When I was in high school, all I wanted was a Baby-G Casio watch — partly because it came in fun colors, partly because all the cool kids had one. When I finally convinced my mom to get me one, I loved it to pieces until its battery died ages later. It’s been over 20 years since then, but as Y2K fashion invades my TikTok algorithm, I think a lot about how my watches used to just be watches that looked nice. Sometimes I feel like I want to go back to those days… then I remember that the main reason I got into smarter watches was for step tracking.

And then I found out about the Casio WS-B1000, which costs a mere $55.95, syncs with your phone for the time, and tracks steps. What!?

It’s not unfathomable that today’s Casio watches could be more than the analog watches of my youth. And yet it hadn’t occurred to me to check. Never mind that I reviewed a more rugged Casio Wear OS watch a few years ago — that was a chunky multisport watch at a time when the Wear OS struggle bus had a perpetual flat tire. But after a bit of digging, it turns out that Casio has modernized a few of its watches to have a bit more fitness tracking functionality while keeping that classic Casio design.

The WS-B1000 is one such watch, though it keeps things very simple. There’s no optical heart rate monitor, OLED display, fancy health sensors, contactless payments, or LTE connectivity. This device has Bluetooth to connect with your phone, an accelerometer to track steps, your classic stopwatch and timer functions, alarms, move reminders, and an LCD screen with a backlight button. In other words, just enough smarts to count as a fitness tracker — but barely.

A few years ago, that feature set probably wouldn’t have appealed to me. But these days, I’m at a point in my fitness journey where I’m recovering from mental and physical burnout from prolonged overtraining. It is a frustratingly long process, and to my surprise, the thing that’s kept me going are devices and apps that prioritize rest and simplicity over “going hard.” Many current smartwatches hurl active minutes, standing goals, calorie burn goals, and other targets at you — so many goals for you to hit daily that it can be overwhelming. So the fact that the WS-B1000 can only track steps or work as a stopwatch? That’s a plus.

And you know what? The three weeks I tested the WS-B1000 were delightful. I’d forgotten how nice it is to set a simple step goal and try to meet it. With this watch, I could just look down and say, “Uh-oh! It’s 4PM and I’m at 2,000 steps. Time to go for a walk.” If I wanted to check my history, I could go to the Casio app and view a rough log. There was nothing fancy, and that’s just how I wanted it. Accuracy-wise, I was generally within 500–1,000 steps of my Apple Watch Ultra — which is a fair margin of error given they were worn on different arms and I talk with my hands. But if you’re opting for something like this, the general goal is to simply move more, and this is just fine for that.

There were other little things I appreciated, too. Because the watch doesn’t need the sensors, chips, and giant battery of a smartwatch, it’s remarkably light to wear. It only weighs 36 grams, and for once, I didn’t look like I had a giant hockey puck strapped to my wrist. I also never had to worry about charging the dang thing, either — it runs on a CR2016 coin cell battery that lasts approximately two years.

The neat part about the Casio app is that it automatically syncs the time so you don’t have to sit there fiddling with buttons to reset the time or set alarms. (I’m terrible at that on older watches; I can never remember how to do it or into which drawer I stuffed the user manual.) That stuff you can program from your phone.

Obviously, this isn’t going to be the watch for folks who want the most out of their smartwatch. But if, like me, you would like an occasional break from the fitness tech grind or the ideal of chill, low-tech fitness appeals to you, this is an excellent option. And might I remind you that it’s just $56?! Most basic trackers in this range tend to be fitness bands, whereas this is a cute, retro-chic Casio watch.

Alas, I only have two wrists, and as a wearables reviewer, I have to rotate out the Casio for the next smartwatch in my testing queue. But I have a pretty good feeling that, in between products, this is the watch I’ll be reaching for.

The Ultimate Ears speaker lineup is getting quite crowded, having now reached six products with the recent introduction of the $249.99 Everboom. This speaker is a smaller, more portable take on the Epicboom that I reviewed late last year. And its core appeal is the same as any other UE speaker: you’re getting a rugged, waterproof speaker that’s cut out for both indoor and poolside parties. You can link the Everboom up with other UE speakers in party mode to play music in sync across all of them. The controls are easy to use — especially the company’s signature, oversized volume buttons.

So what makes the Everboom different? You get a fully customizable EQ, which not all of the company’s speakers offer. Like the Epicboom, there’s an outdoor mode that layers some extra volume and power onto the sound when needed. And UE includes a carabiner, which makes it easier to carry the Everboom on your bag or hang it in creative ways.

Both the Epicboom and Everboom dial up the overall audio fidelity compared to UE’s cylindrical speakers. Like those, they output 360-degree sound, so you don’t have to worry about hearing them from a certain sweet spot — in theory, anyway.

As it turns out, the Everboom is often most clear when you’ve got either the left or right side of the speaker directly facing you. Straight on, vocals can lack crispness and detail since the drivers seem to be side-firing — though the stereo separation is impressive as a result. For indoor listening, I typically kept the volume level between 30 and 40 percent, and that was plenty loud. Outside you can crank it further, though the speaker starts to strain and sound overly compressed once you’re at the 70 percent mark.

I don’t think the Everboom’s sound performance lifts it very far above established (and more affordable) competition like the JBL Charge 5, Bose SoundLink Flex, or even the recently released Beats Pill. I’d rank it higher than something like the Sonos Move for sound quality, but there are endless alternatives that are worth eyeing before you fork over $250.

That said, the Everboom met the moment when I brought it upstate for a brief lake cabin getaway. Listening to Zach Bryan’s new album, the Everboom did a good job separating John Mayer’s guitar licks on “Better Days” from the bulk of the mix. Nathaniel Rateliff’s South of Here was also a pleasant listen, though I again found myself pointing one of the speaker’s left / right sides towards me for the best clarity.

But some genres can prove a little much for it. The Hold Steady’s The Price of Progress sounded more muffled than I’d like. This is where the larger Epicboom fares better, since it’s got larger drivers (and more bass growl) to work with. But on the flip side, the Everboom is far easier to take on the go since it’s lighter and considerably smaller. Battery life is more than adequate at 20 hours of continuous playback.

That said, I don’t know if anyone’s buying UE speakers for critical listening. The brand has a good reputation for making durable products that can last many years. (And now, mercifully, the whole lineup has finally switched to USB-C.) The Everboom has IP67 dust and water resistance, and it’ll float if you drop it into a pool — and keep the music going afterward.

But don’t expect any exciting bonus features. The Everboom does at least include multipoint, so you can pair two phones to the speaker at once. And it’s got NFC support for very quick pairing. Still, I can’t help but feel Ultimate Ears is resting on its laurels when other companies give you more. For example, the Beats Pill offers lossless USB-C input, and JBL is starting to embrace forward-looking Bluetooth technologies like Auracast. Meanwhile, the Everboom can’t even be used as a speakerphone. UE’s app has a new megaphone feature that lets you speak into your phone and broadcast that to your Boom speakers, but how often will that be useful?

The Everboom isn’t a terrible purchase; none of UE’s products are if all you’re seeking is a decent-sounding and very dependable speaker. But we’re firmly in an era where I’m expecting more than “Yeah, that sounds pretty nice” from a $250 wireless speaker. The Everboom doesn’t deliver enough to warrant that kind of price, and I’d wager most people will stick with the company’s better-known Boom 4. It provides many of the same strengths for less money.

Photography by Chris Welch