This is a watch that could help you lose weight and as such is an aid for those of us termed as ‘Obese’ and one of the vast range of subjects that the Government are working on apart from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
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click image to enlargeThe reason they care if we are obese is simple we are more likely to become diabetic and have other problems such as asthma and so those who are obese cost the government more as we will have more hospital visits.
The watch is circular at 36mm and the surround is steel with a rubberized strap. The face has three steel hands, hour, minute and what looks like a second hand in a smaller round disc at the base, this however tells you how far towards your daily step goal you have gone a full circuit and you are there. The top has another round disc that is empty until a small push on the right side on what looks like a winder. Now you get a small icon which then changes to a day date and time, another push gives you heart rate, next touch is number of steps walked, next is distance walked, next calories used, alarm time - if set - and finally percent of battery used. Press again and the last item in the sequential list is shown, wait a while and it returns to the first shown. It can also track sleep or lack of it.
Now if you keep it on one item such as heart rate you can get a continuous read out useful while progressing up a hill or even a long flight of steps. While this is called heart rate we all know this actually made up of two figures and those lucky enough to be ‘normal’ would be 120 over 80. This is actually your pulse so exactly how you wear the watch matters but I managed to get correct readings on both the inside and outside of my wrist.
On my Android phone this uses Bluetooth to link to Google Health Mate and this enables to track your progress over a given time scale be it day’s weeks or months. One feature that is not automatically tracked with the watch or App is weight and for most this should be a slow downward trend. Any scale can track this for you but try to use the same one as the readings can vary greatly over various scales. However there are specialized scales available and I will be telling you about such a unit in a few weeks.
On initial removal from the box the watch will say ten to two and only after linking by joining and creating a password entering some details and setting your daily step goal will the last action be to set the time from your phone.
While the default daily step goal will be 10000 that is not always the goal suitable for you some experts says 7500 is better and for ‘oldies’ like me an even lower total is applicable.
For those into fitness then this unit and the App can track all your workouts, a two second push on the winder puts you in workout mode.
The watch itself needs charging in the dock and USB lead supplied but once charged it should not need another charge for the best part of a month.
At the time of publication the Withings Steel HR 36mm Hybrid SmartWatch is available from Amaon for £149.95 including free delivery.
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Comment by paul_smart, 17 Sep 2020 9:45