH I wouldn't miss it as a function a digital scale of just how knackered the wearer is has limited real world value... The only other bonus widgets/functions I occasionally appreciate on my current watch is Sunset/sunrise and hourly weather forecast, but again neither is a deal breaker.
Buttons, four of them. There's no touchscreen.
Yay! buttons rule for me!
The whole user repairability thing is a big selling point IMO.
I do love having GPS and HR logging on my wrist ready to go with no notice, most other "smart-watch" functions are a bit 'Meh' from my perspective now but frictionless tracking of rides and runs is all that is ever actually needed (IMO), and the time of course...
Price seems sensible, I'll be interested to see how users developing stuff for this progresses.
The competition is still mostly going to be Garmin base models: Vivo Actives and ForeRunners I reckon the trick is getting punters to recognise the value of being able to replace a battery yourself or have community/personally developed widgets/features.
