FossilWomen's Charter Hybrid Smartwatch HR with Always-On Readout Display, Heart Rate, Activity Tracking, Smartphone Notifications, Message Previews

Update: 6/6/21: The band has started to come apart. I had ordered the watch with the black band that was labeled "Genuine Leather," well, it is not 100% genuine leather. It is actually silicone with a very thin layer of leather over it. I am shopping for a new band today because this one makes my wrist so sweaty and uncomfortable that I take the watch off in random areas of my home, and then I can't find it. So, if you choose, the one with the leather band, just take note that it is actually not 100% leather. The part that will be touching your skin is silicone.Short Version: The watch itself is amazing. It is beautiful. It is very customizable. And the materials they've used seem to be of high quality. The app has some great features, but it has connectivity issues where it will disconnect from my watch, and the only way to reconnect it is to restart my phone.Long Version: The watchband is real leather. The watchcase seems to be quite sturdy. It has a nice weight to it, without it being too heavy. The colors are nice. It is large enough, and the contrast is high enough that it is easy to see, even without my glasses on (my vision isn't terrible). I bought this watch because of the looks, as well as the long battery life. What I didn't realize until I got it home, was that it was also very customizable. The little circles that you can see on my watch can be rearranged, swapped out, or you can leave those spots blank. You can also choose to have the entire background be blank instead of showing the extra information. There are several backgrounds you can choose from, or you can choose a picture that you upload to be your watch background. The different things you can display on you watch face (inside the little circles):1. A second timezone of your choosing.2. The chance that it will rain in your current location today.3. How many minutes you have been active so far today.4. How many steps you have taken so far today.5. The active calories (not including basal calories) that you have burned so far today.6. The amount of battery life that your watch has.7. The current weather in your current location.8. The day number and day of the week that it is.9. Your current heart rate.These can all be placed in whichever circle you want them to be placed in. The only annoying thing is, when you are rearranging them, you can't place, say, the weather on your screen twice. This means that to move the weather information, you first have to take it off and place something else (that you don't want to keep) in that location so that you can place the weather in the location that you want. The little buttons on the side of the watch can be changed as well. First, I will cover what they always do.Top button: If you push the top button once, it will do the function that you have set it up to do. If you HOLD the top button, it will turn on and off the background. You can make the background blank; just showing what you have set as your background, or have all the little circles visible. The top button is also how you move backward or up when you are looking through your messages or using the different features.Center button: If you press the center button once it will display whichever setting you have chosen for it to do. In my case, I have it set up to display my messages. If you HOLD the center button, it will bring up the different settings inside the watch.1. About information2. Do Not Disturb settings.3. Dial information on/off.4. Ring my phone; for if you can't find your phone.5. Connect to friend challenges.6. Music controls.7. View notifications.8. Stopwatch.9. Timer.10. Wellness (this displays the hours you have slept or the time you have exercised today, your steps, and your calories. If you press the down button when you are in the wellness face, it will check your current heart rate. It will also tell you your resting and max heart rates for the day.)11. And lastly, you can see the workout features, where you can measure your workout. The different workouts it can measure are running, cycling, hiking, walking, treadmill, elliptical, weights, row machine, "Spin", and "workout". If you HOLD the center button when you are on any screen, it will bring you back to your main watch face. The center button is also used as an "enter" button. You press once to select whatever the highlighter is on.Bottom button: If you press the bottom button once while on the main screen, it will bring up whatever setting you have chosen. Holding it does nothing. The bottom button is also how you move forwards and down within all of the settings.Customization options for the buttons: Each button can be set up with a feature that you want quick access to. I have mine set up to show the weather with the top button, my notifications and messages with the middle button, and my wellness dashboard with the bottom button. You can choose to set up yours with workout mode, stopwatch, music control, timer, commute time, connect challenge, weather, past notifications, and wellness dashboard.Phew! I tried to be as helpful as possible for that portion because Fossil doesn't send you any real instructions. They send you a ≈1/2 inch book that basically just tells you not to eat the battery in 50 different languages. Now for the downside, the app. The app has a lot of great features, but my watch is getting disconnected about once per day. Sometimes I am lucky and it only does it every other day. When this happens, I have to restart my phone to reconnect my watch. I have tried force stopping the app, clearing the cache, turning on and off the Bluetooth, reconnecting within the app, none of that works. I have to restart my phone and then open the app and click connect to reconnect. It isn't the watch either, because Amazon sent me a replacement and it does it with both the old watch and the new one. I have tried tech support with Amazon and Fossil. Neither company can find a solution. I have a Google Pixel 3, so it isn't some antique, cheap phone. I even joined a Facebook group for Fossil Hybrid watch owners, and it seems to be an issue that a lot of people have. I didn't have this problem with my old Fitbit either, so it can't be my phone. The 4-star review is due to the syncing issues. If Fossil could fix these issues, this would be a 5-star watch. Would I recommend this watch to a friend? Yes. As long as they have the patience to handle the syncing issue.

