@Pacers Yeah, mine is still going too. If i hadn’t just bought an apple i’d be scooping one of these up. I might anyway, as a spare.
I got one of the new ones in their kickstarter. The firmware/app isn’t great. the voice stuff never worked with siri, and notifications are flakey. Still, the hardware is pretty nice; very attractive compared to the previous martian offerings, and the software-controlled analog watch hands are fun. I’m really disappointed that they didn’t make it.
I bought the apple watch after i got Martian’s “we’re sorry” note on kickstarter. I’m pleasantly surprised by it, and the price is down to $150 at w–m— for the “series 1”.
Almost tempting to get one just as a bet on the service dying in the next month.
I’d really like one of the kind of smartwatch with a heartrate monitor in it. You can get them on Amazon for like $30, but every single one (including the $150 mainstream non-knockoff ones for that matter) seems to have a lot of problems doing the requisite bluetooth stuff. Which isn’t surprising because Android’s bluetooth stuff is a hot mess.
Perhaps there’s a gap in the market for a smartwatch-fitness-band that charges from and data-syncs over USB, and just don’t even try to blue your teeth.
@PlacidPenguin@ravenblack Well, for example, on my phone, the Lollipop upgrade did something to Bluetooth, such that the WiFi part of the phone can’t figure out when the Bluetooth is using the radio. Apparently they share the same antenna, so now they interfere with each other. As a result, WiFi doesn’t work when Bluetooth is on, which makes using Bluetooth any time but when I’m driving sort of a disaster. Also, it makes this watch somewhat less useful for me.
@PlacidPenguin There’s been more than one instance of the bluetooth stack on Android being ‘updated’ in ways that broke existing software and introduced fundamental hardware incompatibilities.
Even aside from system updates, I notice that with pretty much all bluetooth android things, the troubleshooting steps suggested are typically “try rebooting both things”. Never a good sign. (Though this part is also true to only a slightly lesser extent for bluetooth devices with anything, not just Android.)
@PlacidPenguin Sure, but it’s slightly misleading to infer Bluetooth has problems when it’s happening on outdated, no longer supported software.
It stinks for us consumers that planned obsolescence is a thing with smartphones, but it’s a thing. And hardware that stops working properly with software as a result is one of the pitfalls of sticking with old phones in a rapidly advancing market.
@PlacidPenguin Which specific issue? I think you meant to reply to the other person, since the only specific issue I mentioned is that a bluetooth stack update removed the ability to usefully connect wiimotes. That ability was never regained.
In other specific issues, my wife’s cheap knockoff smartwatch has the “won’t reconnect, try rebooting both things and then actively unpairing them and then re-pairing them, then it will work for another few days” behavior, which could of course be just the watch at fault, how would you know. Maybe literally every bluetooth device has implemented it wrong and the phones are fine (apart from not supporting wiimotes, which, y’know, maybe they are a real example of spec-violating behavior and it’s technically right to not support them, but it’s not very convenient, and looks like a regression from the user perspective.)
@ravenblack In my experience with Android (since either Froyo or Gingerbread, can’t remember), I seem to recall any Bluetooth issue has been with cheap stuff. And even then, it’s been things without a screen and few buttons (think earbuds or speakers) where setting up the pairing mode was not intuitive and instructions weren’t readily available. But that is anecdotal and surely doesn’t mean Bluetooth is infallible. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.
@PlacidPenguin (To be clear, I genuinely do consider it quite likely that literally every bluetooth fitness band device has implemented bluetooth wrong, and that it’s not the phone’s fault. Eight out of eight expensive high-end industrial webcams we tried at work can’t even implement a minimal http service correctly, including such gems of competence as accidentally exporting a field as “postion” in their JSON interface, so with that in mind it seems positively unlikely that even one consumer hardware manufacturer would have implemented bluetooth, a much more difficult protocol, correctly. And there’s a good chance they’re all using a bluetooth chip / library / whatever from the same source, which would absolutely guarantee that they all share a failure mode.)
I got the PTL01 the last time around (P.S. thanks for this surprise warranty!). The watch looks nice and I have gotten a few compliments on the looks alone. Then they are pleasantly surprised to see it’s a smartwatch as well.
