Review on ⌚ Fossil Men's Gen 4 Explorist HR: Stainless Steel Smartwatch with Heart Rate, GPS, NFC & Smartphone Notifications by Billy Donalson

I currently own 4 smartwatches (including this one - LG Wear, Zenwatch 2, HUAWEI 1st gen) and this watch is definitely one of the greatest smartwatches. It's also lightweight, lighter than the Zenwatch 2 and heavier than the rest. The straps are 22mm by default so you can easily change them to your liking (I'm looking for a blue strap to match the case). The screen is completely flush with the side panels so it's definitely easy to scratch if you hit something. It also makes it difficult, if not impossible, to use a protective film. However, the 3 side buttons that I initially thought were useless and unnecessary have become very useful. The middle button can be pressed, long-pressed and is also a scroll wheel. (Although the scroll wheel has become a bit "sticky") The other 2 can be pressed or long pressed and reprogrammed for other functions. Everything responds and works as it seems. This will be updated to Wear OS (2.0) immediately after initial startup/configuration. There were no problems with the setting. They don't have bluetooth issues like I do with my other watches, once connected they stay connected, don't reset and give me a nice unconnected cloud. Using NFC for Google Pay is fun - cashiers get so confused when I hold my watch up to the terminal and "pay boop". LOL I still need a phone in my pocket but nothing needs to be taken out of my pocket to pay! The heart rate monitor/sensor on this one bothered me at first as it's sticking out of the back of the watch like a little bubble but after I put it on, I don't even notice it. Seems to be accurate. You can put the watch in the direction where the charging contacts are. The clock itself actually consists of 2 circles below. No more fiddling with your watch and charger to line up the contacts perfectly before charging. Now battery life. A reviewer who says it sucks and only lasted 2 hours (or was it 4?) should learn how to troubleshoot, change settings, or stop playing so much. Leaving the screen on without Ambient Mode drains the battery faster. If you have a data-hungry or heavily animated watch face, your battery will drain faster. If you have a heart rate monitor that takes readings every 30 seconds. I think you understand I like the relatively minimal faces with only a few data points displayed, and go into ambient mode with shake to wake disabled. With my other watches I get 14 to 20 hours on a single charge. Not this one. I'm usually at 15% after 12 hours. If I use a weather face or a matching face, forget it, 8 o'clock. Disable "always on screen", minimal face with minimal data points, and I COULD be able to beep for up to 14 hours. For a watch of this size, they could easily have accommodated a larger battery. I don't think it's an everyday watch, definitely not a workout watch, but more of an office watch or a night watch around town. Fix the battery issue and it may last all day, but still not a rough look.