I have reached the end of my two week testing of the Basis Peak Fitness Watch.  If you haven’t caught up with my “first impressions”  review, click here first for a breakdown of the features of this device.

The Basis Peak has definitely lived up to its category as a fitness watch.  It’s much more than a typical fitness band, which generally counts your steps, calories, and maybe flights of stairs.  A few fitness bands are starting to show actual clocks and collect or display heart rate data.  I fall in the camp that says for a fitness band to be considered a watch it needs to look like a watch.  Maybe I’m old-school.  But I’ve asked around and that seems to be the general consensus.  If it looks like a watch, it’s a watch.  And the Basis Peak certainly looks like a watch.  But it’s not a smartwatch, not by a long shot.

It is the current expectation in the tech industry that even the most basic smartwatch must do several things, and do them consistently well.

1. Show incoming calls and allow answer or decline from the watch (then you grab your phone to actually start talking if you selected “answer”)
2. Show incoming emails and texts from multiple text/IM services
3. Show Calendar appointments with alerts sent to the wrist

That’s it.  Those three things are not optional any longer.  The smartwatch that I usually wear is the original Pebble, and it is arguably one of the most basic smartwatches, but it does those three things consistently.  It also has apps for timers, weather, Evernote, and games.  You can even track your Domino’s pizza order with it!  Being that the Basis Peak costs TWICE AS MUCH you would expect that it would have similar “smartwatch” features. And while the device makes an attempt, it simply isn’t there yet.  I found the watch could consistently receive incoming calls and texts, but nothing else.  And this was only when paired to an iPhone.  It was all but impossible to pair the watch with an Android phone during my tests.  I made it work eventually, but for casual users, who want a  “pair and go” approach for their device, this is not an ideal choice.

So if the Peak is not a Smartwatch, you might be wondering what it does to justify its $200 price tag?  Simply put, it tracks your health metrics, and a lot of them.  Steps are caught like any pedometer (no mileage calculated though).  The device has an excellent heart rate monitor, which I found very useful.  It also has sensor to detect perspiration and skin temperature.  I guess I could see some value in the sweat sensor, but I live in Minnesota, and my skin temps are going to swing wildly just by moving between buildings and vehicles, so I’m not sure why I should care about that.  Data is only good if you can do something with it.  And that brings me to the last feature of the Peak Fitness watch that I found useful.

Most fitnessbands/smartwatches make some attempt to track sleep, but the Peak does this better than any other device I’ve used.  Being able to look at my sleep metrics, which were broken down between Light, Deep, and REM sleep was helpful not only in determining if I was getting enough sleep, but whether I was getting the right amount of each type of sleep.  I found myself trying to get to bed earlier to get more quality in my sleep, and that turns a gimmick into a tool.

Aside from the features on the watch itself, Basis offers a website and smartphone app.  I found the website more useful than the app in general, having more real estate to show the data over time in effective ways.  The company offers various “goals” to shoot for, but since there is little interaction with the watch itself, other than telling you when you’ve “met your goal”, I found that more gimmicky than useful.  In the end I found tracking over time less important than tracking right in the moment.  I walked a few flights of stairs, entirely winded, and I could actually check my heart rate, in real-time, and that’s pretty useful, if you’re trying to improve your health through exercise.

The Cup Half Full

The Peak went to market as a Fitness Watch.  Its main feature was the Heart Rate Monitor, and that is the thing it does best.  I tested the monitor against a doctor validated monitor and found it to be very accurate.  Not exactly the same, but close enough to use it as a guide.  I have used the heart rate monitor more than anything else with the Peak, and I know I will miss having that feature when I return to the Pebble this week.

The rest of the Fitness Watch metrics are nothing to get excited about, but they work.  It tracks steps pretty accurately, if you’re one to shoot for those 10,000 daily steps.  The fact that it is waterproof is a huge plus, and should really be a standard feature for this type of device.  The battery life came through at roughly 4-5 days between charges, which is great.  It also has a nice charger, using a magnet connection for easy charging, without any case to remove or small connection devices to lose.

The watch itself is very comfortable.  The silicone wristband can pinch a little when you strap it on, but once in place I barely know it’s there.  It needs to fit snugly to ensure accuracy with the HR Monitor, so comfort is very important.  It’s not a stunning watch by any stretch, but it’s also not an eyesore.  It works as a watch and as a Fitness Tracker.

The Cup Half Empty

As stated, it isn’t a Smartwatch.  I found all of the functionality that was added to the device via a software update in early February to be inconsistent at best and at times virtually impossible.  The watch connects to the smartphone via Bluetooth and after some initial problems with my iPhone 6 I got that syncing very smoothly.  But only voice and text information came to the watch, despite ensuring the settings were turned on to have emails and calendar updates come too.  My attempts to sync with an Android device (HTC One M8) were incredibly frustrating.  Even after a software update came during my trial claiming to “resolve Bluetooth sync issues” I still could not get the device to pair.  I’m in the business of finding devices that are so easy just about anyone can use them.  The Basis Peak failed that test on all levels in terms of its “smartwatch features”.

In addition to those issues, the only other problem I have with the Peak is related to its price.  For $200 it should be able to do more than it does.  Things like showing the current temperature would be a start.  You get the date when you tap the screen, but that’s it.  There are no buttons on the device, which is actually kind of nice, but it took me a google search to figure out that you had to slide up and down along the right edge of the watch to turn on the backlight.  The device is marketed as being “automated” and thus the premium price model, but it is simply too far behind with some basic features to justify the cost.  I could deal with $149, but $200 is too much.

 The Whole Cup Summed Up

I sort of love and hate the Basis Peak Fitness Watch.  Over the course of my two weeks of testing I found the device very useful at times, and very frustrating at others.  The 24/7 Heart Rate monitoring and Sleep Tracker actually drove me to change some of my habits, including giving up caffeine, and working harder to be more active.  I can’t over-stress how important that piece of the puzzle is when looking at fitness watches or fitness bands.  They MUST drive change in your habits, or they are really just an over-price clock.  And in that regard the Basis Peak was a great success.  A greater success than 2 years of wearing a Fitbit Flex and Pebble smartwatch ever were.  Is it worth $200 for those features?  That’s really up to each consumer.  But if you are in the market for a fitness watch that will help drive behavior, the Peak is actually a decent contender.

But if you are in the market for a smartwatch that also has a fitness element, this is not your watch.  Not at all.  Certainly Basis will get their act together at some point and software updates will improve the notifications element of the Peak (after all, these features have only been live for three weeks as of 2/17).  So only early adopters who can put up with the frustrations of inconsistency need apply.  I’m one of those people, and even I was pushed to the breaking point when trying to sync to Android.

The Basis Peak is a great Fitness Tracker and has a place among the current crop of devices trying to give us all health data on the go, to keep us better informed about how our choices impact our health.  Yet these devices are only as good as the value you place in them though, so bear that in mind as you ponder your choices.  The Basis Peak is not a great Smartwatch, so steer clear until they fix those features.

For me this one is still over-priced for what you get.  And if I really want to go that route, I’ll just wait for the Apple Watch in April.