Withings ScanWatch 2

£319.95

Every day we put in the work to try and maintain our health and keep feeling our best, but there’s so much we can’t see that would help us to better understand how our body is working both for and against us. This is where sports watches have taken hold of the market. However, often these don’t look super stylish or classy for wearing throughout the day whilst at work or even for a nice dinner with the family. Therefore, Withings has developed ScanWatch 2, a stylish everyday wear smartwatch designed to look good whilst providing you with useful health data and notifications to revolutionise the way you understand your health.  

Boasting 30 hours of battery life on a single 2-hour charge, the ScanWatch 2 utilises TempTech24/7 Module technology to provide you with 24/7 tracking on things such as temperature, heart health, respiratory system, physical activity, and even sleep. However, straight out of the box, the ScanWatch 2 looks just like a regular watch, with only the black OLED screen at the top suggesting there is something a little extra special about the item. To get set up you need to download the free Withings App from the App Store or Google Play and pair it with your watch. From there, you can decide what is shown on the watch's face so you can see your real-time metrics whilst on the go.

When using the watch it records your temperature fluctuations using a miniaturised heat-flux sensor which sits on the underside of the watch against your skin. Through this sensor, the ScanWatch 2 can establish a baseline temperature and notify you when changes to this baseline are made. These changes are thought to be useful for indicating the onset of an illness or health condition, and in real-time help you to adjust your activity for better performance and recovery to keep you in tip-top shape. Alongside temperature fluctuation monitoring, the watch provides data on heart health by monitoring our heart rate through ECG and AFib detection. Other monitoring metrics include sleep monitoring to provide you with an insight into how much sleep you get impacts your energy every day, and respiratory monitoring to keep track of blood oxygen levels. These monitoring metrics help you to understand how your body works and which fluctuations are normal to you.

However, one of my favourite aspects of the ScanWatch 2 is that you can use the watch and synced App to track your physical activity. The watch uses real-time data during your workout to help you make meaningful active lifestyle choices which benefit your health. I personally love walking and using the ScanWatch 2, I could monitor things such as how far I’d travelled, how high my heart rate was and how many calories I’d burnt during a walk. This was great and allowed me to compare the data from previous days to see how well I was performing and which areas I’d like to continue to develop.  

One of the benefits of the Withings App which goes alongside the watch is that you can keep a record and remain motivated in your fitness or health journey. By purchasing the ScanWatch 2 you gain access to Withings+ the premium side of the app for 3 months. This allows you to make the most of even more programs, workouts, and recipes for an even better health companion. However, the free version of the app has been made by Withings to ensure that you still get the most out of your device and I personally found everything I needed was on the free version. The app is super easy to use and syncs with the watch well. I loved how via the app I could decide what would show on the watch face throughout the day for whatever activity I was undertaking or which metric I wanted to monitor that day.

Overall, the ScanWatch 2 is a brilliantly designed watch which delivers the same functionality as many of the typical smartwatches on the market, but instead focuses primarily on health monitoring and delivering metrics to help you maintain your well-being – all packaged in a stylish and minimalist traditional watch design. I had multiple people compliment my watch whilst wearing it, and when I got to tell them it was recording a whole range of health metrics, they were super impressed! If you are looking at implementing a smartwatch into your daily life, but aren’t a fan of the typical sports watch models, then the ScanWatch 2 makes a great addition to your or a loved one's life to help maintain the thing that is most precious to us all – our health.

Pros:

• Smartwatch capabilities in a stylish and traditional-looking watch face
• Great metric monitoring with real-time feedback and notifications for fluctuations
• Works seamlessly with the Withings App for metric monitoring and storage

Cons:

• I found wearing the watch overnight was a little uncomfortable The clock face has the usual side dial which sometimes pressed into my wrist whilst sleeping which wasn’t super comfortable so would be my only downside.