Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I read the two 1 star reviews and am compelled to write my own review. I don't want to discount the experiences of those folks - because I've had my share of frustrations with the Move X20 - but I've had my Ironman Move X20 for about a month and can provide a more balanced review of the watch's pros and cons. Also, if I could give it 4.5 stars I would. It isn't perfect, so it doesn't get 5 stars, but it is nearly perfect. Here's why: I've been a longtime fan of Timex watches. I tend to buy the less expensive versions because I wear them as watches, not as accessories. I'm not an athlete, but I've found that counting my steps and tracking miles inspires me to be more physically fit. So, I've been curious about fitness trackers like the Fitbit, but it wasn't until the Timex came out with the Move x20, their first activity tracker and smart watch, that I decided to exchange my old watch for something a little more trendy and a little more fitness oriented. First the pros: The Move x20 has a great activity tracker. It counts my steps, tells me my miles, and can distinguish my every day steps from my workout when I set it to "workout." All of this information syncs with the app (I use the Android app with my Galaxy S4 - more on that in a minute). Looking at the data on my phone app is... amazing. I realize that for sports enthusiasts this is old hat. But I'm not someone who is going to spend $500, strap a heart rate monitor to my chest, and do a topographical analysis of my run so that I can peak right before the NYC marathon. I just want to walk and jog (ok, I do more walking than jogging), and have a quick and easy way to see when I'm getting my walks in or not. The Move x20 does a BEAUTIFUL job at this basic but very important task. The battery life is great. A 30 minute charge once a week. No joke. Another pro - and I can't emphasize this enough - is the sleep tracker. It is very simple: Before bed I select "sleep" on the Move x20 and the readout displays "Goodnight Jonathan." When I wake up I select "sleep" from the menu and the readout displays "Good morning Jonathan." I sync the watch to my phone and I get a graph of how much deep sleep, light sleep, and awake time I've had during the night. I have very young children and often wake up at night. With the sleep tracker I know exactly when I've gotten up, how long I was up with them, and what my sleep was like after I went back to bed. The sleep tracker gives me insight into my sleep and theirs. This information is so valuable to me that I've added a screenshot so you can see what it looks like. Oh, if you have a very routine sleep pattern, you can set it to go into sleep mode at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. My sleep is totally unpredictable so that doesn't work for me, but it might be great for some people. More pros: Caller ID. The Move x20 vibrates when I have a call coming in. If the person calling is in my contact list it tells me their name. This is a VERY useful feature when I'm in meetings. Rather than pulling out my phone to look at the screen, I just glance down at my watch. The Move x20 also gives me a heads up when I get a text. This is less valuable because it only shows about 30 characters, and I usually find myself wondering "what is the whole text saying?" So, rather than being a way to avoid being distracted, the incomplete text alert is sometimes a distraction. That said, there have been times when I've received short texts from my wife "good night" or "love you" that are very nice to see on my watch. A final pro: This watch looks fantastic. I get compliments ALL the time. No joke. The woman who runs my daughter's after school program cornered me and said, "you have to tell me what that is." After I showed her she said she was getting one for each of her grandkids for the holidays. I've had so many compliments and inquiries that I've wished I had some on me to sell. The cons: No web interface: I would love to be able to sync the watch data with a website, not just my phone. Sync sometimes doesn't work: About once every 5 or 6 times, the app says "can't find device." So, I try it again and it works. This is annoying, but not a deal breaker. I'm assuming someone at Timex is looking into the app interface issue because I can't be the only one. Calorie counter: I have no idea what the watch is counting or how. It doesn't seem to correspond with anything I do. Luckily I don't wear this watch to count my calories. There are dozens of programs that are dedicated to that activity. I really dislike having to press a button to see the time. I know this might sound like a lazy person's complaint but one of the things I loved about my watch was being able to glance over and look at the time. Now I have to use both hands to see what time it is. Perhaps the motion detection feature can be programmed so that if you move your wrist in a certain way the time will pop up automatically. Neutral The Move x20 syncs with the weather on my phone. The display on the watch tells me the weather. It works fine, but really, who cares? I guess if I was inside and couldn't look on my phone or my desktop and absolutely had to know what the weather was outside it would be useful but... that never happens. The app allows you to set goals: how many calories, steps or miles do you want to cover in a day. This is a nice feature, but I haven't found those goals to be as valuable as the basic information provided by the watch. The "congratulations" message when I reach my step or mileage goal for the day is not an incentive for me. Bottom line: This is my first fitness tracker. It has great features and works really well. It is stylish. Most importantly it allows me to track my steps and my sleep. As I said, I'm not a competitive athlete, so I'm not looking for a lot of in-depth analysis of my workouts. But what I am looking for the Move x20 delivers beautifully. Thanks Timex for once again bringing a great product to market.