Classic Design, Modern Tech – The 45mm Explorist HR from Fossil
A touchscreen smartwatch that lets you track your heart rate, receive notifications, customize your dial and more!
- Smartwatches powered with Wear OS by Google work with iPhone and Android Phones
- Heart Rate & Activity Tracking using Google Fit; Built-in GPS for distance tracking; Swimproof design 3ATM; Google Assistant built in – it’s your own personal Google, always ready to help; Speed through checkout with your watch using Google Pay
- This is one smart watch – receive smartphone notifications and app alerts, manage your calendar, control your music, download third party apps (your favorite ride-sharing or music apps), and customize your watch face; touchscreen functionality, built-in fitness tracker, microphone, music storage & controls, custom goal & alarm settings, calendar alerts, multiple time zones, weather, LED flashlight, wireless syncing
- Estimated 24 hour battery life, based on usage plus 2 additional days in low-power mode; magnetic USB rapid charger included; charge up to 80% in under an hour
- Case size: 45mm; Band size: 22mm; interchangeable with all Fossil 22mm bands; easily change your watch band with quick release pins; imported
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Chan –
Battery is the worst part of the watch, long story short .- 100% charge at 6 A.M by 10 A.M battery percentage is 20% with out touching it .
ATechnoholic –
I currently now have 4 smartwatches (Including this one-LG Wear, Zenwatch 2, HUAWEI 1st gen) and this watch is one of the larger smartwatches for sure. It has a bit of heft to it as well, lighter than the Zenwatch 2, heavier than the rest. The bands are a standard 22mm so you can easily replace them with something you like better (I’m looking for a blue band that matches the housing). The screen is completely flush with the side bezels – so this can definitely scratch easily if you brush into things. It also makes it difficult, if not impossible to be able to use a screen protector. The 3 side buttons I initially thought were gimmicky and unnecessary, however they’ve become quite useful. The center button can be pressed, long pressed and is also a scroll wheel. (Scroll wheel has gotten a bit “sticky though) The 2 others can be pressed or long pressed and can be reprogrammed for different functions. Everything is responsive and acts the way it seems it should.This upgraded to Wear OS (2.0) right on initial startup/config. Had no issues setting up. This does not have the bluetooth issues like i’ve experienced with my other watches, once connected it stays connected, no dropping and giving me the lovely not connected cloud. NFC for Google Pay is fun to use – cashiers get so thoroughly confused when I tap the watch to the terminal and “boop-paid”. LOL Still need the phone in my pocket, but nothing needs to come out of my pockets to pay!The heart rate monitor/sensor on this initially gave me concern as it protrudes out the back of the watch like a little bubble, but after wearing it, I don’t notice it at all. Seems accurate to.The charging “cradle” is little and magnetized, and can have the watch put on it in direction as the charging contacts on the watch itself are actually 2 circles on the bottom. No more need to fiddle with a watch and charger to get the contacts perfectly aligned before it charges.Now the battery life. The reviewer that says it sucks and only lasted 2 hours (or was it 4?) needs to learn to troubleshoot or change the settings or stop playing games on it so much. If you are leaving the screen on with no ambient mode the battery will go faster. If you have a data hungry or very animated watchface, the battery will go sooner.If you have your heart rate monitor taking a reading every 30 seconds ….. I think you get it.I like relatively minimum faces with only a few data points displayed and I have it go into ambient mode with “shake to wake” disabled. With my other watches, I get a good 14 to sometimes 20 hours out of them between charges. Not this one. I typically am at 15% after 12 hours. If I use a weather face, or fit face, forgettabout it, 8 hours.Turn off “always on screen”, minimal face with minimal data points and MAYBE I can squeak it to 14 hours.For this size watch, they could have easily had the room for a larger battery.I find this as not an everyday watch, definitely not a workout watch, but more of maybe an office watch or night on the town watch. Fix the battery issue and it can be an all day one, but still not a rough and tumble kind.
Karen –
Battery fully charged would last 3 to 4 hours. No apps running, nothing installed, brightness set to 2, notifications trimmed down to bare necessities. Called Amazon and they were wonderful, sent me a second watch within 24 hours. Had the same problem with the second watch, battery would last 3 to 4 hours. I called fossil, and they said Amazon must have gotten a bad batch. I’m getting a refund from Amazon. I would not recommend this watch.