While there are some things that I don’t like (the inability of turning off the automatic call forwarding to the watch speaker, and the phone app itself), I will say it’s pretty cool to set up the many different notifications it allows and only have to glance at the watch to read the text or see if it’s something that I want to take my phone out for.
As for the notifications, I don’t see that going away anytime soon as a result of Martian going under because it’s strictly the app talking to the watch via Bluetooth. There’s no server needed for that to function. Maybe someday an Android update may render the app incompatible, but who knows when that’ll happen.
Bottom line, it’s a solid watch with cool notification features that should work for quite a while.
@sippinndippin If you set up another independent app to notify you on the phone, the Martian app should allow that notification to be forwarded to the watch for you.
@sippinndippin yup. Well at least you can with the notifier. The app has a setting that allows you to set custom alarms to vibrate the watch and display a message on the screen. It was called Silent Alarms. I’m not exactly sure if this watch does this but I wouldn’t imagine that they’d exclude this feature.
My Martian has already stopped giving notifications. For every one else’s sake, I hope it is just a problem with my individual watch!
Thanks for the additional warranty. For a company based on the lowest possible price with the minimum of extras, your customer service is better than the watch shop I took my rather expensive Bulova to!
@jelliott04 For whatever it’s worth, I’ve owned two for a few years and both still work perfectly. Changing the button battery for the analog hands is a bit of a pain (and poorly documented) but they’ve otherwise held up really well (and I’m generally pretty tough on electronics I carry around with me).
I was one of the fortunate four-eighty who received one of the Martian mVoice G2 watches. It’s a good watch - at least it has been so far. “Has been” being the operant phrase at this point … but it’ll look great next to my Sinclair Black Watch so it’s all good.
Out of business?! I’m genuinely slightly devastated. Their “just smart enough” approach to a smartwatch was damn near perfect. I was really looking forward to the G2. I’m not really even in the market for a new watch right now, but I guess I should get while the gettin’ is good.
Since I received no response and no one wanted to google it for me, I looked up the band/strap size myself. I also researched myself out of buying one.
@Airwhale I agree but…and there’s always a but…The connectivity issue bothers me. I don’t want to have to continually reset it. I had a Gear and never had the problem.
so i order those 2 RC cars in feb for a 3 year old birthday (my neighbor)…I order a 27 mhz and a 49…MEH sends me 2 49 mhz’s…so the dad can’t race his son…
Last week I order the package with the gum and RC car…and AGAIN order the 27 so the dad can race his son…and what does MEH do?..sends me ANOTHER 49 MHZ…How does this happen? how does this get resolved?..and yes, I sent an email…
@fastharry I contacted customer servicer right away and they fixed it right away when this happened to me. Did you know about customer service and that this forum is not it?
@Kyser_Soze Thanks K…I finally figured out how to do that…inside my little order box…appreciate you checking in…and i wanted them to see it here so they have a pic…
Received yesterday. I previously had the notifier before I broke it. The mVoice is sleeker with better function. I can yell at Siri and Alexa and forcefully give them commands. Call quality through the watch is stellar (or so I’m told). The speaker volume could be a bit louder. I really wish I bought another one. Hoping these are on here again so I can snag one.
@Drewski3420 Did yours straighten out? Just got mine. I’m having a similar problem; LED blinking about 2x per second. Stuck a USB voltage/current meter on it, and it wasn’t drawing measurable current (i.e. < 10mA). So I started searching the internet for anything about Martian watches and rapidly blinking LEDs. Not much useful. However, as I sat down to write Meh about the problem, it suddenly turned solid red and is drawing 60mA. Took over an hour, so I guess patience pays off. Now to see if it will fully charge, turn on, etc.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
1x Watch
1x USB charging cable
Price Comparison
$89 - $137 at Amazon
Warranty
4 Month Meh (check the writeup)
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
It’s smart to have a watch
It’s about time you get one too
That’s a really nice warranty which is being offered.
Kudos.
@PlacidPenguin Yeah, I was ready to complain then I saw that.
Olio - never forget!!1!
@joshaw Any updates on any hackers resurrecting the Olio? One of the finest-looking watches I ever had … oh, well.
In the meantime, I think Olio, and I remember what Marlon Brandon did to Maria Schneider in Last Tango in Paris.
@joshaw I got an olio in my fuku. Beautiful looking watch. Can’t even get it to turn on. I don’t even know what I’m missing.
