
Ask HN: Is there a fitness wristband that is hackable? - kuon
I&#x27;m looking for a wristband&#x2F;watch&#x2F;&quot;thing on the arm&quot; with GPS, heart monitor and pedometer(accel+gyro).<p>I looked at what is on the market, but sending my bio metrics to fitbit or garmin servers is not something I want to do.<p>Is there a fitness tracker band that is hackable in a sense that I can get the data out of it without proprietary software? I don&#x27;t mind the firmware being closed source, as long as there is no LTE. I just want to sync and manage my data myself.
======
theli0nheart
Pretty much any Garmin device does exactly what you're looking for. All of the
activity data on my fēnix 5 / VA HR is visible when I plug in via USB. The
data is encoded in the FIT file format, which has a public SDK [1] (you do
need to accept a license agreement to view it, though, if that matters). There
are wrappers for most languages and if you want to just translate the data to
CSV, there are pre-made tools to do that too.

I don't think you need to enable sync, so keeping the data local wouldn't be
an issue. AFAIK, you should just be able to use the Garmin Connect software
once to set up the watch, and that's it.

The great thing about the Garmin watches is that pretty much any fitness
hardware that uses ANT+ will work with them. ANT+ is also an open protocol so
you're not locked in with a specific manufacturer.

[1]:
[https://www.thisisant.com/resources/fit](https://www.thisisant.com/resources/fit)

~~~
ISL
I am unwilling to accept an SDK's license in order to view my own data
produced by my own hardware.

So, a couple years ago, I wrote a bash-wrapper [1] to Suto's perl FIT-parsing
library [2]. With a quick search, I see that others may have extended Suto's
work [3].

I'm pro-Garmin but can't understand hiding a measurement instrument's output
format behind a closed-door license.

[1]
[https://github.com/4kbt/ParseVivosmartHR](https://github.com/4kbt/ParseVivosmartHR)

[2] [http://pub.ks-and-ks.ne.jp/cycling/GarminFIT.shtml](http://pub.ks-and-
ks.ne.jp/cycling/GarminFIT.shtml)

[3] [https://github.com/mrihtar/Garmin-FIT](https://github.com/mrihtar/Garmin-
FIT)

~~~
sliverstorm
Isn't SDK licensing pretty normal, outside of open source?

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
> outside of open source

Yes? By definition, if it's not open source, then you're looking at a
proprietary license of some sort.

~~~
mhluongo
That's not by definition at all- a work can be open source with a "proprietary
license of some sort", or closed source, with source that's liberally
licensed- but never published.

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
"Shared source"?

------
curtpw
There are a number of Chinese generic activity trackers containing the Nordic
nrf52832 MCU and a GPS module which are easily hacked and would meet all your
needs. Search for "nrf52832 gps bracelet" or "nordic gps bracelet" on
Aliexpress, Banggood, ebay etc. For example:
[https://www.aliexpress.com/item/KINCO-OLED-GPS-Activity-
Trac...](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/KINCO-OLED-GPS-Activity-Tracker-
Pedometer-Calorie-Burning-Heart-Rate-Sleep-Monitor-Smart-Wristband-Bracelet-
for/32831527367.html) Components: Nordic nrf52832/ARM Cortex M4 MCU, Kionix
KX023 accelerometer, Ublox GPS module, 200mAh battery, 0.96" OLED screen. This
can be programmed using the Nordic SDK with Keil, ARM mbed, Sandeep's Arduino
Core for nrf5X etc.

~~~
VectorLock
Might be easily hacked, but has anybody hacked them?

I contacted a few sellers on Aliexpress because I wanted to see how many I had
to order to get them to give me the source code so I could make a value-added
product from them but it was beyond what I was willing to invest.

~~~
curtpw
I have hacked the MCU and accelerorometer. Haven't gotten around to the GPS
yet, lots of projects and this isn't at the top of the list. Its just
hardware, all the components are well known, you can just lookup datasheets
and go from there. I can post microscope pics of the PCB if you like. What is
the best way to post/link pics on HN?

------
guptaneil
If you have an iPhone, an Apple Watch meets your description perfectly. It has
GPS, heart monitor, and pedometer data, and stores it in your local HealthKit
database, which you can easily read and write with your own Swift code running
on an iPhone. You can also write apps for the watch directly, and there is a
non-LTE model.

