Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Features
Before heading into the review, we expected the Fossil Hybrid HR to be really slim with its feature set. While that turned out to be true for the most part, it does cover all the essential features that we would use on a proper smartwatch. Messages, social media, calls, fitness, multiple time zones, step counting are all included. It seems like Fossil had a long hard look at usage patterns on its smartwatches before deciding these.
As mentioned earlier, these notifications can not really be interacted with. Messages can only be cleared or ignored. Calls can be accepted, but you’ll need to be connected via earphones to make proper use of it. Once again, the latency between using the buttons and the display responding takes a toll on the experience. And even the navigation is not the simplest. To go back to the home screen, you’ll always have to navigate to the top of the list using the other pushers and then hit home with the main button. It’s not really intuitive to have the same button to go in and come out of notification.
The watch face can be customized with a basic wallpaper and up to four complications from weather, a second-time zone, some exercises, and the date. Similarly, the two pushers can be mapped to execute certain functions such as workouts, stopwatch, music, weather, etc. Pretty bare bones.
Fitness
Don’t go by its looks, as the Fossil Hybrid HR has a complete slew of fitness-related features too. Regular readings for the heart rate, workout times and calories burned. These work reasonably, but aren’t the most accurate, especially when compared to real fitness trackers.
The sleep tracking was very incorrect and dumb. In our testing, it seems to rely primarily on the accelerometer and doesn’t factor in the other important parts of the equation such as the heart rate. So, on nights when we didn’t wear it to bed, it tracked a whopping nine hours of good sleep. We thought such archaic sleep tracking methods were gone.
To be honest, the watch feels a little too fancy to be used along on runs or at the gym. Add the tracking inaccuracies, and it becomes even less of a match for serious fitness enthusiasts.
Battery life
Coming to the best bit of the Fossil Hybrid HR — the battery life. It is claimed to have two-day battery life; we were able to get very close to that figure with ease. Over ten days on a single charge is definitely achievable even with heavy usage. Add a few days of light use, and you’ll approach the two-week mark.
With a battery life so great, we wouldn’t complain about the charging speeds as they would be pretty infrequent. Thankfully, even that was pretty quick, with a full charge taking just over an hour with the included wireless charging cradle.
Verdict
The Fossil Hybrid HR is not meant for everyone. For people looking for a smartwatch or even a capable hybrid will be disappointed at how held back the watch seems. The only ones who should get it are those who really really appreciate this form factor and are fine with the functionality compromises at this price point.
Having said that, we think Fossil might be onto something with the e-ink display and analog timepiece melange. It deserves a successor with a more robust feature set and a more intuitive interface. But for a first try at brewing its own software skin on a rather unexplored medium, the Hybrid HR deserves credit.
For those looking for something a little more capable, the Apple Watch Series 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active are great alternatives at a slight premium.
