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Customer Ratings & Reviews

Your price for this item is $375.00

Customer reviews

Rating 3.4 out of 5 stars with 32 reviews

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38%
would recommend
to a friend

Customers are saying

Customers enjoy the design and screen of the CZ Smart 45mm Unisex Stainless Steel Sport Smartwatch with Silicone Strap. They appreciate the variety of watch faces and the quality of the touchscreen. However, they express concerns about the battery life, water resistance, software, connectivity, and comfort. Some users find the watch to be uncomfortable due to its stiffness and sharp edges.

This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.

The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 32 reviews
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design, Screen
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Nice look, but not ready for prime time...

    |
    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I've owned several smartwatches over the past ten or twelve years and I've gotten used to them all working about the same way. The type of information they show, the stats they keep track of and for a lot of people, first and foremost, the time and the way it can be displayed with lots of different faces to suit your mood and keep the watch interesting. With a respected name like Citizen, I expected a smartwatch that not only looked great, but was also a solid performer with battery life, operating system and sensors that can read and display my stats. Maybe I expected too much with this smartwatch. On the positive side, the watch looks great. It has a stainless steel body with a striking black bezel. I expected the bezel to turn, but that's not the case. It's fixed position does not allow it to be used as a minute timer with an analog watch face. So really, the minute numbers are purely for decoration. The stem crown is knurled and has a large diameter, which lends itself to being twisted either forward or backward to use in the settings to scroll through the selections. It works quite well and is a nice alternative for the rotating bezel on a Galaxy watch. The crown can also be pushed in, getting you back to your watches main screen from anywhere in the app sub-menus. You can also set a double click for the crown to open up a favorite app. The upper and lower buttons have default functions, but can be changed to open whatever app you want them to. The rubber strap that comes standard is nice. A good quality strap that will hold up well for sweaty workouts and survive splashes from hand washings without any problem. I do appreciate the 22mm lug spacing which allows me to continue to use all my current after market watch bands. The strap that's included is also quick release making it very easy and fast to swap it out for a different type of strap. Citizen has put a lot of it's development of this watch into it's proprietary YouQ app features. This is a set of features that allows the watch to monitor all your stats and give you a way to “anticipate” alertness and fatigue patterns. There's a lot of reference to the YouQ features in all of the descriptive text about the watch, but I'm still trying to see a benefit for all of it. Maybe I haven't used it long enough to see the value of the information that it offers, but honestly, I lost a lot of interest just trying to figure it all out. Citizen really missed the boat by not including at the very least, a quick start guide that not only explained a lot of the default apps and settings but also promoted and explained the YouQ app that they obviously put in a lot of time to develop. Sadly, you're left on your own to discover how it all works or even what the benefits are. The basic included apps all seem to work reasonably well. The ones I use the most are the heart rate measuring app, the step counter, blood oxygen sensor, weather app, etc.. With that being said, I found the step counter rather inconsistent. I do a 30 minute elliptical run every day and keep my pace very regular. On other smartwatches I own, I get very consistent step counts for this workout. I've noticed with the CZ Smart, my step count varies quite a bit, sometimes by as much as a thousand steps or more. The CZ Smart also comes with a sleep monitor app to track your sleep habits. Personally, I don't wear a watch to bed so I can't comment on this feature. You also have the Google Play store or the Apple counterpart, to choose from a large selection of onboard app. You can of course, also answer phone calls with your watch or get notifications of texts and emails. You can connect your watch with any combination of Bluetooth, WiFi or NFC. It has Google Fit, Strava, Spotify, YouTube Music and Amazon Alexa by default, so it does come with a lot of the basics that people tend to use. There are two things about this smartwatch that are very frustrating however. The first is the selection of monumentally poor included watch faces. The amateurish design of all of them combined with the lack of setup options for them (found on most of the faces available on the Play store), horrible color choices and generally an overall lack of any realistic design graphics makes me think that this watch was made by anyone BUT a watch company. You will find no Citizen-like faces at all which is in and of itself unbelievable. In fact, if you like the face that's shown on the box, sorry, that one is not included. You would think that Citizen could have taken this opportunity to really make some signature faces to make their smartwatch stand out. The kind of faces that let you know that this is first and foremost a Citizen watch. This was a really bad misstep on this smartwatch. The second thing that for me is a total game changer is the fact that the battery life on this smartwatch is so horrible, I could never get even close to the 24 hour mark that they boast it will deliver. For me, I was lucky if I got 12 hours run time out of it. Of course the first thing I will be told is that it depends on the watch settings I'm using. Understandable, I have the Bluetooth on (NFC and WiFi off), I have the screen dimness up all the way so I can see what I need to see at a glance, I do not use the always on display and like that the watch is dark unless I turn my wrist to read it, and I have the time it stays on set to 15 seconds. On any other smartwatch I own, these settings get me anywhere from two to three days of use without charging. I shouldn't have to cripple the watch in order to get usable battery life. A 12 hour battery life, in my opinion is completely useless. So, if you plan on tracking your sleep habits, you'll need to charge it up before you go to bed, and then again in the morning before you go to work. On an average day, I put my watch on at around 5am, go to work, and by 3pm I'm down to 20% battery time left. This doesn't even include using any of the features that someone would buy a watch like this for. Heart rate, activity tracking, blood oxygen level to name a few. The touchscreen itself is quite nice. It has good color density and contrast. Using it however was a bit hit or miss depending on the face you're using. Not sure if this is screen anomaly or a firmware flaw. Sometimes the screen was very responsive and sometimes is was not. Overall, I found the operating system to be quirky. Sometimes working as expected, but sometimes becoming slow to respond. After about five days use, I put the watch back on it's charger (at around 3:00pm), but when I put it back on the next morning, it seemed to have done a factory reset on itself. I needed to set up a lot of the default settings all over again. I like the look of the CZ Smart. It has a striking appearance that's modern yet classy. Unfortunately, there are just too many downsides at this point, the most obvious and annoying one being the lack of battery life. Citizen is relatively new to the smartwatch arena and I'm hopeful they take feedback like mine to heart and develop a truly competitive smartwatch because I like the thinking behind the design and feature apps. But until the battery issues are fixed, they won't have serious shot at a fan base.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Screen
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Niche Smart Watch that struggles to compete

