The Withings ScanWatch Vitals astonished me. When Withings asked me to review their newest device, I excitedly agreed, even though I had never considered leaving my Apple Watch behind.
I’ve been tracking my fitness for fifteen years or so. I had a Fitbit device before I got the Apple Watch. Since then, I’ve lived in the Apple smartwatch ecosystem, owning Apple Watch Series 0, 3, 4, 6, and 8. Yet, the Withings ScanWatch Vitals looked great and offered most of the health-tracking features of the Apple Watch. Could it challenge me to switch watches?
So, after a couple of weeks of testing, does the Withings ScanWatch Vitals offer enough to make me give up my Apple Watch?
First Thoughts And Design of the ScanWatch Vitals
Once I received the watch, I tore into the packaging, eager to start testing. Upon opening the box, I had mixed feelings. The device’s casing looked very stylish. As my wife put it, I could use this watch to dress up an outfit much better than my Apple Watch. However, the band felt cheap. An easy swap to a leather band or something fancier would improve the initial experience.
After wearing the watch, I began to appreciate the band more. While not as luxurious as the Apple Watch Sport Bands, the fluoroelastomer is practical for fitness activities. It’s clear that the ScanWatch Vitals is designed for functionality, not just aesthetics, and it still manages to look good even during intense workouts.
Withings offers a multitude of watch bands on their site as well. While it took me a minute to find it, they have a good system for switching out bands. On the underside of the bands, there is a small switch. Push the switch, and you can take off the band and replace it with another from Withings.
The watch has a beautiful round face. Its crown can be pressed or turned to interact with the simple digital interface in the top complication. The watch felt pleasant on my wrist. At first, it felt a little heavy, but I adjusted to the weight in no time.
The watch came in a simple box with instructions and a charger that attaches via USB-C. I didn’t think the charger was as elegant as the Apple Watch magnetic puck, but you won’t have to use the charger as often since the Withings can last up to thirty days. You slide one end out and push the watch inside to charge. It works. It will hold the watch in place, but it’s not delightful like putting the Apple option.
Health Tracking Features
Most people looking for a smartwatch would opt for this watch because of the health-tracking features.
The Withings ScanWatch Vitals keeps track of your daily steps taken, stairs climbed, and miles covered. It also offers a comprehensive suite of health-tracking features like heart, sleep, and temperature monitoring. These features are designed to provide a complete picture of your health, giving you confidence that you’re always in control.
Heart Tracking With The ScanWatch Vitals
The Withings ScanWatch Vital can track your heart rate and blood oxygen levels. It will alert you if your resting heart rate gets too high or low. My wife had an issue like that once when she was pregnant with our second son. While it stressed us out, I can’t express enough gratitude for the alert. My wife got to the hospital, and I felt much better about the entire situation. While she used an Apple Watch at the time, any device that can help monitor this will be better than nothing.
You can also take an ECG on this watch. Before you can see your results, Withings has to request approval from a doctor in your state. I had to wait almost twenty-four hours before I could see the results of my first scan.
To take an ECG, you simply spin the crown to select the option and then place your free hand on the case. The watch takes a few seconds to read your ECG, and the results are sent to the Withings App on your phone. The app will prompt you to seek medical attention if there’s an issue.
Temperature Monitoring on the ScanWatch Vitals
One exciting feature of the ScanWatch Vitals versus Apple Watch is temperature tracking. While the Apple Watch Series 8 and newer monitor your temperature, it seems only to do it for cycle tracking and sleeping. Since I don’t have a cycle I need to track, it doesn’t do much for me.
Meanwhile, the ScanWatch Vitals offers day and night temperature tracking using its TempTech24/7 module. So, it can take a temperature reading at any point during the day, which can be handy. It can also help alert you to an oncoming illness.
During workouts, the thermometer tracks your temperature and can tell you when you’re reaching a high point. If you’re training, a feature like this can help you achieve goals faster by allowing you to actively monitor your heat during a workout. That way, you won’t overheat, lose stamina, or break too early. I think the potential gains for training with this technology could be huge.
But I live in Texas and received the watch during the hottest part of the summer. Simply stepping outside makes me sweat. I also didn’t get to exercise much, as both my boys were home for the summer, which didn’t leave me much time to exercise.
Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking on the Withings is interesting. While the Apple Watch reportedly adds the ability to track your sleep automatically in the newest version, I haven’t seen it in practice. Since Apple added sleep tracking, I’ve always had to put the Apple Watch in sleep mode to track it. The ScanWatch Vitals, on the other hand, can detect when you’re sleeping and start sleep tracking.
When you sleep, the watch measures your heart rate, O2 levels, breathing, sleep cycles, and temperature. One thing I did like about the Withings approach to sleep tracking is the score it gives you on your sleep. It compiles all the metrics into a numerical score.
But sleep tracking has never been that interesting to me. I haven’t seen what the data can do. I can usually tell if I had a crappy night’s sleep when I wake up. However, if you are trying to see which smartwatch is the best, the ScanWatch Vitals offers sleep tracking like the others.
