Wrote a small metronome app. Question is, is vibrating on every bit, say for 180 bpm, something legitimate or could it ware-out the physical vibration engine for example?
Not sure anyone has tried, but it is a mechanical thing, and there might be something that can wear out. I'd be concerned about the battery and what impact it would have on that too. Also, making each discernible to the user at 3 times a sec could be interesting. This would need to be a widget (which only runs a short time) or a watch-app - would the watch app also be using GPS and recording? (the battery thing..)
Most of the fitness devices have a metronome feature built in that does exactly this. It can be configured to beep/vibrate every 2, 3, 4, or 6 beats given a frequency set by the user (e.g., 180bpm but beep every 2 cycles gives 90bpm).
If you look at one of the teardowns posted online of the fenix 3 or one of the other watches, most of them reveal a small cylindrical vibration motor similar to that used in many cell phones. (Although some cell phones use coin form factor now) Image 23 of this teardown shows the small, <1cm, motor mounted to the main board in the watch: https://medium.com/personal-notes-on...n-bcfb45f1b746
Some of the manufacturers of these types of motors will include an expected MTTF in the datasheet for the motor, which would give you an estimate of how long it might an average one might be able to run for under certain conditions. Precision Microdrives has a couple application notes on this specifically for vibration motors, and some of their products look similar to the one in the teardown such as the 304-10k. In one of their notes, they get an average MTTF of more than 75 continuous days of run time. Application Notes: https://www.precisionmicrodrives.com/application-notes
The watch itself has such metronome settings, so it can endure some vibrations. But the vibrator probably won't die until the guarantee period finishes, so Garmin doesn't have a problem with that. :D Also newer Fenix 5 watches seem to have a different vibration motors maybe like Apple's taptic engine.
