Just as with traditional watches (be they mechanical or quartz), there are a wide variety of options when it comes to smart watches. You can get the same watch everyone has (whether you rock an iPhone or an Android), you can get ones tailor-made to your specific training needs, or you can opt for something more basic that will still help you quantify your day. Today, we’re focused on that last category, with the WITHit Deca.
WITHit Deca: what it is
These days, when you hear that a watch is a smart watch, you already know the basics about it. It’s going to connect to your phone via Bluetooth (and there will be a specific app for it), it’s going to have sensors to track things like your heart rate and steps, and it will be able to display notifications from your phone.
The main place that the WITHit Deca differentiates itself is with the AMOLED screen that it has. This is one of the most crisp and vivid screens that I’ve had in a smart watch. Not only that, it truly goes to the edge of the case, meaning you have a very large display to check the time, or other measurements.
Using the watch
The WITHit Deca comes us a USB-A cable that has a magnetic connector on one end, that aligns with the charging pins on the back of the case. This isn’t the strongest magnet in the world, so you’ll want to ensure that you’re setting it down easy once it’s plugged in. Once it’s charged, it’s just a matter of putting the watch on, and letting it measure your day.
If you’re wanting to measure your distance and such on a walk or jog, you will need to have it relying on the GPS from your phone. For just tracking your day-to-day steps, though, no GPS required. You can easily check your status by swiping left on the screen, which gets you into a series of customizable favorites. You can set the order you want to see things like your daily activity, stress level, or sleep record.
If you want to change the watch face, you can do that in the app, or just by using the crown at 2 o’clock. Rotate that, and voila, you’re in a different watch face. There aren’t as many faces available as we’ve seen in some other watches, and you can’t customize them as much (say, changing the color used), but the basics are there, whether you want an analog or digital display.
Getting alerts on the WITHit Deca
Now, when you set the watch up, you can tell it whether you want it to make noise, or just vibrate, and you can set it to two levels of vibration. When texts and notifications come through, you can easily see those on-screen, and you can clear it immediately. Or, if they’ve piled up, you can clear them all in a single press. This is appreciated, as I’ve had some in for review that you cannot mass-dismiss the notifications.
Since you can customize the sound (on/off) and vibration level for notifications, I thought that would work the same then for your alarms. In other words, I thought it would use that, since you can’t change it in the alarm setup. That is not the case, however. Even if you have the watch on silent, when the alarm goes off, it’s playing a sound (as well as vibrating). Perhaps not a deal-breaker for you, but for me – with relying on the silent alarms to get up in the morning – that was a bit of a problem.
What about the sensor measurements?
Across everything the WITHit Deca was tracking – steps, HR, oxygen, sleep, and the like – I found that it held up pretty close to the other smart watch that I’m regularly wearing throughout the day (yes, I’m one of those two-watch people). The one big discrepancy I noticed was in the stress recording. While my Garmin will often show variations through the day, and record higher stress (say, when I’m presenting or just interacting with people more), the WITHit just stayed pretty even-keel. So, something felt off a little with that measurement. Frankly, at this price point, I’d call that particular measurement a sort of bonus freebie, and it is what it is. Aside from that, it felt like the watch was giving accurate measurements.
Wrapping things up
So, the big question is, just who is the WITHit Deca for? Obviously, if you’re a serious athlete training for an event, this isn’t the watch for you. On the other hand, if you just want something to track your steps, HR, and oxygen levels through the day, this is a solid option for you. You could also consider it as a watch for a child you wants some smarts on their wrist, without the price tag that some of the big-name watches command.
In other words – it’s a basic smart watch that will track the basics you need tracked, and do so on an absolutely lovely screen, all without breaking the bank. When our review loaner came in, it came with just a single strap. However, now they have bundles that you can get a second strap ($65) or two straps ($75). Additionally, if you don’t like the round case shape, they have a similar watch but in a squared case, called the Giga. You can check out the full range over at withitgear.com
WITHit Deca Tech Specs
- AMOLED 1.43″ 466*466 high-definition touchscreen display
- Magnetic rapid charger included
- 45mm base metal case
- Smooth silicone black band with quick-release technology
- Water resistance of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes
- Free WITHit Smartwatch App compatible with Android 5.0+ and iOS 9.0+
- Access advanced features, functions, and key insights