@Mac454
You’d need their server to be up in order to connect your watch to your phone, but since it was taken down…
@phendrick Nothing that I know of but I haven’t checked the thread recently…
Goodnight…
you can’t even wash your hands while wearing this watch. ridiculous.
@elpepe That’s a no from me then.
How many people can say they have a Martian at their right hand? Well, you can now!
(Meh, don’t forget my commission this time)
@hchavers not me… and I own one of their watches (FWIW I’m left-handed and wear mine on my left wrist…)
@chienfou How do you like it? Is it everything you dreamed of and more?
@rprussell loved it till recently when the Bluetooth quit working haven’t been able to pair it past couple of weeks.
Going to wait until Venus watches go out of business and score one of those.
My Notifier is still going strong after 2½ years of regular use. If all you want from a “smart” watch are the notifications, $40 is hard to beat.
@Pacers Yeah, mine is still going too. If i hadn’t just bought an apple i’d be scooping one of these up. I might anyway, as a spare.
I got one of the new ones in their kickstarter. The firmware/app isn’t great. the voice stuff never worked with siri, and notifications are flakey. Still, the hardware is pretty nice; very attractive compared to the previous martian offerings, and the software-controlled analog watch hands are fun. I’m really disappointed that they didn’t make it.
I bought the apple watch after i got Martian’s “we’re sorry” note on kickstarter. I’m pleasantly surprised by it, and the price is down to $150 at w–m— for the “series 1”.
Almost tempting to get one just as a bet on the service dying in the next month.
I’d really like one of the kind of smartwatch with a heartrate monitor in it. You can get them on Amazon for like $30, but every single one (including the $150 mainstream non-knockoff ones for that matter) seems to have a lot of problems doing the requisite bluetooth stuff. Which isn’t surprising because Android’s bluetooth stuff is a hot mess.
Perhaps there’s a gap in the market for a smartwatch-fitness-band that charges from and data-syncs over USB, and just don’t even try to blue your teeth.
@ravenblack
Curious what you mean by this.
@PlacidPenguin @ravenblack Well, for example, on my phone, the Lollipop upgrade did something to Bluetooth, such that the WiFi part of the phone can’t figure out when the Bluetooth is using the radio. Apparently they share the same antenna, so now they interfere with each other. As a result, WiFi doesn’t work when Bluetooth is on, which makes using Bluetooth any time but when I’m driving sort of a disaster. Also, it makes this watch somewhat less useful for me.
@yeppers
Odd. I don’t ever recall having that issue.
Which device?
Although to be fair, Lollipop did have quite a few issues with it.
@PlacidPenguin There’s been more than one instance of the bluetooth stack on Android being ‘updated’ in ways that broke existing software and introduced fundamental hardware incompatibilities.
For example, the Wiimote’s bluetooth used to work on Android. https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-your-wiimote-as-a-controller-for-your-android-device/
Even aside from system updates, I notice that with pretty much all bluetooth android things, the troubleshooting steps suggested are typically “try rebooting both things”. Never a good sign. (Though this part is also true to only a slightly lesser extent for bluetooth devices with anything, not just Android.)
@PlacidPenguin @ravenblack @yeppers What phone do you have?! Lollipop came out 3 and a half years ago and is no longer supported by Google.
@Mac454
As of May 7th, 22.4% of 2,000,000,000 devices which access Google Play Services were running Lollipop (either API 21 or 22).
Not everybody will replace their phone often, or install a custom ROM.
@ravenblack
Thinking back to which devices I used with Lollipop, I don’t recall having this specific issue with my Nexus 5 or Nexus 7.
@PlacidPenguin Sure, but it’s slightly misleading to infer Bluetooth has problems when it’s happening on outdated, no longer supported software.
It stinks for us consumers that planned obsolescence is a thing with smartphones, but it’s a thing. And hardware that stops working properly with software as a result is one of the pitfalls of sticking with old phones in a rapidly advancing market.
…kind of like these watches actually.
@PlacidPenguin Which specific issue? I think you meant to reply to the other person, since the only specific issue I mentioned is that a bluetooth stack update removed the ability to usefully connect wiimotes. That ability was never regained.
