Tracking with the Pebble Time

by Volker Weber

I was getting so many press releases about Pebble Health, which does not work with the original Pebble and Pebble Steel, that I asked for a Pebble Time to try it out. Currently wearing my Apple Watch on the left wrist and the Pebble Time on my right. Apple Watch is connected to the iPhone 6S Plus, Pebble is paired with the BlackBerry Priv. When I am getting email alerts, there is a lot of buzzing. :-)

I am wearing both to see how accurate Pebble Health is and so far it is working well while I walk. It is registering more steps than the Apple Watch but only at a small deviation. False positives at other activities are a bigger problem with the Pebble than the Apple Watch. Pebble Time is working like a fitness band. It does not rely on the phone's sensor. The original Pebble can also track steps but you need to use something like Misfit which runs as a watchface.

Speaking of watchfaces, Max Bäumle made a version of Futuru Steps for Pebble Health available. Download it here.

Comments

I felt it was rather inaccurate...

Tried it whil counting steps myself and the pebble time counted almost twice as many steps.

maybe it depends on the watch if yours is mor accurate? I had a kickstarter version...

and btw: how do you know that the iphone is accurate?

Johannes Matzke, 2016-02-14

How do I know? I have been walking the same tracks for hundreds of days.

Volker Weber, 2016-02-14

Danke für diesen Bericht. Das hat mich als Pebble User schon lange interessiert, wie die Uhr im Vergleich zum Iphone zählt. Hatte eigentlich schon vor Dich zu fragen ob Du das nicht mal ausprobieren möchtest... ;-)
Und auch Danke für den Tipp mit dem Watchface, das lade ich mir nachher gleich mal auf die Uhr.

Ralph Hammann, 2016-02-14

I can only speak for the Pebble Steel (not Time). If I drive on the Autobahn my Pebble is counting and counting steps I never made ;-) The iPhone almost counting nothing during that time. Same if I compare the results of my Pebble Steel with the iPhone during normal walking. The Pebble is always counting much more steps (which is not correct).

Michael Urspringer, 2016-02-14

I don't drive on the Autobahn. :-)

I also found Pebble Steel to count too many false positives. Pebble Time has been holding up quite well, but I have the perfect behavior for a a tracker. I am either walking or at rest.

Volker Weber, 2016-02-14

I have the Pebble Classic. I'm not too worried about being absolutely accurate, but what I have struggled with is the ability to record the data. I was using the 'UP' app, but found that the counts were never in sync.

Can anyone recommend an alternative?

Ben Rodway, 2016-02-15

Ben, I think UP is already a good choice. However, there are two version of the UP app on your phone. One uses an external tracker like the UP bands, the other just uses the phone sensors. Did you install the correct one?

Volker Weber, 2016-02-15

Thanks for the reply, Volker. I was using the 'purple' version, which I think is correct. However I felt that it was the upload from the Jawbone pebble watchface that wasn't synchronising frequently enough.

Perhaps I had the app misconfigured. I'll give it another go.

Ben Rodway, 2016-02-15

Just looked it up. That appears to be the right one. And yes, even with a fitness band, this app is never really in sync.

Volker Weber, 2016-02-15

@Michael nicht nur die Pebble hat da ihre Probleme. Mein Fitbit Charge zählt fleißig Schritte, während ich im Flugzeug sitze. Leichte Turbulenz scheint den Bewegungssensor nachhaltig zu verwirren.

Philipp Münzel, 2016-02-17

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