Withings Steel HR Sport: An opening look at Withings return to wearables.
The Steel HR Sport is the first smartwatch to feature Withings brand, since the company bought itself back from Nokia earlier this year.
If you’re confused, so are we. At first glance the HR Sport looks like little more than a rebranded version of the Nokia Steel HR, which was itself originally called the Withings Steel HR. However under the hood, Withings has added a few nifty features to justify the added Sport moniker.
Though the changes aren’t massive they add up to give the wearable the, on paper, chops to be one of the best hybrid, multi-sport watches on the market for casual gym goers and runners.
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Withings Steel HR Sport – Design
The Sport’s had a minor design refresh but sticks fairly close to Withings tried and tested model, which is no bad thing in my mind.
The Steel HR Sport has been designed to look like a watch first and fitness tracker second. The only indicator it’s actually got smart functionality shows when you press its single right facing control button.
Once clicked it lights up the secondary LED smart screen. The screen showcases the time, plus basic things like your heart rate and incoming notifications. A longer press opens up the sports menu, where you can cycle through the various activities you can track.
On its bottom you’ll find the same photoplethysmography (PPG) heart rate monitor as the original Steel HR. As before, the sensor reads your heart rate every few minutes when your not exercising to help preserve battery. It’s a key reason the watch offers a quoted 25 day battery life.
Lack of serious external changes aside, the design is pretty nice. The 40mm case is fairly compact compared to more serious trackers, like the Garmin Forerunner 645 music. This coupled with the premium feeling 316L stainless steel casing and sports focused rubber strap make it feel suitably comfortable to wear both in and out of the gym. The 5ATM rating also means it’ll survive aquatic adventures at depths under 50 meters, in theory.
Withings Steel HR Sport – Fitness features
What separates the Steel HR Sport from its predecessor is its advanced suite of tracking services. The watch now offers users a few advanced metrics, like V02 Max estimates. For non-hardcore athletes V02 Max is a measurement of how much oxygen your blood can store. Science aside a higher VO2 Max indicates your overall fitness/stamina, so it’s a nice metric for gauging performance improvements.
The Steel HR Sport isn’t the only tracker to offer a VO2 Max estimate, equivalently priced Garmin’s like the Vivosport and Vivosmart HR Plus also do it, but it’s a nice step forward nonetheless.
Be warned though, VO2 Max estimates are notoriously hit and miss as getting a true measurement requires proper lab equipment and controlled settings. At best the figures offered by the Steel HR Sport will be useful as a vague approximation, if they remain consistent workout-to-workout, which isn’t always the case with trackers this price.
The Connected GPS functionality is another big change. The original Steel HR didn’t have any form of GPS location tracking, which was a huge issue for outdoor runners and cyclists. The Connected part means you’ll have to pair the Steel HR Sport with your phone to get accurate distance data, but it’s still a welcome addition.
It’ll likely be particularly useful when paired with the newly added multisport functionality, which will reportedly let the Steel HR Sport detect and switch between over 30 different types of workout on the fly.
The final noteworthy additions are the new coaching features. The feature will apparently do what it says on the tin and give you tips on things like when to rest between workouts. I haven’t had a chance to see how the features work, but if they match the performance of Garmin’s coaching suite they will be a useful touch for casual or newbie runners that don’t know how to read more specific, detailed biometric data.
The only downside is that, because the Steel HR Sport has such a tiny smart display, you can only access the more serious data using Withing’s Health Mate smartphone app. The app works well enough, but I personally like being able to check my performance and health data on the fly via the watch face.
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Opening impressions
The Withings Steel HR Sport isn’t revolutionary. Competing, similarly priced trackers, like the Vivosport and Vivosmart HR+ offer equivalent, if not better tracking services for the same price. What separates the Withings is its swish hybrid design and astound 25-day quoted battery life.
If the battery life claims ring true – as they did on the original Steel HR – and the tracking services match the cheaper Garmin watches performance, then the Withings Steel HR plus could be a great option for casual gym goers and runners.
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