Swatch Gets Touchy Feely

Why wear a certain touch screen mp3 player on your wrist when you can slap on a reliable Swatch?  The Swatch Touch is a new line featuring, you guessed it, the ubiquitous touch screen!  All physical buttons have been removed, giving the watch face a sleek new profile.  The wearer just needs to now swipe the screen to access the alarm clock, timer, date, chronograph, and two time zones.  Three on screen buttons allow for adjustments and settings to each screen, and holding the screen will activate the back light. Like most other Swatch watches, the Touch line comes in various bright colors (purple, pink, turquoise), as well as the standard unisex white, black, and camo.  All colors feature the same functions and digital number design.  They are available now and retail for $140.

Kisai Stencil LCD Watch

Wrist watches nowadays are being worn more for their form than for their function. It is now primarily being used as a fashion statement of sorts, the cooler the watch looks, the better. And the people at Tokyo Flash know this with their many interesting versions for wrist watches like the Kisai Stencil LCD Watch. The Kisai Stencil LCD Watch is one of those wrist watches that do not look like any typical wrist watch in terms of telling the time. Looking at it for the first time will make reading time on the watch a complicated matter, just like in the typical Tokyo Flash fashion. But once you get the hang of it, telling time on the Kisai Stencil LCD Watch is actually just simple. The LCD display on the Kisai Stencil Watch has a choice of five different colors. And just like any other wrist watch, it also displays time, date and also has an alarm mode. The Kisai Stencil LCD Watch is available at Tokyo Flash for US$139.

Record Your Underwater Adventures with the Pyle Snorkeling Master Watch

Pyle is introducing a new item in their sports gear line – the Snorkeling Master Watch.  This watch is water-resistant to 10 atmospheres (330 feet), and it has a selectable sea or lake diving setting.  It measures your dive depth (up to 328 feet) with a resolution of 0.1 feet and water temperature (range of 14°F to 140°F) with an accuracy of 1 degree, and it displays this data onscreen with the dive duration.  It has an electro-luminescent backlight and a dive alarm that activates when emerging faster than 6m per minute.  The Snorkeling Master also keeps a log of your 100 most recent dives with the time and date, dive duration, maximum dive depth, minimum water temperature, and dive site indication.  The Snorkeling Master is available in green, black, or red for $215.99 or orange for $222.99.

Kisai Stencil LCD Watch from Tokyoflash Japan

The Kisai Stencil LCD Watch was originally a concept submitted by Heather Sable, a math teacher and fan of Tokyoflash Japan watches from the USA.  The Stencil shows time with the “negative space” on the LCD screen.  The display is always on, and there's an electroluminescent backlight for night use.  The Stencil displays the time and date and has an alarm mode.  The case is stainless steel and measures 1.3″ X 1.85″ X 0.4″ thick.  The leather watch band is available in either black or white and fits wrists between 4″ and 8.26″.  The LCDs are available in either mirror or green, blue, pink, and red colors.  The Stencil is even water-resistant to 3 atmospheres.  The Kisai Stencil will sell for $139, but Tokyoflash Japan is having an introductory price of $99.  The introductory price ends at February 23rd at 11:30am (Japan time).  The above watches show 06:57 (left), 02:04 (middle), and 05:44 (right).

Memento Makes Pocket Watches Fashionable Again

I love pocket watches. I used to carry one back before cellphones were a common pocket item. Although I haven't carried a pocket watch or worn a wrist watch in years, I still like to look at them. The Memento Pocket Watch caught my eye because the case is made of wood. You can choose from sandal wood or maple. Each shell will be different due to the unique grain in the wood. These watches are made in Hong Kong and can be ordered for $125 each.

Tudor Pelagos Dive Watch

Dive watches become more than just attractive timepieces that people wear, they also have a more functional feature that divers actually need when going underwater. And it is for these features that such watches really get their value. One of the newest ones to come out, the Tudor Pelagos Dive Watch, even self-adjusts its strap for divers that may experience some compression when going underwater. The Tudor Pelagos Dive Watch is built for divers and designed for the tough conditions deep underwater. It also comes with a special mechanism on its clasp that allows it to tighten the deeper a diver goes underwater. This is to ensure that the dive watch still comfortably fits into the diver's wrist even after the body goes through forces deep underwater that causes the body to compress. The Tudor Dive Watch has a touch casing and clasp that is made entirely of titanium. It also comes equipped with a helium valve that helps the watch to absorb variations of pressure. It also can withstand water pressure for up to 500 meters or 1640 feet. The titanium clad Tudor Pelagos is obviously not for any casual wrist watch wearer as it costs US$4,400 to own.

