Fossil Hybrid HR e-ink "smart" watch first impressions

[AkioOhtori]

Sitting in the airport, waiting on a flight, so I figured I've had this watch for almost 24 hours now and that allegedly qualifies me to write down my thoughts on it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I did a post that I impulse bought a Fossil "smart" watch with an e-ink display. The "smart" is because it isn't as full featured as a "real" smart watch, but still allows you to check notifications, control music, etc.

Anyway!

I got home from camping yesterday (Sunday) to the package waiting on my doorstep. After opening the surprisingly lackluster packaging I was greeted by my new smartwatch. On first blush it was bigger than expected, though once I got it on it feels fine, and I was disappointed to see it was at 20% battery. Nothing quite as lame as to get a new toy and have to spend a bunch of time charging it before you get to play! Oh well. The battery life was plenty to get it connected to my phone, synced, updated, and to start playing around with customization.

The app is a little... obtuse... with some features hidden in non-obvious places. The watch faces that come with the watch are classy but boring. Luckily Fossil lets you make your own and there is a small but devoted community around creating them. Downside is you can only do that via the app, which lacks alignment buttons and fine tuning options, making the placement of complications... difficult. Still I was eventually able to find one I liked well enough, though I suspect I need to burn some time on making one of my own.

Aesthetically it is fine just fine. A little big for my tastes, but handsome and unobtrusive.

Unlike most smart watches, I'm told, this one has three buttons each dedicated to a function, rather than an action. I like that in concept, but in practice I'm not so sure. Time will tell. I know my Garmin-using partner found it completely unfathomable.

Heart rate, sleep tracking, and the pedometer seem OK for now. I've seen a lot of complaints about those features online but haven't got enough mileage on them to say one way or the other.

Activity tracking is fairly basic but works fine and I like that it asks you if you want to turn it off if you're still for a while (aka forgot to turn it off).

Battery is currently showing 95% after receiving a full charge at 10PM last night so... I have hopes the battery life will indeed be around the estimated 2 weeks.

My only "major" complaint is the watch hands aren't the best. They have extremely fine needles on the end, which I didn't notice in the photos, which is cool but they don't always line up with the tick mark on the face. There is a calibration mode, but the step is too large to correct this. It is a minor annoyance exacerbated by the needle-like hands. If they'd just... not done that all would be well... but they didn't, which smacks of hubris.

Overall it has been an entertaining toy that really is very similar to my old Fitbit Blaze from back in the day. Medium functional, but works well as a watch anyway. I think I'm committed to keeping it and will get my $170 worth of entertainment out of it and only time will tell if it becomes a long term bromance, or a gateway drug to "real" smartwatches, or something that is thrown in a drawer and forgotten.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@akioohtori I love the idea of smart watches, but I've come to the conclusion that I'm too hard on watches to rock one.

[DDaD]

@hammerheadfistpunch I've personally beat the absolute crap out of an early Samsung one (with the rotating bezel) for a few years and it has done great. I've done a bit of everything short of going diving with it, which it very clearly tells you not to do. I think its saving grace was that there was a raised bezel above the screen.

[Roadkilled]

@akioohtori said in Fossil Hybrid HR e-ink "smart" watch first impressions:

I was disappointed to see it was at 20% battery.

Lithium-ion batteries don't like being at full charge in a hot environment. If you fully charge a lithium-ion battery, and keep it very warm, it will reduce the battery's capacity. Many products are shipped by shipping container. That container could sit on the deck of a ship for six weeks crossing the ocean in the middle of the summer, and temperatures in the containers can easily reach 60 C. Manufacturers only partially charge the lithium-ion batteries in their products before shipping to keep the battery from degrading. The goal is to have just enough charge for you to spend a little time playing with your product when you get it. They also have to assume that some products may sit on a store shelf for a few months. Your watch may have last been charged four months ago at the factory. There is often a "factory mode" that puts the product in a low-power state until the customer first turns it on, letting the power drain more slowly than it would in normal use.

In short, 20% may be disappointing, but it's to give you a better experience in the long run.

See table 2 on this page for more details if you are curious.
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries

[dejock]

@hammerheadfistpunch garmin instincts show up used all day long for about a hundo. i dare you to try and break one

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@dejock said in Fossil Hybrid HR e-ink "smart" watch first impressions:

garmin instinct

Its not break so much as render inop with scratches and torn bands

[BicycleBuck]

@ddad said in Fossil Hybrid HR e-ink "smart" watch first impressions:

@hammerheadfistpunch I've personally beat the absolute crap out of an early Samsung one (with the rotating bezel) for a few years and it has done great. I've done a bit of everything short of going diving with it, which it very clearly tells you not to do. I think its saving grace was that there was a raised bezel above the screen.

Frontier S3? If so, I can agree with how tough they are. What I hate about mine is the terrible battery longevity. The first one died after a year and now the replacement is going south.

[Chariotoflove]

@akioohtori
I have a Fossil store credit to use, and I looked at these. I wasn't sure what functionality I would really use in my daily life with this kind of "half smart watch". Instead, I got a hand me down Apple Watch from my nephew to test out. I still haven't found a good reason to use it much though, aside from entertainment. I do like Fossil watches though.

[HoustonRunner]

@hammerheadfistpunch My Garmins have been pretty tough. I keep a screen protector on mine, and have to replace it every 6 months or so.

[DDaD]

@bicyclebuck I'm still going ok. I can usually get about 2 days out of it, even taking calls and stuff which is only a bit lower than when it was new.