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I love watches and since the inception of "smart" watches I have been intrigued with how technology and design has evolved. I am well rooted in the Apple ecosystem and have been rocking my trusty 3rd generation iwatch for quite some time now! Don't fix what's not broken, I guess. Citizen has a reputation so I took a chance on a smart watch not designed to be indestructible. See my comparisons to the Garmin Fenix. Initial unboxing seems like build construction is top notch with quality materials and decent screen quality and brightness. It's neat to see how much science goes into the way companies box items for consumers. I had really high hopes for this watch once I was able to touch and feel it. But, a serious swing and miss! I am not sure if I am an outlier but I just can't get behind a circle smart watch face. Apple has the advantage with being able to "fit" content on a screen with their boxy face design over the circle shape. I do like the band and the watch doesn't feel bulky when it actually is when you consider dimensions. When I wear my Garmin Fenix, I was never expecting the screen to wow me, rather be functional and visible in all conditions on land or water so I never really was critical of the circle face design. The Citizen is designed to be more a dress watch based on some of the features, so the screen needs to be a standout performer. One major call out and deal breaker for me and my lifestyle is the fact it lacks higher levels of water resistance. All other major brands have figured out how to make this happen, Citizen seriously limited the applications by going to market with this rating. From my Apple watch to the nearly indestructible Garmin Fenix watch I use for outdoor activities, I find myself second guessing whether or no to wear the Citizen with the concern I do something active and accidentally let life do permanent damage to the watch. I would be cautious to wear this in any setting other than office/special occasions. Another cause for concern was after spending the long weekend outside camping, I could NOT get anywhere near the 24+ rated battery life, At best after troubleshooting all the settings, got a record of about 19 hours, which for those comparing to other brands, Garmin Fenix watches last for days with all services! It does charge quickly but found myself having to use a portable battery pack throughout the day to make it last! To maximize the battery life you get zero "smart" benefits which defeats the purpose and price. The main selling feature is the technology behind the scenes CZ Smart YouQ that Citizen partnered with NASA and AI models to maximize your daily potential. Not quite sure I feel this is a big enough value compared to some of the technology you can deploy via apps on other brands. The integration of apps on the iwatch is lightyears ahead of the Citizens. This watch has 7 sensors so you would expect it to be robust but remember this watches' limitations when using it as an activity tracker or adventure watch. Summary: Solid watch overall from build construction and screen qualify but limitations like short battery life and lack of water resistance will really challenge your decision to utilize this watch to its fullest potential as a activity tracker and a go to watch for someone who loves the outdoors. Personally, they have to see what makes other brands successful and integrate those featured into generation 3 to keep this product line relevant. They have the software tech built out, now they need the hardware to support it. Gen 3 needs to be ruggedized for sure, improved battery life and water proof.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design, Screen
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Beautiful watch with a very short battery life

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    The Citizen CZ Smart Touchscreen watch is a beautiful watch. It has great styling and I really like the band. It's tough and will last a long time, from the looks of it. The screen is nice and bright and it is controlled by the touchscreen and three buttons. Using the touch screen, you can swipe up to see notifications, swipe down for quick settings, swipe left to go back, and when looking at tiles swiping left and right take you to the previous or next tile. The top button shows a list of recent apps. Double pressing the top button takes you to the last app that you used. Pressing the crown, or center button, displays the face or list of apps, depending on what was showing at the time. Rotating the crown lets you scroll through the list of apps, or you can do that by sliding your finger up or down on the screen. You are able to assign a function to a long press of the top button, a double press of the crown, and a short press of the bottom button. The watch is running Google Wear OS. This means that you have access to Google Play and a growing list of Google Wear compatible applications. They have everything available from a calculator to Google Maps to games and much more. While the Citizen watch faces are pretty lame, you can download lots of watch faces from the Play Store or use Facer for Google Wear OS and have a huge selection of faces. I’m sure you will be able to find something to your liking. The app that Citizen is proud of is CZ Smart YouQ which uses technolo9gy from IBM Watson, and NASA Ames Research Center. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work, so can’t comment on what it does or how well it does it. Now the downsides, and they are significant. The biggest issue is battery life. During a period of 4 hours, as I was testing things for this review, the battery went from 100% to 0%. There is nothing that a watch should be doing that would completely drain the battery in 4 hours. With as quickly as the battery drains on a daily basis, there is no way to use it for sleep tracking because it doesn’t have enough battery life. It is however nice to know that you can fully charge the battery in 40 minutes. Next, the watch is not waterproof, so don’t expect to use the cardio tracking while swimming. My understanding is that it is also not dustproof. You won’t want to wear it while doing dirty work. While the watch can take and make phone calls, if it is connected to your phone, you won’t be able to take calls on your earbuds or handsfree in your car if you have the watch configured to be able to answer calls. I love that the watch has sensors to adjust the watch for ambient light, it can monitor heart rate, oxygen levels, cardio fitness, steps, and sleep, but with such a short battery life, you will have to charge it several times a day, which is really inconvenient. As much as there is to like about this watch, I can’t recommend it. There are much better watches available in this price range.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Software, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Decent smartwatch but needs improvements

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I chose this specific Citizen watch model because it is different. The look is rugged, the screen is huge, the battery life is pretty decent—most of the things I look for in a watch that I can use everyday. The build looks pretty solid and the touchscreen is bright and responsive. The strap it came with though, holds on to dust and the ridges behind it accumulate skin dirt—which is not ideal after running. And it is a bit disappointing to know that this device is not waterproof—or even water-resistant. So the band is a little difficult to remove sweat and dirt from it. The size, however, even on the bigger size, is comfortable enough to use it overnight, so I can track my sleep easily. The battery life is good that I have over a day to charge it. I only charge it when I prepare for work in the morning with around 14% left then I charge it for 45 minutes tops, then I am good to wear it until my prep the next day. It has wear OS 3 so it’s easy to use—I can easily put my fitness apps but the software in general can be better. I did notice too that the citizen wellness app on my phone and the watch steps on my main dial screen do not match. Could be a fitness app concern? Not sure. Some clean ups on the software end for sure, especially that the Citizen phone can be a little clunky. Also, the Citizen sleep tracking does not connect to Google Fit. So sleep tracking, which I have for my other apps, is only stuck on the CitizenApp, not my overall wellness app. Maybe in the future the Citizen app can get an update to sync through health connect. Connectivity, taking phone calls, and alerts are tight—nothing to worry about that. Even paying with Google Pay is not a concern. Hardware is great, software just needs some tightening to do which can be better with updates. Overall, a decent watch if you want an alternative to the main ones out in there.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design, Screen
    Cons mentioned:
    Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Classical, highly stylish smart time piece