Amplicom TCL 200 Digital Alarm Clock with Wireless Vibrating Pad Review

Once upon a time, a locomotive train ran through my son's bedroom and he didn't wake up.  Well, maybe not.  But if a train ever did run through his room he wouldn't wake up.  Perhaps you have a family member who would fall into that category because they sleep so hard.  We have tried a dozen different types of clocks, including those that speak to you to wake you up, in hopes of finding a clock that would actually wake him up every morning.  Nothing has worked. He simply doesn't hear them, yet it wakes the whole house up.  So it was with great anticipation that I agreed to review the TCL 200 Digital Alarm Clock with Wireless Vibrating Pad from Amplicom because of a few key features that might, just might, be able to wake the sleeping giant.  Did the Amplicom work?  Did my son finally make it to school on time?  Let's find out! Features and Hardware Before I tell you the results of our tests, let me go over the features of the clock and show you some pictures.  The clock comes with a power charger, a phone cord, a user guide (yes, can you believe it?), a wireless vibration pad (more on that soon) and a cable that connects from the vibration pad to the clock for charging. The clock also runs on batteries (door on the bottom of the clock) in the event that the power goes out. It has a bunch of buttons on the front and even more on the back, and I honestly had to read the user guide to figure out some of the functions.  I guess you could consider that a pro or a con, but it's a pro for me because I like User Guides.  For this clock you need to hold onto the manual because in 6 months when you need to figure out how to do something, you are gonna need it. On the back is where most of the action is, so let's talk about some of these buttons. At the bottom is where you plug in the power cord, the charging wire for the wireless vibration pad, and the phone cord.  If you connect the clock to a phone jack in the wall then when the phone rings in the house the clock will act as an amplifier. This could be good, I suppose, for a person who was hard of hearing and needed to know when the phone was ringing.  On the back you also get to adjust the dimmer setting, the snooze duration, the volume of the alarm, the pitch of the alarm, and which signal (out of 5) that you want for your alarm.  The alarm signals range from just a constant beep to a series of beeps, to longer tones, etc.  It really is a personal preference as to which one you choose.  You also get to choose if you want the alarm to make a sound, just vibrate, or both.  With one of the switches on the back you also get to decide if you want the display on the clock face to flash when the alarm goes off, to add to the probability that the person will get  up.  And a nice touch is that you can set 2 different alarms and each one can be set to go off every day of the week, just on the weekend, or just M-F. On top is the snooze button and on the right side is a really big knob that turns the alarm off and on.  One of my biggest gripes with alarm clocks in general is that the on-off buttons are small, and on most clocks the labels on the buttons are hard to read.  Not so on this clock.  That on-off knob on the side is not only clearly labeled, it is probably the biggest on-off switch I have ever seen. On the front are indicator lights to tell you which of the 2 alarms are active and if the M-F setting is active.  On the front you will also find the buttons for setting the time on the clock and setting the alarm settings that you prefer.  Also, an interesting feature of the clock is that you can set the time to be announced in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. The 2 main reasons why I wanted to try this clock were the sound level and the vibration pad.  The alarm volume on this clock can be adjusted up to 90 dB.  How loud is that? Loud.  I have read online that 90 dB is the equivalent of a police whistle, a lawnmower, a power drill, or a circular saw. Needless to say, this clock is loud.  The vibration pad is round and semi-flat with a non-slip grip on top and bottom. The on-off switch is on the front and the battery indicator light is located right above the switch.  It has an 800 mAh battery that is supposed to give you up to 80 hours of charge, and it charges by plugging it up to the back of the clock.  The best way to use it is to slip it inside the pillow cover so that it doesn't fall off the bed.  If you have the clock set to include vibration in the alarm and you have the vibration pad turned on, then when the alarm goes off the vibration pad will start vibrating. The vibration is similar to the vibration on your cellphone, only much stronger. Final Results So did my son make it to school on time?  Oh yes. We had hoped that the vibration pad would do the trick to cause him to wake up. But the truth is that he didn't need the pad to wake him up. This clock is so loud that it wakes him up without needing the vibration pad.  We finally found a clock loud enough to rouse him from his slumber.  Thank you Amplicom.  And even though I consider the price of this clock to be a little high for an alarm clock, it is a no brainer. If you need to get someone up in the morning, look no further than the Amplicom TCL 200.

