Hands-on with Apple’s new Sport Loop band for Apple Watch

Alongside the new Apple Watch Series 3, Apple updated its whole range of watch bands with new fall colors, new Hermés options, and a whole new style. The Sports Loop is a lightweight, loop style band that is sweat-proof for intense workouts.

The band itself is made out of woven nylon, which, like Apple’s other sports bands, is lightweight and breathable. The band is slightly stretchy which helps with flexibility.

Check out our video too see it how it holds up.

This is also Apple’s first Velcro band, though technically it adheres using “hook and loop”, not Velcro. That is just a brand name of the same fastener. There are five fastener sections on the end of the band. There are two unique aspects to this.

First, instead of doing one large fastener strip, they have five small ones. This makes it a lot more flexible, because each of these strips is slightly rigid. Second, they are hot-formed to the band, which basically means melted on, so that they don’t have to stitch them on and ruin the exterior of the band with visible thread.

It comes in eight different colors for both the 38mm and 42mm models. When I was trying this out, I could see this being a bit difficult for those with very large wrists, and very small wrists. I had minor issues fitting it over my hand the first time. It was a little snug. For the petite wrists, I can see how you would run out of room to fasten it. Apple claims it will work ideally for those with wrists between 130 and 190mm.

Just like Apple’s metal Milanese loop band, it is entirely one piece. The end of the strap has a bar that prevents it from going through the top lug. This is a great idea as it prevents you from having to worry about losing the lug, but it also makes it on the more difficult end of putting it on when you can’t take it all the way out.

The exterior of the band, covered in the little “loops”, is very comfortable and soft. Those loops also help make it more breathable by keeping it just away from your wrist. I always found the standard sports band to be too stiff, and not breathable enough. This is the complete opposite, It is super soft and comfortable, while being an ideal choice for those wearing it all day, or even sleeping in it.

The new Series 3 comes in several varieties, many paired with different colors of the new Sports Loop. You can get it bundled with your new Apple Watch, or you can pick it up separately from Apple for $49.