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I’ve long been interested in watches. I have a small collection of time pieces. But then when I got my first Fitbit, I stopped wearing traditional watches because I became OCD about tracking my fitness. I’ve literally worn a Fitbit every day for the past several years. I love my Fitbit Sense, but I really want a better looking smartwatch to wear with formal attire (for work). This Citizen watch will not replace a Fitbit, and the Pixel Watch is likely a better option - for me - in terms of integrating Fitbit into a better looking smartwatch. But the classic design of this Citizen watch, and the sophistication of it, has finally brought an additional watch into a rotation with my Sense. I will often compare this watch to my Sense. The biggest drawbacks, to me, are two fold: water resistance (apparently it has none), and for something billed as an “active” device, fear of hitting it against something. It has other drawbacks for those new to smart watches that are inherent in every smart watch, especially Android watches. IN THE BOX AND SETUP Inside you’ll find the watch, a charger, and some warning papers. The watch was securely package and protected from scrapes and damage while in transport. The setup was very easy. I am using a Pixel 7a, and after turning the watch on and downloading the Citizen app to my phone, I easily paired it. There was an initial update, and I had to log in to my Google account and grant the watch/app access to my account. All in all, I was using the watch on my wrist within 20 minutes of taking it out of the box. DESIGN The pictures do this watch justice. What the pictures don’t convey is the quality of the build of the watch. It is finely crafted. It’s got a nice heft without feeling too heavy. The rubber strap is thick and durable, almost to a fault. It can be somewhat difficult to put on (for a watch) but the tradeoff is that I never - even when running - ever thought it was going to fall out or otherwise felt loose. There’s the classic crown wheel on the left and two buttons on each side of it. The buttons are responsive and feel smooth. If you can’t tell, I’m in love with the design and looks of this watch. The screen. The screen is amazing and super responsive. It’s a bright OLED screen that’s extremely sharp. There are no bezels the screen goes straight up to the SOFTWARE, APP, AND CUSTOMIZATION First, the app on your phone. The app is pretty basic. You can change the watch faces, including customizing the colors. It’s a little difficult to find at first, but there’s quite a bit of settings you can change through the app. You change which apps send you notifications (although the only quirk is that you have to receive a notification on your watch before it shows up as a notification you can disable). The most important setting you’ll want to check on is the battery life. There’s daily battery life mode, where you can expect the watch’s battery to last a full day. There you can tweak it to your liking, such as always on display, tilt to wake, tap to wake, wifi, Bluetooth, system sound etc. Obviously your mileage will vary when it comes to these settings. Then there’s time only battery mode, where you can basically think of your watch turning everything off but the screen. It will show the time and nothing else. I haven’t tested how long the watch will run on this particular mode, and that’s because if I have a smartwatch, I want to use its features (until I have to because of low battery life and inability to charge it at the time it does). But there is a way to change the “schedule” so when your watch hits a certain battery level, it automatically switches to “extended mode” or “time only mode” which I appreciate. Wear OS. I really like wear is, it's definitely improved over the years. There's lots of fun apps in the watch store to take advantage of. For me, I really like the Peloton app which tracks my heart rate while riding the bike or using the app. This may not matter to some, but for me, having this feature increases the chances the watch stays on my wrist for longer periods. SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE I've enjoyed this watch. It looks great and feels great. It lasts a full day which is par for the course for smart watches. I've had no connection issues. I've had issues with my Sense not connecting to my phone causing me to have to reset it. It's been reliable in that department so far. It's extremely customizable in terms of notifications and things you can do to save battery life. There are a decent number of watch faces but I wish there were more (maybe there are and I haven't found them?). And I know Ive said it before, but it's just a handsome watch which makes it all the more pleasurable to wear. I do wear it on runs and when riding my peloton but I've been really bugged about getting it wet, going out of my way to prevent it from getting wet. There's just not enough information about water resistance for my liking. I'd like to think it's ok out in the rain, but I'm afraid to try. QUIRKS There’s a few quirks of this watch. Nothing that would change my recommendation, but it’s worth noting. The first is that when the watch goes into extended mode, or the battery level is otherwise really low, you have to charge it and then restart it to get it back into “daily battery mode.” It’s not a big deal, but it’s not like a switch that you can hit back and forth between the modes. Water resistance. Admittedly, I thought, as a watch geared toward activity (I don’t know if I would call it a fitness watch), I assumed it had some amount of water resistance. It wasn’t until I saw a warning in the instructions that made me really pause. The instructions state that it has no water resistance and seemed to warn the user against even washing their hands while wearing the watch. This got me completely bugged. I didn’t expect this watch to work while swimming laps (I don’t do that with my Sense), I’m concerned about sweat and wearing it in the rain. Fitness tracking. I haven't mentioned it to much and that's because I don't think it's really tailored for fitness. Yes it can track your steps, heart rate and sleep, but when you have to charge the battery every night, it makes it difficult to track your sleep. It does detect your activities (like if you go for a run) and it has GPS but that data doesn't translate to anything (from what I can tell) unless you're using another app like Peloton. And for what it's worth, I wore my Sense and the citizen watch for a few days to track my steps. I can't say which one is the true accurate measure, but the Fitbit regularly counted thousands more steps than the Citizen watch. To me, tracking your fitness is an option with this watch, it's not a selling point or primary feature. CONCLUSION This is a well rounded, good looking smartwatch. It does a little bit of everything and the batter life is solid. It is extremely reliable and looks phenomenal. But it's biggest drawback are the question marks related to water resistance.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Phone calls, Speaker
    Cons mentioned:
    Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Lots of potential but the software needs work!

    |
    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Citizen watches have always scored high in regard to their build quality, style and performance and I had high hopes for their new 2nd Gen CZ touchscreen series. The hardware didn’t disappoint with 1 glaring exception. The watch has ZERO water resistance! It’s not even rated for “splash” protection that could easily occur while washing your hands. For a watch that’s designed to be worn 24/7 to take advantage of the advanced health features, this seems like a major flaw. The battery is intuitive and will change to a low power mode based on activities, and I could easily get a day or more use out of it between charges. But since I have anxiety about these things I charged mine while I was in the shower in the morning and when reading at night. On work days when I would fully charge the watch in the morning I would routinely have over 70% left at 5 PM with the power setting on “Daily” mode. In my experience it took about 30 minutes to fully charge. This is a stylish smartwatch with easy to replace standard 22 mm bands that could make it suitable for all occasions that don’t involve the possibility of any contact with water. Given that the watch may not survive any contact with water, I found it odd that it came with a thick black rubber strap that was as stiff as a car tire. I replace that immediately with a stainless one I had and it feels great! The charger has 2 power contacts, and I’ve only been able to find spare on the Citizen website. The speaker is adjustable and can be very loud, and the vibration is enough to wake me from a deep sleep if set on the hightest setting. Phone calls on the watch were very good and both sides had no problem understanding each other. Since I was asked multiple times I’m sure others will have the same question - NO the top black chrono dial does not rotate. Via the Citizen Connect app (not the WearOS app) the watch pairs easily to the phone and the settings are easily accessible. The layout gives you most of the data you want, but some data is only available on the watch. The Citizen Connect app can be paired to Google Fit and the info flows through without issue. You only have a choice of 2 works with the embedded CZ Health options, and those are indoor and outdoor. The Google Play Store is available on the watch, so you can easily download Google Fit or any other WearOS available app such as Strava to track specific activities. The other app required to take full advantage of the cutting edge health features is the CZ Smart app. This app uses AI models built with the IBM Watson Studio and Naza. This provides you with a 24-hour forecast and hourly “Power Score” that is able to predict your cognitive and physical energy. Based on that the app also suggest “Power Fixes” to adjust those levels and better prepare for the day. I like the idea, but as with all predictive models the forecast is only as good as the data provided. I experienced 2 major issues. The length of time asleep was off significantly (such as going to bed a 9:30 PM and the app showing me going to bed at 1:10 AM) which severely influenced by forecast. AND there’s no option to change/correct your recorded sleep hours either in the Connect app or in Google Fit. The 2nd problem was that other than my Resting Heart Rate, no data flowed into the CZ Smart app from the Connect App or from Google Fit even though it was tied to both as required. The step count, HR and Pulse OX were all consistent with other devices I’ve used and the smartwatch features worked flawlessly. This watch and the accompanying software has a lot of potential if the syncing issues and the opportunity to correct bad data is available.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Well built, short battery, love the O2 sensor.

