A "Second" hand needed on Analog clock face

[l3ryn]

I am a Reapirstory Therapy student and being in the medical field, we have to wear watches that have A "SECOND" HAND, in order to take/ record vital signs!

I was excited to see that he Surge had an analog clock but was quickly disappointed when I realized it was missing a "second" hand.

Is there an update in the near future? This update would be very beneficial, and would keep me and I'm sure other people who wear the Surge from having to wear another watch along with this one!

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

That be 'ly @l3ryn

Feel free to add your vote / comment to @Bombdigidy 's suggestion on the Feature Requests subforum:

URL: Customizable Clock Display, and Addition of a Second Hand

The more votes increases the chance of the function becoming available.

[l3ryn]

@SunsetRunner I found the "features requests" page and there are a TON of votes on it already... So, fingers crossed they decide to make the update!

Too bad we can't vote more than once !

[SunsetRunner]

Fab @l3ryn 

Wishing a wonderful day

[HeliosJim]

I have no connection to FitBit, but as someone with a bunch of years in software for apps and embedded devices (I won't say how many years) I would advise you not to hold your breath waiting for this feature. 

The display used in the Surge is of a type that has very low power consumption when displaying static data, but uses much more power to update what is displayed. As such, adding a second hand to the watch face will radically increase the power the watch face uses, and very noticably impact battery life. My guess - and it is just a guess - is that the FitBit team won't want to deal with the complaints of reduced battery life that comes from adding the second hand. Otherwise, we would have the second hand already. I notice that none of the 4 available watch faces update frequently, with the possible exception of flare, and that does not update anywhere near as quick as each second.

I suggest you go get yourself a new watch. 

[bunnehfeet]

"I suggest you go get yourself a new watch." <---unnecessarily snarky I think, for a request for a standard watch feature. 

Don't expect anyone in the medical community (where smart watches have a real utility) to wear one of these devices. I'm tired of waiting for the Apple Watch to get GPS for running; I would buy a surge today if it had a second hand watch face. I know tons of folks who are docs and nurses who DO wear Apple watches and they integrate with lots of medical apps - it's useful. But primarly I want this for fitness, it just also needs to be a useful watch. Not useful without a second hand.  Apple watch has one. Not optional for lots of professions and hobbies; I could count pulses or IV drip rate looking at analog seconds, but that's me keeping track of two sets of moving numbers, and increased potential for error.  

If the devs for fitbit aren't interested in catering their product to users, then why would I be interested in buying one?

[SunsetRunner]

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@bunnehfeet wrote:

 Apple watch has one.

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Apple iWatch autonomy is ONE day.

Surge autonomy is more than 6 days, depending the settings.

seeing the difference ?

[bunnehfeet]

Doesn't matter how many days the charge lasts if it is useless to me as an actual watch.

[MikeF]

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@bunnehfeet wrote:

Doesn't matter how many days the charge lasts if it is useless to me as an actual watch.

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True enough. For the moment, then, I'd reconcile yourself to not being a member of the target market for Surge. I assume that it's also true that the Charge and Charge HR don't maintain the display for long enough to medically useful, even with a seconds display?

[SunsetRunner]

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@bunnehfeet wrote:

Doesn't matter how many days the charge lasts if it is useless to me as an actual watch.

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your advice.

not mine.

if i need a chronometer, i take a chronometer.

and i have one.

[DrCraft]

We reallyyyyyyy NEED a second hand ASAP!

[SunsetRunner]

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@DrCraft wrote:
We reallyyyyyyy NEED a second hand ASAP!

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https://community.fitbit.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?filter=labels%2Clocation&location=idea...

[Brookeebaby]

I am a nurse and agree, that the surge needs a second hand. I can't wear it because it lacks this feature. And I walk over 4 miles a day at work alone. That is a lot of calories burned not getting tracked. As far as battery life the gps feature wastes a lot more battery life then a second hand would.

[MikeF]

As an engineer of many years standing I have no idea on the battery impact of a second hand on this sort of display and so I suspect, with all due respect, that neither do you. I understand the sentiment behind what you're saying but whereas GPS is a feature that is off by default, a second hand that's readily available to all as an 'always on' feature may mean that the advertised battery life figures go down the tubes. This would be OK for those 'in the know' but probably not for the mass market.

As ever, this is my opinion but since Fitbit don't comment on this sort of thing, opinions are we have.

[Hat_Servant]

Fitbit Surge uses the Sharp Memory LCD display for showing on screen information. The display uses very little power when the display is static as the information is stored within the LCD display and does not need to be refreshed (like clock with no second as the display needs to be refreshed once a minute). However when displaying dynamic display -- a second hand --- the energy requirement is four times high from 15 micro watt to 60 microwatt. If the second display is on all the time the power consumption would shoot from 15 micro watt to 60 microwatt. With a 150 100mAH battery, it will have a sustained charge of 1 days or less as compared to a typical 4-5 days charge cycle for current surge products.

For GPS, it is ON only on demand. If the user keeps the GPS on all the time, the battery would drain completely within 10 hours.

http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/LS013B7DH01_16_AUG_10.PDF

[yogeshi]

Above URL is not Available & I want to to Request the same feature of adding Second hand to Surge Clock.

[SunsetRunner]

@yogeshi

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/idb-p/features

please vote in one of the hundred of requests about. 

[jonestr]

I saw that new faces came out for the blaze, do you know if that watch has a drastically different screen refresh system, or do you think a solution is potentially in the near future for surge as well?