Forget the Apple Watch Ultra 3, this E Ink smartwatch offers 400 days of juice to wipe out its battery rivals

The LightInk watch offers 400 days of battery life
It does this by removing features and using an E Ink display.
It also adds solar charging to stay charged on the go

From the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to the Google Pixel Watch 4, customers looking to adorn their wrists with one of the best smartwatches tend to look for wearables with excellent battery life. After all, there’s no point investing in a device if you spend more time charging it than using it. If battery life is a priority for you, you might want to check out the LightInk Watch.

In fact, with 400 days of battery life on a single charge, it surpasses the competition in terms of battery longevity. How does he manage to reach this figure? Well, this is no ordinary watch: it’s powered by solar energy to constantly charge, meaning you can start charging it even when you’re miles from the nearest power outlet. As long as the sun shines on you, the LightInk battery charges.

But you’ll get 400 days of battery life before solar charging is even factored in, claims the project’s creator. How? Well, one solution is to reduce the list of features. As the name suggests, the LightInk uses an E Ink display instead of an AMOLED display, unlike some competing smartwatches. E Ink technology is incredibly efficient on battery, helping you extend the life of this product even further.

Extreme battery savings

The Watchy watch on a desk.

The LightInk case is based on that of another Watchy DIY project. (Image credit: Watchy)

Of course, LightInk isn’t all sunshine and roses – it does have some drawbacks. Its E Ink screen may give it excellent battery life, but this comes at the expense of visual fidelity. The LightInk’s screen is monochrome and low resolution, so you shouldn’t expect eye-catching graphics here. It doesn’t even show seconds.

And if you’re a fitness enthusiast or believe in the “quantified self,” you’ll want to look elsewhere. You won’t get any of the health and fitness sensors and metrics you find in most smartwatches – the LightInk can tell the time, occasionally connect to Wi-Fi and GPS, and that’s it.

You can’t just buy the LightInk at your local mall either. As we mentioned earlier, you need to have a 3D printer to make most of the required components yourself, then assemble and weld them into a finished product. You’ll also need to be comfortable creating your own firmware based on the resources provided on LightInk’s GitHub page.

Still, the LightInk doesn’t pretend to be a high-end flagship device – it’s a deliberately basic product, because that’s what allows it to devote all its energy to maximizing battery life.

It’s definitely not for everyone, but if your priority is to stay away from your charger for as long as possible, this might be just what you’ve been looking for.

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