In other specific issues, my wife’s cheap knockoff smartwatch has the “won’t reconnect, try rebooting both things and then actively unpairing them and then re-pairing them, then it will work for another few days” behavior, which could of course be just the watch at fault, how would you know. Maybe literally every bluetooth device has implemented it wrong and the phones are fine (apart from not supporting wiimotes, which, y’know, maybe they are a real example of spec-violating behavior and it’s technically right to not support them, but it’s not very convenient, and looks like a regression from the user perspective.)
@ravenblack In my experience with Android (since either Froyo or Gingerbread, can’t remember), I seem to recall any Bluetooth issue has been with cheap stuff. And even then, it’s been things without a screen and few buttons (think earbuds or speakers) where setting up the pairing mode was not intuitive and instructions weren’t readily available. But that is anecdotal and surely doesn’t mean Bluetooth is infallible. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.
@PlacidPenguin (To be clear, I genuinely do consider it quite likely that literally every bluetooth fitness band device has implemented bluetooth wrong, and that it’s not the phone’s fault. Eight out of eight expensive high-end industrial webcams we tried at work can’t even implement a minimal http service correctly, including such gems of competence as accidentally exporting a field as “postion” in their JSON interface, so with that in mind it seems positively unlikely that even one consumer hardware manufacturer would have implemented bluetooth, a much more difficult protocol, correctly. And there’s a good chance they’re all using a bluetooth chip / library / whatever from the same source, which would absolutely guarantee that they all share a failure mode.)
@ravenblack
Yeah, if meh offered five $10 coupons the first month, and I could essentially sell Martian support short, we’d be talking.
@PlacidPenguin Moto X first generation. Yes, it’s old. But the fact that I get stuff from this site may indicate that I’m a cheapskate.
I got the PTL01 the last time around (P.S. thanks for this surprise warranty!). The watch looks nice and I have gotten a few compliments on the looks alone. Then they are pleasantly surprised to see it’s a smartwatch as well.
While there are some things that I don’t like (the inability of turning off the automatic call forwarding to the watch speaker, and the phone app itself), I will say it’s pretty cool to set up the many different notifications it allows and only have to glance at the watch to read the text or see if it’s something that I want to take my phone out for.
As for the notifications, I don’t see that going away anytime soon as a result of Martian going under because it’s strictly the app talking to the watch via Bluetooth. There’s no server needed for that to function. Maybe someday an Android update may render the app incompatible, but who knows when that’ll happen.
Bottom line, it’s a solid watch with cool notification features that should work for quite a while.
I have a EnvoyG10 that I bought last go around that I’m not using anymore if anyone is interested in purchasing it.
I love it and it was great but I upgraded to a Garmin watch
I want to set it so it alerts me every ten to fifteen minutes (a work thing). Will these do that?
@sippinndippin If you set up another independent app to notify you on the phone, the Martian app should allow that notification to be forwarded to the watch for you.
@Mac454 suggestions on that app iOS?
@Mac454 @sippinndippin This sounds like a job for IFTTT…
@sippinndippin yup. Well at least you can with the notifier. The app has a setting that allows you to set custom alarms to vibrate the watch and display a message on the screen. It was called Silent Alarms. I’m not exactly sure if this watch does this but I wouldn’t imagine that they’d exclude this feature.
I like watches. Watches are good.
NO.
How about extending the funny warranty to Olio purchases?
@dalekjoe
It’s past 4 months
.
Alexa listening to everything I do? No thanks. 1984 on my wrist.
@Crotalus
Nah.
Meh sold some MetaWatch watches, then they died.
Later, Meh started selling Martian watches, and now they’re dead too.
If we ever see Fitbit watches here, I guess we’ll know they’re circling the drain…
Wut wuuuuut!
My Martian has already stopped giving notifications. For every one else’s sake, I hope it is just a problem with my individual watch!
Thanks for the additional warranty. For a company based on the lowest possible price with the minimum of extras, your customer service is better than the watch shop I took my rather expensive Bulova to!
@jelliott04 For whatever it’s worth, I’ve owned two for a few years and both still work perfectly. Changing the button battery for the analog hands is a bit of a pain (and poorly documented) but they’ve otherwise held up really well (and I’m generally pretty tough on electronics I carry around with me).
@grovberg I imagine my problem is a bluetooth issue. I’ve not tried to fix it. Obviously I have not tried too hard to troubleshoot it.
