Pebble Time Leaves Kickstarter Confines, Pre-orders Invade Best Buy

Pebble launched its Kickstarter campaign for the Time smartwatch in late February, and by late March the company raised over $20 million for the project. Although many questioned the need for Pebble to dip into the Kickstarter well again with the Time given that it is an established player in the smartwatch space, you can’t argue with the results.

For those that weren’t able to get in early and secure a pre-order for the Pebble Time before the Kickstarter campaign ended, the smartwatch is now up for pre-order at Best Buy. You can pre-order the smartwatch in black, red, and white at a cost of $199.99 each. Unfortunately, even if you pre-order the smartwatch today from Best Buy, it won’t arrive until July 20 at the earliest.

The $199 price tag pales in comparison to the price that early Kickstarter adopters were able to secure. Those that snuck in to grab Early Bird pricing paid “only” $159, but those slots sold out quickly. The next pricing tiers allowed early backers to purchase a set of two Pebble Time smartwatches for $338 ($169 each) or pay $179 for a single smartwatch.

The Pebble Time is 20 percent thinner than the original Pebble, includes a stainless steel bezel and a color e-paper display that is protected by Gorilla Glass. And unlike full-fledged smartwatches running Android Wear or watchOS that can at most last one or two days per charge, the Pebble Time features an integrated battery lasts one week per charge.

For those that want more a more premium smartwatch experience, there is also the Pebble Time Steel which features a CNC-finished 316L stainless steel casing that can be equipped with a metal link bracelet or leather strap (both styles are included in the box). Besides the more premium construction, the Pebble Time Steel also boosts runtime to 10 days.

Although the Pebble Time Steel was available for as low as $250 during the Kickstarter campaign, it will retail for $299 when official pre-orders commence.