Review Withings Move ECG – affordable watch makes heart videos

The Withings Move ECG is a more expensive variant of the Move (75 euros), which is different on various points. For example, the ECG version has the option of making heart movies and, for example, uses a glass plate that is more scratch-resistant than the plastic finish of the Move.

The Withings Move ECG looks and wears like a regular analog watch. It has a plastic and metal casing and uses a comfortable rubber 18mm strap that gets dirty quickly. You can – if desired – replace the strap within ten seconds with another strap of this size. The watch has a convex glass plate that does not reflect (artificial) light as pleasantly. This in combination with the black dial and gray numbers made sure that I regularly had trouble checking the time at a glance. The model with the white face may look nicer.

On the time dial is a second, smaller dial that indicates how many steps you take each day. You set the goal yourself – Withings and experts guess between eight and ten thousand. The dial is accurate and has stripes per thousand.

According to Withings, the housing of the watch is water resistant to 5 ATM. You do not have to take the Move ECG off when you wash your hands or take a shower, but it is better not to wear it while swimming or snorkeling in fresh or salt water.

A smartwatch needs to be on the charger a few times a week. The Move ECG is less smart and you can tell by the battery life. Withings promises that the built-in battery will last for a year, which is comparable to a regular analog watch. After two weeks of use, I cannot of course say whether Withings’ claim is correct. I trust it because I used the comparable Withings Steel for this, the battery of which ran out after fourteen months.

If the Move ECG battery is used up after a while, your local watch shop will simply insert a new standard battery. If you are a bit handy, you can also do it yourself.

To use the Withings Move ECG, you must download the Health Mate app. It is free and available for Android and iOS. The app guides you through the installation process within a few minutes. If you do not have a Withings account yet, you need to create one. After installation, the watch remains connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth.

The Health Mate app is also required for other Withings wearables, so you may already know it. The home screen provides information about your day and uses your Move ECG’s statistics for this. This way you can immediately see how well (or bad) you slept last night, how many steps you took today and what the latest ECG measurement revealed. By clicking on these parts, you get more detailed information.

Via the app you can also calibrate the dials, update the watch and indicate on which wrist you wear the Move ECG. In addition, you can set a smart alarm so that the watch quietly wakes you up when you sleep lightly. If you usually get up at 7 a.m., the watch may start vibrating in the half hour before that, according to the measurements, that is a better time. I think this feature works great, but I can imagine that some people find the vibration too soft and prefer a sound alarm.

An important selling point of the Move ECG is that the watch can make an ECG. The abbreviation ECG stands for an electrocardiogram, or a snapshot of the timing and strength of the electrical signals that make your heart beat. Experts therefore also speak of a heart movie. With the data from an ECG you get an impression of your heartbeat and if you make ECGs more often, an image of your heart rhythm is created. This information is useful for doctors if you know that you have a heart condition. There are few watches with an ECG function.

Withings warns that the ECG function on the Move ECG cannot make a professional diagnosis. See the ECG option mainly to check yourself for atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat. In the event of a deviating heartbeat, the watch may suggest visiting a doctor. If you don’t have any heart problems as far as you know, the ECG function is still useful. Regularly checking your heart rhythm can reveal a defect early on, after which you can go to a doctor sooner. Conveniently, the app keeps track of the most important ECG statistics and immediately has a pdf ready for your doctor.

Personally, I – a 22-year-old without heart problems – have little interest in the ECG function. After regularly making ECGs for two weeks, I forgot the possibility. I consider that a positive thing, because the test function is not in the way, but is immediately accessible when you want to use it.

You start an ECG by pressing the crown on the right side of the watch once. Hold a finger on the crown and place your thumb on the left part of the metal border. The Move ECG now registers your heart rate for thirty seconds and counts down via the dial that normally shows your steps. After 30 seconds the watch vibrates to let you know that the ECG is made. In the app you see the result in the form of a ‘movie’ and additional information, for example whether your heart rate is different.

The measurement is very accurate. Are you not keeping your fingers in the right place? No measurement. Do you move your arm a little or do you talk during testing? No measurement. Is the watch not tight enough on your wrist? Then no result. Are you removing a finger too early or are you pressing too hard or too soft? You guessed it, not a measurement. Moreover, the ECG function only works if you have a normal heartbeat. He does not work during or just after exercise, and this usually also applies when you are just awake.

It is not strange that you can only make an ECG by sitting still for half a minute. The Apple Watch 4 and newer, for example, also has an ECG function and it works in the same way. However, such an Apple Watch also has a heart rate monitor that automatically records your heart rate every ten minutes. This way you get a good picture of your heartbeat during the day. Various other, more expensive smart watches also do this. The cheaper and less smart Withings Move cannot automatically record your heart rate.

Just like other Withings watches, the Move ECG can automatically track activities. From walking and running to climbing stairs and cycling: the statistics appear automatically in the app. At least on paper. In practice, the watch does not seem to capture all my movement because certain activities have to last at least ten minutes. I cycle from home to the train station and usually take just under minutes. That activity therefore does not appear in the app, except when I once stopped traffic and was congratulated on my ten-minute bike ride. Walking is always recorded, dancing and climbing stairs as well.

In general, the Move ECG recognizes well what activity I do and the statistics are accurate in terms of time. I think that certain activities should last at least ten minutes. A cloth for bleeding is that you can enter such movement manually in the app. That option is somewhat hidden in the app and wants to know, among other things, how intensively and for how long you moved. Chances are that you do not know that information exactly (anymore).

Are you going to exercise and you don’t want to rely on automatic activity recognition? Then start a workout by pressing the crown on the right side of the watch longer. After a vibration, the recognition is activated and the Move ECG keeps track of your route via connected GPS. When you have finished exercising, you press the crown longer.

The Withings Move ECG can also keep track of your sleep, but does it better one night than another. The watch uses various sensors to measure how you sleep, but as mentioned earlier, it lacks a heart rate monitor for details about your heart rate. In the Health Mate app you can see the next morning how you slept according to the Move ECG. The one time the information is surprisingly good, the next day the watch says that I woke up at 6:27 AM while it was really around 9:45 AM. The result is that the app reproves me for my poor sleep score, while I slept late.

Due to the changeable measurements I finished the Move ECG after a week when I went to bed. I sleep better – and that is very personal – without a watch on the wrist.

With 130 euros, the Withings Move ECG is a lot cheaper than well-known smartwatches from Apple, Samsung and others. He does not compete with that, because those watches have a much shorter battery life and show, among other things, interactive notifications from your smartphone. The Move ECG has to last a year on a battery charge and is specifically for those who find a traditional analog watch too stupid. With the Withings model you can automatically and manually keep track of your activities, measure your sleep and make a heart video. Handy functions, although the activity and sleep registration works randomly and making an ECG after some practice always requires your full attention. I also don’t like the design of the watch that I tested because reading time takes some effort.