    |
    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    With the CZ Smart 45mm watch, Citizen offers a great looking smartwatch that falls short on its ambitious smart potential. Physically, the body is glass and steel with a style more reminiscent of traditional analog pieces. The band is black silicone, accented with stainless steel buckles that match the body. There’s a certain robustness in the physical feel of this watch that I adore. The fit and finish is top notch and what you would expect from a Citizen piece in this price range. I am a bit worried about how flush the glass face is to the dial. It looks good, but there’s no protective rim, lip, or anything. I don’t know how sturdy the dial and screen are, but I’lll be on the lookout for a glass screen protector for some peace of mind. Speaking of which, the screen offers an excellent full color picture with good touch responsiveness and a snappy user interface. I love that I can change faces right on the watch, without the app, but the lack of good looking digital watch faces is extremely disappointing. Being able to change faces is one of the best and most basic parts of having a smartwatch, but Citizen doesn’t offer many for some reason. In fact, so far there’s only 2 that I like, but of all things, this should be very easy for Citizen to rectify. Outside of the heart rate monitor that’s essentially standard in smartwatches now, Citizen also includes a pulse oximeter (to read your oxygen saturation level) which really comes in handy if you’re traveling to high elevations (Colorado) or have sleep apnea. Like many people with OSA, I haven’t used my CPAP in a while, but I noticed a few early morning readings where my oxygen saturation dropped to 87% while I was sleeping. This could be something as simple as the watch taking a reading while it’s out of place, but it could very well be OSA. This isn’t a perfect watch, but it gets an A for helping me notice what could be a serious health issue. Which is precisely what I think the Citizen engineers wanted. Featuring the CZ Smart YouQ app, this watch analyzes your biofeedback data against health models built by IBM’s Watson using NASA research info. I love the concept, because it tells you when you should be the most alert vs sleepy based on your actual biometric data. It’s an awesome idea, but so far I seemingly have not worn it long enough for it to give a proper reading. This might be because I mostly wear it at night to track my sleep, but this also brings me to the biggest fault of this watch. The battery life is….. limiting. Maybe it’s all of the sensors running, but even with turning the screen off for tilt/wake only, and changing the heart rate test to periodically, I still only get about 10-12 hours of battery life. For example, I’ll put it on around 8pm to get ready for bed and then by 5:30am it already needs to be recharged. It’s nice that it recharges quickly, but not being able to last a whole waking day is a big shortcoming. As is not being properly water resistant. Citizen mentions that it’s water resistant enough for rain or washing your hands, but that doesn’t sound very reassuring. Overall, the Citizen CZ Smart 45mm is a good looking watch with a lot of potential and a few key flaws. I love the “Power Gauge” and biometric health info, but it needs better watch faces and much longer battery life. The pulse oximeter is a welcome feature and has already come in handy. Due to the battery life, I have a hard time recommending this as your main everyday carry watch, but a software update could help things out in a long way.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Software
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Great Looking Watch That Could Be Smarter

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    The Citizen CZ Smart Gen 2 Smartwatch is a stylish and functional smartwatch with a classic Citizen design. Its beautiful stainless steel case and huge sapphire crystal display will really turn some heads and be a topic of conversation. It has the usual host of features, such as heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, activity tracking, and GPS. It also advertises a long battery life of up to 8 days and is water resistant to 50 meters. However, there are some definite caveats, so let’s get into the review. Let’s start with some of the pros and cons of the Citizen CZ Smart Gen 2 Smartwatch: Pros: Sleek and beautiful design with a classic Citizens style Durable sapphire crystal display Water resistant to 50 meters Variety of features, including heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and GPS Up to 8 days of battery life (in “Time Only Mode”) Cons: The price is a bit high Watch faces are dull, boring, and broken The battery life could be a lot better in most modes. The software is not as user-friendly as some other smartwatches Sleep tracking takes a couple of days to work, but overall the tracking seems accurate and insightful. I had no issues with the heart rate monitor or the GPS as well. All features seemed to work well and I even set up the YouQ software, but that app still needs more days of data before it comes up with any meaningful insights as to my chronotype. The fact that Citizen is trying something new with the YouQ app is exciting, so I’m happy to see the results once the app has enough data to crunch about my habits. The watch is heavier than my last watch, but the silicone strap feels good on my skin and after a few hours I didn’t even notice that I was wearing it. That’s a good thing because you’re probably going to be taking this watch off and putting it back on a lot to charge it if you run it in the default “Daily Mode”. In this mode, where all features are active and the always-on display is active, my watch died in less than 12 hours. Setting the battery mode to “Extended” disables the always-on screen and other features, easily getting me through a full day and night though. I definitely think there’s room for Citizen to improve the battery life in the Daily Mode, so I’m hoping some firmware or software updates address that. “Time Only” mode will reboot your watch and disable all features except the ability to get the time and will apparently last you a week, but it defeats the purpose of a smartwatch so I’m not sure how many people will use the watch in this mode. The Citizen software is awkward, ugly, and not intuitive to use, so it’s definitely one of my biggest gripes about the product. I understand that Citizen is new to smartwatches, but they definitely need to hire some experienced UI/UX people to assist with their software as it’s a detriment to an otherwise nice watch. CZ Smart may possibly be the worst smart device management software I’ve ever used. Some of the watch faces don’t support over 5 digits in the pedometer reading and will display nothing or display the last 4 digit count it recorded. Even when you find a watch face that does support 5 digits, it still manages to not display the same step count as the CZ Smart app has recorded. Overall, the Citizen CZ Smart Gen 2 Smartwatch might be a good option for those looking for a beautiful and stylish watch with some smart features, but the buggy software and horrible battery life in its “Daily Mode” makes it so that I can’t recommend it to anyone at the moment. Some software updates might eventually make this an excellent watch, but for now, it’s looks and no brains.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Connectivity, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    I like it, but might be in the honeymoon phase

