Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I'd like to get a fitness tracker but I absolutely do not want to share data with a private company, so no uploading/syncing to a proprietary software or app.

Are there models out there that store the data on the watch where it's easy enough to review it?
I would be interested in:
number of steps over the whole day

during an activity:
instant speed/pace
distance since start
optional: instant heart rate (from the wrist)

after the activity:
total distance, total time
mean, min, max pace
optional: mean, min, max hear rate

optional: sleep metrics

I can do the "tracking" myself in a spreadsheet to compare one day to the next.

Older models I can get from ebay for cheaper would be a bonus. But there are so many out there, and it's not clear to me when reading their description, what you would get if you never connected it to its app.

Is anybody familiar with some options?

Hi NewBlood,

I am aware of a project called Gadgetbridge that's available on the free/open source repository F-Droid (http://f-droid.org/).

Gadgetbridge is an Android (5.0+) application which will allow you to use your Pebble, Mi Band, Amazfit Bip and HPlus device (and more) without the vendor's closed source application and without the need to create an account and transmit any of your data to the vendor's servers.

See https://gadgetbridge.org/ for a list of supported devices and their status.

Some (newer) supported devices may require a registration with the vendor app first.

This is how I used my suunto ambit for years. I just never made an account with them and never connected it. It only has chest strap heartrate. I eventually used a throwaway account for syncing as I like the maps.

I now have a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and just created a throwaway account for syncing, which is less secure as they have all of that location data.

Garmin doesn't require you to make an account to view the data you listed outside of sleep metrics. There are many used devices on eBay for low prices. The older models that are no longer sold due to the release of new models are often rather cheap.

I've heard fairly good things about the PineTime. It's a free and open source watch with heart rate monitoring, step counting and more features. https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/

Thanks everybody! Sounds like an older Garmin might be what I'm looking for then, thanks mathiverse. Even syncing to an open source software makes me a bit uneasy. I'm really just looking for the hardware. I guess I'll do without the sleep metrics, not a big deal.

I'll also mention that I once got a free Garmin from BuyNothing in my area. I'd make an "ask" post there and on Freecycle before hitting eBay. There are often upgrade happy people willing to give you their old device.

Good point, thanks!