If you want a smartwatch that tail your health but does n’t look like a small-arm of technical school on your wrist , choosingfrom the usual suspectsis quite challenging . What you should do rather is take care at the Withings ScanWatch 2 . On the Earth’s surface , it is likely a classy traditional watch , but it hide some telling and highly accurate health - monitoring tech indoors .
Sounds idealistic , ripe ? I ’ve been wearing it for a while to see if it survive up to expectation .
About our Withings ScanWatch 2 review
Andy Boxall originally look back the Withings ScanWatch 2 in November 2023 and returned to wear the smartwatch again in March 2024 . The review has been updated with any additional information , and a new section towards the end has been added , detail how the ScanWatch 2 do several month after its going . The review mark has not changed , and remains the same as the original score given in November 2023 .
Withings ScanWatch 2: design
Hybrid smartwatches bridge the col between normal watches and smartwatches , combine a degree of connected functionality with traditional looks , which cause them very attractive to those who do n’t want a full touchscreen watch on their carpus . The Withings ScanWatch 2 is one of the finest - looking hybrids you’re able to get , just likeits harbinger .
There ’s no question the ScanWatch 2 looks , feels , and bear like a non - smart picket . It has two physical hands and a complication record advance to your footprint goal at 6 o’clock . The case is made from stainless steel , the telephone dial is covered in sapphire crystal , it has a 5ATM water resistance rating , and there ’s a crown on the right - mitt side , but no other buttons or mean of control . It does have a blind , which is located in the top half of the dial , but it ’s not always participating .
The screen comes on when you raise your radiocarpal joint or weight-lift the jacket and also prove the time . And when you rotate the crown , it displays your heart rate , steps , workout modes , lineage oxygen grade , tegument temperature , and other functions . It ’s bright and clean but never intrusive . It ’s not quite as hidden as the Garmin Vivomove Trend ’s cover , but from a distance , you would n’t really know it was there . This assist further advance the ScanWatch 2 ’s traditional sentry look .
It did take a few day to get used to the weight of the ScanWatch 2 , which is n’t particularly heavy at 74 grams , but I ’d fall from the 58 - gramme Google Pixel Watch 2 , which is very light indeed . Acclimatization was mostly expect when I wore it at night , and I did detect it the first few times . It got better , but there ’s some ponderousness behind the ScanWatch 2 , and it still feels a little grueling to wear it every night , at least compared to the Pixel Watch 2 and the Apple Watch Series 9 .
The ScanWatch 2 comes with a very soft silicone polymer strap . It ’s light , very flexile , and super igniter . I appreciate the buckle and keeper combination , which aid keep the strap under control as it is quite long . On my 6.5 - inch wrist , I either used the fourth or the 5th pickle , go out 11 holes spare , so it ’s unlikely many the great unwashed will have a trouble getting it to fit . When I revisit the ScanWatch , I happen the original shoulder strap hard to get well-situated , and I change it for a different one . This was easy due to the standard quick - release fall fitment . It takes any 20 millimetre strap .
Classy , understated , comfortable , and well - made , the ScanWatch 2 is a pleasure to fatigue daily . It goes with everything , never looks out of place , and certainly does n’t look like a piece of technology . It ’s not overtly sporty , and the raised index on the dial look expensive and get the twinkle attractively , while the baton hands have a coating of lume so you’re able to see them in the dark .
Apple Watch Series 9Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The domed azure crystal has a beautiful shininess , the bezel is slim , and the diadem is absolutely sized to easily turn with your fingertip . The ScanWatch 2 is a thoughtfully designed and fabulously stylish sentry I ’m happy to wear upon all the clip , regardless of the smart tech hidden inside .
Withings ScanWatch 2: what about the technology?
The petite grayscale OLED screen is just 0.63 in and represents the only really seeable tech aspect of the ScanWatch 2 . On the back of the spotter — which is also made of untarnished steel — is Withings ’ redesign multi - wavelength PPG pump pace sensor and its TempTech 24/7 module for body temperature reading . The watch also has an accelerometer and an altimeter , which have been kick upstairs over the original ScanWatch .
It ’s the way these sensors exploit together thatmakes the ScanWatch 2 special . By measuring skin and ambient temperature , along with heart charge per unit and movement , it can provide 24/7 dead body temperature data . This is utile for see your wellness , operation and convalescence , and for more exact and useful stop trailing , too .