Does anyone know how long the band is? I have a large wrist.
/giphy I have a large wrist
@shaconaqe
Just wow.
@shaconaqe you didn’t even tag @cjester66 to see this masterpiece!
@RiotDemon @shaconaqe Damn! If you hadn’t tagged me I wouldn’t have had to see that. I think my eyes are bleeding a little…
@cjester66
/giphy happy dance
My smartwatch died yesterday… what timing!!!
Still pass.
There is no meh faster than a Martian meh.
I’m even counting the WWE figures, because at least with those I had to take a moment to go, “Wha??”
I was one of the fortunate four-eighty who received one of the Martian mVoice G2 watches. It’s a good watch - at least it has been so far. “Has been” being the operant phrase at this point … but it’ll look great next to my Sinclair Black Watch so it’s all good.
@gafisher I got one too, but notifications don’t work reliably, and Siri not at all. I never tried Alexa. Are you on Android or Apple?
@danpritts Android; works OK with Alexa but, um, not quite as well as in the product videos.
Out of business?! I’m genuinely slightly devastated. Their “just smart enough” approach to a smartwatch was damn near perfect. I was really looking forward to the G2. I’m not really even in the market for a new watch right now, but I guess I should get while the gettin’ is good.
Stupid economics.
I’d like to buy this but I’m worried it will be too small. Anybody have a clue about the length of the band??
Since I received no response and no one wanted to google it for me, I looked up the band/strap size myself. I also researched myself out of buying one.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/28/martian-mvoice-smartwatch-review/
@cjester66 I’d note that review judges it as a $200 watch. For $40, I’m very willing to overlook many of the faults of these watches.
@Airwhale I agree but…and there’s always a but…The connectivity issue bothers me. I don’t want to have to continually reset it. I had a Gear and never had the problem.
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
@club75kyle
Maybe pigs will fly one day? Maybe Elon Musk will save humanity?
@club75kyle great reference to a great song by the boss.
so i order those 2 RC cars in feb for a 3 year old birthday (my neighbor)…I order a 27 mhz and a 49…MEH sends me 2 49 mhz’s…so the dad can’t race his son…
Last week I order the package with the gum and RC car…and AGAIN order the 27 so the dad can race his son…and what does MEH do?..sends me ANOTHER 49 MHZ…How does this happen? how does this get resolved?..and yes, I sent an email…
@fastharry wait for a response?
@fastharry I contacted customer servicer right away and they fixed it right away when this happened to me. Did you know about customer service and that this forum is not it?
@Kyser_Soze Thanks K…I finally figured out how to do that…inside my little order box…appreciate you checking in…and i wanted them to see it here so they have a pic…
Has any one found the “Blue” Martian Watch Alerts App on the Google Play Store?
The quick start guide calls for this app, and it is not in the app store.
@iwilsker not sure about google play but it’s called “mVoice” in the App Store.
@Kevlaro Thank you for the response.
There is a Martian Mvoice and an Mvoice2.
Has anyone compared the 2?
Received yesterday. I previously had the notifier before I broke it. The mVoice is sleeker with better function. I can yell at Siri and Alexa and forcefully give them commands. Call quality through the watch is stellar (or so I’m told). The speaker volume could be a bit louder. I really wish I bought another one. Hoping these are on here again so I can snag one.
@Kevlaro
https://morningsave.com/deals/martian-mvoice-smartwatch-with-alexa-2
@sammydog01 Werd!
Is anyone else having a problem with your watch? Mine doesn’t seem to be charging, with the red LED blinking instead of steady.
@Drewski3420 Did yours straighten out? Just got mine. I’m having a similar problem; LED blinking about 2x per second. Stuck a USB voltage/current meter on it, and it wasn’t drawing measurable current (i.e. < 10mA). So I started searching the internet for anything about Martian watches and rapidly blinking LEDs. Not much useful. However, as I sat down to write Meh about the problem, it suddenly turned solid red and is drawing 60mA. Took over an hour, so I guess patience pays off. Now to see if it will fully charge, turn on, etc.
@mehcuda67 nah. I contacted support and they gave me a new one.
My watch is no longer pairing via Bluetooth to my phone. Are replacements still available or does this mean Martian discontinued service?