Eiavike Google Pixel Band Review: A serious Lack of Options

POSITIVES

✓ Very affordable

About ten dollars a pop

NEGATIVES

✘ Coarse material

A little rough on the wrist

✘ Weak Connection

Rattles with any movement

✘ Poor clasp

Doesn't hold watch in place around the wrist

Retail Price: $9.96

Buy on Amazon

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees and support our channel by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

There’s a serious lack of variety when it comes to customizing Google's premiere watch. The Google Pixel Watch has been out for some months now and I have constantly been searching for a decent third-party watch band to try out. Unlike the Apple Watch, it doesn’t seem like accessory makers are jumping the gun to capitalize on this market space. That’s somewhat understandable seeing as from my own anecdotal experience, I have yet to come across another Pixel Watch wearer. Still, I gave it a shot and purchased the Eiavike band from Amazon after seeing some pretty nice renderings online. Is this something that is actually wearable for the wearable?

Affordable, but that’s about it

To cut straight to the chase, this band and what seems like most of the Amazon offerings are just not that good. I’ve purchased a bevy of third-party watch bands for a bunch of different smart watches over the years and for one reason or another, the Pixel Watch ones are the worst ones I’ve come across. This particular one is an adjustable stretchy nylon strap that is a style which has come to find some popularity in recent years thanks to the Apple Watch. It’ll only cost about $10 to acquire which is significantly cheaper than any official Google band being sold, so that this band does have the cheapness factor going for it. Unfortunately that’s really all this product has going for it.

While the band doesn’t feel terrible around my wrist, it’s a bit coarse and not as tightly threaded as the render images on Amazon would imply it to be. The biggest issue lies with the clasps. It’s a pretty standard tightening and loosening mechanism, but this band has a difficult time maintaining its circular form. At the slightest bend of the wrist, the band elongates and becomes looser than it was previously adjusted to be. On the surface this might not be that big of an issue. However, if you also factor in how the Pixel Watch will auto-lock the watch and require you to retype the pin if it senses the watch has left your wrist, then this quickly becomes a nuisance. I’ve had to type in my pin a lot more frequently after switching to this band than I did with Google’s band.

weak and clunky experience

My other major concern is with the pin connection that joins the watch with the band. Google has their own proprietary way of connecting bands with the Pixel Watch and it seems like third-party brands aren’t really taking the time to design a product to accommodate it. To elaborate on this, there are two removable aspects of the Eiavike product. The piece that connects directly to the watch utilizes Google’s mechanism on one side, while the other uses that pin system that many other Android smartwatches use. I surmise this to allow companies to just simply sell replacement watch bands that don’t rely on having the Pixel Watch’s proprietary part, thus saving a little bit of production cost. The problem with this type of implementation on the lower budget scale is that it’s incredibly weak. With the slightest movement, the joints jingle as if I had a handful of beads rubbing against one another on impact. It’s extremely distracting as even typing on my laptop is enough for the watch band to produce a symphony of clanking sounds. Because this was made from a cheap plastic material, it really doesn’t hold the watch in place together too well. If accessory makers are truly intent on keeping this pin mechanism to utilize band swapping flexibility outside of Google’s method, the only real solid way to do it is with a metal material. Otherwise, I just don’t see it holding together well.

Final Thoughts

I am glad to see a few more brands jumping into the fray with new watch bands for the Pixel Watch. I already have a couple of them on my Amazon cart waiting to get them purchased to try out at the office. The trend that I’m noticing is that the budget options just don’t offer the same value of quality that the Apple Watch equivalents did. I just hope that third-party companies put the same effort into developing usable products for what I think is clearly the best Android option for a smartwatch out there.      

---

---