Ryan M. –
Got this for myself to replace the previous Gen 3 I sold. I always thought “I don’t NEED the HR sensor, NFC payments, or built-in GPS” that the Gen 3 didn’t have. Well, you don’t need it, but it does come in handy lol. Sometimes certain luxuries are cool to have.Being a Fossil, it’s a beautiful watch of course. It’s comfortable, somewhat light, and no bulkier than a regular watch. The faces Fossil provides are cool as well.For those wondering about battery life, if you have any experience with Wear OS (Android) watches you’ll know that it takes a few days to a week for battery life to stabilize. Any watch I’ve bought, including this one, took about 3 days. Going from having ~50% at the end of the day to having ~70%.Amount of usage matters though.The Good:-Fossil knows how to make a well designed watch.-Accurately tracks activities, even on running on the treadmill.-Having the HR sensor, NFC, and GPS built-in makes for full use of Wear OS. All watches should implement this hardware.-Buttons and crown have more of a click feel compared to Gen 3-Vibration for notifications feels strong.-Swim proof. Gen 3 was just water resistant.The Bad:-Wear OS is improving a lot. It’s a very good watch, but it’s no Apple Watch (this is Google’s fault).-Still uses the old Qualcomm 2100 Wear processor.-No speaker compared to the last generation.-Some people will never be satisfied with battery life.If you like the leather/silicone hybrid band Fossil offers but don’t want to pay the price for it, I bought this one. Looks similar and nearly half the price.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D76KDSM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Omar Matif –
The watch is beautiful and the features are great. I love that it’s a fitness watch and looks like a regular watch, which is why I bought it.But, and it’s a very, very big but: the battery life is absolutely abysmal! I had to charge the watch twice a day which isn’t practical for me. I only wore it about 4 days. The final straw was that it died in the middle of the day with no warning.I was hopeful despite the reviews, but it’s simply not worth it.
Ramesh Upadhaya –
Looks Awesome !!!!Best Feature: Music Player & Notifications are synced over internet. No need of bluetooth.Battery lasts a day with connected WIFI & GPS on.Bluetooth sucks battery, so try to keep it always off.No speakers… Thats a Con.Everything else is great.Great looks.Good performance.Wear OS Apps.Pretty Cool.
ANKUSH KHAJURIA –
Perfect smartwatch with improved battery life… Can be used under showers.
aritra –
The watch is an absolute piece of art superbly crafted. The looks are sure to turn heads. Nice integration with your phone with a great display and good interface. The battery life is the only downside especially during heavy usage when it drains drastically. Otherwise it’s totally worth it
Sen –
Pre ordered. They shipped it a day before store launch. Got it delivered the next day. Fits perfect. Minor issues in Wear OS still. Google Pay NFC won’t work in India. Other watch faces of brands like Diesel, Michael Kors, Emporio Armani etc which are licensed by Fossil are built in but disabled by default and won’t work even if you enable it manually.
Roberta F –
I am revising my rating to 2 star. The watch is of very good quality, lasts a full day of typical usage and works well. However I am worried about the support from Fossil. The magnetic charger that came along with the device feels flimsy and cheap. And there is no replacement available. I want to have one more charger just in case the first one stopped for some reason. However when I checked with support, they sent me the list of all the stores across India, minus their contact numbers, and without validating whether the replacement charger is available with any of them. The ones in Bangalore (where I live) , don’t have it and don’t know when it will be available. Hopefully the current charger will last long enough until replacement is available in open market.
Jim Johns –
I purchased the watch from Amazon few days back…it takes so long to get 100% charged..& it’s charge don’t even last for a day…what I shall do now…PLZ help..
Aravindh Senthilkumar –
UI is not responsive some times even after updating the software.Battery gets drain in 6 hours if you start with 💯% charged.Please don’t buy this. Better look for some other options.
Aamir Tariq –
I got it delivered in 3 days. Used it for the first time for whole day on 5th and gave a return request same day. With minimal or almost no usage, battery was draining like an open tap. In a span of 8 hours of office I had to charge this specific model twice from 25% to 90%. I was using the faceskin which they show in adverts.When I changed it to a custom faceskin, the watch was giving better battery- again in same minimal usage. I feel it could be mainly due to automatic BPM calculator in main faceskin.The watch looked amazing on my hand. Rubber band is of good quality- don’t know about long run. There was a bit of lag in the watch. Could be a defective piece passed on by amazon.
Alberths28 –
It’s a good watch and well-rounded. However, the touch screen can be a little sluggish as well as some of the fitness apps. It’s very usable, though, and if anyone wants an affordable and usable watch, I would recommend this one.
Mike Carl –
Design of the watch is good but the battery life is very frustrating as for charging it takes 2- 2.5 hours to charge 100% and the battery will die within 8 hours. So, if we want to use this watch for the whole day you need charge it for 1/3 of the day and use for remaining 2/3 of the day. I used it for 3 days and very disappointed with the battery and returned immediately. Fossil people please work on the battery life.
Kat –
I love this watch so far. I’ve had it for a week and the only complaint I would have is battery life, but I’m currently in the desert where it’s really hot so pretty sure that’s why. Love the look! I’m a woman and i have big wrists so I got this watch and it’s perfect. LOVE the music controls, texting from the watch, the fact that the band isn’t all leather it’s rubber on the bottom, and all the different faces that you can choose. 10/10 would recommend.