~~~
toyg
_> you can easily read and write with your own Swift code running on an
iPhone_

... after easily paying your Apple Developer Subscription, that is.

~~~
knolan
No, there is no charge unless you start to put apps on the App Store.

[https://www.pcworld.com/article/2933052/apple-frees-
casual-i...](https://www.pcworld.com/article/2933052/apple-frees-casual-ios-
developers-of-membership-requirement.html)

~~~
lern_too_spel
The app will only run on your phone for 7 days[1] unless you pay Apple an
annual fee, which is a non-starter if you want to write an app that you will
actually use instead of merely test.

No such restrictions on Android, Windows, or other platforms. Moto Sport
360[2] looks like it will fit OP's requirements.

[1] [http://mybyways.com/blog/new-limitations-imposed-on-free-
app...](http://mybyways.com/blog/new-limitations-imposed-on-free-apple-
developer-account)

[2]
[https://www.motorola.ca/products/moto-360-sport#Specificatio...](https://www.motorola.ca/products/moto-360-sport#Specifications)

~~~
PierceJoy
> which is a non-starter if you want to write an app that you will actually
> use instead of merely test.

You're assuming OP doesn't want to pay for a developer account. They didn't
say that.

Also, OP said they wanted to get data out of the device. The Health app has an
export function. So no, you don't need to pay to do what OP wants.

I would take an Apple Watch + paid developer account any day of the week over
Android Wear.

~~~
lern_too_spel
> I would take an Apple Watch + paid developer account any day of the week
> over Android Wear.

You've given no reason why. You're assuming OP is a mindless fanboy who will
pay for something that has a free and more hackable alternative.

~~~
PierceJoy
> You've given no reason why.

I don't have to. It's my opinion.

> You're assuming OP is a mindless fanboy who will pay for something that has
> a free and more hackable alternative.

I'm sure that's your neckbeard interpretation. There's a reason the Apple
Watch is the most popular smart watch by far. You probably think it's solely
due to marketing. You would be wrong.

------
aembleton
Amazfit Pace [1]

I just bought one for ~£80 from Gearbest and you can pull the GPX routes from
it, and also add routes. You can access all of the files, by plugging a USB
lead into the charging dock. It then appears as a USB drive that you can copy
files to and from. I've designed my own watch face, as it's just XML and image
files and taken GPX data. I'm not sure how or if you can get the heartrate or
pedometer data but there is a community on XDA [2] around it so they might be
able to help.

The thing that I'm most impressed by is the screen. It is a transreflective
display which means that it is always on and just uses the latent light for
you to be able to see it, much like a black and white LCD. It does have a
backlight, but you only need to put this on when it is dark and you actually
need to see the display - much like watches used to be.

1\.
[https://us.amazfit.com/shop/pace?variant=25112](https://us.amazfit.com/shop/pace?variant=25112)

2\. [https://forum.xda-developers.com/smartwatch/amazfit](https://forum.xda-
developers.com/smartwatch/amazfit)

~~~
darklajid
No.

I bought it when Pebble went down. That thing was buggy forever after, half
Chinese most of the time, only allowed sync to a random online service
(strava?) and was just.. broken. The worst purchase ever.

The display sucks outside. The software is weird (swipe in random directions
to find what you want), the companion app miserable.

Whatever you buy, this shouldn't be it.

A better Pebble would be appreciated ofc..

~~~
toyg
Strava is hardly "random", it's very popular in UK with cyclists and runners.

~~~
darklajid
Random in so far as that I don't use it, don't want to sign up for it. A
random cloud service and just ONE random cloud service.

When I got it, you couldn't even see your own data on your phone. HR? Steps?
GPS? Stava or gone, poof.

