When comparing Samsung Gear Fit vs Microsoft Band 2, the Slant community recommends Microsoft Band 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best smartwatches?” Microsoft Band 2 is ranked 14th while Samsung Gear Fit is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose Microsoft Band 2 is:
The Microsoft Band 2 comes in 3 sizes to ensure it fits: Small (145-165mm or 5.7-6.5"), Medium (160-190mm or 6.3-7.5"), or Large (185-215mm or 7.3-8.5").
Specs
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Pros
Pro Has smartwatch-like functionality
With Gear Fit you can view emails and texts, get notifications from apps, dismiss calls and reply with preset text snippets.
Pro Colorful, curved touchscreen sAMOLED display
The Gear Fit has a vibrant sAMOLED display that's bright enough to be easy to use in a bright environment. It also allows switching the orientation of the display layout from the default horizontal to vertical.
Pro Virtual coach
Based on live readings, the Gear Fit app provides real-time suggestions during your workout.
Pro Fits well on virtually any wrist
The Microsoft Band 2 comes in 3 sizes to ensure it fits: Small (145-165mm or 5.7-6.5"), Medium (160-190mm or 6.3-7.5"), or Large (185-215mm or 7.3-8.5").
Pro Natural feeling display
The display is slightly curved, making it more natural to wear and use. You also won't be hitting it off walls and doors as often as other watches because it doesn't stick out as far from your wrist as other fitness trackers.
The OLED display doesn't light up black pixels, meaning the background blends in perfectly with the bezels making for a more pleasing look as well as saving battery life when displaying mostly black colors.
Pro Custom guided workouts
The fitness tracker allows you to ditch the notebook before heading to the gym.
Pro Smartphone connected
The Microsoft Band 2 connects to your Android, Windows Phone, or iPhone to provide notifications on your wrist. Swiping left from the main screen shows notifications that have been synced from the watch. It doesn't show context for these notifications however - just the number of missed notifications and their respective icons.
Cons
Con Sometimes unresponsive touchscreen
The Gear Fit has been known to have an unresponsive touchscreen at random times, while a restart may help this is a worry that users will have to deal with from time to time.
Con Inaccurate step counter
The step counter is often inaccurate with it over recording the steps one makes, this basically makes the feature useless if accurate readings are necessary.
Con Heart rate monitor is slow and inaccurate
The heart rate monitor seems to be often all over the place with its tracking. Often it will be reading an extremely higher rate than what the user has, which will not only throw off their data but could also interrupt ones exercising.
Con Very difficult to find
The newer version of this tracker has been out for some time. It's quite difficult to find this version new, though you can still get it refurbished.
Con Poor battery life and clunky battery charger
Gear Fit last about two days of active use and requires an extra battery charger adapter to charge.
Con Requires Android phone for alarm
The Samsung Gear Fit will serve as a notification device for Android phone alarms, but has no alarm feature of its own.
Con No way to overview sleep activity
There is currently no way to see an overview of ones sleep activity. There is also no automatic tracking of sleep, one needs to set the watch to the time they want it to start tracking sleep which is unreliable due to it being difficult to nail down the exact time one actually falls asleep.
Con Band 2 is discontinued - no Band 3 on the horizon
Most likely due to the very high incidence of returns (due to charging issues and the straps cracking in half), the Band fitness tracker brand seems to be entirely discontinued.
Con Poor HR sensor + Poor data visualization
The fitness tracker's HR sensor is very inaccurate during HIIT/weight lifting movements, it takes forever to even lock-on, and once locked-on it doesn't stay locked-on. All of this contributes to very poor HR accuracy. To top it off, the app/web site does not display high-frequency data, it will plot a single HR point for every 1 minute of activity which makes it very, very useless.
Con Bulky clasp
Under the clasp is a sensor that determines whether it's being worn or not (so it can save power when not in use), which adds bulk.
Con Poor battery life
Without using the GPS, battery life can be stretched to a day and a half, but if you do use the GPS that time will be reduced to just a day. Either way, you will want to charge it every night.