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Looking for larger watch face

Former Member
Former Member over 6 years ago
Hi all. I am the new owner of a Vivoactive 3. Gotta tell you, I love just about everything about this watch. I don't get my shorts in a knot if the OHR doesn't match my chest strap, or if a device has a few bugs. I am a bit of a techie (my job) and expect electronic devices to have glitches. I'm loving the battery life of this thing, and all the parameters it tracks. The only thing bothers me is the face size. My 55 year old eyes can't read anything but the time. Any extra data fields (which I want) cause me to stop whatever I'm at and don my reading glasses if I want to see my current heart rate, sunset time, or whatever data I chose to have on the watch face. I've loaded about 25 different watch faces now, and some are almost great for me. I know there are widgets I can flip through, but I don't want a smartwatch just to see the time. Anyway, that being said, I'm looking for an alternative. After some researching, I'm considering the new Samsung Galaxy Watch. Feel free to talk me out of it. I am NOT a fan of Samsung phones, but am willing (maybe) to give this watch a try. I'm thinking the OLED screen may be a bit sharper and easier to read. My main question is, how much bigger is the display. No point in telling me that it's a 46mm watch, as my brain doesn't let me decipher that!! How much bigger is the display than the V3? Is it significantly larger. When my V3 arrived I was a little surprised as the watch was a lot smaller than I had figured from looking at internet pictures. I was willing to live with that if I could read it.

Some things I am worried about. Galaxy Watch battery life. I don't expect it to be as good as the V3 that's on my wrist right now. but I don't want to have to charge it every second night either. I know battery usage depends on how you use the watch. But right now I can get 4 days easily from the V3 with my style of usage. Galaxy seems to have all the features I need, plus wifi - which the V3 doesn't have.

I looked at some other watches. For example I probably would have bought the Diesel On Full Guard 2.5, but battery life sucks. Any other good advice or suggestions? I will not spring for the cost of the Fenix 5 line, nor will I step down to the Fenix 3 line. But I don't see a whole lot out there that will suit my needs.

My uses will be for 80% smartwatch function and 20% activity tracking. I am very much interested in sleep tracking, and I like how my V3 has performed there so far. My mobile device is the Essential phone.

EDIT: Waterproof to 3 ATM is mandatory.

Thanks all in advance for any help or guidance you may offer.

GC
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    not a significant difference...anyway my old eyes are getting along quite well with this watch face - digitstorm.

    as for Samsung wear, certain Samsung stuff on the watch only works if u have a Samsung phone...so i never paid it much attention even tho it does look good.
    anyway have a look at the new gen4 fossils.

    for battery life, even the best Android wear from a phone manufacturer will struggle to last 2 days... there is a new processor coming out soon but that only extends life by about 25%?

    as for the absolute best battery life, it would have to be a hybrid dual lcd...
    currently only 2 i know off...
    ticwatch pro and casio protrek wsd-f20.
    either or would make a very good choice...
  • 0 over 6 years ago
    OP: your post is really long and unclear what you really want. title says "looking for larger watch face" and then you start talking about watch alternatives.

    if your eyesight is that poor (mine is too but prob not as bad), i would suggest "no frills" watch face - the time is big, hr is legible with backlight on, and easy to see progress of steps goal for the day.

    as far as being able to see watch during activities, you can put the most important metrics in single data field so easier to see.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago

    What's not clear? I'm looking for a watch with a larger display. I can't stretch the one on the V3! I did load the No Frills watchface, and it is one of the better ones for sure.

    Everdying , thanks for your input. I do like the ticwatch pro, but it doesn't meet my 3 ATM requirement. Actually preferably 5, so it can survive a wipeout while waterskiing!!

    I'll check out the Casio. Thanks for the suggestion.

    GC
  • 0 over 6 years ago
    You can use a Wear watch with 1.4" display like Ticwatch or others (VA3 is 1.2"). You can also use with Wear (or Tizen) the watchmaker app to made the face with data in size you want.
  • 0 over 6 years ago
    With my 60 year old I eyes I have a few where things are big, like Simple Big and Simple Watch. Other fields can be turned off in app settings.
    https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/develo...fa04947c3/apps
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    You have to understand that you can't have a watch that is highly information dense and at the same time highly glanceable without stopping what you are doing to look at it; no smartwatch in existence today will be large enough to do that well. The question then becomes about finding the compromise that works for you; a watch that shows enough information that is useful, but not so much that everything is too small and you can't read it at a glance. For me the watch face DigitStorm in a Vivoactive 3 hits that sweet spot. Would I prefer a more information dense face like GearMin? Of course. But if I can't read it at a glance, it's useless in real life usage.

    I think you'll find that you'll face the same dilema with any smart watch that you try, whether a Garmin, a Fitbit, a Samsung or an Apple Watch. There's never going to be a smartwatch that shows you all sorts of info AND it's glanceable, you just gotta find the compromise that's best for you.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    I know there are widgets I can flip through, but I don't want a smartwatch just to see the time.


    So, just how difficult would flipping through widgets actually be if you're able to see all the data you want without stopping and putting on your glasses? You say you want a 80% smartwatch/20% activity tracker. You may have selected the wrong watch. Garmin's are more sports/activity trackers with some smartwatch features. You may want an Apple watch, or similar; that are smartwatches with some sports features. But even then I believe you'll be hard pressed to find one with all the data you want on a watch face without the same issues you're facing now.

  • 0 over 6 years ago
    Q:
    How much bigger is the display than the V3?

    A:
    The VA3 display has a size of 30.4 x 30.4 mm (1.2 x 1.2 inch) with 240 x 240 pixels (57600 pixels). That is 200dpi (dots per inch) density. It can display 64 colors.

    The Samsung has a size of 32.9 x 32.9 mm (1.3 x 1.3 inch) with 360 x 360 pixels (129600 pixels). Density: 277dpi. It can display 16M colors (true color).

    So the Samsung display diameter is 2.5 mm wider than the VA3 display which is not a big thing from my point of view (I own the Forerunner 645, with almost same display specs).
    In other words time and other things displayed on Samsung are not much bigger compared to VA3.
    However, the higher pixel density and true color should make it more readable.
  • 0 over 6 years ago
    For a big watch face go for one of the Fenix line of Garmin watches if you can afford it.
  • 0 over 6 years ago
    I'm going exactly the opposite direction. I want a face with the clearest possible display, so I coded a couple o WF (digital & analog) for personal use (and uploaded to Connect IQ) with the simplest structure. I don't need the watch to permanently display steps, or HR, or altitude... That's useful when doing an activity. All the other time, I just need to know time and if there's pending notification on the phone.

    Have a look at them and see if that suits you

    https://apps.garmin.com/es-ES/apps/9b9d63e4-6ced-4846-886a-6bdbc43a1fc0
    https://apps.garmin.com/es-ES/apps/125d6803-8bff-4ea4-9a39-b38ce4bcb864