Fossil Q Crewmaster Gen 2 Hybrid Black Silicone Smartwatch Reviews

Fossil Q Crewmaster Hybrid Smartwatch

MSRP $175.00

"The Q Crewmaster is the perfect blend of analog watch cool and high-tech smarts."

Pros

• Gorgeous design
• Reliable, like shooting fish in a barrel to utilize app
• Notifications from your phone
• Fitness and sleep tracking
• Long battery life

Cons

• Too big for some wrists
• No backlight
• No individual workout tracking

It's hard to argue with anyone that says a smartwatch isn't a "real" sentinel. After all, they do resemble gadgets, thanks to a bright colour touchscreen, no moving internal parts, and a Bluetooth connectedness to your phone. Because of this, some people feel that smartwatches lack the composure and inherent coolness of an analog timepiece.

Hybrid smartwatches bridge the gap betwixt the smartwatch and the world of mechanical watches, just they also take a diversion through fettle band boondocks. The smart analog watches we're most fond of, such every bit the Withings Activité, are classy and stylish; but they're a fleck restrained. They're a great culling to the smartwatch, just not if you love big, chunky, almost muscular watches. James Bond, if he was in the market place for such a device, wouldn't choose i of these sleek, simple watches.

The answer to this problem comes from Fossil and its Q Crewmaster hybrid smartwatch. Similar its non-smart namesake, the Q Crewmaster has a massive stainless steel body, big buttons, mesomorphic lugs, and strong straps. Information technology's a spotter for big wrists, and for people that want to brand an as sizeable statement. We've worn 1 to meet how it matches up to a full-on smartwatch, and hither's how information technology performed.

A classic, funky Fossil watch pattern

The Fossil Q Founder is my personal favorite Android Wear smartwatch, then perchance it'll come as no surprise to discover I adore the Q Crewmaster'south design. There'due south no subtlety hither. The case is 46mm round and 14mm thick, and because it'south made from stainless steel, it's not very low-cal either. We've been wearing the black silicone strapped version, which is matched to a colorful bezel with blue highlights around the inner watch face.

Is the Q Crewmaster likewise flashy? No. It looks amazing. Poking out from beneath the sleeve of a shirt or sweater, it adds a wonderful splash of color, just similar wearing bright socks with a archetype outfit. The black silicone strap helps tone the expect downwardly, merely is too a existent standout component of the scout, because information technology is so soft and malleable. Information technology required absolutely no wear-in fourth dimension at all, was comfortable the whole day, and never got sweaty — even while at the gym.

It's interchangeable, besides, so if you prefer another 22mm strap, information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to popular off and fit on a dissimilar i. Fossil likewise sells a less colorful blueish silicone Q Crewmaster, and a model with a stainless steel strap. The Q Crewmaster is beautifully congenital, has a curved glass cover over the face, is water resistant to l meters, and feels far tougher than any smartwatch, pregnant you won't exist as concerned virtually its wellbeing if y'all programme on wearing it to the gym or out and well-nigh on a daily basis.

Is the Q Crewmaster too flashy? No. Information technology looks amazing.

Examine the face more than closely, and you'll encounter the bezel is set up for dive timing — it rotates anti-clockwise with an audible click — and the inner bezel is marked out for the 24-hour clock. There'due south a single complexity, which Fossil calls the sub-eye, that's used to denote how close you are to the mean solar day'due south step goal, and as a way indicator. Sadly, there'south no internal light and the hands don't glow-in-the-dark, so it's almost impossible to run into any of this in the nighttime. The watch doesn't count seconds, either.

On the side of the torso are 3 buttons. Press the summit one, and the hands move to indicate the engagement. Well, more precisely, they point to the day, shown on a tiny 3rd ring of numbers between the fourth dimension and the 24-hour bezel. It's actually way too pocket-sized to be of whatsoever use. Printing the center push and the easily shift to prove an alternate time zone, which you tin set up in the Fossil app. Go along to press the eye button to wheel through the other modes. Finally, the 3rd button activates a characteristic on your telephone.

