TicWatch is a great watch whose main characteristic is the ultra-low-power (ULP) display - or basically the display of classic (i.e. non-smart) digital watches. The digits on it are slightly less pronounced than on digital watches, but it's perfectly legible in normal light conditions both outdoors and indoors. When it's darker, it's harder to read, and in the evenings, when I'm not at home, I sometimes turn on the automatic backlight (which otherwise isn't needed at all). Underneath, of course, they have the classic AOD smart display.
For example. for cycling, the following tiles are displayed on the ULP display: total time, distance traveled, heart rate, speed, calories, [something I don't know what it means: -D], blood oxygenation, compass. At the same time, the current heart rate, clock and battery level are always displayed.
They have Wear OS, which means they can basically do the same thing as e.g. Galaxy Watch (native apps are totally cool). I could probably write a lot of things that are nice about them: colour resolution of the backlighting of the heart rate zones for sports - you need to have the "tilt-to-wake" backlighting on; essential mode with only ULP display, which the watch lasts maybe a month or more (untested) and which still measures steps, heart rate, etc. bodily functions; automatic detection of running (works fine after os update), maybe even cycling, but I haven't tried it there yet (it didn't detect it before os update).
Basically, 2 major things bother me about them:
1. quality of materials - for a lower price, many competitors provide titanium and sapphire glass. I'm sorry to hear that, because this watch is really nice and it's a shame that with my use of it in this condition, it probably won't last long.
2. Rolling crown (button) - under normal circumstances a great thing, which I use a lot, however when cycling (etc. ) with cycling gloves, the ULP display is basically unusable, because the gloves are constantly turning the wheel and therefore changing the preset scheme/tile (which is "locked", so the first few turns are always ignored to avoid accidental change of the displayed information - unfortunately this is not enough), so if I want to see e.g. speed, I'd just have to keep spinning the wheel from a random position. Unfortunately, due to the existence of the ULP display, which has a fixed scheme, the watch cannot be rotated (even with 3rd party apps) so that the buttons are on the opposite side.
I was actually still hesitant to return them, but unfortunately there is still no better alternative: -D
Knowing these two major shortcomings makes me all the more sorry that even the Samsung Galaxy Watch flagship (6) can't compare to this watch - simply because it doesn't last nearly a day under active use. I really don't want to wait for the "7 for classic" version anymore.
In terms of endurance, so far I haven't really given the watch a rest, I'm always setting something, playing with it, playing sports, so it normally lasts me from the morning until the next evening (minimum I managed one day of active use). Hopefully it'll get better once I calm down: -)