shopping suggestions for a piece of wearable technology!

December 29, 2018 6:43 AM

I'm on the market for something that's maybe a fitbit and maybe a smartwatch or maybe a dumb watch or a hybrid--I don't know! I'm currently in Canada but live in the US so I can shop on both sides of the border, although it is boxing week right now. Throw at me your reccomendations!

Things I would like this wearable to do:

1) Easily set countdown timers repeatedly, but each time for a different duration of time-- anywhere from 3 min to a couple of hours--through out the day. Silent vibration when it goes off. I'm essentially looking for iPhone's clock/timer but in something I'd wear all the time. I like touchscreen and I loathe the little buttons of old school Casio digital watches. Importantly, I need this function to be directly on the watch and I'd like to be able to use it without tethering to my phone.

2) be thin and light and looks good (and in terms of what looks good to me...I like how Skagen watches look. I generally prefer minimalistic looks and have small wrists).

3) long battery life of 3-5 days would be ideal-- nightly charging is not the end of the day, though.

4) show time

5) store and play some music. Doesn't have to be a lot.


It's possible that I'm essentially looking for a silent egg timer that looks like a nice piece of wearable accessory, but I just don't know exactly what that'd be.


Things that would be cool but not at all necessary:

1) track heart rate and calories

2) show weather

3) can record voice memos directly on the watch


My budget is about $200 with a bit of flexibility. Cheaper is great as long as the thing is durable!

posted by redwaterman to Shopping (1 answer total)

Sounds like an older model apple watch would work great. I don't want to make an assumption though, it sounds like you already have an iPhone since you mentioned you like the countdown timer but I'm not totally sure. You would store the music on your iPhone and access to control track/volume/etc. from the watch. I use the timer on my apple watch all the time and it's great. I almost feel like it's my favorite feature. While the watch is not thin like a Skagen it's very comfortable and you can even buy inexpensive watch bands ($10-20) on Amazon that fit the watch so the style is customizable (you can even get a Skagen-style watch strap, no need to by the expensive apple version). I use the silicone band that came with the watch and it was a little weird at first but I got used to it quickly and love it. As for size, smart watches will by default be more bulky than any other type of watch because of the components. They'll keep getting thinner but for now we're stuck with a kind of bulky thing. Battery life is excellent, heart rate and fitness tracking is excellent, weather is easy to access, and you can do voice memos. Lastly, the touchscreen works wonderfully.
posted by belau at 9:10 AM on December 29, 2018