Get a Samsung Gear Fit 2 for $86
Originally $179, this beautifully designed fitness band and smartwatch is a steal at this price. Plus: a boatload of free ebooks.
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There's a bit of history behind today's deal, but if you want to skip right to the good part, I'll see you seven paragraphs down.
True story: A couple weeks ago, I spotted a piece of wearable tech I'd never seen before. It had a long, large, super-bright curved display that made me do something I'm usually loathe to do: talk to a stranger.
Photos really don't do it justice; the Gear Fit 2's screen is just dazzling.
"What's that?" I asked the barista who was preparing my coffee. I know my wearable tech pretty well, or so I thought. This definitely wasn't a Fitbit, nor the latest from Garmin, so my money was on some oddball brand. Probably a Chinese product you'd find only on a site like Gearbest or Tomtop.
"It's the Gear Fit," she said. Ohhh! And then it dawned on me that I'd never seen one of Samsung's fitness bands in the wild. Lots of Fitbits, lots of Apple Watches, but never one of these. And you know what? I immediately wanted one. It looked that cool.
I asked her if she liked it -- she said she loved it, and proceeded to give me a quick demo. Yep, I wanted one.
True story No. 2: Yesterday, during a routine physical, I asked my doctor why I was so dang tired all the time. He asked how much I was sleeping and how well I was sleeping. Ummm...
My Apple Watch doesn't track sleep. You know what does? The Samsung Gear Fit. And when I got home, it seemed the planets had aligned themselves for my benefit, because this deal had just landed on my doorstep.
Thanks, universe!
For a limited time, and while supplies last, Daily Steals has the open-box Samsung Gear Fit 2 (small) for $86 shipped when you apply the promo code GEARFIT2DS at checkout. Also available: the large model, new, for $106 shipped when you use that same code. (Click the size/condition menu to choose the version you want.)
Not sure what size to get? As I understand it, the only difference between small and large is the length of the band. If the included one doesn't fit your wrist well, or you just don't like the style, you can swap it for any number of third-party bands -- most of which are pretty inexpensive ($10-$20).
As noted, I have no hands-on experience with one of these yet, so I'm going to refer you straight to CNET's review of the Gear Fit 2. It does ding the product in a few areas, including battery life -- something to consider if you do indeed plan to use it for sleep-tracking, or you travel a lot.
On the other hand (other wrist?), the Gear Fit 2 is packed with some pretty sweet features, and as I mentioned the screen is absolutely glorious. Plus, from what I see in the video (above), the UI is vastly superior to that of either Android Wear or WatchOS, both of which I find terrible. I could be wrong about that -- if you're a Gear Fit 2 owner, please share your thoughts in the comments!
As an iPhone owner, I'll have to live with some limited functionality, most notably in the area of notifications. I won't be able to respond to text messages, for example. That may prove to be a dealbreaker, but I'll have to wait and see. Android users get all the things.
Although this is an open-box product, Daily Steals still lists the condition as new, and confirmed for me that it comes with a one-year warranty.
Your thoughts?
Bonus deal: Want to learn how to program? How to design and host a website? Manage projects and market online? For a limited time, TradePub is giving away a boatload of ebooks devoted to these and other subjects. As usual, you'll need to trade a bit of business info, though the amount varies depending on the book. Some require little more than an active work email address; others ask for your job title, company name and so on.