Fitness tracking and notifications

A hybrid smartwatch tells the fourth dimension, takes on the role of a fitness tracker, and provides a degree of functionality more than ordinarily associated with a total smartwatch. How does the Q Crewmaster perform? For fitness tracking, information technology's quite unproblematic. The picket counts your steps, measures the distance traveled, and estimates calorie burn for the twenty-four hour period; all of which is reported back through the Fossil Q app. If you lot wear it at nighttime, it'll show how long you slept and the different phases of slumber.

The Q Crewmaster matched the pace count we saw using the Fitbit Flex, and when you reach your goal, the lookout vibrates and the easily rotate to congratulate you on a victory. It'due south a little matter, merely information technology does expect fun. It'll track sleep, just because it's quite large, it takes a while to go used to wearing it in bed. Personally, I took it off, but I'm non used to wearing anything larger than a fitness band on my wrist while sleeping, so information technology was a distraction.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

If you're expecting to rail specific exercises, the Q Crewmaster doesn't provide defended tracking for anything other than walking or running. It kept upward happily on the treadmill and the stair climber, though. Ultimately, this isn't a fitness tracker for the sportsperson. It'southward for someone who wants to know the basics. You'll only get the nuts when it comes to feedback besides, just there is a style to fix personal goals, virtually regardless of what they are, in the app for some extra motivation.

The Q Crewmaster also takes care of notifications from your smartphone. It's all controlled through the app. Fossil handles notifications in a clever way, stepping away from countless and meaningless vibrations, to make the watch more helpful on a daily footing. Nonetheless, it operates on the idea that yous're going to take the phone out of your pocket or bag to meet all the information, anyway, so the best you'll glean from the spotter is which app is telling you something.

I didn't miss my Apple tree Lookout while wearing the Q Crewmaster, and actually found the fewer alerts less distracting

In the Fossil app, you select each app you want to alert yous via the sentinel. It'll handle calls, SMS, electronic mail, calendar announcements, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Line, Snapchat, Viber, WeChat, Instagram, Uber, and Skype, plus a few others. Being sensible at this phase is the key to meaningful alerts. I get besides many emails for alerts to be helpful without a screen, but I receive fewer social networking and SMS messages, so I selected those rather than ticking every box across the board. A number tin exist assigned to each app, and when a notification comes through, a printing of the center button on the watch will move the easily to the respective number. For calls, you can select the contacts yous want notifications for.

As with fitness tracking, the Q Crewmaster doesn't desire to replace the smartwatch, information technology wants to deliver a streamlined, more targeted experience for people who aren't convinced they need the whole smartwatch package. It works. I didn't miss my Apple Watch while wearing the Q Crewmaster, and actually found that getting fewer alerts is less distracting. The fact that the sentinel looks fantastic is just icing on the cake.

Perhaps due to its less technical nature compared to an Android Clothing watch or other smartwatch, the Q Crewmaster worked without fault for us, and we've no reason to wait that to change.

Fossil app

If you've tried one of Fossil's older, serial one hybrid smartwatches, you may have been frustrated by the app, and sworn many times trying to sync it with the watch. I know I did. It never worked very well, and updating the firmware was a item nightmare, with endless failures coming before it worked. That's all inverse with the Q Crewmaster and the new app.

It took but a moment to sync the watch with the app, the firmware updated right abroad, and fitness data never failed to sync when opening the app on the telephone. Information technology'southward attractively designed in a minimalist fashion, and contains visual instructions on activating each feature on the watch. There'due south no guessing what each push button does, no wondering how to ready the alarm, or if data has synced across. Information technology's all there.

Pace counts are illustrated using a picket-like dial, and scrolling downwards shows historical data broken downwardly by day, week, and month. Sleep is presented in the same way. The just other goal-orientated feature is an unusual one. Rather than get more residual, workout harder, or drinkable more than water, Fossil's app lets you lot set goals for trying a new recipe, wearing a bright color, or listening to a new band. If they're a chip besides weird, then you can create a custom goal for something more than sensible, too.

All other functions, including specifying notifications and setting up Q Link, are found under a side menu. Q Link manages the third button on the spotter, which can actuate a gear up office on your telephone, such as answering a telephone call, adjusting the volume, or opening the photographic camera app.

Nosotros can't fault Fossil's app at all. It's all very intuitive, and it's exactly how apps that accompany wearables should work. How's that for a recommendation?

