Misfit Vapor Smartwatch – It’s Complicated

Confession of a fitness junkie: I am obsessed with fitness gadget’s. So much so, that I’ve been walking around like a plonker for the past few weeks wearing two different watches to give you my honest review on two recent released smartwatches – the Misfit Vapour being one of them. According to Misfit, the Vapor smartwatch puts everything you need to stay active, connected and inspired onto your wrist. Would I say I agree? No and here’s why…

First opinion

When I first received the watch I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the design and overall appearance of the watch. It’s modern, slick and definitely stands up to it’s competition. If the watch was a tad smaller (for dinky wrists like mine) then I’d have to say that it wins in the looks department compared to my Apple Watch. The watch comes in various colours such as rose gold, stainless steel and jet black with different strap options. I however went for the jet black option because apparently I wear nothing else and my colour palette ranges from black… to black. I was happy (or so I thought).

Setting up the watch

Now be prepared to wait what feels like an eternity for the watch to charge. Usually when unboxing fitness trackers (catch my Fitbit Alta review here) you can turn them on with a small percentage of batter life so you can have a little play like a kid in a toy store. However, don’t expect that with the Misfit Vapor. Oh no. You’re going to need a few wee hours to get it charged and ready to use – no problem if you’re a very patient person (definitely not me). Once the watch was ready to use it was quite easy to set up – just like any other tracker. However, you’ll probably find that you’ll need to google instructions if you get stuck as the ‘quick start guide’ is pretty useless. The layout and design of the watch also took me a while to get used to, but after a play and a fiddle (like most watches require anyhow) then you’re good to go.

Now here comes the problem… To pair the watch with your phone you’ll need to download the Wear OS app and then to track your workout’s you’ll need either the Misfit app or google wear – two apps I’ve never used before and weren’t familiar with. If I’m honest, I much prefer seeing all of my data displayed on my watch rather than faffing between the two.

What does the Vapor have to offer fitness wise?

Now, without being too brutal… not much. I first came to this realisation the morning after receiving my watch and at the start of my CrossFit class. Upon starting my watch like I normally would do to track my class, I was only presented with three (yes three) main options. Run (or walk/hike), bike and swim (the watch is swimproof for up to 50 metres) – all of which were absolutely useless to me. For a fitness tracker that costs £185 I expected more than three workout options, especially with them all cardio based. So there we had it. Day 1 of using my fitness tracker and I was wearing a fitness tracker that was useless to me and ultimately, would always be useless to me. Sure, I could track my evening walks with the dog but do you really want to pay £180 for a fitness watch? Most probably the exact reasoning why the Misfit Vapor is classed as a ‘smartwatch’ and not a ‘fitness watch’.

After realising that the Misfit activity app wasn’t going to work, I decided to try and work with the google fit app. Yes, it was better and I could track my CrossFit workout, however when starting my workout on my watch I was left with a bare screen that only showed me the duration of my workout. Say wha? For the hour and a half of tracking my workout I couldn’t tell you what my heart rate was, how many calories I had been burning or what the time was. Very bizarre for the style and design of the watch. I also tried numerous of times to sync my watch to the google fit web view but failed every dang time. So again, another disappoint and by now, I was quite ready to sack it in the bin.

What else does the Vapor have to offer?

Like I said earlier, there’s a reason why the Misfit Vapor is called a smartwatch and that’s because it can actually do a few other things besides fitness and works similarly to my Apple Watch. Once the watch was paired to my phone I could receive texts, calls and even view and respond to tweets – very useful and handy to me. I find that I rely a lot on my phone notifications after wearing my Apple Watch for almost two years so if you’re the same, then this is a feature you’d most certainly like. The Vapor also has the option to play music, view the weather forecast, check out your current pulse, view contacts and set alarms (also has a timer and world clock). You’re also given more options when you click through the ‘play store’ option on the watch which then takes you to a screen where you can download further apps, view different watch faces and track your activity with different apps other than the Misfit app (I would recommend this if you’re looking to use the watch for fitness purposes only). All in all, I’d say it’s great for day to day things once you get to know how to use the watch properly.

Other things to add…

Now, I know I sound much like a negative Nancy but a few other knick knack’s I have to point out are these…

I found at times that the response of the screen was often poor. The amount of times I had to tap my finger on the watch again and again because it wouldn’t recognise my finger became a little tedious. Also, the scrolling on the homepage often scrolled a little too far and I soon found myself forever swiping up and down to get to the certain button I wanted. For a watch that should be smooth and easy to use, it was far from it.

The charge on the watch was also a little bizarre. To charge the watch you have to connect it to a circular tab which has 4 golden dots that connect to the back of the watch however, the charger was so delicate that I often struggled to keep the watch connected to the charger without it tipping sideways. So be careful when putting the watch on charge as one morning you may wake up with it not even connected!

Overall, I think if you’re willing to give a little effort into getting to know the watch, downloading more apps, (which the watch definitely needs) and working out how to make it work for you (like I said… it’s complicated) then I think the Vapor has the potential to be a good smartwatch. However, reviewing it on how it comes, it’s definitely not a watch I would consider buying over the many other fitness trackers out there. If you aren’t so bothered about tracking your fitness activity  however, then I’d say it’s a good option for the less serious and the more willing. The design is smashing, however like they always say, don’t judge a book on it’s cover!

Would I recommend this watch for tech beginners? Nope. Like I said, it’s complicated…

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Note: I was gifted the Misfit Vapor in return for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.