Can a Fitness Watch Help You Train Without Becoming Obsessed With Numbers?
Fitness watches have changed the way people exercise. It is now normal to know exactly how far you have run, what your pace was, how many calories you burned and what your heart rate was during a workout.
Having this information can be helpful, especially when training for a race or trying to improve fitness. But sometimes, having so much information available can also become distracting. It can be easy to spend more time checking the screen than paying attention to how the body actually feels.
Most fitness watches are also easy to recognise. They normally have a large screen, a sporty design and a lot of information showing at the same time. They can be great for running, but they do not always feel like a watch that works with every outfit or occasion. This is where hybrid smartwatches are different.
They combine the appearance of a traditional watch with many of the features of a fitness tracker. The Withings ScanWatch 2 is one of these watches, offering health and fitness information in a design that is more simple and subtle.
What Is the Withings ScanWatch 2?
The ScanWatch 2 looks like a normal analogue watch, but it has a small digital screen inside the watch face. This screen can show information including steps, heart rate, workouts and notifications. The rest of the information can be found in the Withings app after the watch connects to a phone.
The watch is available in 38mm and 42mm sizes and in different colours. Its design is much more classic than a traditional sports watch, which makes it easier to wear during the day as well as during exercise.
It is also designed to be worn overnight so it can track sleep and other health information. Withings says the battery can last up to 35 days, depending on how the watch is used. This means users do not have to charge it every night and can continue tracking their sleep without thinking constantly about the battery.
What Does the Watch Track?
The ScanWatch 2 tracks everyday activity such as steps, calories and elevation. It also has more than 40 workout modes for activities including running and strength training. During exercise, it can record information such as heart rate, time and distance.
For outdoor activities, the watch uses connected GPS. This means it connects to the GPS on the user’s phone to record the route, so the phone needs to be carried during the workout if the user wants to see a map afterwards. The watch also tracks different areas of health, including heart rate, blood oxygen and changes in body temperature. It can provide high and low heart-rate notifications and allows users to take an ECG from their wrist.
These features are useful for noticing patterns, but they are not intended to replace medical advice.
Sleep Is Also Part of Training
Training is not only about working out. Rest and recovery can have a big effect on how someone feels and performs. The ScanWatch 2 tracks sleep duration, interruptions, timing and different sleep stages. All this information is organised inside the Withings app, where users can look at their sleep score and compare different nights.
It also tracks overnight heart-rate variability, known as HRV, which can help show how the body is responding to exercise, stress and rest. Looking at this information over time can help users understand their normal patterns and recognise when their body might need more recovery.
Bondi Beauty’s Isabella Tried the ScanWatch 2 While Training for City2Surf
“As someone who becomes very focused on numbers while running, I was curious to see how the ScanWatch 2 would compare with my Garmin. I normally want to know my pace, heart rate, distance and exactly how far I have left to go. While this can be helpful, sometimes I pay more attention to the screen than to how my body actually feels.
I tested the ScanWatch 2 in 38mm, White and Rose Gold, and the first thing I noticed was how different it looked. It actually looked like a normal watch. It was clean, simple and comfortable enough to wear to work, university, running, dinner and even to bed.
I wore it during several training runs and during the 14km City2Surf from Sydney to Bondi Beach. The smaller screen meant I couldn’t see every number as clearly as I could on my Garmin, but surprisingly, I liked it. I looked at my wrist less and listened to my body more, knowing I could check all the information afterwards.
The distance tracking also worked well for me. During City2Surf, it recorded 14.5km, matching Strava on my phone. On another training run, both recorded 6.8km.
The post-run and sleep information impressed me the most. The Withings app was clean and easy to understand, and my sleep scores seemed to match how I felt. After two bad nights, my scores were 29 and 48, while a score of 89 matched a morning when I woke up feeling fresh and rested.
Battery life was another win. I only charged it once while using it across four runs, and because it was so comfortable, I actually wanted to keep wearing it overnight.
The ScanWatch 2 may not replace a specialised watch for an elite runner who wants to see every split in real time. But for someone like me who runs, strength trains, cares about recovery and wants a watch that looks good outside training, it makes a lot of sense. The biggest surprise was that having less information in front of me actually helped me focus more on my body.”
Is the ScanWatch 2 Worth It?
The ScanWatch 2 will not be the perfect choice for every runner.
Someone who is training at a high level and wants to see every split, pace and training metric in real time may prefer a watch created specifically for running. The small screen could also be a disadvantage for people who want to look at detailed information throughout their workout. The need to carry a phone for connected GPS is another detail runners should consider.
However, the ScanWatch 2 makes sense for someone who runs, strength trains, cares about recovery and wants to understand their sleep without wearing a large sports watch every day. It sits somewhere between a fitness tracker and an everyday watch. Perhaps the biggest benefit is that the data is still there, but it does not constantly demand the wearer’s attention. Sometimes, having less information directly in front of you can make it easier to pay more attention to your body.