------
blackfawn
If you are hardware inclined and can use something else for GPS, some of the
inexpensive fitness bands from Asia contain Nordic nRF51 / nRF52
microcontrollers and are completely reprogrammable. Roger Clark's site has
some good info including [http://www.rogerclark.net/arduino-on-the-id100hr-
fitness-tra...](http://www.rogerclark.net/arduino-on-the-id100hr-fitness-
tracker/) (I believe the watch pictured is actually an ID107HR, not an
ID100HR) The ID107HR is nice because it opens with a few screws rather than
cracking glue apart and it also exposes the programming pads. You can write
Arduino code and interface with the heart rate sensor, accelerometer, OLED
screen, etc.

~~~
kuon
Even if I'm more inclined towards an easier solution like the Garmin for
fitness tracking, this looks interesting for pure tinkering.

------
LordAragorn
A few years back, I played around with TI's EZ430-Chronos:
[http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/EZ430-Chronos?DCMP=C...](http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/EZ430-Chronos?DCMP=Chronos&HQS=Other+OT+chronoswiki)
It's not sleek like modern fitness bands/watches but is hackable.

TI has more Smart Watch components and reference designs here:
[http://www.ti.com/solution/smart-watch](http://www.ti.com/solution/smart-
watch)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Chronos is cool, and definitely hacker-friendly, but it's not a proper fitness
watch per se - it's just a demonstration TI made for their CC430 chips.
Doesn't have much computational power or sensors onboard, but it features an
433/868/915 MHz radio (frequency depends on the model you pick) - and I mean
_actual, hackable radio_ \- and it lasts forever on a coin cell.

I had lots of fun tinkering with it, but it's not really what the OP is
looking for.

------
howeyc
How about something supported by Gadgetbridge[1]?

Or someone looks to be building their own Smartwatch[2]

[1] [https://gadgetbridge.org/](https://gadgetbridge.org/) [2]
[https://github.com/no-go/UART-
Smartwatch/blob/HEAD/README.md](https://github.com/no-go/UART-
Smartwatch/blob/HEAD/README.md)

~~~
kuon
That could be a solution, but I'm a bit wary of this kind of solution because
the the support could be dropped any day if the manufacturer closes the
device. Of course, I could keep an older firmware.

------
robterrell
If you want to do a _lot_ of hacking, I was just looking at the Hexiwear:
[http://www.hexiwear.com](http://www.hexiwear.com)

It's an ARM dev board with screen in a watch-like form factor. It has all the
hardware you're looking for except GPS, but they sell a lot of add-on modules.

I say "a lot of hacking" because I imagine you'd have to write all the fitness
tracking software yourself, unless you find something similar on
[https://www.hackster.io/contests/Hexiwear](https://www.hackster.io/contests/Hexiwear)

------
pavlov
Samsung's latest generations of fitness wearables (e.g. Gear Fit 2) run the
Tizen OS, which is a complete Linux stack. You can actually SSH into the
wearable over wi-fi.

The development stack is kind of a mess, but if you know Linux, I would look
at those.

~~~
scaphandre
Interesting. I had assumed Tizen was a greatly reduced Linux-inspired OS. Do
you have a source for the ability to SSH?

Might it not be easier to have an Android app that grabs data from the watch
using their API?

[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40233692/how-to-
integrat...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40233692/how-to-integrate-
samsung-gear-steps-in-android-application/40529913#40529913)

~~~
pavlov
_Do you have a source for the ability to SSH?_

I've used it myself on several models: Gear S2, Gear S3, Gear Fit 2.

Tizen is a full Linux. If I remember correctly, it even runs X for the GUI
(although I think it's been replaced with Wayland in Tizen 3).

~~~
scaphandre
Ok cool.

But how is it that you are managing to connect via SSH? When connected over
wifi, it seems that only port 53 is open on the Gear S3, and it doesn't accept
SSH. And I don't know the user name nor password. And I don't see a way to
open a terminal on the watch.

Googling doesn't seem to help.

------
nl
Don't the Garmin watches still have USB access to the file system?

The old ones did, and even the newest Garmin Edge series cycling computers let
you do this. They run (mostly) the same firmware as the (high-end) watches, so
I'd be surprised if they don't.

~~~
kuon
That would be interesting to know. As long as the files are not obfuscated too
much that could be a solution (I'd like to avoid having to reverse engineer a
binary format).

~~~
asandweech
Activities are stored in the FIT format, which is publicly documented and they
have a rather easy to use sdk available for it as well[0]. Its fairly trivial
to get other daily metrics out of the watch as well using Connect IQ, you can
even write out to a plain text log file if you want.

[0]:
[https://www.thisisant.com/resources/fit/](https://www.thisisant.com/resources/fit/)

~~~
kuon
That's great. Filesystem access and open format.

------
dirtbox
Pebble. Someone installed linux on one and they're extraordinarily cheap to
pick up now.

~~~
kuon
I looked at Pebble and I was surprised to see they were out of business.

~~~
dirtbox
Which, from your point of view, isn't a bad thing. It's no longer dependant on
external servers, yet still enjoys a lot of support, is easy to code for, plus
it's superb as smart watches go. Charging 3 times a month rather than every
night means you can track your sleep with it effectively as well.

~~~
zodPod
What is the battery life difference you mention? The lack of external servers
or do you mean because it'll have linux on it now?

