It’s been a while since the Kickstarter darling Pebble hit the market, which happens to be more saturated these days. With devices like the Moto 360, Apple Watch, LG G Watch R and Samsung Gear S coming to market – it’s easy to forget about taking a look back. Surprisingly enough, just because some of the newer watches are more advanced and more powerful – it doesn’t mean anything in the long run. The Pebble smartwatch line is still solid, and even the older, chintzy plastic models are still relevant.

The Pebble smartwatch devs aren’t stupid either. They know better watches are coming to market, so to spice things up a bit they dropped the prices of their lineup. Now, anyone can get a regular Pebble for just $99, or the Pebble Steel for $199. Both of those prices are much cheaper than a lot of devices right now, even more so than the Apple Watch which is expected to retail for $349 – and that’s just the starting price.

In addition to the price drop, Pebble is also updating their devices to offer more robust fitness tracking options. More specifically, the watches will be able to continuously track fitness data and sleep patterns, all while they are displaying content from other apps. In other words, the tracking tools now work in the background. It will use up a bit more battery power, but that’s okay. The Pebble watches last for about a week on a full charge thanks to the low-power black and white displays.

Even without those new features, the Pebble brand is still holding strong in a rapidly changing market. It’s something to behold, but there’s good reason for it. In light of that, we’ve compiled a list of reasons why the Pebble is still relevant in today’s market.

Why the Pebble Smartwatch is Still Relevant

The Pebble smartwatch is still around for a reason. Namely, because it’s a solid device no matter which model you’re talking about. One of the best features of the Pebble is the community and third party support, which are both much more expansive than anything else being offered by competitors.

Design

Okay, so the original Pebble model is a bit, well… ugly. It’s made of chintzy hard plastic, and comes in several different colors. The biggest downside is that it’s bulky and geeky. It doesn’t look as bad on your wrist though, so it has that going for it. One could argue that there are limited options for women, as most of the colors – and the overall design – panders to male audiences.

On the other hand, the Pebble Steel is pretty damn attractive. Even if you don’t want the metal links, you can swap them out for a leather strap – and the device still looks good. That last part is saying something, since some of the other devices on the market look more than just a little silly with a custom band slapped on.

Still, for $99 it’s hard to argue with all the features that come along with the cheaper model even if the design is somewhat offputting.

Features and Functionality

This is where the Pebble smartwatch truly shines. As you know from the brief intro above, the devices are still being updated with new features. That support isn’t just coming from the official developers, however. It’s also coming from third party developers who have created a whole slew of custom watchfaces, apps and modifications.

Aside from the external design of the watch, once you pick up a Pebble you can customize it to high-hell. If you don’t like the watchfaces on offer, you can create your own. There are plenty of apps available for the device, and the marketplace is easy to browse – even for those who aren’t so tech savvy.

It doesn’t hurt that the Pebble models are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Phone either. If you want to use a Pebble there are almost no restrictions, which is more than you can say for competing devices. Samsung is notorious for offering expensive watches that only work with a select handful of self branded handsets. In that respect, if you want to use a Samsung smartwatch you’ll have to purchase a new smartphone and one of their watches – unless you were lucky enough to own a compatible device.

Pebble Smartwatch Battery Life

The Pebble uses a 1.26-inch low-power e-paper display, with content visible in black and white. While this may be a turnoff to some who prefer bright and vivid LCDs with touchscreen support, it’s a boon for those who desire longer battery life.

With a full charge, the Pebble can last nearly an entire week – if not longer. If you ask us, it’s a little ridiculous having to charge any devices – even a smartphone – every night. Unfortunately, the industry has yet to adopt an acceptable form of power to consumption ratios.

Quite frankly, the battery in the Pebble smartwatch beats the hell out of models hitting the market today. The Moto 360 barely lasts a day under heavy usage, and it looks like the battery in the Apple Watch will probably last for about the same amount of time. That means, if you wake up in the morning and realize you forget to plug in your watch the night before you’ll be in some trouble – or you just won’t be able to use your smartwatch. Seriously, why pay hundreds of dollars for something that spends most of the time on the charger?

All that aside, the Pebble battery is exceptional even under heavy usage. Furthermore, with the new fitness tracking update, the total battery life is not expected to take a significant hit. Once you slap one of these babies on your wrist, you can count on it being usable for a good amount of time.

Sensory Overkill

Working backwards here, one big con of the Pebble is that neither model includes a heart-rate sensor. However, they are outfitted with an accelerometer, and compass. In combination with a paired smartphone, they can track a great deal of data related to health and fitness. The Pebble smartwatch can even track steps – similar to a pedometer – thanks to the accelerometer and third party developer support.

You Can’t Beat the Price of the Pebble Smartwatch

The Pebble smartwatch was priced good before the recent drop, now it’s even better. You can run out and spend $299 and up for a competing device with less features or you can scoop up the Pebble for $99 or the Pebble Steel for $199 right now. It’s tough to argue with the price to feature ratio of the device because it’s damn good. You are definitely getting your hard-earned moneys worth here, and that’s more than you can say about some of the other smartwatches on the market.

I am pretty excited for the Apple Watch, but it’s difficult not to scoff a little at their price point. $349 is a lot to pay for an advanced piece of jewelry, which is essentially what smartwatches are – at their core. I didn’t come here to argue semantics though, I came here to point out that the Pebble is still a damn good device.

If you’ve been waiting for a good smartwatch that has decent battery life, plenty of features and great third party support – you wasted a lot of time. You could have already picked up a Pebble smartwatch.