These days, there has been an increase in the number of people asking me about simple but stylish smartwatches. Emphasis on the simple. Goodbye fancy health and training features! Fill out third-party apps! All they want is a device that looks good, has basic tracking, and doesn't need to be charged frequently. Everything else (Apple Watches, Samsung Galaxy Watches, Pixel Watches) comes with too many bells and whistles. Inevitably, daily charging becomes obsolete and these expensive watches end up collecting dust in a drawer.
If that's you, the $349.95 Withings ScanWatch 2 or the $249.95 ScanWatch Light are worth a look.
Get ready to receive compliments
When I wore them outside, I got stopped a lot by friends, family, coworkers, and the occasional stranger. “That looks great,” everyone said. “Where did you get it?” That rarely happens.
Hybrid smartwatches like these are essentially sleeker, incognito versions of the fitness bands of yesteryear placed inside an analog watch. Recently on Threads I saw an animated speech on whether you should wear an Apple Watch to a fancy dinner. Well, if you wore one to a wedding, only the most attentive would notice that it was a smartwatch.
The ScanWatch 2 is elegant, while the Light is sporty. A lot comes down to color and materials. The ScanWatch 2 has sapphire crystal and an additional dial to track step goal progress. Also opt for neutral colors like the classic white or black faces of Withings. (There's also an attractive navy option.) The Light opts for Gorilla Glass and comes in a fun mint green or pale blue, in addition to black and white versions. Both have stainless steel cases in silver or rose gold, with plenty of strap options. Design aside, the ScanWatch 2 has more sensors and health tracking features, while the Light is a scaled-down version that's $100 cheaper.
I would describe my style as “aggressively casual,” but none of the watches stood out like a sore thumb with plaid, band t-shirts, and jeans. Both were also easy to dress up for occasions when you had to look like a dolled-up adult.
I have small wrists, but the 37mm Light was just the right size, and was comically small when compared to the 49mm Apple Watch Ultra 2 on my other arm. The 38mm ScanWatch 2 had a similar feel, although it also comes in a larger 42mm model. These are on the smaller side for smartwatches, so if you want something larger, they may not fit your needs.
Basic Basics for the tech-Weary
These are for the people who say a watch can tell the damn time… and maybe one or two other things.
This is because neither watch transmits information particularly well, other than the time. All you get is a small grayscale OLED display. If you want to read a notification, you have to wait for it to scroll slowly. Since there's no touchscreen, you have to use the Digital Crown to scroll through menus and press it to select something. I'll stick with it to start a workout, but I'm less inclined to hold it for stopwatches or EKG readings. It's much less tedious than the Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid's interface, but most days it was easier to think of this as a regular watch.
As with older fitness bands, this is most useful for sorting out notifications and passively tracking basic metrics. “Oh, what is this buzzing? Brad sent an email. “Brad can wait.” (You can also choose which apps ping you.) Plus, you'll have to take out your phone to take calls or view your data anyway.
That can be good! If you want to be more present, going low-tech can be a useful tool. Navigating the ScanWatch's menus is tedious, which means I'm less likely to be distracted by a message.
If you want to be more present, going low-tech can be a useful tool.
Because its only screen is small and grayscale, the battery lasts for weeks at a time. If you use it primarily as an analog watch, those gains multiply. Seriously, I used each one for weeks. Withings estimates you get about 30 days on a single charge, although I got between 21 and 25 due to heavier use for testing. I took the ScanWatch 2 on a week-long business trip, left the charger at home, and everything was fine.
The only problem is that you could lose the charger because you rarely need it. When I moved, the ScanWatch 2 charger disappeared into the same interdimensional portal that devours all my left socks. You can buy spare parts, but unlike other devices, All smartwatch manufacturers have their own chargers.. That means replacements can be expensive ($24.95, in this case). And the two watches don't even use the same proprietary charger. I tried to see if the Light charger worked, but it doesn't work. So if you and a family member use Withings but have different watches, you won't be able to share them.
General health monitoring
The ScanWatch 2 tracks more data than the Light. In addition to a new temperature sensor, it measures blood oxygen levels and elevation. It also supports detection of atrial fibrillation using electrocardiogram readings. The Light skips all that in favor of shaving $100 off the price.
Otherwise, they have a similar function. Both support features like heart rate monitoring and high/low heart rate notifications. The watches' GPS tracking is done through your phone and both are safe for swimming with a 5 ATM water resistance rating. And now, in the year 2024, Withings has added period tracking!
Accuracy, including GPS tracking, was decent, but you don't get Garmin levels of insight. On my walks and runs, the distances recorded were in line with those on my Ultra 2. I didn't notice any major discrepancies in my training or resting heart rate with either watch. Sleep tracking was fine for giving an overall picture, but I found that the Oura ring more accurately reflected nighttime interruptions, like when my cat Pablo would wake me up to eat kibble at 4 a.m. If you stick to casual activities, these will do the trick. job.
The Withings app is designed more for educated wellness than training, which, again, is great if all you need are the basics. The app has a clean, minimalist design that is easy to navigate and packed with educational readings. I just hate the giant notification cards above. They mean well and often include tips on how to use the watch and reminders to reach your goals. But they accumulate, are not easy to discard, and get old after a while. You have the option to subscribe to Withings Plus, but casual users don't really need the extras it offers. As for data syncing, Withings works with Apple and Google Health APIs and Strava.
Which one should you get? It depends if you want all the health characteristics or the lowest price of Light. Personally, I'd save the extra $100. The temperature sensor is not related to cycle tracking and is primarily for monitoring your baseline at rest, while you sleep, and during workouts. It's great for data nerds, but it doesn't take a genius to know that you're hotter during intense exercise. Nor is SpO2 tracking on consumer wearable devices that still useful.
pleasantly retro
It was refreshing to try a smartwatch that does less. By using the Ultra 2 next to the ScanWatch 2 or the ScanWatch Light, I was able to see firsthand how many notifications I receive every day and how calming it can be when you are more intentional with what catches your attention.
But Apple and Google aren't likely to suddenly change course. Every year, watches get a little bigger, a little smarter, and a little more packed with new sensors. For better or worse, smartwatches continue to do more, even if many people would like them to do less. Samsung is changing things up a bit with the upcoming Galaxy Ring, but even that seems to be a bid to build out its ecosystem. (And maybe entice you to buy a Samsung watch or phone while you're at it.)
Withings has the opportunity here to simplify things. There's a void in the space for sleek but simple trackers. Garmin hybrids are nice, but Garmins are notorious for their data overload. Smart rings are in fashion, but they are not ideal if you want some notification capabilities. Googleifying Fitbit is very complicated. With fitness bands going the way of the dodo, you could do a lot worse than a Withings watch.
