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Stainless Steel Links: Apple vs. Monowear vs. hoco (Pictures Inside)

J

JuNxXxReY

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 7, 2008
139
6
I've had my stainless steel Apple Watch for several weeks now and have had the privilege to own the Apple, Monowear, and hoco stainless steel links. Here are my impressions about each band:

Apple:
  • $450
  • light
  • looks like old Casio calculator watch
  • brushed stainless steel
  • scratched easily after just two days of wearing
  • easily change length of band
  • butterfly clasp

Monowear:
  • $80 (Kickstarter backer)
  • light
  • polished and brushed stainless steel
  • single clasp
  • lug/connector looked more brushed than polished

hoco:
  • $33
  • heavier
  • brushed stainless steel
  • thickest band
  • lug/connector is polished
  • single clasp

Out of the 3, I must say that I like the hoco the best. This is just my personal preference, but I like how the band is much thicker and heavier. Also, the lug matches the polished stainless steel unlike the Monowear. The Monowear band is connected to the lug using a thin pin used in many watches. Hoco's band is connected using a lug similar to the Apple's classic band. The lugs on all 3 bands slid into the Apple Watch nice and smooth. Both the Apple and Monowear bands were pretty light. I wouldn't be able to tell which band I was wearing if I wasn't allowed to touch the bands with my hand and had my eyes closed. The Apple SS link band was easier to adjust. However, I only adjusted each band once. I was able to adjust the hoco band in less than 5 minutes using a watch kit I got at Amazon. Apple used a butterfly clasp concept, and sometimes it didn't click the first time. The Apple link also scratched easily and at $450, the scratches hurt the pocket a lot more. The hoco band was only $33 and felt more solid out of the three stainless steel bands. Again, this is just my opinion. In no means am I a professional reviewer. Here are some pictures. I returned Apple's SS link so I don't have any pictures of the hoco and Apple SS link together.
 

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Last edited:
Nice pictures, thanks. I do disagree with the Casio likeness (yes, I've seen the comparison pictures). But the Hoco does look nice.
 
Great review!! Thanks for posting.

I don't like the casio style of the apple band either.
Hoco is looking good. Like the clasp deployment better too from your pics.
Great value for $33. Incidentally I just ordered it for $49 from a US seller. Let the mark up begin. :)

How wide is the Hoco band?
 
I'm biased since I have the Hoco myself, but it does seem like far and away the best value. I've never seen the Apple band in person, but I do think it's attractive. However, the price just makes it a non-starter for me. And the Monowear band appears to just be based on a very cheap band design that you can get for under $10 on Aliexpress with an Apple Watch adapter added. One person has already reported theirs literally falling apart. Not so great at almost 3x the price of the Hoco band.
 
Anyone have the link the Hoco? It seems like a winner to me. I actually prefer my links to be heavy. It adds a premium feel to the watch.

Never mind. Found it on amazon. It looks like they are $49 now.
 
trek360 said:
Great review!! Thanks for posting.

I don't like the casio style of the apple band either.
Hoco is looking good. Like the clasp deployment better too from your pics.
Great value for $33. Incidentally I just ordered it for $49 from a US seller. Let the mark up begin. :)

How wide is the Hoco band?
Click to expand...

You and the OP got it for a steal. I got it when it first came up on the internet for $59 from China. It's a great band though.

----------
mightyjabba said:
I'm biased since I have the Hoco myself, but it does seem like far and away the best value. I've never seen the Apple band in person, but I do think it's attractive. However, the price just makes it a non-starter for me. And the Monowear band appears to just be based on a very cheap band design that you can get for under $10 on Aliexpress with an Apple Watch adapter added. One person has already reported theirs literally falling apart. Not so great at almost 3x the price of the Hoco band.
Click to expand...

How much did you pay for the HOCO? I feel like I seriously overpaid for mine.
 
I paid $48, which did end up being more than I needed to. I guess I got a little too excited and didn't do enough comparison shopping. But it's still a heck of a bargain.
 
iBlazed said:
Yeah I paid $60. Way more that I needed to. But at least it's a great band. I'll accept the $11 loss. What choice do i Have?
Click to expand...

I ordered from this eBay seller, us based. Ordered 5/21pm shipped 5/22 scheduled to arrive 5/26 by USPS. Would have been sooner if not for the holiday. There were a few Chinese sellers for $33 a few days ago but I thought it best to stick with a US based seller. From the looks of it $60 is still reasonable and I think the prices will only go up from here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361302600752
 
trek360 said:
I ordered from this eBay seller, us based. Ordered 5/21pm shipped 5/22 scheduled to arrive 5/26 by USPS. Would have been sooner if not for the holiday. There were a few Chinese sellers for $33 a few days ago but I thought it best to stick with a US based seller. From the looks of it $60 is still reasonable and I think the prices will only go up from here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/361302600752
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm not feeling too bad about it. I would if it were a crappy band, but it seems to be pretty high quality.
 
nfl46 said:
Anyone have the link the Hoco? It seems like a winner to me. I actually prefer my links to be heavy. It adds a premium feel to the watch.

Never mind. Found it on amazon. It looks like they are $49 now.
Click to expand...

The original post had hyperlinks on each title above the bullets.
 
Could you post pics of the Watch attached to the bands? Thank you
 
Loving my Hoco bracelet!

Such good quality that I ordered the other style within half an hour of receiving my first one! £30 on eBay, ships for free and comes with a link removal tool. No brainer!

Seems a few eBay sellers are rapidly running out of stock so don't hang about if your interested.
 
Great review and pictures.

I have the Apple Stainless Steel Link band but ordered the Hoco band off eBay as well (paid $38) but it has not arrived as yet.

I'll probably end up keeping both bands (I have 5 days left on my return period for the Apple Link Bracelet). I quite like the look of the Hoco (it looks like my Tag Heuer band) but was just concerned that it might feel cheap.
 
Does the Hoco band allow micro adjustments in the clasp?

I find that I am between links of the Apple Watch Stainless Steel bracelet, so a band which allowed smaller adjustments (like my old watch) would be great.
 
The Hoco looks like the nicest third-party band I've seen so far. Can't wait to see what else they release. This type of style is a bit mundane for my taste but would buy this over the official Link bracelet.
 
InAustralia said:
Does the Hoco band allow micro adjustments in the clasp?

I find that I am between links of the Apple Watch Stainless Steel bracelet, so a band which allowed smaller adjustments (like my old watch) would be great.
Click to expand...
Nope. I don't think I've seen any bands for AW that allow for that.
 
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