Pebble Steel
Shares rank 19 of 20 smartwatches by recommenders
Recommended for its highly visible screen, good battery life and long lifespan, with batteries replaceable to extend use. One critic reports screens corrupting on some units.
Recommended for its highly visible screen, good battery life and long lifespan, with batteries replaceable to extend use. One critic reports screens corrupting on some units.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Lasts years with battery replacement
“Been happily wearing my Pebble Steel for the past month after replacing its battery”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Pebble Watch software is now open source” “the kind of people who use a Pebble Steel for half a decade (or more!)”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain” “I managed to give my OG Steel another life by replacing the battery.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Pebble Round 2 – The Most Stylish Pebble Ever”
Other smartwatches people recommend
The four most recommended other smartwatches, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Watch | 246 | 272 | 47% | 12 | 5 yrs29 owners | — |
| Pebble smartwatch | 117 | 37 | 76% | 12 | 12 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Pebble Time 2 | 53 | 19 | 74% | 10 | 3 mo4 owners | Approved |
| Google Pixel Watch | 41 | 57 | 42% | 10 | — | — |
| Pebble SteelThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It has a highly visible screen, great battery life”
“One Pebble Steel which had a defect for a bunch of them where the screen would gradually start corrupting”
“I managed to give my OG Steel another life by replacing the battery.”
“I loved my kickstarter pebble and my steel”
“the kind of people who use a Pebble Steel for half a decade (or more!)”
“Been happily wearing my Pebble Steel for the past month after replacing its battery”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.