Basis Carbon Steel Edition: A Wearable That's Actually Wearable

What's This?

The Basis Carbon Steel Edition is a strong fitness wristband tracker, but it's not exactly easy on the eyes.

Image: Brian Heater/Mashable

By Brian Heater2014-04-11 02:40:38 UTC

In the last year alone, the question has shifted from whether we’ll be wearing wearables in the near future to which one is our favorite and what we want to try next. In fact, thanks to the proliferation of fitness trackers from the likes of Jawbone and FitBit, it's only a matter of time before we start mentioning sleep and heart-rate information in casual conversation. So, for the sake of introductions, my name is Brian. I got two hours of REM sleep the other night, and my standing heart rate is 57.

I can also give you some information on how much I sweat, how many times I woke up in the middle of the night and precisely how warm my skin gets when I’m riding my bike to the grocery store — but, then, what would we talk about on our second date?

SEE ALSO: 3 Fitness Trackers That Make a Run at Recording Heart Rate

One of the early adopters in the fitness tracking space is Basis, with its original B1 Band (introduced in late 2012). The product earned a name for itself for the thoroughness of the data it collects. Not only does it track footsteps and calories, the fitness watch gathers an impressive level of detail about what’s going on with your body when you’re sitting, walking, running, biking and sleeping — and that information has only grown in detail through subsequent software updates.

Back view of the Basis Carbon Steel Edition.

Image: Brian Heater/Mashable

In January, the company announced more updates to the watch’s capabilities, mostly pertaining to how well it watches you sleep. Along with those upgrades came a fancy new version of the watch, the $200 Basis Carbon Steel Edition, which, like the recently refreshed Pebble smartwatch, takes a moment to focus on aesthetic and wearability — elements that weren’t really given enough love in the first go-round. With that in mind, let’s kick this off by talking looks.

Wearability above all

We’re still in the relatively early days of the wearable explosion and making wearables that are actually, you know, "wear-able," hasn’t really been a primary focus of a lot of manufacturers. Look at Samsung’s first-generation Galaxy Gear. In its rush to build the smartwatch’s brains, Samsung seemingly forgot that it was building a watch. The original Basis Band had similar issues, and the company fielded a lot of concerns from users about bulk and discomfort — both things that should be a chief concern when building a piece of hardware you’re meant to wear all day and all night.

Full disclosure: I honestly can’t remember the last time I wore a watch with any regularity. Like many out there, my obsessive compulsive need to check the time has been almost exclusively addressed by the phone I’ve got in my pockets at all time. So, when I first unboxed the Basis, I was a bit taken aback by the size of the thing. True, the company has gone a ways toward making the product more comfortable, slimming its profile a bit and making a much more flexible wristband, but the wearable is still considerably larger than the dumb watches most of us are used to wearing. Think about those old Casio G-Shocks and you’re in the right ballpark.

It fits pretty comfortably, though, once you actually get it on. Granted, the strap still could be a bit more flexible, but that’ll likely come with wear and tear. After wearing it for a few hours, however, I found myself having to take it off to give my wrist a rest — though that’s a perfect opportunity to charge the watch up, seeing as how you’re going to be wearing the thing to sleep.

Speaking of which, it may as well had been the first time I’ve intentionally worn a watch to sleep, but in spite of the device’s size, it wasn’t too awkward an experience — it certainly beats slipping on one of those Zeo tracker headbands. It also does a pretty good job of knowing exactly when you’re boarding that express train to slumberland.

As for the look of the device, Basis still has a ways to go before one can, in good conscience, call the product “stylish.” The face of the watch hasn’t changed much. The monochrome display is a diminutive 30 millimeters, making it tough to check when you’re running — though, maybe it’s best to focus on running when you’re running. As with the B1, the face is mostly bezel — this is due in part that Basis opted to utilize a four-touch pin near the corners of the display, rather than including a touchscreen.

The result is a lot of toggling that’ll bring you back to the pre-smartwatch days. Checking your heart rate, for instance, requires you to tap one of the pins on the right side five times. The button on the upper left turns the backlighting on and off, while the one on the bottom left switches between the date and time. On the right side of the watch is a single, thin menu button. Tap that and use the pin to sync the device and toggle through Bluetooth settings. There are four pins on the other side for charging, which requires you to slip the watch into a somewhat flimsy plastic cradle.

On the back is a small eye that glows green when in use. This is surrounded by six more metal points. All of these rest against your skin when in use, collecting information on your heart beat, blood floor, skin temperature and sweat output (did we mention that the device is, thankfully water resistant?).

I got some comments from folks I know while wearing it out. It’s not flashy by any stretch, but it’s hard to miss. No one found it particularly objectionable, but many asked what it did before I even had a chance to say anything, which is to say, it’s pretty clear that the Basis isn't just a regular old digital wristwatch at first glance.

What the watch watches

After wearing the Basis around, I have to say, I’m pretty impressed by what it knows about me. You’ll only get the basics on the watch’s display — which is not surprising, given the limited real estate there. Toggling through, you can find out the amount of calories you’re burning, your current heart rate and the distance you’ve run, biked and walked during the day. And indeed, the watch does a good job distinguishing all of those activities.

Basis Interface

A look at the data.

If you want more information, you’ll need to sync it to your Android or iOS device. The free app has a simple, clean layout, breaking up the amount of time you’ve performed each activity, along with the specific times of day. Tap into one of those and you can get a more detailed break down of how many calories while exercising and how you slept last night. The latter is particularly interesting, letting you know what percentage of your sleep was light, deep and REM, and how many times you tossed and turned and woke up altogether. Apparently I had 38 toss/turns and got up twice. Clearly, I was too excited to review the basis to actually sleep.

The app also offers Habits — small goals in pursuit of bettering yourself, from running and walking more to getting more sleep time. “Don’t be a sitter” seemed as good a first goal as any — like most of you desk jockeys out there, I could stand to stand a bit more between 9 and 5 on weekdays. You can set the specific amounts of time, and the app will let you know how you’re doing on a daily basis. And once you’ve unlocked that goal, the app lets you set others.

When you need even more information, you can log into Basis' web portal. Here things get super, super detailed. Ever wanted to know, say, just how sweaty you get while biking? Honestly, I can’t say I ever have, but it could perhaps be good information to share with your doctor — though, as the company warns on its site, the watch isn’t intended to be a replacement for actual medical monitoring equipment.

What to wear?

In the time I’ve spent wearing it, I can’t honestly say I’ve forgotten that I’ve had the watch on, but the update to the device does make it much easier to wear — and that’s well worth the extra $20 this device runs over its recently discounted predecessor. At $200, the Carbon Steel Edition falls somewhere between the FitBit Flex ($100) and the Pebble Steel ($250). It’s also somewhere between the two in terms of functionality.

You can’t really call it a smartwatch, seeing as how you won’t be checking your driving directions or email messages, but the small display does bring functionality lacking in fitness bands, letting you check the time (hence the “watch” part) and monitor your activity in real-time (well, with a delay of a few seconds).The latter is great for those who need to micromanage such things, and may serve to push yourself harder as you attempt to hit those fitness goals.

And that’s really the whole point here: giving users the motivation they need to live a more active lifestyle. If you’re looking for something that’ll help you track that information, while remaining mostly out of the way, Jawbone and FitBit offer much more indiscreet solutions. What Basis does offer, however, is a constant motivation to keep pushing yourself.