~~~
Crespyl
I understood the comment to be referring to other fancier smartwatches that
are designed around ~daily charging.

~~~
zodPod
Aaah, makes a lot of sense! Thank you for the clarification!

------
kybernetikos
I'm currently using a logitech keyboard and mouse that support their new
feature 'flow' that allows your keyboard and mouse to switch which computer
they are paired with when the mouse goes to the edge of the screen. Now it
seems that to support this feature, they must have the ability for the
computer to instruct the keyboard and mouse to switch to one of the other
paired computers. I would very much like to have the capability of doing that
in my own code, but it seems to only be available through the official
logitech app (that rarely works for my setup).

I've got an ereader that requires me to plug in to transfer epubs that I've
downloaded onto it. If it were hackable, I'd be able to run a wifi sync
program on it and my experience would be _much_ better. It integrates with
pocket, but I use pinboard.in and would like it to integrate with that
instead. The default software doesn't give me a choice.

I've often wanted to purchase things based on their hackability - wifi
routers, keyboard, mouse, sd cards, voip adapters, game controllers, cameras,
e-readers, mobile phones, webcams....

But I often find it very difficult to find up to date information about what
is user-hackable and what isn't. If this information were easier to find, it
would affect my buying decisions more and would create more incentive for
manufacturers to consider making their devices hackable.

~~~
JustSomeNobody
Logitech flow looks interesting. From the 30 seconds I scanned the page about
it, it seems the computers need to be on the same network. So this could be as
"simple" as running tcp client on each machine. When the current active
machine notices that the mouse left the edge of the current screen it disables
the keyboard and mouse on current machine, sends a notification to the other
computer and enables keyboard and mouse there. Custom USB drivers could likely
handle disabling and enabling the keyboard and mouse just fine, but I've never
written one, so maybe I'm wrong.

Edit: I was speaking more generically here. I doubt one could get the actual
Logitech mouse and keyboard protocol and so couldn't implement an open source
flow clone.

~~~
robbles
Synergy ([https://symless.com/synergy](https://symless.com/synergy)) does
exactly this, cross platform, and really effectively.

You don't need to write your own using a Logitech driver - it works with any
standard keyboard / mouse.

~~~
netsharc
Synergy stopped working for me one day, and it seems all machines have to use
the same version. And they pivoted from free to charging for money.

I guess Logitech is doing the same thing, but if they actually implemented it
by unpairing the input devices from one receiver and pairing it to the other,
that would be cool, it means I can turn off the unpaired computer, and input
still works on the paired machine.

~~~
Rondom
It's still open source. So you can compile it yourself, if you want.

------
GrinningFool
I wonder how practical it is to create "thing" with no exposed face, no
wireless, no connectivity _. It 'd provide continual heart rate and
respiration monitoring. A few dedicated buttons that just log when they're
pressed - when parsing the data you can map that to whatever meaning you want.
Offload csv files via USB, and do with it what you wish.

_ perhaps bluetooth so the would-be hacker could write a phone app to present
data

~~~
Xeoncross
I would by "thing" with nothing more than:

> A few dedicated buttons that just log when they're pressed - when parsing
> the data you can map that to whatever meaning you want.

~~~
robryk
Would you mind sharing what would you use such a thing for? Counting events or
timestamping them?

------
giancarlostoro
Some people have hacked the fitbit's synching to save to your personal
computer instead of to their servers. I haven't done it since I went with the
FitBit Ionic, and it auto syncs. I do like how easy it is to make apps for it
though.

Edit: Check out Shimmer:

[http://www.getshimmer.co/](http://www.getshimmer.co/)

Apparently syncs with different devices.

~~~
MrQuincle
Are you sure? It looks like it does requests to the Fitbit servers.

I've done some reverse engineering myself at
[https://github.com/mrquincle/fitbit-
fatbat](https://github.com/mrquincle/fitbit-fatbat), which gets part of the
data from the early devices. However, I'm not aware of anyone cracking the
encryption and obtaining the rest of the data.