The ScanWatch 2 can take an ECG reading , and it has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) for atrial fibrillation detection . Plus , you may take on - demand blood atomic number 8 readings . It will alert you about a low or high-pitched resting nitty-gritty rate and , in the future ( after a software program update ) , about an irregular spirit rate .
Google Pixel Watch 2Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
There are multiple physical exercise modality , all access on the sentry , to track . During straining exercise , the ScanWatch 2 apply the TempTech 24/7 module to chase after your body temperature and splits it into three dissimilar zone : Warm up , Performance , and Overheating . This is unlike from the more common method acting of using your heart rate , and Withings claims it ’s easier to read your peak carrying out state and not overtrain . The temperature data inform a recovery time graph .
The Withings ScanWatch 2 connects to both Android and iOS smartphones using the Withings Health app , and it can be linked to Apple Health , Google Fit / Health Connect , Samsung Health , Strava , RunKeeper , Nest , IFTTT , and MyFitnessPal . I have been using the ScanWatch 2 connected to aSamsung Galaxy Z Flip 5and encountered no problems colligate to the setup .
Withings ScanWatch 2: fitness tracking
Starting a workout on the ScanWatch 2 can take a fleck of effort , as you have to scroll through the menu and then scroll through physical exercise modes before starting . However , it is potential to set a prospicient printing press of the crown to open up the physical exercise mode and to customize the list of available workouts , which saves some meter . I like how pause and end a exercise ask a prospicient press of the cap , too , so you ’re unlikely to do it by chance event . you’re able to set the screen to delay active when work out or have it turn off to save barrage fire .
It does have an reflexive exercise - trailing feature , but it ’s not very sound . It does n’t show a notice like on the Apple Watch or Pixel Watch ; it just tracks whatever it thinks you ’re doing , leaving you to discover it in the app later on . Multiple times , it has “ tracked ” me cycling , despite me not having peddled an inch in years , yet it has omit my day-after-day walks , which the Oura Ring mirthfully pluck up . This is annoying because it fox off your stats and pressure you to go in and edit the activity , but only if you notice it when count through the app . It ’s even worse if you did n’t spot it and you do n’t think back what you were actually doing at the time .
Track a exercising manually , and the app shows GPS - interrelate locating data point , elevation change , heart charge per unit information , and exercise zones , plus temperature - driven Temperature zone . It also gives you a Fitness Level scotch and traverse improvements over time . What the ScanWatch 2 does n’t do is ceaselessly push you to do more or even remind you to get up and move around . It ’s very “ hands - off ” unless you toggle some of the preferences , and even the app does n’t send notifications about your progress much .
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 ClassicAndy Boxall / Digital Trends
This is where the ScanWatch 2 differ from a full touchscreen smartwatch . It ’s less intrusive and leaves a lot of the find and motivation down to you . It ’s less destination - focused and or else swear on suggesting missionary post in the app rather than labor you to do something like take more steps . I plant I expect at the picket less during a physical exercise and merely checked stats after I ’d finished , which is a different approach than when I work with a smartwatch . I mostly sense less tied to , or lay eyes on to , the ScanWatch 2 .
What the ScanWatch 2 does n’t do is endlessly push you to do more .
It ’s also important to make out the Withings ScanWatch 2 is not a fitness tracker on the level of aGarmin Epix Pro ( Gen 2 ) , and it wo n’t satisfy hard-core gymnastic apparatus . The functionality is more on the level of a fittingness tracker like theFitbit Charge 6 , just in a far more attractive package and without the same emphasis on doing more . It ’s more about improving wellness through metrics and less about push seaworthiness forward .
Garmin Vivomove TrendAndy Boxall/Digital Trends
Withings ScanWatch 2: sleep tracking
Wear the ScanWatch 2 to bed , and it automatically activates sleep trailing . This has worked dead every time for me , and while initially , the data point it showed seemed to be accurate , it was less so when I revisited it . For the follow-up , I wore the ScanWatch 2 alongside a third - generation Oura Ring to compare sleep - tracking results . Both these products emphasize how important nap is to our overall wellness , both take temperature into score , and both products be the same .
During my tests , the Sleep Scores were often the same or within a few point of each other , the duration unremarkably only separate by a few mo , and both caught the same nighttime interruptions at the same time , too . Below are two sets of screenshots that show how the Oura Ring and ScanWatch 2 ’s data compare and how they often match up quite closely . The two differ in the amount of data point gathered and evidence that ’s related to body temperature .
