To answer your question, there is no "embrace of opensource tools" and I'm not aware of any in existence. They could exist, I haven't looked for them.
Here's a quick writeup of my experience:
I'm a very happy Garmin customer. I'm on my 2nd watch, a Venu 3. My favorite feature: the battery lasts multiple days, usually a week, w/o a charge (depending on how I use it).
The watch provides access to its flash storage using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). This allows me to access the contents and update the music on it using my Linux computer.
I manage the other watch features (tap-to-pay, custom watchfaces, apps) using the Garmin Connect and Garmin IQ app on an Android phone. These are not open source, and I don't know of clones.
The watch UI itself is a pretty clunky, menu-driven design. It took quite a bit of tweaking to configure it to my tastes, but the combination of "glances" and "shortcuts" let me access the features I want within a few swipes, taps, or button presses.
Configuring apps and custom watchfaces requires internet access, as these use javascript-based applets running on your phone inside the Garmin app to do the configuration. This is annoying. Everything else works offline, or with a bluetooth connection to an offline phone (for example, I have a habit of changing the time to my destination timezone when I'm on a flight, this works once I update the timezone on my phone with no internet).
There is a desktop Garmin program for updating firmware, but it is terrible. It is designed to work with every Garmin product (not just watches) and has a definite "design by committee" feel. Luckily, I don't need it. I think I would need to use it if I had one of the larger watches that supports offline maps.
The features I use the most:
- the clock
- sports tracking, step & stair tracking
- tap-to-pay (this is so nice)
- pulse
- the compass (sometimes I just want a cardinal direction when I'm disoriented)
The sleep tracking is interesting, though I don't need it (mostly it says I don't sleep enough).
Here's a quick writeup of my experience:
I'm a very happy Garmin customer. I'm on my 2nd watch, a Venu 3. My favorite feature: the battery lasts multiple days, usually a week, w/o a charge (depending on how I use it).
The watch provides access to its flash storage using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). This allows me to access the contents and update the music on it using my Linux computer.
I manage the other watch features (tap-to-pay, custom watchfaces, apps) using the Garmin Connect and Garmin IQ app on an Android phone. These are not open source, and I don't know of clones.
The watch UI itself is a pretty clunky, menu-driven design. It took quite a bit of tweaking to configure it to my tastes, but the combination of "glances" and "shortcuts" let me access the features I want within a few swipes, taps, or button presses.
Configuring apps and custom watchfaces requires internet access, as these use javascript-based applets running on your phone inside the Garmin app to do the configuration. This is annoying. Everything else works offline, or with a bluetooth connection to an offline phone (for example, I have a habit of changing the time to my destination timezone when I'm on a flight, this works once I update the timezone on my phone with no internet).
There is a desktop Garmin program for updating firmware, but it is terrible. It is designed to work with every Garmin product (not just watches) and has a definite "design by committee" feel. Luckily, I don't need it. I think I would need to use it if I had one of the larger watches that supports offline maps.
The features I use the most:
- the clock
- sports tracking, step & stair tracking
- tap-to-pay (this is so nice)
- pulse
- the compass (sometimes I just want a cardinal direction when I'm disoriented)
The sleep tracking is interesting, though I don't need it (mostly it says I don't sleep enough).