------
amjaeger
These guys started from a kickstarter 3 or 4 years ago, and are still in
business. I bought one but never had time to use it.
[https://mbientlab.com/](https://mbientlab.com/)

------
guzik
Some time ago we've developed a nice hackable platform for geeks:
[https://www.aidlab.com/developer](https://www.aidlab.com/developer) \- it's
based on wearable called Aidlab. With our free SDK (that has Python, Unity,
iOS and Android bindings), you are able to do with your data whatever you
want.

~~~
trisimix
Is it not a watch?

------
barryridge
I'm not sure if this really fulfills your "without proprietary software"
criteria, but Polar recently announced that they've opened up their API for
developers. I believe you do need to have a Polar Flow account though, so the
API access works along the same lines as the Google API, i.e. using OAuth 2.0
authentication that connects to your Polar Flow account, which the watch syncs
to via phone/wifi. So there's no LTE, but the watch does sync to the Polar
Flow account in the cloud via phone/wifi. Their M600 watch is an Android Wear
device though, so it might be possible to write an app for that to access the
data directly, but I'm really not sure about that part.

[https://www.polar.com/en/developers](https://www.polar.com/en/developers)

------
buro9
Why not just use ANT+ devices and get an ANT+ HR strap and use something like
[Python ANT]([https://github.com/mvillalba/python-
ant](https://github.com/mvillalba/python-ant))?

------
oafx
If you can go without GPS maybe have a look at the MI Band 2.. afaik there is
sone kind of third party app android that allows you to sync and export the
data without the mi software..

~~~
pjc50
Was going to say this; you may be referring to
[https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge](https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge)

The devices have the advantage of being very cheap; I've bought two for £15
each. I'm kind of surprised there isn't an open project on them. The chip is
Dialog Semi with the usual Cortex M0: [https://www.dialog-
semiconductor.com/products/connectivity/b...](https://www.dialog-
semiconductor.com/products/connectivity/bluetooth-low-energy/smartbond-
da14580)

------
w126
I don't use them myself (for now decided to stay low-tech with a simple Casio
watch), but from my recent research it seems there exist usable open source
software packages for TomTom watches.

[http://blog.studioblueplanet.net/?page_id=566](http://blog.studioblueplanet.net/?page_id=566)

[https://github.com/ryanbinns/ttwatch](https://github.com/ryanbinns/ttwatch)

------
bbryant
Oura Ring ([https://ouraring.com/](https://ouraring.com/)) has a solid cloud
API.

However:

1\. No GPS 2\. Sleep and activity metrics are digested time slices, not raw
measurements. 3\. Gen-1 only has night time HR, and gen-2 isn't out till
April.

~~~
evv
A "cloud API" is exactly the opposite of what the OP is looking for. Why can't
we get data out of our devices without having to transmit it to their servers,
or through black-box software?

I definitely expect better treatment of privacy from a young nordic company
like Oura. The product looks pretty great, so I would be a hugely loyal
customer if they fixed these privacy issues.

------
peterburkimsher
On a related note, is there a wristband with a vibrating alarm clock that can
set multiple alarm times and doesn't need a phone to trigger it?

I'd like to pre-program the wristband to wake me up in case my phone (my main
alarm clock) turns off for some reason.

~~~
amorphid
I found this on Reddit...
[https://www.reddit.com/r/deaf/comments/28dvr8/vibrating_watc...](https://www.reddit.com/r/deaf/comments/28dvr8/vibrating_watch/)

