Citizen CZ Smartwatch with YouQ wellness app featuring IBM Watson® AI and NASA research, black and white customizable display, Bluetooth, HR, Activity Tracker, 18-day battery life, iPhone® and Android™ Compatible

The hybrid is awesome
So this is a review for the hybrid watch, not the touchscreen watch. The difference (which really isn’t spelled out anywhere very well) is that the hybrid has buttons and actual hands that tell the time. There is a LCD screen under the hands that give the smart watch functions. Also, it is only splash resistant, not water resistant. That said, I think this watch is amazing. 18 day battery life? yes please. Vibration notifications, thank you. Doubletap screen to turn on light? yup…discovered that by accident. Easy to navigate? very much so. The buttons make it very easy. Middle button to go to functions, top or bottom to rotate pointer, then middle button again to select. One user didn’t like how small the notifications were on his watch…well, there is an option to increase the font size. Turned that on, and no problem reading them. And the watch is dead sexy. Does it look like a smart watch? nope. I got the brown leather band, the black metal body…and it is gorgeous. I can change the screen underneath to a dozen presets, or build my own with the app. I’m very curious as to how the YouQ feature works. There are two apps to load for this watch. The first is to manage the watch, the second is to manage the YouQ fitness aspect. Both installed easy (do the Citizen Connected app first, then the CZ Smart YouQ) and the watch connected fine the first try. If you are looking for a well built watch that gives you a lot of smart watch features but still looks amazing and also has the best battery life, then the hybrid is for you.

Pretty Smart Smartwatch
My primary purpose for a smartwatch is to monitor my heart rate after I received a pacemaker. I also wanted a watch that I could tell the time without having to shake my hand or press a button (something I thought was a dumb idea from the advent of digital timekeeping!) This hybrid watch from Citizen meets my needs and has far more capability than I need (or want!). It will track steps (good), various activities (ok), give me text notifications (not used), receive phone calls (from my smartphone (not used), stopwatch and timer (good) and track sleep (ok) and blood oxygen levels (close, but not 100% accurately. It has great battery life (still 53% after 10 days), however I use just minimum functionality (steps HR and health).Things I wish the watch could do: 1) Provide a customized watch face beyond 2 displays; if you try to use 3 items, you get an activity display or day/date available on only 1 face. 2) Provide a choice to use a button to light the watch face. (Currently not available.) You have to tap the watch face to get it to light up and that is hit or miss. You may have to tap for a while and when the light does come on, it barely is on long enough to see the time much less one of the things you want to track. As far as water resistance, swimming and hot tubs are out.Bottom line: it’s a good watch for my needs, it’s not an Apple Watch . Using more functions will lower battery life. I believe in a few years, hybrid watches will improve is the areas that are marginal now, and I will upgrade most likely. Until then, its a good watch worth the money.

A Good Start
I really want to like this watch a lot more, but it does have a couple of drawbacks that push it from a five star down to a three star rating. The first is that in spite of Citizen’s reputation for making a quality watch, I can’t believe they can’t come up with a waterproof watch in the 21st century, when other watch makers, making much cheaper watches have been doing it for decades. Having to worry about getting it a bit wet when working, or washing up is ridiculous.Also, the interface between the watch and their app is pitiful. Unless I keep the app open constantly on my phone, the app and the watch can’t seem to keep a connection using bluetooth. I constantly have to cycle bluetooth on my phone, and try several times to sync the watch before I get a good connection. This is in spite of several software updates.Fix those two issues, and this watch would certainly rate five stars.

My husband’s favorite Christmas gift
My husband has owned several smart watches in the past but this is his favorite. It looks like a handsome traditional watch, not sporty, which he likes. It was his favorite Christmas gift this year.