Everyone knows the cliché joke about how “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere”! But what if your watch was ONLY clear when it was 5 o’clock? And it could open your drinks when you hit that magic time? Enter the new watches from Happy Hour Timepieces!
I had numerous Swatch watches when I was younger, but that was a long (LONG!) time ago. The upcoming Swatch SISTEM51 has, however, renewed my interest in non-smart watches. SISTEM51 is the first fully automated assembly of a mechanical movement watch. There are 51 components 1 central screw a 90 hour power reserve and it is 100% Swiss made.
I am a huge fan of sports, whether it’s watching professionals or playing myself. When the weather is right, I love playing tennis with friends. Unfortunately, I get too into the game itself and forget to keep score. Now, there’s a Score Band on my wrist to keep track for me; Score Band sells for $24.99.
Tokyoflash is offering a very limited edition Kisai Maru Wood watch for $99 until Thursday September 19th. After that it will be $129. Kisai Maru Wood is “a combination of edges and circles”. It features an intuitive time display in mirrored LCD, framed by a custom designed natural wood case.
Dan and I met with Martian Watch while at CES, and it was one of our Top CES Picks. A smart watch that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, the Martian Watch doesn’t have its own operating system, rather it connects to your smartphone and uses voice control. If you are intrigued, you can now buy one! Get yours here.
Smartwatches may be all the rage and news that an Android Smartwatch is on the way will only add to the hype. Still, a gorgeous timepiece made from leather and chrome will always have its place. Nixon’s Luxe Heritage Collection fits the bill and arrives just in time for Halloween. Priced from $125-$900, you can Check them out here. via The Awesomer
I have become quite dependent on my Pebble smart watch. Being able to see my messages without looking at my phone is actually extremely convenient. When I am in front of a class teaching, on the field coaching or even driving, the watch makes it super easy to glance at my watch when I get a message. It only takes a second and I never skip a beat in what currently is going on. Really, the only reason I like to check is to just make sure it is not an important message from my wife or anything dealing with…
While in recent years the only watches I seem to wear are GPS watches, I have always loved distinctive ways of displaying time. Way back in the early 80s I was on a team that programmed an early LED communications device that scrolled the time, temperature and messages in a major hallway at my university. So when I saw the Kisai Neutron I was intrigued. Basically it is a thin and sleek watch that displays the time using large numbers on a bright and distinct scrolling LED panel. More than that, the Kisai Neutron has motion sensor technology, so if…
Pebble has been in the news the past few days since they have signed a deal to be sold in Best Buy retail stores. The once almost impossible to obtain smart watch will be available to everyone. Early reviews of the product were mixed at best. I think people were underwhelmed by the functionality of the $150 watch. Basically, out of the box, it showed the current text message and acted as a caller id but as the product matures, several updates have made it a fun gadget. A recent update added an area in the Pebble app that makes…
Back in early May of 2012, Dan posted an article about both Judie and him supporting the Pebble e-Paper Watch Kickstarter project. The project became noteworthy in that it became one of the most heavily supported Kickstarter projects in Kickstarter history. Initially hoping to raise $100,000, it meet that goal two hours after going live. In less than a week it raised nearly $5 million dollars — talk about interest in a project! While the concept of smartwatches was not new, the notion of a dual Android/iOS notification smartwatch that could support 3rd party applications and be extremely customizable was very intriguing…
The other day I received my Kickstarter Pebble Watch in the mail, and I was excited as you might imagine. However, as I began to use it, I quickly noticed how well the device face ergonomics might lend itself to skinning and screen protection. As it turns out, Slickwraps.com has released attractive skins to do just that with their Wraps for the Pebble Watch. Now Pebble Watch owners can choose one of 38 skins to customize their Pebbles the way they want. The skins boast an accurate Pebble face template, and cover not only the periphery around the watch face but…
For us, one of the CES 2013 hits was the rapidly emerging smart watch category. During the Electronics Show Judie attended a media event from the makers of the Pebble smart watch, we saw many wearing the I’m Watch as the company tried to stealth promote their (mostly disappointing) offering, and we spent over an hour in a private meeting with the key players at Martian Watch. (Read the post.) Judie and I both walked away with watches, and I’m glad we did. You see, for my money, the Martian Watch is currently at the top of the smart watch…