The Suunto Ambit

Suunto has recently released a new high end outdoor/exploring/training watch….The Ambit. Similar in many ways to the Suunto Elementum Terra All-Black I reviewed last year. But with much more functionality for 50-60% the cost…. The Suunto Ambit Black (HR) package includes Suunto Ambit Black (available in white as well), Suunto ANT Comfort Belt, USB power cable, and Quick Guide. SPECIALIZED OUTDOOR FUNCTIONS Full-featured GPS with Waypoint navigation Unique 3D compass Accurate barometric altitude Barometer Temperature ADVANCED TRAINING FUNCTIONS Highly responsive pace and speed (FusedSpeed™) with accelerometer integrated GPS Accurate vertical speed with barometric altimeter Advanced heart rate monitoring with Peak Training Effect and Recovery Time Online sports diary with planning & analysis tools in Movescount.com Compatible with Suunto Bike and Cadence PODs MOUNTAIN & EVERYDAY EXPLORATION Robust BuiltToLast -casing Enhanced battery lifetime 100 m / 328 ft water resistant (ISO 2281) Upgradeable with new functionalities through Movescount.com

Seiko Astron, the World's First Solar GPS Watch

In 1969, Seiko introduced the first quartz watch, and now they are introducing the world's first solar GPS watch.  Using their own, patented, low-energy-consumption GPS receiver, the Astron is able to recognize all 39 time zones around the world to identify time zone and set the time and date data using the global network of GPS satellites.  The Astron receives the time signal once a day, and it can connect to at least four GPS satellites on command to determine the time zone and the exact time.  There are five models in the Astron line: three in “high-intensity titanium, which is stronger than stainless steel but has only 60% of its weight, and two in stainless steel. All have ceramic bezels, the same functions and high specifications, including a dual time sub-dial, in-flight mode indicator and sapphire crystal with Super-Clear Coating.”  All have ceramic faces and all have the same functions, and they're solar-powered so you don't need to worry with batteries.  The Astron will be available in Autumn 2012; no price information is available yet.

Jedi Training Ball Alarm Clock – Use the Force Luke

Mmmm young Padawans,  shoot sparks to wake you up in the morning this Wesco Star Wars Jedi Training Ball Alarm Clock will not. But Force push umm…. throw it you must for the alarm to turn off. Available for preorder (expected delivery April/May) from Frontline Hobbies Australia for $29.99AU (approx $32US ).

Track and Analyze Your Run with the runtastic GPS Watch

The GPS Watch from runtastic records important parameters from your run: pace, laps, calories, distance, target HR zones, speed, duration, time, elevation and heart rate.  After the run, connect the watch to your computer with the included USB cable to transfer your data to your profile at runtastic's website to analyze your metrics.  The watch display is customizable, and it has a compass and navigation function.  The battery lasts about 14 hours on a charge with GPS.  The runtastic GPS Watch costs €149.99; unfortunately, runtastic seems to ship only in Europe.

