Why I left my Fitbit for a Pebble? -? and I'm never going back

The modern race for the smartwatch began in 2011, when a startup named Pebble closed a record-breaking 11 million dollar Kickstarter to build the greatest tech product of our time….a watch. But not just any watch?-?the smartwatches everyone dreamed about as kids. Talk to your wrist and cool stuff happens. A wrist calculator on steroids. For the most part, people collectively groaned at an idea that's been tried so many times. But this time was different?-?Pebble was created for the people, and the people showed how badly they wanted it with 11 million dollars to be first to the wearables party.

Problem was?-?what did they want it for? And in the vacuum that question left unanswered, Fitbit came in and dominated the industry. They knew their market?-?wearable devices for the health-conscious advocate in all of us. They started small?-?wear this thing and it'll track your steps. We all knew it was important to walk more, and that golden buzzword of 10,000 steps (via the American Heart Association) became a metric for the world to stick to. So came the Fitbit line: from the simple Zip, to the Charge, the fashionable Alta and full-featured Blaze. The key message: more functionality centered around fitness, and more metrics to track like sleep, heart rate, & on-screen workouts.

Falling in love with Fitbit

So, I bought a Fitbit Charge HR. I bought my mom a Flex, then an Alta. My girlfriend and most of my friends either have a Fitbit, or some other tracking device like a Garmin, Misfit (all hail Fossil), or Jawbone (R.I.P.).

They couldn't have come at a more perfect time?-?the trendier part of our nation is obsessed with being healthy. After generations of bad habits like smoking and poor dietary choices, we wanted something better. Millennials, including me, are down with doing whatever it takes to look good naked.

After having a Fitbit for so long, I was starting to get curious. Now that it didn't seem dorky to wear something that wasn't a watch on my wrist, I wanted to get something new. But I didn't know what.

The wearables craze had invaded my life in an even bigger way: I answered an online ad and found myself working at Count.It, a NYC tech start-up that powers corporate wellness programs. My boss didn't just have one device on his wrist, he had three. I needed to up my game, and I wanted something smart, but not too dorky.

So I poked around at the other Fitbits, like the Blaze and the Surge.

The Surge looked hardcore, like a minicomputer on my arm. Looked like I could dial into Mars on that shit. And the Blaze seemed cool, but again overkill on the fitness stuff and I didn't love the design. I go to the gym every morning and run a few times a week, but how many more fitness related things could I need? Music control and notifications were a big plus, but I needed something more in tune with my taste.

The Apple Watch? Yes, the design is impeccable. I've watched the ads just to admire the watch and the cool lighting. But the price tag was up there. Plus I wondered, as I do with every Apple product, will I need to buy the new version in six months? All the issues people have with the current edition might be answered. So not worth the price commitment.

I needed something that had more functionality than a Fitbit but still tracked my fitness stuff like steps, running, & sleep. And it did more than controlling music. For a solid price.

Sometimes where you start is where you finish.

Rediscovering the Pebble

I came across Pebble again, and I loved their style. I didn't like the Pebble Time Steel because it seemed dorky and square, and the original one didn't do much. After buying the Pebble Time Round, I couldn't be any happier. But with really awkward timing for me they've just announced that they're updating the entire Pebble line with a new Kickstarter.

Here's what they sold me on: the timeline.

On the Pebble you get an incoming timeline of events going on in your Calendar. As someone that resisted using a calendar for the longest time, it's a game changer. Every time I add new things on my Google Calendar?-?I get them on my watch. I don't have to dive into my apps. It tells me what's going on during my day?-?including emails, texts, & phone calls. It does that on top of the fitness stuff?-?and the best part is that it looks like a modern watch.

It's even lighter than my Timex Weekender, which I still love with a passion.

The stream of information is exactly the update I needed for my Fitbit?-?without the fancy overkill. For $200 bucks I got something different, and not too dorky. I work in SoHo, so I have to stunt a little bit.

So to sum it up?-?why I'd ditch my Fitbit?

I found something that did everything I really needed?-?tracking my steps, runs, & sleep. Plus notifications, and the coup d'état of the timeline of my calendar events in a small device that looks just as stylish as any other watch.

Pebble may not be the powerhouse that Fitbit is?-?but I'd definitely recommend checking out the Round.

Alexander Green? is ?a web developer and designer from Brooklyn, New York who works at fitness company Count.It. This article was originally published on Medium and has been reprinted on Tech Insider with the author's permission.

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