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    So far, I like this watch, kinda. This is the second iteration of the Citizens smart watches I have had, this one is by far better looking and has the most features of all the Citizens smartwatches, but there are some drawbacks. What I do like about this watch is the size, the big 45mm watch face would look nice on any wrist, but for me, it's hard to find the right size watch as I have larger size wrists. Although the bezel does not rotate, it is aesthetically pleasing. I love that Citizens offers other watch bands for purchase, so you can be ready for any occasion. This watch seems to be built very well and sturdy, so far, I have had no issues with anything physical with this watch. Other than the physical and visual aspects of the watch, there is the smart and tech portion. The watch seems to be snappy and quick with the touch responses. When I first connected the watch to the app and my phone, it was very easy. The setup took less than 2 minutes. The app makes customizing the watch and watch face a breeze. I was already familiar with the app because I had a previous version of the Citizens smartwatch. I love that I can switch back and forth between the two through the app. After day one, this watch would disconnect from the app and I would have to delete the app from my phone as well as remove the pairing of the watch to my phone and app and start all over again, this has happened 3 times in the short time I had with this watch. Annoying. Although this watch can track sleep, the battery won’t seem to last much longer than 24 hours with all the features you would want to use. The plus side to the terrible battery life is that it charges fast at about an hour. Although this watch is labeled as a sports watch, there is ZERO water resistance, it says so on the first page of the “precautions” booklet it comes with. The pamphlet states in a table named “Water-related use” The first line says “Minor exposure to water (washing face, rain, etc.) | No.” So, if you plan on doing any sports or washing your face or hands for that matter, this watch may not be for you. I want to love this watch. It looks great, was easy to set up initially, and the customization is great... But there are too many things about it that I can’t get past. This watch has zero water resistance and keeps disconnecting to the point that the troubleshooting suggestions won’t even work, so I must erase everything and start from scratch, battery life is awful unless you set it to time-only mode, but who wants that? I am not even sure I trust the sensors at this point. I am going through a love-hate for it right now and I feel torn. I still love their older version, in fact, it is still powered on with plenty of life left, this new one already needs a charge. I really wanted to love this watch, but I don’t think it was ready for release. I will be switching back to my older Citizens smartwatch. For the price of this watch and for what it offers, or doesn’t offer, I can’t recommend this product to anyone.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Connectivity
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 2 out of 5 stars

    It’s a Beautiful Watch But...

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    First off it is an absolutely gorgeous and well built watch. That’s what caught my eye about it. I am so tired of the boring iWatch that has looked the same since 2015!!!! To be fair, I am deep in the apple ecosphere, I love the iWatch to be sure, I just was really wanting something distinct and different and that gets noticed. I wanted something fresh and the Citizen CZ is that for sure. I have gotten at least two compliments from co-workers who noticed it. And again …It is really beautiful. I also really like the different faces (wish there were more of them) and the dials are nice to have that tactile feel…I forgot how much I like a crown and function wheels. Citizen CZ really has that down pat. No doubt that Citizen makes an impressive high quality physical watch…. If you are an android person this might be the watch for you for sure…The issues for me …. The software and apps….uhhgg. It is compatible with apple health, Just fyi, and is powered by Google Wear OS, so all my google accounts link up easily which I liked. I’m also deep in the Google Ecosphere as well. The CZ Smart feels great on the wrist and is very comfortable. I love the band and can’t wait to get the brown leather bands for when I go to a charity function with the wife for her work or nice dinner or just want to class up my look. Even with the poor software which I will go into more detail shortly, if you are buying this for a change of pace or to be able to have a different look here and there but plan to still utilize your iWatch this might be a way to go. Now to the things that really drop the stars down for me… First was the battery life. If you set the watch to always on, it is always on but to a generic Citizen screen not the cool one you can choose in the app. You can shake to wake it to that screen but that’s lame. I want to see the screen I choose and I want it bright and truly always on….With that tweak, the battery doesn’t last me the day!!! It would go into shut down and go black…I could not believe it! It does get a full charge in about 40 minutes to an hour though. True if I turn off all the things…it would run for days….but that’s not what I want But to get a full day out of it in 2023 is not too much to ask for. The apps….so you have to down load the Citizen connect app…The app is clean and looks ok but on a couple of mornings I had to re-connect it to my phone (iPhone) . I think this occurred when the battery got too low (from normal day use by the way) and went into low power mode… I would have thought that that would have been one of the systems that would have stayed active in the low power mode. As far as the Connect app goes, I think I would have just liked it better feeding info into my other health apps, like Withings or Health… to be honest the way that it is …The Citizen connect app is not going to become my go to for health data. The connect app is really where I want to go for customizing the screens, alerts ect and it does that ok. The sleep function also would count me awake when I got up to go to the bathroom in the early morning hours. So I would go to the bathroom at 3:40 am for example and would count my night as waking up from there even though I went back to bed for 3 more hours. So it showed me getting 5 hours when I really got 8 hours and I could not (and still have not) figured out a way to edit my night to get an accurate reading. Well if Watson is trying to algorithm me to better health…how in the world will it do that with bad sleep data? There is another app you need to download in addition to the Citizen Connect app to get the full benefit of the “smart features” …It’s the YouQ app. The combination of the YouQ app, the Citizen connect app, and the CZ watch and with the help of “Watson” the super computer…( you might recall Watson from when he played Jeopardy) you are supposed to get some really helpful information…they say that it will, “make you smarter too”. Well it made me confused…not sure about smarter! The youQ app has some tabs at the bottom, one is the “power gauge”. It shows a graph and a line that showed me I was tired when I woke up but got more awake and then got tired at the end of my day. Hummm. It did peak in the late afternoon when I normally work out, so it is accurate because that is the time of day I actually feel more energetic. I guess it did re-enforce what I suspected and gave me some insight into what I already knew? The app has what they call “Chronotype” which basically lumps you into categories like…are you a “morning person” or a “night owl” ….ect..Ok I guess. Another tab is the “alert monitor” you have to run a “scan” and it gives you a % score of something that they have calculated… I mean after you spend a lot of time reading and hearing…Aggregate data… over time….will tell you things….ect (and I’m sure it might be true) but with the lack of battery power and connectivity problems and clunky apps….it is hard for me to want to provide the long term data. Lastly there is the “activity lab” which shows my steps… which it never did…It was like that whole tab was not functioning properly in the YouQ app. Very odd. The last last thing I have is that the watch is Bluetooth only. No cellar plan…. What that means to me is I have to have my phone on my runs around the neighborhood….I have not had to do that since 2017! But now I do???? Nope. I like grabbing my headphones and a water bottle and out the door. The idea of carrying my phone on a 4 mile run….again…nope! It also doesn’t do ECG. Does fo O2 levels though. Also when you are picking a work out… the options are very limited. “indoor or outdoor” period. No tennis, yoga, basketball ect. Over all, I like wearing this watch as a show piece. It is beautiful. It looks so sharp…It is well built but it is an occasional night out piece, while I wish for a watch that can do it all and look like a piece of expensive jewelry! The hardware is great (with the exception of the battery) but the apps are terrible. They are glitchy and don’t really provide any useful info or insight. It’s like they had 40 teams working on 60 different aspects and none of them really came together. It feels like they said, “lets make a health product” but then didn’t ask anyone who’s into a healthy lifestyle what they wanted! If you just want something different that is fun to look at and you are not trying to make this your everyday must have data device… go for it! It is fun to have Citizen watch on my wrist again! Such a great brand and quality hardware. If your looking for more than that…..I would take a pass. Maybe Android people are having a better go with it so you might find one of their reviews if you’re an Android person yourself.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Nice Looking Smart Watch, but Not Waterproof!

