Review on Fossil Collider Stainless Hybrid Smartwatch by Dave Albright

Let me first say that I had high hopes for this smartwatch - great looks, 2 week battery life working, customizable watch faces; it seemed like the complete package. Unfortunately I switched to a Fitbit Versa 2 after about 6 weeks. Do you want to know why? Continue reading. Pros: 1 - Battery life is about 10-12 days. Way ahead of every competitor2 - Appearance. This is a sharp watch. The only thing I don't like about the look is the very dated hands.3 - The crisp e-ink display looks great, especially outdoors in the sun (where pretty much every other smartwatch struggles) Cons: 1 - Poor build quality. The watch body and screen are riddled with scratches during multi-day use, indicating inferior materials. For reference, my cheap plastic Garmin Vivomove HR barely suffered any damage after a year of use. I expect more from a company that has been in the watch business for so long2 - Limited Notes. I knew only certain apps could show notifications, but that proved too limiting in practice as Fossil was very slow at adding new apps. For example, Slack is on the Approved Applications list, but is not Slack's enterprise application. Likewise, Careem is the #1 taxi calling app in the MENA region, but it is unlisted. Considering how much this watch's screen is capable of displaying notifications, I don't understand this limitation! 3 - Useless in the dark. Yes, you can double-tap the screen to turn on the backlight, but if you're busy you won't be able to read an incoming notification, making the watch unreadable in the dark. This could easily be solved with a light sensor that automatically turns on the notification light in the dark.3 - Do not turn off notifications. The watch doesn't report being disconnected from the phone (like the Garmin Vivomove HR does). This is an extremely useful feature and there is no reason not to use it4 - Battery Life. Wait - how can these be pros and cons? First, I never got 2 weeks of battery life, let alone more. Second, I travel for work so anything under 2 weeks effectively means I have to charge it every week (unless I want to carry around a charging cable), which was in the same situation I found myself in with my Garmin Vivomove HR found. For all of these reasons, I'm stepping up to the Fitbit Versa 2 for now. Yes, the battery life has dropped noticeably, but overall it feels like a better product. Most of the above issues can be fixed, so I really hope the v2 watch will be better - let's see.