14 DAY TRIAL // These days, more and more companies are jumping on the smartwatch bandwagon, putting out devices supposed to deliver a mélange of functions, ranging from monitoring blood pressure to sending notifications to smartphones.
But what if one such gadget could go as far as measure up your blood alcohol levels? That’s exactly what Japanese manufacturer Tokyoflash set out to do with an original breathalyzer-equipped watch they humorously named Kisai Intoxicated.
Before you jump up in excitement, thinking you will be able to control your late-night party alcohol-levels, we should warn you (as does the producing company) the BAC (blood alcohol concentration) results displayed by the watch would not reflect reality most of the time.
But putting that aside for a second, let’s see what this baby looks like, how it feels and performs in real-life situations.
style="color: #aa3333">Look and Feel
Tokyoflash is renowned for their unique watch designs in terms of shape, color and materials, but most of all the way date/time is displayed. Suffice to say, there is a very good reason Tokyoflash watches include a “how to read” section in the user manual.
The Kisai Intoxicated features an ambiguous aesthetic design that will surely receive praise but also harsh comments from beholders. One thing’s for sure, this isn't the most elegant watch we have seen; so if you fancy a discrete, thin and sleek timepiece, this is definitely not for you.
Still, despite being quite large (42 x 54 x 15 mm / 1.6 x 2.12 x 0.2 inches), it’s not going to hang off your wrist like a rock thanks to its light and surprisingly comfortable ABS case. On the other hand, the silicone strap looks quite plastic-y and uninspired. Due to its size, the Kisai Intoxicated might not be too appealing to ladies.
The screen is divided in two: the left, wider side shows the current time, alarm time, date and other information, while the right side displays the alcohol level indicator as a scale ranging from 0.2 to 2.0.
The three buttons at the bottom provide access to various functions such as date display, date/time/alarm set, breathalyzer and more.
style="color: rgb(255,102,0)">Features and functionality
Now, for the part you were probably most waiting for, measuring your BAC requires users to push the rightmost button on the watch (button C). When doing so, you’ll probably notice the button is not that responsive and you’ll have to apply a considerable amount of pressure to get it to be operational (all three buttons seem to have the same issue).
Aside from the scale and values, the Kisai Intoxicated uses color coding to relay information. A green display indicates you’re sober, yellow means you’re buzzing, while red is supposedly the undisputed confirmation of drunkenness.
As mentioned before, the results were sadly not very accurate. Several people were involved in the test and, most of the time, the watch indicated elevated levels of blood alcohol, even when that clearly wasn't the case.
For those who aren't convinced by the BAC test, Tokyoflash has also bundled the watch with a sobriety game where players have to prove their reflexes still work by pressing a button at the right time to stop a moving line at the center of the screen.
As with most Tokyoflash watches available on the market, the time/date is displayed in an atypical fashion, so reading the information will be a tad difficult.
The watch comes with a little charging cable that, unlike the watch we got for testing (black), is colored in white. As far as we’re concerned, this isn't necessarily a minus, but demanding users with a high sense of aesthetics might not appreciate the inconsistency.
style="color: rgb(153,51,102)">Conclusions
At the end of the day, the Kisai Intoxicated is a cool gadget to have and will certainly do the job if you want to show off with something rather unique, but it doesn't really deliver in the functionality department. Sorry, guys, the right thing to do when you know you have to be the driver is still to skip drinking.
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