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    The Citizen CZ Smart 45mm Unisex Stainless Steel Sport Smartwatch with Silicone Strap looks amazing. It is classic and stylish with black and silver coloring. It is sporty, but also dressy. It looks great on someone with a larger wrist size and hands. It also has a very comfortable strap that does not mark or pinch the wrist. Here are additional pros for this watch: Easy to use Long battery (only if using extended setting) Alarm is nice and loud with good sound App works well and was easy to sync The buttons work well Tilt works well Touchscreen works good and is reactive Flashlight works well, nice and bright Blue tooth works great, no issues using Easily found a screen protector to fit Overall, the smart watch works well, but in comparison to other smart watches, falls short in the following areas: It is not waterproof, nor is it water resistant (huge negative for a sport smart watch) Buttons on the side are too big and hit the wrist when moving hand (uncomfortable) Not good display options for the watch Home Screen (limited options) Updates take a while to finish Normal battery doesn’t last long (must change to extended mode) Larger circumference than needed Holds sweat and build up in ridges on the underside of the band (see photo) If you are looking for a nice looking, basic smart watch, then this watch is fine. Just make sure you do not wear it in heavy rain or splash water on it while washing hands, etc. It seems to be holding up fairly well, but we’ll probably get a new band that is smooth on the bottom, so we won’t have to clean it all the time.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Battery life
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Premium watch with basic problems

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I have been a long time fan and buyer of analog and digital Citizen Watches. I have found this Citizen Sport Watch to be pretty good, but not quite perfect from a premium brand like Citizen. I had hoped that the new CZ Smart YouQ App would help push the watch over the top as my new daily Wear OS device. But, to summarize a long read. This watch is Wear OS (Google), as many know from other Wear OS devices, they are a watch group with a series of compromises. The CZ Sport has great call quality, typical battery life and not enough quality branded faces. And there is misleading info about how well it repels water or if it is waterproof at all. So, if you're on the fence till someone else tries the watch before you buy, read on. Lets start with the watch itself. While body and band is all fine and great. The buttons and crown are premium and very nice to push and rotate. Sadly the black bezel does not seem to rotate around the watch face. The watch is comfortable to wear on my right wrist (easily switched to left wrist) and not nearly as heavy as my other Citizen Eco-Drive watches. It is almost as big as other sport/dive style watches, just a bit less weight. The let down here for me, ONLY 10 watch faces! And the faces are pretty basic looking at that. I could download other faces from the Play store. But this is CITIZEN! They make awesome watches and didn't share/create any faces of their watches. I can guess why, but it disappointed this Citizen fan. You can take calls on the watch and its probably the best feature the watch does well. Touch response and performance is still a little laggy at times. Even with 1GB RAM the watch still has a bit of delay with tilt to wake or touch to wake. And while I never miss info from my phone. There is a few second delay between hearing the notification sound on my phone then actually hearing the tone and then seeing it on the watch. This is not a deal breaker, yet it still feels like this Wear OS device is not quite peppy. It is better than some, but what will likely kill this watch for most, is battery life. Its not bad and as long as you don't use every setting and radio. A bit over a day is possible. But with the apps I will talk about in a minute. It wants too many options on to go all day. And this watch still does not include ECG/EKG heart monitoring. Granted some phones may pair better than my late model Pixel Pro and that might help with latency issues I experienced. The apps. With just the Citizen Connect App. The watch works ok and can easily be customized. I just seem to keep having issues with setting the watch a certain way and then the next day, it has reverted back to a different setting or battery gets too low and the watch goes to power save mode and that changes settings that don't return to your preferences either. Not sure why it's not using Wear OS app from google? Then there is the CZ Smart YouQ app that is partnered with NASA and IBM and should be the gem of this watch. Aside from always forcing me to wake at 7am (it overrides my Do Not Disturb, even though I ticked the setting to "Mirror DND settings".) I don't need to wake till 9am. It wakes you to play a touch game that takes 30 seconds to play to get an alertness score. Aside from not wanting to play the game, I hated the lack of sleep it caused and since it always complained it needed Google Fit to be installed (which I gave it access to). I gave up on the YouQ app after 3 days. It wanted a week to tell me how it would make my life better. But it was too difficult to make sense of. And it didn't seem like it was using much of the data it was being fed. Overall, the watch performs a bit like it was from a few years ago. It uses 2 of its own apps and requests a 3rd app to gather data about you, but it should be able to connect to Wear OS app that most Android watch users likely already have and integrates with Fit better. If I didn't understand how to get the YouQ app running to its fullest and you can. That might be the magic sauce I did not find in the watch. Then there is the lack of ECG and still lower end battery life that is likely because of WEAR OS itself. It would be hard to recommend this watch for the current retail price. Many other Wear OS watches suffer some of the same issues. But, their price might forgive a few shortcomings. At least, with most of the other sensors working well, future updates might be all the watch needs to be a lot better.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Software
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Citizen - An Extractive Dress Watch

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Citizen - CZ Smart 45mm Unisex Stainless Steel Sport Smartwatch I found this Citizen Smartwatch to be an attractive watch that, for me, would suit better as a dress watch as opposed to an everyday watch. The watch itself comes with numerous changeable watch faces with the opportunity to see at a glance the information that the watch is able to provide. The watch has apps for health and fitness, travel among others. The watch is compatible with Android or Apple cell phones as well as connecting to WI-FI and Bluetooth. My watch came with an adjustable band that provides a nice, tight fit. The apps are accessed through swipes and has taken me a while to remember the direction. The other option to access apps is to select home screens that contain the app(s) you want to uses. The watch comes with three different modes: (My descriptions) 1. All Apps Accessible 2. On Demand Apps Accessible 3. Watch Only The primary result is length of battery power available. I am getting about 6 hours of battery life with All Apps Accessible I got 10-12 hours using the On Demand Apps Accessible The Watch Only mode the battery lasted about 3 days. From what I have noticed thus far, is the Smartwatch apps are limited due to battery life. Overall, it is a nice watch. I have had Citizen watches for about 20+ years that still run perfectly. The various swipes to access apps is not a problem, The selection of home screens is very good. The battery life I have experienced is disappointing. I would be hesitant to recommend this watch for everyday purposes except for watch only mode.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Phone calls
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Packed with features - but is it for you?

