Withings' latest ScanWatch looks like a classic standard watch, but there are medical-grade sensors hidden inside to track your internal health. If you want to get a modern fitness tracker experience in a classic watch, then ScanWatch is definitely worth considering.

Matthew Miller as a mobile gadget | November 18, 2021 | Topic: Mobility

About a year after Withings released ScanWatch, it has now passed FDA testing and authorization and can be marketed in the United States. The 42mm white and silver model I have used for a few weeks is $299.95, and the 38mm model is $20 cheaper.

Although ScanWatch is obviously not a complete smart watch or GPS sports watch, I cannot stop wearing it. It looks like a standard watch, but also has first-class build quality, slim profile, curved glass surface, classic appearance, and some weight/density. It feels great for everyday wear, and the high-quality silicone strap matches the look and feel.

See also: Best fitness trackers of 2021: Improve your health.

Although it has the beautiful appearance of a classic watch, it can be used as a clinically-proven ECG, capture blood oxygen measurements, measure breathing rate while sleeping, track your heart rate, etc., and last about a month between charges. Just like me As mentioned many times, I can’t use the smart watch often because I can’t bear to charge the watch more than once a week. With ScanWatch, you can forget it just by wearing it.

The Withings brand is known for high-quality smart health devices, but I have never evaluated any of its products before. I am very happy to see ScanWatch released at the 2020 International Consumer Electronics Show. It has been almost two years now, and it has been approved by the FDA. The wait is worth it, because I can't take off the watch and put on another one because it is too wearable.

When you open the retail package for the first time, you will know that this watch is very special. It is equipped with a hybrid smart watch, a high-quality sports strap, a magnetic charging cable and a soft fabric transport bag. This experience is what you would expect from a high-end watch, but the 38mm and 42mm versions are both less than $300, so Withings hit it out of the goal with the unboxing experience.

I received a 42mm white/silver to evaluate the website, but it also has a black dial and silver bezel. It looks like a typical classic analog watch with the same core functions as two hands and time measurement along the outer edge. There is also a small analog dial on the lower part of the watch to show your activity level as a percentage of the set goal.

At the center of the upper half of the dial is a small circular PMOLED display that can display digital time, date, notifications, heart rate, SpO2 readings, number of steps, floors climbed, distance traveled, calories, activity, breathing work and settings. Clock options also include alarms, stopwatches, and timers.

There is a button in the middle on the right side of the watch, which can also be used as a digital crown, which you can rotate to scroll through the small digital display. The watch case is made of stainless steel, with three charging pins, second and third ECG electrodes on the back, and three openings for multi-wavelength PPG sensors. The first ECG electrode is located around the bezel of the watch.

Withings ScanWatch can measure indicators, including heart rate, oxygen saturation, ECG, steps, distance, sleep, maximum oxygen uptake and altitude. When it lights up for the first time, the small digital display will show the time and data. Rotate the digital crown to view your heart rate, steps, distance traveled, calories burned, floors climbed, notifications, SpO2 utility, ECG utility and exercise apps. Press the digital crown to select an option on the display.

To activate echocardiography, select this option on the digital display, and then place your finger on the right side of the watch and on the bezel. Keep still for 30 seconds and observe the countdown on the watch while taking the measurement. After reading is complete, ScanWatch will vibrate, and then the smartphone app will display the result.

Your ScanWatch can also be used to perform breathing scans while you sleep. This data can be shared with your doctor, and if there are recorded disturbances, this data may help diagnose problems such as sleep apnea. You can set the breath scan to be always on, automatic (once every quarter for three consecutive nights), and off. Setting it to always on will affect your battery life.

See also: Best sports watches of 2021: Garmin, Coros, Polar and more.

Apple, Samsung and other companies are fighting for your wrist.

The Withings Health Mate app is used to collect data from all Withings health products (including ScanWatch). I like that I can also manually enter information, such as my blood pressure, because I am trying to find an app that I can use to view trends and even create reports to share with my doctor. I am very disappointed that Fitbit, Garmin and other companies do not support manual input of core data such as blood pressure.

After logging in to your Withings account, click the Device tab to connect ScanWatch. Then, the device tab will display ScanWatch battery life, notifications, alarms, display options, health features, and more settings for the watch that can be managed on the phone.

One feature I haven't seen on any other wearable devices is a smart alarm clock, which has a customizable time zone for the time when the watch can wake you up. Some Fitbit wearables support smart alarm clocks, but they have a long 30-minute window to wake you up during light sleep, which is too long for me to be practical.

The "Home" tab in the application includes your latest measurement results, timeline, your programs and trends. Click the plus sign in the upper right corner to manually enter the health information such as weight, blood pressure, and nutrition. When you click on the nutrition option, a notification will appear stating that Withings and MyFitnessPal have collaborated to provide a comprehensive food tracking experience.

When you click on one of the measurement categories, you will enter another part of the application that provides more detailed information, historical information, and features to view by day, week, or month.

The dashboard tab shows a single value of the most recent data in multiple categories. These include health level (VO2 Max), steps, BMI, weight, ECG, oxygen saturation, etc.

From the "Personal Information" tab, you can generate a PDF health report to share with your doctor, family or other people who are interested in your health and progress. You can also connect ScanWatch to apps such as Samsung Health, Google Fit, Strava, Apple Health, etc.

ScanWatch can be used to track more than 30 activities, including the ability to automatically recognize walking, running, and swimming when you forget to activate exercise mode. Over time, ScanWatch will even use your body movements to identify and track other supported activities that you regularly participate in.

You can pause and resume exercise tracking by pressing the digital crown once. To end the exercise and save the data, you need to press and hold the digital crown. There is very little information displayed during exercise, but after that, the smartphone app will display the duration, calories burned, altitude, etc. If you have connected your smartphone GPS, then you will also see the GPS track of your exercise.

The more time I spend on wearable devices, the more I refuse to wear devices that can only be used for a day or two. What is refreshing is that in the past month of use, the ScanWatch is only charged once after the first charge, which is really refreshing. When I can wear watches and forget them, watches become more practical for me. With the ability to track the details of sleep, the extreme comfort of 24/7 wear, and the long battery life, I only take off the ScanWatch in the shower.

There is no built-in GPS in ScanWatch, but it supports connected GPS, so if you run with a mobile phone, the result output will show your GPS path in the smartphone app. Given the tiny digital display, I can have no GPS in the watch.

Sleep tracking closely matches Fitbit Charge 5 and WHOOP 4.0, but the REM period is not determined in the results. Your actual respiratory rate will not be displayed, but if the watch detects an abnormal respiratory rate, the Withings app will notify you so it is being measured, but there is no clear report.

Withings ScanWatch is beautifully designed, high-quality, and very pleasant to wear. The long battery life ensures that you can wear it with confidence and captures several weeks of data to help you identify health trends. Smartphone apps are fully functional, easy to use, and valuable in creating reports that capture data. At a reasonable price of less than $300, Withings ScanWatch is almost the perfect wearable device for those who don't want to look like they are wearing a Fitbit or focus tracker on their wrist.

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