During CES, Judie and I had the opportunity to sit down with Martian Watches to chat about their product, the experience of going on Kickstarter in order to first promote and back it, and to gain some insight into their thoughts about the overall smart watch market. We both came away impressed by the product itself and the people who turned an idea into reality in an impressively short amount of time. What really stands out about the Martian Watch is that it actually works. The company took a different approach than the one we have seen other smart watch companies…
You may have noticed over the years that, unlike many other sites, we don’t give stars or other quantitative scores to the items we review. The reason for this is quite simple: while there may be quantitative aspects to a device review — an example being a laptop that claims to get ten hours of battery life and only gets two hours in real world use deserves a low rating — there is also a highly subjective aspect to any and all electronics. Case in point, I’m not an overly enthusiastic fan of Android. I have had the chance to review…
My first day on the CES floor, I saw the Garmin booth. I bypassed the various dedicated GPS units, and headed right for the display of Forerunners in all their glory. Along the way, I was stopped by one of Garmin’s reps, and when I explained how excited I was to see their booth because “I love Garmin!”, he laughed and said “You must be a runner, people always say that because of the Forerunner.” We had a good laugh, and he showed off their various new watches. I was deeply in awe of how much smaller and sleeker each…
ConnecteDevice Ltd, an unpronounceable global tech company, has just announced the worldwide launch of its COOKOO™ connected watches. These designer devices combine standard analog movement with a connected digital display to keep people updated to the happenings on their iOS smartphones. Incoming and missed calls, Facebook notifications, calendar reminder, and more can be mapped to the watch and displayed digitally. Even better, the COOKOO line doesn’t require regular charging. So how does it work? Users must first download the COOKOO App™ (available on the App Store). People can then pick and choose which updates they want to receive on their…
Are you one of the people who backed the Pebble watch on Kickstarter? Dan and I were, but unlike every other smartwatch that we have personally backed on the crowd funding site Kickstarter since the phenomenally successful Pebble was successfully funded, the Pebble still hasn’t shipped. We’ve been curious about the holdup; not alarmed, just curious. (Note: after the press conference we got an update with more info, scroll to the bottom to read!) So when I found out that they would be hosting a press conference at CES, I was completely interested — not only as a tech journalist…
I recently reviewed the Garmin ForeRunner 10, and have been thrilled with it as a simple, entry-level running GPS-watch. But what if you want to use a heart-rate monitor, ride a bike, go into the water and so on? At that point you need a new device – something like the Magellan Switch series. Magellan is very explicit that the Switch is designed as a multi-sport device, and was kind enough to send along a review sample of the Switch for me to check out (UPDATE: Magellan recently sent me a pre-release update for the Switch, and I will comment…
I usually like to lead my reviews with an intro, give the company providing a product the chance to say something, and then dig in … but not this time, because the Garmin ForeRunner 10 is simply that easy to recommend. In fact, here are the only people I would NOT recommend getting the Garmin ForeRunner 10: You run races of more than 50 miles distance or 5 hours duration. You don’t like to sync/charge your GPS watch within 50-60 miles or 5-6 hours of use (or 7 ‘events’). You need to use a heart-rate monitor or other ANT+ wireless…
I had posted about the Garmin ForeRunner 10 announcement previously, and we were expecting a review sample but had been notified that they were still waiting for stock before shipping. While acknowledging the message and thanking them for the update, I mentioned that it was too bad it wouldn’t arrive in time for the Wineglass Marathon I am running this weekend, but since I would be running a half-marathon in a month it was no big deal. Justin at Garmin got back to me quickly, saying that he would have one in my hands by Friday (yesterday) … just in time…
When Carly and I went for our run at GearFest in July, something that came with each of us was our GPS watch. We compared and contrasted the features and results in a video here, but the bottom line is this: we both firmly believe that using a GPS watch has made us better runners. Two of the problems with GPS watches are that they are bulky and expensive. More recently watches have dropped below $200, which is the range both of our watches cost. But the bulky part has only somewhat diminished from the Garmin 305 days to current…