The Oura Ring provide a individual number for the day , open you a introductory brainstorm into variety to your temperature , while the ScanWatch 2 track changes incessantly and diagram results on a graph , so you’re able to see how it changes throughout the twenty-four hour period , and can even see how it correlate to your activity too . The legal age of the data is shown in the app , but you could also see change on the spotter ’s sieve , where it play up if your body temperature move out of its gestate baseline part .
Oura RingAndy Boxall / Digital Trends
With more data available , cover a greater amount of meter , the ScanWatch 2 does help you better understand your physical structure temperature . However , what you may do with this information is quite circumscribed . you could see the fluctuations , but the app does n’t tell you much about what it means , leaving it down to you to make assumptions . While the farinaceous information may betoken changes to your wellness more chop-chop than the Oura Ring ’s single fair numeral — and also assist judge recuperation time — many multitude may find the extra information superfluous . Anyone wanting to track periods may find it more helpful , but Oura ’s fantabulous partnership with Natural Cycles allow more actionable data point .
When I revisit the ScanWatch 2 , the sleep trailing was n’t as accurate , and sometimes I did n’t pick up my sleep at all . The software has also not been update to show inwardness rate variableness ( HRV ) overnight either , a system of measurement that can be helpful when used to gauge retrieval , or overall health . It joins several other retard characteristic — recovery middle rate , respiratory pace , and recovery temperature — which are now expected at the closing of 2024 . The ScanWatch 2 ’s nightlong temperature tracking is telling , but it does seem more or less underutilized , which stops it from rip ahead of the Oura Ring when it come to sleep trailing . It ’s also pertain that certain feature film have been delayed for more than a year after the ScanWatch 2 ’s discharge .
Withings ScanWatch 2: app and connectivity
The ScanWatch 2 has the right design and is packed with impressive sensing element technology . It ’s not too hard-core in its approach to activity , the eternal sleep tracking is excellent , and — for the most part — the fitness tracking is self-coloured . However , the package is let down by the app and its connectivity .
get to the app , and you ’re not recognize by your latest stats , but instead by panel showing notification and daily missions , forcing you to scroll down to find your day-by-day measuring . The deputation are n’t always very helpful , as they admit reading articles in addition to actual activity to make out , while presentment show badges and other clause or tasks related to optimizing the watch . Once you get to the data call for , it ’s clearly award , and a tap of each instrument panel shows more entropy . At the bottom of the page is some historical data point .
That ’s right , it has a subscription package , and that ’s where the juicier element are hidden . You must pass $ 10 per month to get a Health Improvement Score , extra wellness data , Daily Missions to help build up unexampled wont , and innovative Insights to see how all your datum works together .
It ’s much like Fitbit ’s approach , as you ’re forget wondering why you paid so much money for the computer hardware , only to be shortchanged when it make out to the perceptivity into the data you supply . The app does n’t really inspire you to pay for it , either . It ’s not the most visceral design , and basic part like changing your weight are pointlessly hard to observe . Plus , there are feature film yield , too , such as the Fitness Level defaulting to the oldest record first , making you lift away until you finally find oneself the most recent one .
telling are very unreliable . When they do arrive , initialise on the small covert is often poor . For example , Outlook presentment scroll through your own email address before getting to the essence of the message . It shows the sender ’s name immediately after the notification arrives , but it ’s normally perish before you ’ve woken up the screen . brusque messages are plainly more helpful , but nothing can be call in on the screen or interact with either . It ’s well to treat notification as a canonical alert more than anything else .
Finally , the app miss customization , so it ’s tough to fix the design issues . The Withings app experience is less exploiter - well-disposed than Fitbit ’s , and you ’ll get more from Garmin and Samsung Health without paying anything extra . It allow down the ScanWatch 2 .
Withings ScanWatch 2: battery and charging
I have been wearing the Withings ScanWatch 2 for 11 days at the clip of writing , using mostly received options , including blood oxygen measurements on demand rather than constant . I have chase after one exercise on half this amount of day and traverse sleep for eight of the 11 nights . Starting with a full electric battery , it is now down to 40 % stay .
This signal it will miss Withings ’ title of 30 years of battery life , as it seems unlikely the battery will last for another 19 mean solar day based on its current performance and my ( fair temperate ) role . There was a prospect the watch ’s sensors may have work a footling hard during the initial form while it instal baselines , but when I revisited the watch , 20 days was still the maximum I anticipate to get from it .
It comes with a proprietary charging block , which has a clever natural spring - stretch plane section that firmly spellbind the watch ’s slip when it ’s on charge , ensuring it wo n’t stop point if you bump it . The electric battery withdraw about two hours to commove .
