Withings Scanwatch Has Some Of The Best Battery Life In The Smartwatch Game
If you're on the hunt for a smartwatch with the best battery life, you need to go beyond the Apple Watch and even Fitbit. Those watches measure battery life in hours or days. If you want battery life measured in weeks, you need to go to the outliers. Some smartwatches claim outlandish battery life, but there's usually some kind of trick to it. One notable example is the TicWatch 3 Pro by Mobvoi, which has a low-power LCD as a second screen layer that looks like what you'd find on a non-smart watch. When set to "low-power mode," Mobvoi claims the TicWatch Pro 3 can run for up to 45 days.
Another outlier is the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar, which, as the name suggests, has a solar panel built into the watch face that can gather sunlight. The screen features a monochrome LCD panel that helps with battery life, as well. Garmin claims that as long as you get at least three hours of sunlight per day, you'll never have to charge your watch. Otherwise, it can last for over a month under normal conditions.
Finally, we have the Withings Scanwatch. This model offers long-lasting battery life by utilizing a small circular screen set into the watch face for notifications and menus; the rest of the watch face has a minute and second hand, making it a hybrid watch. When you want to navigate the small screen, the hands move out of the way. We had the opportunity to test this watch and under normal use, it lasted for a little over three weeks between charges.
It's all about compromise
The Withings Scanwatch certainly does stand out when it comes to smartwatch battery life, but it's not without its competitors. The TicWatch Pro in particular demands living in low-power mode in order to deliver battery life for 45 days. Otherwise, in its normal operation, it slides back to measuring its life in hours. The Garmin Instinct Solar 2 is extremely large and chunky to accommodate its solar panel and requires time outside in order to charge itself rather than relying on the included charging cable.
Meanwhile, the Withings Scanwatch is quite striking and looks great, while still offering battery life measured in weeks. That's a solid accomplishment, and it offers all this with little compromise to one's daily use. It's not technically the longest-lasting smartwatch you can buy, but it's definitely in the top three, and it gets there with less compromise than its compatriots in this space. You can read our full review of the Withings Scanwatch or you can pick one up from Amazon.