SleepTracker Elite Review

SleepTracker Elite is the wear-at-night wristwatch that can monitor your sleep movements and help you ascertain how well or poorly you're sleeping at night.  Time Magazine calls it the Invention of the Year.  I call it an interesting way to figure out why I'm such a grouch in the morning.  Simply put, it's a wrist watch that monitors your sleep patterns and sleep movements and then analyzes those patterns in a software program that shows you your progress.  I was selected to give one a try when SleepTracker offered a review unit to The Gadgeteer. When you sleep, your body goes through various sleep cycles during the night with the average human typically going through four or five. SleepTracker's theory is that if you are woken up during a “light stage” of sleep as opposed to another, deeper stage of sleep, you will wake up more refreshed and feel better.  Instead of waking up when your alarm clocks says you should wake up, the SleepTracker, when worn as a wristwatch at night, will wake you up when you are in a lighter stage of sleep. You can set the time you go to bed, you set the time you want to wake up and set the time to tell the watch when the lightest sleep stage is in accordance to your alarm time to then go off and wake you up. This watch has two alarms, a beep and a vibrate and they can be used together.  The beeping alarm woke me up.  The vibrate did not. SleepTracker also monitors the number of sleep interruptions you experience each night, even if you are unaware of those interruptions.   Those interruptions could be from anything.  If you sleep with your dog or your cat (or both in my case), any movement from the animal will cause you to move from one stage of sleep to another and will register as a sleep interruption.  For instance, the first night I used Sleeptracker, I had 21 (!) instances of sleep interruption. Using an accelerometer, SleepTracker monitors and tracks the slightest physical signs from your body, and tracks that progress to determine your deepest sleep moments and your lightest.   Your lightest moments are when you really want to wake up because you'll wake up feeling better and easier. Using the data that the watch collects, you download it to the SleepTracker software on your computer, and it analyzes your night's sleep and then gives you the number of interruptions, how long they lasted, as well as your total sleep time and a score that places your sleep progress. Setting the watch for your sleep times, alarm times and the actual time and date is extremely easy.  And if you happen to go past your “To Bed” time, it's simple to change it.  Trust me, I'm clumsy in the “Set the Watch” department and I can set SleepTracker. Until SleepTracker, I thought I was doing OK in the sleep department.  My favorite hobby is sleeping with weekend daytime naps something I work hard at.  I always seem to wake up more refreshed and less grumpy from a nap than overnight sleep.  I have three animals and a husband with sleep apnea, so I was pretty interested in seeing what kind of sleep I was getting with the SleepTracker. My first SleepTracker score was 95, which is pretty awesome.  But for the next two days, it went steadily downward. I am prone to migraines so I took Advil PM the next night thinking….ok, it will take care of my headache and I'll be down for the count all night.   I was down for the count, but the next morning I woke up groggy and grumpy.  The upshot was that I had no headache, but my SleepTracker data on Day 3  read that I'd gone from a 95 to an 82.  Being unconscious doesn't necessarily mean you're getting the sleep you need.  In some cases, it just means you're unconscious. The data also records your uninterrupted sleep moments, and you can go back and view the data to determine when those moments occurred.  Some I remembered, such as when the dog decided to jump off the bed and go bark at something unseen in the dark… most likely dust.  Or when my cat jumped on me for reasons I still have yet to determine.  (My cat likes to sleep ON me.  Not near me, ON me.  Usually on my hip as I'm a side sleeper and makes a nice comfy nest out of the blankets in the curve of my hip.  Like I'm a log in the woods.  Or a piece of driftwood.  Or a living room chair. Only warmer.) I used to be a “Sleep With the Televison On” kind of person.  I like something playing in the background when I'm working, and even when napping during the day.  Napping during football (my husband stays awake for this) in the autumn and lacrosse during the spring has never been an issue, but television at night has become a problem, and it's showing in the SleepTracker data as well which I found interesting. This is what the data graph will look like for your SleepTracker data. My husband, who uses a C-PAP at night, does not experience the things I do at night.  He hears basically nothing because of the machine, and the animals don't go near him on the bed. They've learned the painful consequences.  It's me they bug because they know I'm a great big pushover.  Our youngest cat starts annoying me around 5:00 am because that's when she wants to be fed.  She should know she has to wait until 7 am because that's when I feed both cats and our dog.  She knows this but that doesn't stop her from her shenanigans until I get so fed up, I get up and feed them all just to shut them up and let me sleep.  Surprisingly, it's all showing up in the SleepTracker data. Our Pembroke Welsh Corgi loves to sleep snuggled between my husband and me, but anyone who knows anything about Corgis knows they're heavy shedders because they have a thick undercoat.  So while Gipper likes the whole “Snuggle with my Humans” thing, he gets overheated and starts this annoying raspy panting…usually in my ear and usually when I'm just drifting off to sleep.  Is it in the SleepTracker data?  Oh yeah. For further testing, I let my husband wear the device.  Day 1 he got a 100 score.  That's a perfect score.  That means he's getting the sleep he needs to get. As for comfort, I'm the wrong person to ask. I didn't like wearing SleepTracker.  I found it to be bulky, I didn't like the plastic against my skin, I knocked it against things (not that it hurt it, it's even waterproof!) and ended up latching it to my belt loop which I can't do at night or (of course) it will not record data. But I am not a watch wearer.  I don't wear wrist watches of any kind.  I haven't worn one in years.  Even as a teen, I never wore a watch, I've always worn a antique pendant watch pinned to my blouse or something. I also wear very little jewelry on my wrist or hands save for my wedding ring so again, the comfort of SleepTracker is probably more of a “me” thing. People who wear watches probably won't have a problem with it. Cool watch...I just didn't like wearing it. Turning off the alarm when it went off in the morning proved problematic at least for me.  I kept pressing every button but the one that shut it off.  Again, I think that is a “me” thing.  I'm not used to being woken by a watch on my wrist with an alarm going off.  The watch does feature a very nice glow light for reading it in the dark. For beginners, it's a cool watch.  It's got an alarm and keeps time, date and alarm info.  Second, we don't always sleep as well as we should or could.  We have all had instances in our lives when getting a good night's sleep was imperative, and SleepTracker will help you wake up during your best cycle so you can be at your best.  For travelers, it's even better.  I've got three co-workers who travel to Europe frequently and are interested in what it can do. The price isn't bad either. And Another Thing: SleepTracker's Customer Service rocks.  By and large, I hate reporting glitches to a product's Customer Service department because they pretty much don't care.  Not so here.  When I had questions and issues with the product, I got an weekend email from Lee Loree, the owner of SleepTracker!   This is a company that believes in their product, believes in their customers, and if their customers are going to pay for their product, they're going to make sure everyone gets what they need.  I can dig it. It's an open door policy at SleepTracker and these days, they're the exception to the rule when they should be the rule.

