The WS-B1000 is one such watch, though it keeps things very simple. There’s no optical heart rate monitor, OLED display, fancy health sensors, contactless payments, or LTE connectivity. This device has Bluetooth to connect with your phone, an accelerometer to track steps, your classic stopwatch and timer functions, alarms, move reminders, and an LCD screen with a backlight button. In other words, just enough smarts to count as a fitness tracker — but barely.
A few years ago, that feature set probably wouldn’t have appealed to me. But these days, I’m at a point in my fitness journey where I’m recovering from mental and physical burnout from prolonged overtraining. It is a frustratingly long process, and to my surprise, the thing that’s kept me going are devices and apps that prioritize rest and simplicity over “going hard.” Many current smartwatches hurl active minutes, standing goals, calorie burn goals, and other targets at you — so many goals for you to hit daily that it can be overwhelming. So the fact that the WS-B1000 can only track steps or work as a stopwatch? That’s a plus.