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I've been using a smartwatch over the past year, particularly for the health and sleep analysis functions, and it's been a constant companion over that time. So I was happy to receive the Citizen CZ for review. The device has a plethora of features - phone, email, digital wallet, just about everything on your phone - and therein resides the problem, at least for me. Do I need all of this technology when I always have a phone with me? The biggest issue with all of these devices is battery life. You're basically operating a supercomputer off of a coin cell size battery. And the Citizen is no different. Over the past week, I don't think there was a day when it would last a full 24 hours without shutting down on me - and that's with minimal usage. Being that I want to use the sleep diagnostic function, if I'd forget to charge it at night, it would shut down overnight rendering any data useless. I did try the phone function. It works remarkably well - listening to it's speech quality, I'd be hard put to know that I was being spoken to through a watch. Question is, do I need that? Or for that matter, why am I reading texts/emails on a tiny screen when my phone is with me? I don't mean to knock on the device, it's a Citizen, certainly a quality build, and as previously said, packed with features. It's just not for me. I would prefer a dedicated fitness monitor with somewhat better battery life.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Looks is everything

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Ever since Apple Watch came out, that’s all I’ve been wearing. One thing that I wished they had was a round cased version. It hasn’t happened yet. Then came this rounded Citizen CZ Smart 45mm Unisex Stainless Steel Sport Smartwatch. The feature that stood out for me was how it looked with its stainless casing. The three buttons on side and the black dial makes it look like a regular analog sport watch. The black dial doesn’t rotate by the way. The silicon watchband is simple but comfortable and I like that it has a bit of hump at the end to prevent the strap from going past the end. The screen is big and spacious but the brightness could be brighter. In direct sunlight, the always on display can be barely seen. It has a built-in speaker and mic for making and receiving phone calls. The speaker is loud and clear enough for outdoor calls. The clarity on the other end was good so the mic works well enough I’d suppose. You can receive text messages but can’t send message. Unfortunately, you cannot view images within a text message. Once a text is viewed and cleared from the notification screen, there’s no other way to view it again. I’m using this with an iPhone so it might be different on Android. It also has activity tracking features. Sleep, step, heart and blood-oxygen. The step tracking was a bit slow in displaying data, not in real time. The delay makes it almost unusable for me. Between my Apple Watch and my good old Seiko, this watch will fall nicely in between the two and can replace one of them at any given time. I really like this watch and I’ll patiently wait for the software to get better. Here’s some of the things that I thought was annoying 1. Step tracking does not update in real time and the delay is pretty long. 2. Touch or Raise to wake is a bit slow 3. Battery did not last long for me. With the Smart Battery Mode set to “Daily Mode” with all the functions turned on, it did not last through my work day. I got about 9-10 hours or so with an overnight charge. There was one day where the watch died as soon as I got home. In comparison to my Apple Watch, it falls short by about 3 hours. It does have an “Extended Mode” where it turns off all of the functions except for Bluetooth and NFC. Other than setting a scheduled on and off, no other settings can be changed in that mode. The touchscreen is disabled until it is woken up by the buttons. In this mode, I was able to go throughout my day and have battery life left over. It still wasn’t any way close to Citizen’s claim of 2-3 days but maybe they were referring to the third battery option, the “Time Only” mode. No functions are enabled, the physical buttons do not function other than waking up the watch. Since Bluetooth is disabled, no notifications. However, the raise to wake works. There’s only one watch face in this mode. To get out of the of this mode, you have to restart the watch by holding down the crown. You can’t use the app change the mode because the watch is disconnected from your device. The watch does a restart when switching between modes and some watch faces. 4. Brightness is not as bright as my Apple Watch Series 7. I also found that the brightness was inconsistent and yes, it does have adaptive brightness but that wasn’t the real cause. Or maybe it was because there were times where I found it re-enabling itself somehow. 5. The Citizen app and Wear OS still needs some work Wishlist: 1. More watch faces 2. More apps; text messaging for iOS

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 2 out of 5 stars

    Not water resisent and poor battery life

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I will start off by saying I am a bit of a watch aficionado and have owned many watches over the years, including multiple ones from Citizen. I have had their solar power Eco line as well as their previous Hybrid Smart watch. As much as I wanted to love this watch the emotions I felt for it when I initially saw it quickly went away when I actaully got it charged up and on my wrist. I also didn't realize just how much of a hassle not showering or swimming with it on would be. Pros: - Looks great - Larger size compared to previous smart watches I have owned - Stylish traditional look with a modern feel from the smartwatch features - Multiple bands to choose from - Easy to setup once connected to your phone - Nice selection of digital watch faces and notifications are easy to setup with citizen app Cons: - NOT WATER RESISTENT OR WATER PROOF - Poor battery life, I haven't gotten a full 24 hours wearing it without charging yet - Not a fan of the Google Health App, I much prefer the Samsung Health App - Still so new I haven't been able to find a tempered glass screen protector for it Overall if you are looking for a stylish looking smart watch to wear around the office or to social type events to see alerts without having to take out your phone it is a nice watch. If you are looking to have this be your everyday all day watch then it won't work for that. You have to remember to take it off before showering or swimming and you better be prepared to charge daily. As much as I wanted to love this watch it just has too many shortcomings for me to recommend it to any of my friends.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Good smartwatch but need some improvements

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This new Citizen smartwatch has features that other smartwatches have but with a few limitations and some needed improvements. I really love the classic Citizen design in a smartwatch, the silicone interchangeable band it’s strong and feels durable, the stainless steel case makes the watch looks great for any occasion. Set up was easy with the Citizen Connected app on my iPhone and the smartwatch charged pretty fast, about 30 minutes. It comes with some preloaded apps like YouTube music, Google play store,Cz SmartQ, Spotify and Amazon Alexa, I also enjoy the Citizen app includes find my Smartwatch feature. Even though this smartwatch says it works with iOS phones, it lacks a few features that will works well with iPhones, like apple wallet, and other features that works well with iPhone, I also wasn’t able to reply to a text of send a text from the watch. Most features on this smartwatch were made for androids and google access, but other than that the notifications, phone calls are clear, fitness activities, sleep information works well with my iOS. The speakers and the mic on this smartwatch it’s much better than other smartwatches, phone calls connects very well and sounds pretty clear. The first time I wear this smartwatch the Changeable face that came with completely drain the battery within 8 hrs of use, so I recommended changing the face and some settings to make sure that the battery doesn’t drain as fast as it did the first day, after I changed to a different watch face and fix some settings, my watch last as advertised, I even sleep with the smartwatch to monitor my sleep and still leaves me with 50% battery the next day. Hopefully Citizen do some improvements in the future to the battery, the Citizen Connected app and add apple wallet to this watch on any upcoming software.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Comfort, Software
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Beautiful Watch But Some Downsides