7/24/21 update (7 months of ownership)...5 star customer service and 4.5 star watch. I had so many issues with my original, Fossil Customer Service ended up sending me a replacement once I returned my defective. The exchange was done in about 9 days. I received a brand new watch and ever since, it hasn't had a single issue! YAHOO!! My first may have been a lemon. Customer service is legit. Quality company and attractive watch! I've received a few compliments. :) BUY IT.As for my first review, I finally figured out the date issue. You can't have a customized background and be able to see the date on the watch. Lame. If you have the regular face with the 4 dials, the date can show there. That's become my preference.Initial review....This is a 3.75 star watch. Here's why....Pros:+I've had this watch since 12/27/2020....today is 2/10/2021. I have only had to charge the watch 3 or 4 times since I got it which is impressive! (5 stars)+The face is gorgeous and classic. (5 stars)+The glass face appears very sturdy and not likely to break easily. I've whacked my wrist into many doorways and you can't tell. (10 stars)+I love the customizable backgrounds. Just download or use whatever picture you want and that's what you get to see in black and white. I love the mandala I found! (5 stars)+I like the customizable buttons. I've settled on workout mode at the top, overview of my calories/steps in the middle and a stopwatch on the bottom. I use all of them frequently. The workout mode blows but it's all I have to work with. (4 stars)Now for my issues...- Compared to my friend's Apple watch, the Fossil watch grossly under tracks steps and distance. We hike a lot and her watch is MUCH more accurate. It's usually around half a mile off or 1,500 steps different. Very upsetting. (2 stars)-Navigating through the workout modes is so freaking dumb. I've had this watch 2 months and I'm still a bit confused. (1 star)-Probably my BIGGEST irk is that I can't find the dang date. When I find the screen that shows my steps, heart rate and calories burned, the screen says "Today" with a calendar symbol. Yes you dumba*s watch, I know it's TODAY, but what's the date?!? (-5 stars)-Overall functionality of the technology is lacking. (2 stars)I do like the watch overall, I'm just incredibly disappointed with the lack of accuracy for the fitness data and difficulty of navigating the workout modes. I find the intelligence to be a few fries short of the happy meal.So yeah, solid 3.75 stars. Could use some work but I love the look with my leather band.

• This a a good looking watch. I am very pleased with its appearance. I love to be able to upload pictures or messages on a dial screen. These looks superbly, not too sharp, natual - which is exactly what I wanted.• With heavier usage the battery lasts at least 8 days. I would hate to have to charge the battery every day, this is one of the main reasons why I did not get a full on smart watch.• This watch does not have too many features, however I did not want to have another phone on my wrist. I mainly wanted to be notified a.s.a.p. when some important notifications arrives on my phone. However I found that the watch frequently disconnects from my phone if I dont keep a close distance and does not reconnect automatically. Which is a major lwt down. I hope there will be an upgraded soon to sort this issue out.• The step count is not acurate, I wake up with at least 50 steps every morning 😂Overall I am not sure if this watch is worth almost £200. I had a gift card and used towards it, which made the price more acceptable to me. Would I buy it again? Probably yes, I love the appearance and all the extra features, even if they are quiet basic.

Always viewable analog hands are great. Provides more than enough smart features for my needs. Adds a bit of "bling" which is nice. Quite large, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective

Very lovely product..I like it