Bulgari crafts sophisticated Octo Maserati watch

There's no lack of choices in timepieces for automotive enthusiasts, but unfortunately most of them come down to simply slapping an automaker's name or logo (or that of a racing series or driver) on an existing timepiece and calling it a day. That, however, is not the route Maserati has gone with its new timepiece. In fact, you'd have to turn this watch over to see the Trident logo on the casebook. Instead, Bulgari has opted to let the design and the mechanical precision it encases speak to the same themes it shares with its new automotive partner. The Octo Maserati watch is built around the highly sophisticated Calibre GG7800 automatic chronograph movement which Bulgari crafts itself at the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Bulgari in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Rather than displaying its time through the ordinary combination of hands sweeping around the dial, the Octo watch places a jumping hour window at the 12 o'clock position and retrograde displays for the minutes, date and chronograph counters. The 45-jewel movement is backed by a 38-hour power reserve and encased in a 45-millimeter brushed steel case with scratch-resistant, anti-glare sapphire crystal front and back. The blue-lacquered dial is designed to recall a Maserati's grille, and the piece is affixed to the wrist by a blue calfskin strap with butterfly clasp. We dare not ask what a timepiece like this will sell for, but trust that it will be sufficiently Maserati-like in its sticker.

Ferrari contracts Movado for new line of watches

Having trouble keeping track of which watchmaker is producing timepieces for Ferrari these days? It can get a little confusing. Girard-Perregaux held the license for many years, after which a lackluster partnership was formed with Panerai. Then Cabestan was contracted to make one very fancy-looking watch for the Prancing Horse marque, before Hublot got the nod. And that's not including the more affordable watches marketed less to Ferrari owners than to the Scuderia's tifosi. Now, Maranello has formed another partnership with a different watchmaker. That watchmaker is Movado, the Swiss firm best know for creating elegant and simply styled timepieces that look just as much at home in a museum showcase as they do on a wearer's wrist. Movado also makes watches under the Ebel, Concord, ESQ, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture and Lacoste labels, and will now be adding Ferrari to its roster of brands. The collection is set to draw its inspiration from Ferrari's road and racing cars, and is set to be launched next year at the Watch & Jewelry Fair in Basel, Switzerland, after which they will go on sale at Ferrari stores around the world and online with prices peaking at 1,500 euros (around $2,000).

Garmin Approach S3 Golf Watch

If you think the game of golf could not get any techie-er, Garmin introduces a GPS-enabled wristwatch for golfers. The Garmin Approach S3, an upgrade to its Approach S1, now comes with a touch screen and provides assistance to over 27,000 golf courses all over the world. Sure, it will not help improve your swing, but this watch provides you with important knowledge on certain courses such as layup distances, green overviews, and precise yardage. This waterproof device runs effortlessly for eight hours until its battery juice drains out. The Garmin Approach S3 golf watch is available this month on authorized retail outlets for a suggested retail price of $350. It will be available in white with red trim and black with gray trim.