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    When I saw this smartwatch from Citizen, I was very excited to get it. Citizen made my favorite watch of all time, the Navihawk Thunderbirds edition. It was the perfect watch that was stylish and functional. So, I had very high hopes for the Citizen CZ Smartwatch. I am not sure if my expectations were just too high, but in the end, I felt disappointed with this watch. When I opened the box, I was quite impressed with the design and look of this watch. It looks amazing and reminds me a lot of the old Navihawk design. The build is solid and durable. However, when I finally picked it up, it was noticeably heavier than other smartwatches that I have. When I put it on, the watch is big. It will likely feel big on any wrist. The silicon strap is one length, but it should easily adjust to whatever wrist size. There are no links you can take out to adjust the size; however, there is a way to change bands if you like. If you live in warm climates, you may find that the watch feels hot on your wrist. With the silicon band needing to be somewhat snug for readings, it can feel sticky. Plus, the band is not breathable, so you feel it on your wrist. I have not checked, but there may be a better band for situations like this. The operating system for the watch is the Wear OS by Google. It is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. The smartwatch does have some nice features associated with it. It does have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS functionality while adding in Alexa. It also has a built-in speaker so you can take calls from your watch or even play music from your watch. Then there are 7 sensors which can measure heart rate, blood oxygen levels, accelerometer, gyro sensor, altimeter, barometer, and ambient light. You also get the CZ Smart YouQ which measures parameters and lets you know when you are at your premium level to work during the day. Even with all these sensors, it just felt like to me the engineers built this thinking they would put a bunch of stuff in a watch without thinking much of the end user. For example, the watch is not waterproof. If you are active and want to use this as a fitness watch, there are activities such as swimming that you can’t use it for. It connects to activity-based apps such as Strava but doesn’t really have a way to connect to other favorites. The available apps are limited. Also, there are a limited number of watch faces to choose from. There are some third-party faces, but those cost more money. The bezel seems underutilized as well. The old Navihawk would rotate to add more functionality to the watch. This bezel is big and rigid. It looks nice but adds little to the watch. The battery is also underwhelming. If you want it to last all day, you really need to place it on extended wear and remove the always on capability. With all the sensors always on active, the watch will not even last through a day of work. It recharges to full capacity in an hour, but that still defeats the point of wearing it and tracking your activity. There is a bit of a learning curve if you are not familiar with Wear OS. Once you get used to it, it is easy to move around. The watch does have a rotating crown on the side which also helps with navigation. Some of the complications on the main face were slow to update. For example, if you wanted to see your step count, that would not always be up to date. However, if you went into the section where the total is, then it would be correct. You will have to give the watch permission to track everything. I wish it was just one acknowledgement, but it seemed for each stat you had to approve it. It was a bit annoying. In the end, I was left wishing this watch had more. I wanted more apps. Some of the functions that it did have, I really don’t care for. The sleep features are nice, but I don’t want to wear something this big on my wrist to sleep. I also would like more watch faces and apps. As far as workmanship is concerned, the watch is top notch. It looks great and the readouts are clear. Perhaps I just wanted it to be like the old Navihawk. I would like to still give it 4 stars, but the battery life and limited apps is just too much for me to overlook. I would recommend it to a friend, especially if they like the nostalgia of the Citizen watch and appearance. But if active sports tracking with a waterproof casing is what you want and need, this probably isn’t the watch for you.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Nice watch but small watch faces and dials

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    Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Great tech but a little too small of reading for me. Accuracy and the Watson technology is great and was able to link them up to Google Fit and MyFitnessPal

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Design
    Cons mentioned:
    Battery life, Water resistance
    Tech Insider Network Member

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Gen 2 is a good smart watch but needs improvement

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    Tech Insider Network Member
    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Citizen - CZ Smart 45mm Unisex Stainless Steel Sport Smartwatch with Silicone Strap Before I go into my review I would like to post a suggestion: If you are planning on using the CZ Smart YouQ integration with the Citizen Connected app on your Android phone I suggest that you just set up these apps using your Android ID and password otherwise you will have difficulty with the two apps integrating easily. I was kind of surprised that the watch is non water resistant which puts it out of the sports watch area in my opinion. To the degree that it is recommended that you don’t wear the watch when you are washing your hands. There isn’t a quick start quide and you have to learn on the fly by using the apps and taking a guess. There is a small tutorial on the watch to show you swipes and the buttons. It took a week before the sleep app got most of my sleeping routine down instead of taking the middle of the night trip to the bathroom as meaning I was up for the night. It even mostly could tack on my afternoon power nape with a miss on one out of three times. The other YouQ features are spotty at best. Some features look as if they have future integration in mind though I don’t know how the app would track REM sleep. Other than ‘went to bed’ and ‘wake up’ the sleep tracking on the YouQ has been blank even though the same information for light sleep, wake and deep sleep show up correctly on the Citizen Connected app. The heart rate and O2 level look pretty good but sometimes the sensor can be finicky on where it needs to be to get it to read this. I could not get the sensors in the goldilocks zone other than wearing the watch on the underside of my wrist. I tried on both wrists and made sure to change the orientation on the watch but the only way it would work was on the underside of my wrists. The silicon wrist strap was kind of stiff and only made for a decent fit with the watch in this position anyway. I’m not sure what the apps use for steps used but they are extremely inaccurate. My wife who has another brand of smart watch found that it might be attributed to swinging motion. It seems to be pretty accurate if she uses it as an ankle monitor when we go out for our walk. The strap is too short for me to try it in this mode, but it is a possibility. I would have thought it would use the GPS capabilities of my phone to assist in some of the steps traveled but that is a lot more accurate than the results I have seen. I have to be conscious of this position on my wrist so that I don’t damage the face of the watch during certain activities. The alert check is interesting but more of a game to beat the dot to the blinking point and this is on your phone not on the watch. All in all the YouQ app at this stage is more of a gimmick than a viable source of information. I would not buy the watch for these Hyped NASA and IBM Watson features. I may prove better with some updates but at this time it is more of a novelty at this stage. The regular smart watch features seems decent with good integration between the smart watch and the phone. This is typical of the WearOS software. And allows for integration with a lot of other devices. With alerts and phone integration along with Alexa integration if you choose. Some of these features can affect the battery life. I believe I use the watch in a relatively normal manner and experience the need to charge the watch once in the middle of the day and once prior to bed so it doesn’t go into shutdown mode while I sleep. It generally takes about 30 minutes for a full recharge. One thing that it likes to do is reset the always on-screen setting – switching it to ON whenever it thinks I have woken up for the day. The center stem on the watch can act as a quick scroll if that works for how you want to go through instead of swiping N and S. The Bezel is all for show and it is a shame they didn’t make it movable to allow for tracking minutes like a normal bezel time keeper. The faces can be changed and I noticed the first updated added a couple of new faces so I would think over time their may be some more. It is amusing the the watch face on the box cover isn’t one that is available. I don’t mind since I like the digital faces with more information. The watch is good looking and I will be interested in seeing how long the stainless steel holds up to acidic sweat – I often blacken and eat through a lot of stainless steel watches and it is why I usually only have titanium based cases. It would be nice if they had a future model with a titanium case. I have several Citizen standard watches and hope they update this watch in the future. Some of those updates could be handled with software /firmware updates. The conclusion is that purchase this for the smart watch features and at this stage not for the fitness features.

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