Review: Pebble Watch 2 Heart Rate Edition

For various reasons my Android Wear watch died. I figured fine, whatever — I never used to wear a watch anyway. But it turns out that suddenly not wearing one threw me off; I kept glancing at my left wrist for the time… so I guess I’m used to wearing a watch now?

So I started looking for a temporary replacement, and the budget was definitely low because I’m broke. Eventually I spotted a Pebble Watch 2 Heart Rate Edition on Amazon for a bargain $25.

Shipped straight to me, and it wasn’t even hit with customs. Really lucky.

Once it arrived I had to install the app and update the firmware. After updating you can pick Simplified Chinese support, but the update process was rough — Bluetooth kept disconnecting. Just retry a bunch of times, and remember you’ll need a VPN. After the update’s done, there’s not much hassle.

I’ve used this watch for about two weeks now, and I have some strong feelings about it.

First off, it looks pretty plain, but it’s not especially ugly once it’s on — about the same as a regular digital watch. It just doesn’t grab attention the way my old Moto 360 or LG Watch Sport did.

Then there’s the battery life, which is killer. I checked and it lasts a bit over 5 days, with heart rate enabled too. The heart rate stats are pretty consistent. Honestly quite good.

A full charge only takes a little while, which means you can just top it up during a shower and put it back on when you get out.

It doesn’t have a touchscreen, but it has all the common features you’d want: step counting, heart rate, notifications, reminders, plus all sorts of fun apps and little games. It actually seems way better than the flashy-but-useless Android Wear (now called Wear OS). The watchfaces are fun too — I really like this Mario one.

When the time refreshes, Mario punches the block. Very cute.

Overall I’m very happy with this watch. I think a real “smartwatch” should be like this: long battery life and good enough. But unfortunately, all Pebble devices will completely stop being supported at the end of June, and the servers will shut down too…

So Sad.

But a group called Rebble has said they’re taking over Pebble’s services. I’ve already registered for the migration, and I hope I can keep using it after June ends.