Hope that helps!

~~~
peterburkimsher
Some good discussion, but I still didn't find a suitable product.

Someone recommended the Casio Pathfinder (doesn't need a phone!), but the
Casio ProTrek WSD-F20 model that has multiple alarms costs $500. I could buy
another phone for cheaper.

It seems like a good discussion group for another idea I had about vibrating
wristbands linking to a GPS app to give directions.

------
jaredhobbs
Pricey, but there's a project to get the data off of Suunto Ambit watches:
[https://github.com/openambitproject/openambit](https://github.com/openambitproject/openambit)

------
LeifCarrotson
I have a Garmin Forerunner FR220. When plugged into a Windows 7 computer by
the USB device, it shows up as a USB Mass Storage Device, initializing a
"Garmin FR620 Flash USB Device", and connects as FAT formatted Flash storage.

Seeing 620 does cause me a bit of annoyance, as I know that my 220, which
lacks a number of features of the 620, watch is physically identical just with
the speed inhibitor turned off [1]. Makes me miss my TI 430 Chronos, but that
didn't have GPS. The FR225 is the first version with the optical heart rate
monitor, but I believe it and the current FR235 will behave similarly.

All the activity data is stored on the mass storage device in .FIT files.
Here's an example file [2] which you can compare to my Strava upload at [3].
Use the tools at [4] to convert and edit it into GPX format, and the schema at
[5] to tease out pedometer/heart rate data from this XML text. You'll probably
end up using GPSBabel [6] to analyze it.

Garmin is probably the most common activity tracker for actually running,
biking and so on. For just sleep tracking and resting heart rate tracking, or
daily step counters, Fitbits that lack GPS are much more popular. But they
don't allow manual export of data [7]:

> _Welcome to the Fitbit Family @JohnDiver! The stored data on your Fitbit
> Flex can be taken out only via Bluetooth with an internet connection. It can
> be synchronized with a computer or with a supported mobile device. Your
> tracker stores at least 7 days of detailed minute-by-minute data. Summary
> data (calories, distance, and steps) will be stored for 30 days. If you are
> experiencing syncing issues, please take a look at the basic troubleshooting
> steps._

> _If the above doesn 't help you please let us know what type of difficulties
> are you having to transfer your data to your Dashboard? Looking forward to
> your new comments!_

The new Garmins do have activity tracking features; I'd be interested to see
if their data can be accessed as easily as the .FIT activity files.

[1]: [https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-
rubber-...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-rubber-
duckies/)

[2]:
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H6sBu3XaQgUyTyAhO1Oz7jKL0hx...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H6sBu3XaQgUyTyAhO1Oz7jKL0hxCkymH/view?usp=sharing)

[3]:
[https://www.strava.com/activities/1287343609](https://www.strava.com/activities/1287343609)

[4]: [https://www.dcrainmaker.com/tools](https://www.dcrainmaker.com/tools)

[5]:
[https://www8.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtensionv2.xsd](https://www8.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtensionv2.xsd)

[6]: [https://www.gpsbabel.org/](https://www.gpsbabel.org/)

[7]: [https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Flex/Retrieve-raw-data-
from-...](https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Flex/Retrieve-raw-data-from-tracker-
Access-steps-files-like-a-USB-device/td-p/737434)

------
echelon
Is there a way to extract real time information from a Fitbit or similar
fitness wristband? I'd love to push running data to a display I can see as I
jog by.

~~~
brlewis
Only Ionic. For other Fitbits you have to get data from the api later.

~~~
echelon
Thanks for the info!

------
piqufoh
The was the "angel" on indiegogo - but they tanked before delivering any of
the "perks" (product). I lost $249 there - still a bit sore!

~~~
smartt
FWIW, I switched my order to the stripped-down "angel" and did eventually
receive it but it was non-working junk. Some sensors didn't work; others
produced garbage for data. So disappointing.

------
jmiller099
motoactv fits the bill also.

I even hacked it's golf database to update for the Torrey Pines North redesign
which occurred last year.

For the other data pulls, the xda folks did that.

Garmin may also work, depending your use case. I couldn't get golf working
without their service, so I leave it unused. used some java library found
online to parse their .fit files within an android app, so can get data on my
phone without going through their servers.

------
j45
From a fitness & android perspective - android wear has very few devices with
many of the useful sensors in one watch.

I have recently ordered a TIQwatch from the most recent kickstarter and hope
between it, TaskerWear, etc, that it might be the first androidwear device
that values both sensors and optimizing battery life. I know I should be able
to get at the data in it how I want. Companies like Samsung have left
AndroidWear.

The watch is reasonably priced compared to alternatives, and I hope may be the
first smartwatch I end up keeping.

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vita17
Apple Watch fits your description.

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qrbLPHiKpiux
Anything is hackable.

~~~
kuon
That's true, I hacked the rear view camera of my car to draw guide lines
connected to the wheel position using a pi[1], but it took me tons of effort
to reverse engineer the wiring system and CANBUS of my car, I learned a lot
(CANBUS is a lot of fun:P), but I don't want that level of involvement here.

But I'd like something easier to work with, the "data accessible on the
filesystem" of the Garmin seems to be the perfect balance between effort and
"hackability".

[1]: [https://github.com/kuon/backup-camera](https://github.com/kuon/backup-
camera)

~~~
jat850
Having worked extensively with CANBUS and other vehicle interfaces, I cannot
remember ever using the word "fun" to describe that line of hacking... :)

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liveoneggs
add music to your list and the options drop to zero. :)

