The Withings Pulse O2 is one of the many health-centric products from the Withings family. Though not as stylish as some of its brothers in the Withings line of trackers, it has its own unique edgy appeal with multifunctionality and customization options. Though not necessarily as thorough or accurate as some of its competition, the Withings Pulse O2 has many features that users are sure to enjoy.

The Withings Pulse O2 is an athletic-looking tracker made of a black tracker that can be slipped into a pocket, connected to a wristband, or snapped into a clip that attaches to clothing. The large, OLED touch screen display is backlit with bright blue, easy to read numbers. The band is only offered in blue and black rubber, but thankfully these colors are fairly neutral choices that will fit with most any outfit. The band itself has a watch-like clasp and is fairly athletic and utilitarian looking; however, its modern, chunky look almost seems unpolished. Thankfully, Withings also offers an Italian calf leather band as a separate accessory purchase that can add a bit of sophistication. The tracker also comes with a clip attachment in the same color as the band you choose. Additional clip colors that can be purchased separately as an accessory include orange, green, and blue. All in all, it feels and looks alright, but it would have been better if Withings provided all options as upfront purchase choices instead of making them additional purchases that leave you with extra bands and clips laying around.

The tracker itself is small and black with a single button on the top that is pressed to flip through screens, such as current amount of steps taken, elevation, and day/night mode triggering. You are able to use the touchscreen to swipe through past days’ metrics and select day and night modes. We occasionally had difficulties with the screen recognizing swipes, but overall it was decently responsive. When removed, the tracker has a small area where you can check your heart rate. The tracker is easy to remove and replace, never feeling too loose or too tight in the clasp.

The first thing worth noting is that the Withings Pulse O2 has a microUSB charging port, which is a refreshing change from the often expensive to replace proprietary cables of other brands. Its two week battery life is impressive, and its able to track an industry-expected range of metrics: steps taken, elevation climbed, approximate calories burned, run duration and distance, and heart rate. It also has sleep tracking when worn on the wristband at night.

The Withings Pulse O2 is one of the more affordable trackers that offers heart rate monitoring; however, it isn’t a continual heart rate monitor. You have to slide the tracker itself out to find the heart rate monitor on the backside, so it cannot be used to track your heart rate during runs. We also found that it was inconsistent at times, as it would read 110 BPM and then 75 BPM within moments of each other. The Pulse O2 also boasts a blood oxygen monitor (hence its name), but it’s mostly a feature that sounds nice on paper without being particularly useful to most people.

While it seems the Withings Pulse O2 isn’t particularly strong in any of its features, one thing is certain: the tracker is an essential part of any Withings household. With one central app that we’ll touch on later, the strength of the Withings line is that it all its products sync to the one Withings Health Mate app. From blood pressure monitors to scales to an incredibly comprehensive sleep monitoring system and more, Withings provides a wide range of household products designed to monitor, track, and encourage a healthier lifestyle all in one app, like a more comprehensive Fitbit tracker + Aria combo. When you combine all possible elements tracked in the Withings family, the need for ultra-meticulous metrics lessens since a wider net is being cast, and you find yourself with a smart house system catered to your health needs.

The Withings Heath Mate app is very detailed and easy to navigate. An iPhone or Android smartphone is required to set up your initial account, but after that you are able to access your information through the Withings site. It has many features comparable to its competition, such as competition with friends and unlockable badges, light versus deep sleep mapping, and goal setting and percentages completed. A graphic with four butterfly wing segments shows your progression through goals, which is great way to get an idea of your progress at a glance.  The more detailed graphs are aesthetically pleasing and easy to comprehend. Overall, the app is very clean and organized, with its details becoming more and more with time and additional Withings products.

Steps taken are synced up with a low-energy Bluetooth connection that barely impacts your phone’s battery life. Unlike other trackers, Withings does not pretend like it can provide a comprehensive food database for calorie logging. While a lack of a native food database may sound like a drawback, it is actually really nice to not have the extra storage dedicated on our phones to a feature we would never use, as no fitness band app has yet to step up to the dinner plate on comprehensive caloric information. Instead, Withings has partnered up with over 100 third-party applications such as MyFitnessPal, RunTracker, and MapMyFitness to let users not only choose what features are important to them, but to do so in a way that guarantees their utmost satisfaction.

Additionally, Withings Health Mate has a daily report function with advice personalized to your individual efforts. These Withings Insights are based on goals achieved or failed and help motivate users to their end goals, providing a friendly reminder to stay the course with small changes to daily routines.

Although the Withings Pulse O2 is not the most attractive, nor the most accurate or comprehensive tracker on the market, there is definitely appeal in it as a fitness band. The extensive support for third party applications lends the Withings Pulse O2 tracker to an easy-to-customize experience, making it accessible to both those just starting out with fitness tracking and more advanced users alike. The easy transition from band to clip-on to pocket drop usage and its integration into the Withings Health Mate ecosystem gives the Pulse O2 a unique edge. Overall, the Pulse O2 is perfect for anyone who loves the idea of a futuristic smart house and doesn’t mind putting in a bit of effort - or even money - to make their tracker more tailored to their health and fitness efforts.