Withings ScanWatch 2
Analog meets digital again
The ScanWatch 2 builds off the success of the original, adding new fitness tracking features, including the ability to track your body temperature. It’s only $50 more than the original, and still sports up to 30 days of battery life on a single charge.
Withings ScanWatch
Still a great fitness tracker
The original ScanWatch still offers a fantastic blend of analog and digital features while sticking true to the no-distractions method of more traditional fitness trackers. It’s readily available at multiple retailers, making it easy to find and purchase.
If you’re tired of the traditional smartwatches available on the market, then it might be time to look at a Withings. Withings has done some really cool things with its smartwatches, blending a slew of health features into an analog watch, so you get the best of the new and old worlds of wearable tech. But now that the ScanWatch 2 has been released, deciding which ScanWatch to get has become a bit more difficult. Should you stick with the cheaper, first-genScanWatch, which was oneour favorite fitness trackers, or splurge for the newer option? Here’s how they stack up side by side.
Price, availability, and specs
When it comes to price and availability, both the ScanWatch and ScanWatch 2 are readily available from Withings’s website. The first-gen ScanWatch is also available on Amazon and Best Buy, though the options there may vary. Both devices offer similar specs, but the ScanWatch 2 does some with an updated display and some updated health tracking features.
As for price, the original ScanWatch is typically available for $300, while the ScanWatch 2 retails for $350. We may see more sales on the first-gen ScanWatch now that the newer model is available, though it isn’t guaranteed. Here’s a look at the specs of each device:
Design & hardware
When it comes to design, both the ScanWatch and ScanWatch 2 offer similar looks and feels. Both devices focus on blending a newer smartwatch’s features with an analog watch’s timeless appearance. Both devices have crisp displays, and the watches themselves are similar in size and weight — both are available in 38mm and 42mm sizes.
Both sport an analog dial with both hands for minutes and hours, as well as a screen that showcases your current workout choices as well as your health readings. However, the ScanWatch 2 does feature a more refined analog face, which blends better overall.
Ultimately, though, the design here isn’t much different, and both devices offer a sleek, classic look for whatever style you’re trying to fit.
Both the ScanWatch and ScanWatch 2 are running Withings’s HealthSense Software, though the ScanWatch 2 is running Generation 3, while the original ScanWatch is running Generation 2. The difference here is rhetorical, though, and the only major difference between the two as far as software goes is the ScanScanWatchwatch 2’s ability to monitor your body temperature thanks to the inclusion of a TempTech24/7 module (the first-generation watch does not track body temperature).
As most of the software appears on the tiny screen attached to the face of the watch, the software isn’t a huge player here. If you want the most up-to-date software, the ScanWatch 2 is the clear winner here. On the phone side, both watches use the Withings Health Mate app.
Health & fitness
The ScanWatch 2 builds on the successful features of the original ScanWatch, but not much has changed between these two devices with respect to what they’re tracking. Both still offer round-the-clock health tracking for active minutes, steps, sleep quality, workout HR zones, elevation, and cardio exercises.
The two devices also offer similar heart health tracking, with both the ScanWatch and ScanWatch 2 sporting software to track your average heart rate, notifications for high and low heart rate, as well as tracking of atrial fibrillation and irregular heart rhythms. The biggest difference in heart health tracking is that the ScanWatch 2 supports overnight HRV tracking, which the original ScanWatch doesn’t.
Of course, both devices also offer respiratory insights, including blood oxygen levels and detection of breathing disturbances. The ScanWatch 2 can also track your respiratory rate. Both devices offer in-app menstrual cycle tracking, but the ScanWatch 2 takes it a step further by tracking it on the watch using its built-in skin temperature sensor.
Overall, the ScanWatch 2 offers more health-tracking features, which isn’t wholly unexpected.
Battery life
There’s no real winner here for battery life, as both devices offer up to 30 days of battery life on a single charge when based on regular use. Both devices can also make use of a special lower-power mode, which focuses only on tracking your steps and activity, without any of the other big health features the watch is capable of tracking. Both also take two hours to charge fully, so you’re getting great options if battery life is most important to you.
Which is right for you?
If you’re going to go with a Withings ScanWatch, you might as well go with the ScanWatch 2. For just $50 more, you get access to stronger health-tracking features and updated software. The ScanWatch 2 brings more in-depth tracking options, like the updated overnight HRV tracking, and the ability to track menstrual cycles on the watch.
The Withings ScanWatch 2 successfullly builds off everything that Withings did right with the original ScanWatch. It offers a similar design and battery life, but ultimately blends new health-tracking features into this timeless design. If you want a smartwatch that blends analog and digital, then the ScanWatch 2 is the best on offer.
If you don’t need the extra features, though, the ScanWatch is still a fantastic timepiece and it is packed with more than enough tracking options to keep you chasing your fitness goals without a bunch of distractions. We’re likely to see more sales on the original now that the second generation is available, too.
The original ScanWatch is still perfectly capable of tracking everything you need while also giving you the same look and feel as an analog timepiece. If you want a fitness tracking experience that doesn’t offer a ton of extra distractions, then the Withings ScanWatch is one of the best options out there.
