# Pebble Time 2

53 Hacker News commenters recommended Pebble Time 2 and 19 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 0.25 years (4 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as an open-source smartwatch with tactile buttons, always-on sunlight-readable display and long battery life. Critics note broken screens and smartphone dependence.

## Why people recommend it

- Long battery life (5 comments): "They are building devices that are just like the original Pebbles, but with smaller bezels and longer battery life." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950383)) "it has a sunlight readable ALWAYS on display, really good battery life and is open source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279348)) "To me, a Pebble is better than an apple watch due to battery life and hack-ability." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48944548))
- Open source, long-term software support (5 comments): "I am quite a fan of it). Open source and comes with standard sensors for health monitoring" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48248834)) "it has a sunlight readable ALWAYS on display, really good battery life and is open source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279348)) "it's free and I don't have to worry about it's software getting redesigned" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49092080))
- Useful alarm, timer, weather and music (3 comments): "When I had a Pebble Time (dead, waiting on PR2) I basically had notifications turned off." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947413)) "the alarm feature to wake you up when you were in a light phase of sleep worked very well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46508801)) "I can start a timer in seconds when I am meditating, when I am cooking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947378))
- Physical tactile buttons (2 comments): "I remember it feeling really snappy too, and it feels great to use a UI that moves like that with physical tactile buttons" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47078358)) "i own PT2 due to buttons but charging thing is not such a problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49295464))

## What people warn about

- Worries about maker's support and reliability (5 comments): "How can I know I'm not buying $225 brick supported only by a single person who ditched the community?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45976193)) "I'm not really that thrilled about them I just wanted to support the project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46506697)) "will be cancelling it if I don't hear a positive outcome from this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962127))
- Battery life falls short (3 comments): "The only issue I had with Pebble Time Steel was the battery, even after changing it, was up for maximum a week." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947614)) "The downside of the old one was the battery life, on the order of 2 days when the battery is new" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45972857)) "pebble time 2 with worse (bigger) dimensions, worse battery life" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49367448))
- Screens and bezels break or scratch (3 comments): "51 broken screens in less than two months results in a yearly failure rate of over 1%" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48945230)) "the adhesive connecting the front bezel(?) to the back case" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947414)) "the bezel of the Time scratched if you looked at it wrong" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48948423))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Pebble Round 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pebble-round-2.md): 38 recommend
- [Pebble 2 Duo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pebble-2-duo.md): 17 recommend
- [PineTime smartwatch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pinetime-smartwatch.md): 12 recommend
- [SQFMI Watchy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/watchy.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Pebble+Time+2+smartwatch&tag=YOURTAG-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Pebble Time 2", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pebble-time-2/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).