Warranty, availability, and cost

The black silicone Q Crewmaster seen here is $175 in the U.South., or 165 British pounds, while the blueish silicone and stainless steel versions cost $195 or 185 British pounds. You get a two-year warranty from Fossil that doesn't cover normal wear or tear, the strap, bombardment, or software. To merits it, you lot need to visit an authorised Fossil store or service middle with the product and the receipt.

Buying the Q Crewmaster over i of Fossil'due south Q Founder or new Q Marshal watches will save about $100, fifty-fifty if you cull the more expensive versions, all the same it will perform many of the aforementioned tasks. The battery isn't much of a problem either, every bit the jail cell within is expected to last about six months, and costs very footling to supervene upon.

Our Take

Fossil's crawly Q Crewmaster is a hunky, mesomorphic, article of clothing-and-forget hybrid smartwatch that doesn't need charging, has superb software, delivers all the right notifications and information, plus it looks absolutely superb. If a total-on smartwatch turns yous off, and a fitness tracker is just too sporty; then it's time to put a Q Crewmaster on your wrist.

Is there a better alternative?

All smart analog watches offer much of the aforementioned functionality, and so your selection comes down to style. Several alternatives to the Q Crewmaster come up from Fossil itself. The Crewmaster isn't for small wrists, but the Q Tailor and Q Gazer are far more than subtle. They provide the same functionality, connect with the same great app, simply don't share the same in-your-confront design.

Motion abroad from the Fossil make, and you arrive at more sporty options from Withings, Garmin, and Misfit. The Misfit Phase (a company owned past Fossil) and Garmin Vivomove both cost the same, or a little less, than the Fossil models, but are considerably less attractive. Garmin'south sentry is more focused on fitness thanks to the Garmin app, while Misfit'southward spotter is more budget friendly.

Withings Activité and Activité Pop are gorgeous, and come highly recommended; just with the caveat we mentioned earlier — the blueprint is very subtle. The metallic Activité is also very expensive, and although the Popular is cheaper, it doesn't share the same premium wait and feel provided by the Q Crewmaster, Q Tailor, or Q Gazer.

None of these can be considered better alternatives, just alternatives, because the reason for buying any of them will come downwardly to personal pattern preference. Functionality remains essentially the same whichever one you purchase.

How long volition information technology last?

Watches get handed down from generation to generation, and provided you tin can yet purchase the Q Crewmaster's bombardment, there's no existent reason why this tin't happen here. Few will want to, but because it doesn't take a space-age design or engineering science that volition be redundant in vi months or a twelvemonth's time, it doesn't have the same short lifespan of a fully fledged smartwatch. Merely Fossil's app limits the Q Crewmaster'southward lifespan, but it's unlikely it'll stop being supported anytime soon.

As for the spotter itself, the body is water resistant to 50 meters, information technology's solidly built from stainless steel, and the strap tin can be swapped out when it reaches the end of its life. The battery lasts for six months, and replacements are like shooting fish in a barrel to discover. Replacing it is simple, too, and Fossil includes a absurd "key" to remove the base of operations of the spotter where the battery is kept.

Unless you drop information technology off a mount, or throw it in the trash, the Q Crewmaster should concluding for the foreseeable future.

Should you purchase it?

Aye. If you like the design, you won't be disappointed. The Q Crewmaster sentry looks superb, it operates without issue, and the app is 1 of the best out there. The only thing nosotros'll say is if large watches don't always suit yous, then become to a Fossil store and try one on first. This isn't a minor lightweight spotter, so trying it on, similar y'all would whatsoever fit-sensitive item, is a must.

The Q Crewmaster is a perfect alloy of smartness and cool traditional watch style, with the added benefit of tracking your activeness during the mean solar day. It's not for fitness freaks or hardcore tech fans, it's for the people who fall in the territory between them — and that's probably the majority of us.

Editors' Recommendations

• Fitbit recalls Ionic smartwatch after several burn down reports
• The all-time Samsung Galaxy Spotter 4 Classic screen protectors
• Tag Heuer reinvents its luxury smartwatch with two stunning models
• What you lot can (and can't) do on your Apple Lookout without your iPhone
• Garmin's new D2 Air X10 adds vocalization controls for $550

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Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/smartwatch-reviews/fossil-q-crewmaster-hybrid-review/

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