Withings Scanwatch Review

I purchased the Withings 38mm Scanwatch in November 2021 at the retail cost of $279.95 with a white face and silver metal. Since it was a new release, there was a free metal band offered with purchase which saved me $50. As of the writing of this post, November 2022, the retail cost of the watch has increased by $20 to $299.95.

I have been a Withings customer since 2015, since my brother introduced me to the brand by having me try his Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer Scale. I ended up purchasing that for myself as well as a wireless blood pressure cuff, an older model that is no longer available for purchase that recently stopped working after 7 years. Then I purchased the Withings Steel watch, which is another older model that is no longer available. My second and third watches were an upgrade to the Steel HR, one with a black face and silver metal and the other with a white face and rose gold metal. I still wear both of the Steel HR watches depending if I want to match my watch with my outfit, but use the Scanwatch as my primary watch most days.

The one issue I have with all the watches from Withings is the fact that metrics are not totally accurate. I find both the sleep and workout related metrics are overestimated. It will say I am asleep when I know that I was not. This is because when I wake up in the middle of the night, I can lay in bed without moving for easily an hour without falling asleep. Looking at the analysis in the app when that happens, it often considers me in light sleep during those times. So when I see that I slept 7 or 8 hours according to my watch, I know that chances are it was less than that With regards to workout metrics, if I don’t turn on the GPS feature when walking or jogging, it typically overstates my distance, but I tend to use other running apps instead of Withings since I like to track my different running shoes mileage and other running stats.

I love the watch because while it looks like a traditional analog watch with a simple face, hands and subdial for daily step goal in percentage, it has amazing smart technology features that are extremely subtle. I often get compliments on my watch because after only a second look or when I receive a text message or phone call notification is when people realize it is a smart watch.

This hybrid smartwatch is the first FDA-cleared Withings watch that has clinically validated electrocardiogram (ECG) capabilities, an oximeter and breathing disturbance monitoring during sleep plus a 30 day battery life on a single charge that takes about 2 hours to fully charge. It can run 20 more days in power reserve mode for time and activity tracking only, which I appreciate since I sometimes have forgotten to fully charge it when I go off for a long trip and left my charger at home. It also has the same functionalities found on the Steel HR watch such as sleep and step tracking and smart notifications for text messages, calls and other apps.

Per the Withings website, here is a description of all the features:

On-demand ECG: Clinically validated electrocardiogram in 30 seconds. Immediate results will be shown on the watch screen, and can be relayed in the app for a more in-depth diagnostic report.

Oxygen saturation level: ScanWatch uses a clinically validated SpO2 sensor featuring exclusive multi-wavelength technology, so you can record blood oxygen levels from your wrist in only 30 seconds

Breathing disturbances monitoring: When activated, the Respiratory Scan feature monitors oxygen saturation, heart rate, breathing frequency and movement all night long.

Heart rate tracking: Records heart rate every 10 minutes for round-the-clock tracking. Continuous heart rate is provided in Workout Mode.

Advanced sleep tracking: Wake to a full report with heart health tracking, a Sleep Score based on sleep cycles, sleep duration and wake-ups. Set a silent vibrating alarm and take advantage of Smart Wake-Up.

24/7 Activity tracking: Automatically tracks walk, biking, run, swim, sleep, distance, elevation (floor climbed) & calories burned.

Digital Screen: PMOLED screen provides customized call, text, calendar event and over 100 app notifications plus daily stats (steps, distance and heart rate) by rotating the digital crown.

Clock menu: Includes an alarm, stopwatch and timer.

Health Mate app: Uses bluetooth to connect to a smartphone or tablet.

It comes with a 2-year warranty, premium sport fluoroelastomer 18mm Wristband, magnetic charging cable, and a travel pouch. This watch was designed in France, is water resistant 165 feet deep (50 m), has a stainless steel case and anti-reflective sapphire glass and allows for interchangeable bands that come in premium sport, leather, silicone, metal or recycled P.E.T materials.

Overall, I really love my Withings watches and tolerate the inaccurate metrics because I cannot stand the look of big bulky fully digital smartwatches that are mainstream. I don’t feel the need to respond to text messages or take phone calls on my watch and prefer a simple notification so I can use my cell phone to do all my communications.

Read my Withings Breathe Mode blog post to learn more about the function I use to Manifest More Time, which is not included in this post purposefully since I have a separate post on it.

Withings usually has Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, so would recommend checking their website out to see if they have a sale on this watch at that time or the bands if you are interested in it.