At this time , the ScanWatch 2 ’s battery lifetime falls curt of Withings ’ claims , and it ’s improbable to reach 30 days if you trail a physical exertion and your sopor every Clarence Day . However , even at 20 days , this is still far longer than you ’d get from most other smartwatches , making electric battery biography a strong reason to buy .
Revisiting the Withings ScanWatch 2
Ireturned to the Withings ScanWatch 2around the same time as I review the disastrousCircular Ring Slim , as I wanted to get additional sleep data to help appraise the smart ring ’s accuracy . However , it was n’t the smooth ride I hoped for , as I struggle with the standard shoulder strap for a start . It ’s worth experimenting with different strap , as a simple change did alter the smartwatch ’s puff for the better , but be aware Withings ’ own alternatives are quite expensive .
More problematic was the fact the app had n’t improved , and it was still very well-defined you should pay to see more data and gain insights into your health . But the presentation does n’t promote you to do so , the information was n’t always as accurate as I expect , and the further delay of all-important new feature on the watch itself put me off subscribing to Withings+ .
I was less taken with the Withings ScanWatch 2 on my restitution to it , as it seemed no exploit had been put into the smartwatch to improve it for owners since its departure . That ’s not good for a Cartesian product that be this much , especially when the competition is so substantial . However , it ’s still a recommend leverage due to the computer hardware and the FDA approval , furnish you understand its limitations . But it ’s even more of import to look at the many alternatives , as many offer better value and have shown secure longsighted - term support .
Withings ScanWatch 2: price and availability
The Withings ScanWatch 2 comes in two different case sizes : 42 millimeter ( which I ’m bear in the photos ) or 38 mm . The 42 mm version comes in black or Pearl White with a stainless steel case , while the 38 mm adds a moxie or a blue version with a Rose Gold shell to the list . There ’s also the opportunity to buy different strapswhen you corrupt the ScanWatch 2 through Withings ’ website . The ScanWatch 2 costs $ 350 , or 320 British Irish pound , regardless of which suit size of it or finish you prefer .
This is around the same price as the $ 400Apple Watch Series 9 , the $ 350Google Pixel Watch 2 , and the $ 400Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic , all of which are full smartwatches and therefore offer more functionality . Only the Pixel Watch 2 ’s fitness chopine has a subscription attach . None have any form of FDA approval , and none deal the ScanWatch ’s same in - astuteness body temperature trailing feature of speech .
However , I do n’t think the determination about which one to purchase will get down to features . The ScanWatch 2 differs massively in blueprint and in intention . This is as much of a vigil as it is a wellness and fitness tracker , and it puts an emphasis on the truth of data and the health benefits of understanding it rather than pushing a long list of features you may never use . While the Mary Leontyne Price may be corresponding , the ScanWatch 2 will in all probability appeal to a dissimilar set of multitude — and may also sway those disillusioned by gamey - tech design that have n’t changed much twelvemonth - over - year .
Instead , it ’s the $ 270Garmin Vivomove Trendthat those discriminating on the ScanWatch 2 should seem at as an alternative , as it has a see - like pattern , physical manpower , and a little hidden screen . The Garmin program is great , and there ’s no subscription , either . or else , the $ 350Oura Ringshould be considered . It ’s a glorious eternal rest tracker , the app is brilliant , the design is attractive , and it ’s effortless to wear down .
Withings ScanWatch 2: verdict
Hybrid smartwatches are in short supply these days , so it ’s wonderful to see Withings go all - in on making a fantastic good example of one . It has the winning design we all want and raft of relevant technology inside that is so exact that the FDA has given its approval to a picky feature . However , I did find it is n’t always reliable , and this eroded trust in the smartwatch .
The app and its subscription model sours the packet a little , as the app on its own feels quite basic , and it ’s clear there are more interesting and helpful features hide out behind the paywall . The app and its connection to the watch do n’t make me require to give either , due to questionable design decisions and poor notification support . It ’s for certain not awful ; it just needs to be much slicker than this to promote a $ 10 - per - month spend .
I remember it ’s also important to infer the ScanWatch 2 ’s restriction , as despite its looks and the unequaled temperature mental faculty , it ’s a relatively standard health and activity tracker , with features that are still missing due to a delayed software update . Do n’t buy it thinking it ’s anything more than that . All that away , the ScanWatch 2 wears as good as it looks , and if you ’ve been constantly perturbed by seaworthiness tracker of all types taking a technical school - first approach , then the ScanWatch 2 is the ticker you ’ve been waiting for .
