One thing leads to another

How I got here:

One of the things I promised myself when I left my first 20-year career was that I would never wear a watch again. I hated being tied to time and I never found a comfortable watch, no matter its size, material, cost, sportiness, or elegance. I pretty much stuck to that promise for a decade. By then the demands of my second career required that I keep track of time (and not by pulling my phone out of my pocket all the time).

Cartoon 1

At about that same time, aging drove me to want to track my activity levels. I used Fitbit fitness trackers for several years, eventually moving to a wristworn tracker that could serve as a watch, too (One, Flex, Charge, and then the Charge HR). I liked monitoring steps, floors, and heart rate, but never found the watches comfortable. The app was pretty good for watching trends.

Then there was the Apple Watch:

I replaced my Fitbit with an Apple Watch soon after it debuted. I hoped it would be a great fitness tracker and have other convenient functionality. I liked a lot of things about the Watch’s apps, but I did not like the Activity nor the Health app. I missed the data that the Fitbit gave me (that the Watch did not) and the Fitbit app’s presentation of the data. I used third-party apps to make the Watch data more useful, particularly HealthFace, HealthView, Runtastic Pro, AutoSleep, and HeartWatch, but it was tedious to have so many apps just to do a few simple things. 

I tried a dozen watch bands for the Watch, but the Watch was clunky, obtrusive, and difficult to wear comfortably. After three years of wearing it daily, I took it off one day to see if I would miss it. I didn’t. Not at all. Not the notifications. Not the widgets. Nothing. 

Cartoon 2

Sleeping well improves quality of life:

Weeks went by; it was a relief, except… I missed activity and sleep tracking; I began to look at the latest wearables. Over the last year, I had become increasingly concerned about not getting enough sleep and not getting high quality sleep. I wanted a tracker that monitored steps, heart rate, and sleep and provided actionable data. I did a lot of looking and read a lot of reviews. I stumbled onto the Oura ring. I read and watched a lot of reviews about the Oura ring and studied the Oura website. I did some careful comparisons of functionality, cost, and comfort with the Fitbit line of watches. I looked again at slim smartwatches from 20 or so manufacturers. I looked at other smart rings. I finally decided that despite the cost, the Oura ring was a step above and nicely suited to my needs. I liked the emphasis on collecting and using the data. I liked the emphasis on sleep and recovery. I liked the opportunity to have more health data, including body temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate variability. I really liked that it was a ring, not a watch, and that it had no display, no buttons, no gizmos, etc. 

The one ring:

I have been delighted with the Oura ring these last 4+ months. It is comfortable, unobtrusive, and seemingly indestructible. The app is great at presenting the data. I have used the data to make substantive changes in my life and been able to see the improvement in my sleep and recovery. I think of it as a health maintenance device.

The problem was, I missed a real-time count of my steps during the day. Pulling out my phone, opening the app, waiting for the syncing/updating, and tapping over to the activity section took too long. More importantly, there is a 10 to 20 minute delay, so if I have just finished a walk or hike, the step count is not accurate (up to date). To be fair, the Oura developers are quite open about the fact that tracking daytime activity and exercise are not the primary purpose of the Oura ring. I knew that going in.  

Coming full circle:

The strangest part was that I missed knowing the day/date/time, too. Pulling out my phone to look at the date or time was a nuisance. A few weeks ago I began wearing an old Swiss Army watch that was sitting in a dresser drawer with other stuff I rarely use. I liked its analog simplicity. The leather band was surprisingly comfortable. You can see where this is going...

I decided -very grudgingly- that if I were going to wear a watch anyway, I might as well get one that could supplement the Oura ring’s daytime information. This was not an easy decision to make. I had dumped my Apple Watch and spent a substantial sum on a ring. I had a perfectly suitable watch. I thought about it a lot. I made lists. 

I wanted an analog watch with a day/date function. I wanted one that was easy to read in bright sunshine. I live in Arizona. Not being able to read a Fitbit screen with sunglasses on or in sunshine was always a problem. I needed it to be comfortable. I wanted a real-time accurate step count and active calories burned. I did not need it to connect to an app on my phone or link with 5 other apps. I did not need it to play music or control drones. Ideally, I wanted something that did not have to be charged. I did not want another charger on my night stand. I wanted a watch battery that could be replaced once a year or that was charged by wrist movement. I wanted to spend less than $100, a lot less if possible.

I scoured the internet for information on wristworn trackers, hybrid watches, cheap pedometers, etc. I finally decided that value-for-the-dollars-spent meant I was going to have to spend more than $100 and duplicate many Oura functions. I decided to be happy with my Swiss Army watch.

Last week I stumbled across an article about walking 10,000 steps a day for a year and one about walking a million steps with a Withings watch. These articles were not ads nor reviews; they were contemplative. They made me think about what I was trying to achieve as I moved from being a casual step counter to an avid health data user, actively making changes to improve my quality of life. The Withings watches had been one of the top five options I had considered. The author’s reasons for choosing a Withings watch so closely mirrored what I wanted in a tracker that I reconsidered my decision to get a new tracking watch.

Withings watches:

I looked closely at all the Withings watches currently available and some soon to be released. I looked at the cost-versus-the-information-collected for each model. I liked the features that were included in a simple analog watch. I downloaded the Health Mate app and a user guide to see how the app worked. The functions looked reasonable and, more importantly, scalable. The app will coordinate the basics with the Apple Health app, if, at some point, I wanted to try to integrate the ring and watch data in one app or let them share some information.

The Withings Steel HR hybrid model was a great way to have my cake and eat it too. Getting time and steps in both an analog dial and a digital readout solves the problem of reading the time and steps in daylight and dark. The user guide says the watch has an auto-brightness feature that changes the brightness of the digital screen depending on the brightness of the surroundings. It can also be set manually by the user. In workout mode it stays on maximum brightness and then returns to the previous setting when the workout is over. Those features should maximize readability of the watch in varying lighting conditions. The watch does need a charger, but the battery lasts several weeks, so it will not be a daily hassle. 

I have used the Runtastic Pro app for years to track hiking routes and elevation. It was especially useful when I wore the Apple Watch because heart rate was an overlay on the elevation map. It is a bonus that the Steel HR has connected GPS with heart rate display. I liked the idea of having this functionality again and being able to do it all in one app. If the Withings watch works out, I can remove 8 apps from my phone that I needed to get the Apple Watch to function effectively. All I should need are the Oura and Health Mate apps, and maybe the Health app.

Although I really liked the minimalist look of the Steel HR, I decided to be practical. The numerical cues on the dial of the Steel HR Sport should make it easier to read the time, enough that it should be worth the extra $20. The sport version has a couple of other features that the regular version does not have (V02 max and multi-sport tracking); maybe they will be useful in the future... 

Withings Steel HR Sport watch with black dial

I purchased the watch with a leather band directly from Withings.com and paid using Apple Pay. It was easy and efficient. I ordered on a Friday afternoon and received emails that night and over the weekend confiming the order, the payment, and the shipping. On Monday, I got an email with a USPS tracking number so that I could track the package. I love it when the purchasing experience is flawless. It boosts confidence in the company and the product.

I will cover the unboxing and the first use in a future post.