The Other Stuff
Like most smartwatches, the ScanWatch Vitals shows your notification. You don’t get full-screen notifications with pictures, but it displays a ticking banner on the digital complication. The sender’s name or App and message will scroll across the screen. The Withings App lets you control which apps from your phone will provide notifications.
Tied in with sleep tracking, you can also set an alarm to vibrate on your wrist. Having a silent alarm on my wrist has been one of the only reasons I have tracked my sleep. It is important to me that I don’t wake up my wife and babies. According to Withings, it uses your sleep data to find the optimal time to wake you up near your selected wake-up time. The haptics on the ScanWatch feel very strong, so I didn’t worry about it waking me up.
The alarm worked well, but I couldn’t find a way to snooze it. Usually, I hit snooze a time or two before I get up. But this time, I had to decide whether to get up or sleep without another alarm. Being the responsible parent I am, I got up.
While I didn’t drain the watch battery in my time, I do know my watch went three days without charging. I started at one hundred percent, and by day three, the battery had worn down to fifty-six percent. Withings claims the battery can last up to thirty days, but I’m not sure what settings to put for the battery to last that long. I imagine most health monitoring stuff and notifications would need to be removed.
The Withings App
Using the Withings App on my iPhone felt refreshing. The design adds color and life, making it a delight to open. I never felt overwhelmed by all the data.
Once you pair your watch, the app offers videos and walkthroughs of how to use the app and the watch. Each step is explained and demonstrated, so I never felt lost.
The Withings app can link to the Health app, which can import and export most health data. I never felt guilty switching from my Apple Watch because my tracking data still got imported to my Apple Health. However, the things you do with the ScanWatch Vital don’t affect the rings of your Apple Watch. You might not want to switch if you enjoy closing your activity rings.
Inside the Withings app, you can see how many steps you’ve taken or check your sleep score no matter what device you use to track. The app also gives you some fun kudos, like you walked as many steps today as you could have climbed Mount Aso.
The Withings App will also give you daily missions or activities to help fuel your health journey. Today, I have the mission to reach 30 minutes of activity and set up a bedtime routine, which offers an article to read and another to discover how to interpret sleep disturbances. These can be fun to try to knock off and help motivate me to live healthier and expand my knowledge.
What Can’t The Withings ScanWatch Vitals Do?
The basics of the Withings ScanWatch Vitals are rock solid. You can track health metrics and get notifications, but you’ll need to look elsewhere if you want more.
I missed the NFC function of my smartwatch when I wore the Vitals. I couldn’t pay for things with my watch like I do with Apple Pay, nor could I unlock my door with my watch. Typically, I use Apple’s Home Key to unlock my door. I could still get around those issues with the Withings and my smartphone, but those features were missed.
I also found myself trying to use Siri on my ScanWatch. I often do this on my Apple Watch when cooking, usually to set timers. I also have the option to start or lock my car with Siri, but I couldn’t do that on the ScanWatch Vitals.
Things like this wouldn’t be a big issue because I could always use my phone, but so many times, I didn’t have a free hand.
Finally, I couldn’t find a way to load music or connect headphones to the watch. When I run, I leave everything behind except my watch and AirPods. So, if you’re going to work out and listen to music, you’d have to bring your phone with you as well.
Price Compare
The Withings ScanWatch Vitals retails for $289.
For what this watch can do, I think this is a pretty fair price. The watch looks beautiful, and it does so much to help you track your health. I think it is a great deal.
But the competition at that price is pretty strong. The Apple Watch SEcan’t do all the health monitoring that the ScanWatch Vitals can, but it can do things like Apple Pay and Siri and play music.
You can also find some older ones near that price on Amazon. When writing this, an Apple Watch Series 9 sells for $40 more than the Withings’ offering.
I would have liked to see the Withings come in a little cheaper to stir up the market, but packing all that tech into it comes with a cost.
So, you’ll have to weigh your needs when looking at this watch. Do you need health monitoring or do you want to pay for things? Would you like to run without your phone but still listen to music? Do you want a watch you have to charge every day or once a week?
Who Should Buy The Withings ScanWatch Vitals
My time with the Withings ScanWatch Vitals was delightful and eye-opening. It feels like a very solid contender in the smartwatch arena. However, I don’t think it will be my daily driver.
It doesn’t beat the Apple Watch for me in my daily use, although the battery life on the Vitals is amazing.
So, who is the ScanWatch Vitals for?
If all you want a watch to do is tell time and track your health, this will be a great watch for you. It will do everything you need, plus provide notifications. If you want a smartwatch to track your health data but like to switch between iOS and Android, this watch will not lock you into one ecosystem, although I can’t speak to the experience on Android devices.
Someone who doesn’t need to pay for things with their watch or open a door but would like to track their health would enjoy this watch. You just have to decide if that is you or not.