Moto 360 Sport Review: A Smartwatch Fitness Tracking Hybrid
Summary and Conclusion
The Moto 360 Sport looks great, wears great, and integrates well with Android handsets. It's also sized right, has a built-in GPS, and is engineered to take a licking and keep on ticking. The issue, however, is that it falls short in some areas where it simply cannot afford to. A fitness-minded wearable should generally be "waterproof" and yet the Moto 360 Sport is simply water resistant, though it is IP67 resistant at shallow depths of up to 1 meter. Moreover, the Moto 360 Sport's 300mAh battery is too meager to handle the rigors of daily prolonged exercise. When the watch loses a quarter or more of its life after an hour-long run, you'll be sweating the battery life for the rest of the day. Competitive fitness tracking devices are capable of lasting nearly 10 hours with GPS active, and potentially multiple days without. The Moto 360 Sport has a long way to go on the longevity front, at least for fitness tracking purposes.
In a nutshell, the Moto 360 Sport isn't ideal for anyone. Those seeking pure style will be better off with the standard Moto 360 or the Huawei Watch. Those seeking a fitness tracker will be better off with something like the Microsoft Band 2 or a pure fitness tracker from Garmin or FitBit. There's also the option of the sport version of the Samsung Gear S2 for $249, which offers IP68 resistance up 300 meters and fitness tracking functionality. The core issue is that the Moto 360 Sport doesn't do any single thing better than the competition. And when it tries to offer fitness tracking utility it ends up offering worse battery life than many other smartwatches.
In a nutshell, the Moto 360 Sport isn't ideal for anyone. Those seeking pure style will be better off with the standard Moto 360 or the Huawei Watch. Those seeking a fitness tracker will be better off with something like the Microsoft Band 2 or a pure fitness tracker from Garmin or FitBit. There's also the option of the sport version of the Samsung Gear S2 for $249, which offers IP68 resistance up 300 meters and fitness tracking functionality. The core issue is that the Moto 360 Sport doesn't do any single thing better than the competition. And when it tries to offer fitness tracking utility it ends up offering worse battery life than many other smartwatches.
If the Moto 360 Sport were priced more like a fitness band, in the $100 to $200 range, it'd be a nice piece to consider over a conventional FitBit. But as it stands, the $300 price tag forces it into an upper tier of wearables where competition is fierce and expectations are elevated.
If the Moto 360 Sport were priced more like a fitness band, in the $100 to $200 range, it'd be a nice piece to consider over a conventional FitBit. But as it stands, the $300 price tag forces it into an upper tier of wearables where competition is fierce and expectations are elevated.
If the Moto 360 Sport were priced closer to a fitness band in the $100 to $200 range, it would be a nice piece to consider over a conventional FitBit. But as it stands, the $299 price tag forces it into a midrange tier of wearables where competition is fierce and expectations are elevated. The Moto 360 Sport tries hard to be both a smartwatch and a fitness tracker, but unfortunately doesn't particularly excel at being a fitness tracker at least. If you're not utilizing its GPS too often, it's a solid smartwatch with some additional functionality on board.
If the Moto 360 Sport were priced more like a fitness band, in the $100 to $200 range, it'd be a nice piece to consider over a conventional FitBit. But as it stands, the $300 price tag forces it into an upper tier of wearables where competition is fierce and expectations are elevated.
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