These arrived today, one month after my order -- sooner than I expected. Here is a review.BostonCharlie wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2019 2:19 pm ...
I went crazy and ordered three of these natos for $0.49 out the door after the promo code. Delivery: Jul 2 - Aug 13, lol. Curious to see what shows up.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Thick-high-qua ... 3082588632
* I ordered one 20mm strap and two 22mm straps in colors gray and tan. I am comparing them against a 22mm Fossil nato and a 22mm Ague nato.
* They are shorter than my other natos. Both the 20mm and 22mm measure 245mm long. On my 6.75" wrist I am only (barely) able to loop the tail back under the first keeper. This doesn't bother me, and it could be a plus for somebody who prefers less bulk. But when I tried to strap my watch on over a bulky shirt sleeve (what are long natos for, anyhow?), it couldn't go farther than the second-to-last hole on the strap.
* The fabric measures 1.2mm thick. Their widths are precisely 20mm and 22mm. I like the feel and look of the fabric.
* The keepers look good from the top, but some show soft bite marks on the sides from the manufacturing process (I suppose).
* The holes are punched in a way that pulls the fabric a little out of shape, like maybe the punch is a little dull. This isn't apparent when the strap is on my wrist, since it's taught.
* The buckles look okay, but the arms with the springbar holes are poorly finished -- but only on the sides. From the top, where you usually view them, they're satisfactory. One funny thing about the buckle is that it isn't firmly pocketed by the strap -- it floats around more than the buckles on my other natos. At first I thought it might be due to a thin springbar, but it measures 1.5mm (by comparison, my Fossil's is 1.8mm). I now suspect it is because the notch cut in the nato for the buckle prong is larger than necessary, allowing the buckle to float more.
* While the buckles feel secure, their spring bars are too short. By pushing the bar into one side, the other side can clear its hole (while still uncompressed). I stumbled across a WUS discussion where a guy's watch unexpectedly flew off his wrist, and the consensus emerged that it was due to short springbars on his watch -- so this is a big deal. The bar on the 20mm buckle measures 22.1mm uncompressed. The bar on the 22mm buckle: 24.8mm. The springbar on my 22mm Fossil strap is 25.3mm, and it doesn't have this problem.
* The stitching is coarser and *mostly* square. I count 5-1/2 stitches (?) on the 22mm, where both my Fossil and Ague natos have 7. What is more, what appear to be the ends of the threads are roughly cut/finished -- on my other natos I can't even spot the ends. Finally, the stitching on these straps runs to the very edge of the fabric, where my others stop short, leaving a cleaner edge to the strap.
* I really like the colors. I ordered a tan strap and a gray strap. The tan goes well with my skin tone, which I only mention because I was surprised, once, at another tan strap that looked good on my watch but bad on my wrist.
Conclusion: The quality and color of the fabric make up for the rough finishing. I like that I can work and sweat in these and not worry about ruining them. The buckle springbar is too short and must be replaced -- as it is, it could fail. For $1.10, I would buy again.