Replacement band from taobao.com

[StimulatorCam]

The band on my LG Urbane 2 (W200A) has started to crack and probably won't last much longer, so I've been looking to find a replacement other than the leather one that's been listed on Amazon and eBay for a while and mentioned here in previous posts. In another forum I found someone mention taobao.com which is a Chinese site, and they have several listings for the black and white rubber factory replacement bands at a much more reasonable price (~$16 USD):

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...6ojQm&id=549595140604&ns=1&abbucket=18#detail

I've tried making an account, which seemed pretty successful (thanks Google translate!), but am having a hard time actually placing an order. I'm just wondering if anyone else here has either tried ordering from Taobao before, or if they want to give this a shot and advise on what I may be doing wrong?

 

[StimulatorCam]

Well I think I managed to get the order to go through, I just had to create a new account and start over from scratch. Just waiting for it to ship now!

 

[Antrods]

That band is LTE A compatible?
Thanks

 

[StimulatorCam]

That band is LTE A compatible?

Well, based on other's reports that the imported leather bands work on the AT&T model, I'm going to hope that these ones do too. Once they arrive I'll be sure to add some comments on here about them.

 

[RayfenWindspear]

Please do. Are you in USA? Supposedly the antennae in the bands from outside the country may not be tuned to the right cell bands. Eagerly hoping for good news.

 

[StimulatorCam]

I'm in Canada, but have the AT&T version. Unfortunately our cell providers here don't have quite the same cell bands as in the US so I can't test LTE, only 3G.

 

[Antrods]

I think 3G is enough to a watch... no need LTE.

 

[StimulatorCam]

Well, my package arrived this morning, which was pretty quick shipping from China.

At first glance the band is a complete OEM product, not some knock-off. It is 100% identical to the original, except that it has "LG-W200V" printed on the inside of the band. So yes, these appear to be the bands from the Verizon model.

I was a little worried at first, but figured it wouldn't hurt to try, and other people seemed to have had luck with imported bands. You need a T5 screwdriver to remove the screws, and you need to reuse the screws because they don't come with new ones. Only took a few minutes to take the old band off, the hardest part is pulling the pins out of the sockets.

Once I got the new band installed I fired the watch back up and everything seemed to work, but the cell reception seemed a little spotty, but was connected. I ran a speedtest and got totally horrible results (<1mb down), and felt almost defeated. But our house is right on the edge of town and reception isn't always great so I went down the street and tried again and got a respectable 19d/18u on the speedtest. And as I mentioned previously, in Canada the carrier frequencies don't match the watch's LTE bands, so I can only get a 3G connection.

I'll do some more testing this week to make sure I don't find any other issues with it, but as far as I can tell these are the original factory watch bands. Total cost was $45 CAD ($35 USD) for 2 sets of bands, and $25 CAD ($19 USD) for shipping. Buying a single band should run you about $47 CAD ($37 USD) total, which is why I figured I'd buy two at once since the shipping was such a huge chunk of the cost. I'm not sure yet if I'll keep the extra set or sell it.

I can add some pictures later if anyone wants, but it really is 100% identical so there's not much to see.

 

[RayfenWindspear]

I'm sold. Even without LTE or any cell service, it's better than the paperweight I currently have. I'm basically just using it as a "home base" for smart lock and it's really sad.

I think I'll get a bunch of them when I order as well. My OG band lasted like 6 mo before the first loop broke off, and maybe by 9mo I was starting to see cracking. Then the threads actually came out of the band, so I could no longer keep the band screwed on. I'm hoping I still know where those two screws are because you said the kits don't come with the screws. I can probably find some online somewhere though.

 

[cosy6ay]

am also looking for replacement screw. any suggestion?

 

[StimulatorCam]

Found this for replacement screws:

https://www.amazon.com/Yosoo-Eyegla...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU6207434

One of the reviews for this set is: "I used one of these screws to replace a lost screw on my LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE. Luckily I took a gamble and it payed off with this set of screws. The OEM screws are tiny torx5 screws, so this was very possibly not going to work! Thank goodness!"

I can't personally vouch for them, but that seems like a reasonable review.

 

[RayfenWindspear]

Yeah... I just discovered that one of mine is missing too. So sad.

 

[Venelar]

Well I think I managed to get the order to go through, I just had to create a new account and start over from scratch. Just waiting for it to ship now!

I've been trying to get an order to go through but keep getting a "Your account is in transaction protection and has been restricted to purchase". Did you deal with that at all?

I got the leather band from amazon last summer and I've been just swapping between it and the black band but the black band broke last week, need to get backup options before they all disappear.

 

[StimulatorCam]

"Your account is in transaction protection and has been restricted to purchase". Did you deal with that at all?

Yes, that is the exact issue I had the first time. I ended up making a new account from scratch a few days later and for whatever reason it was fine. I wish I could say what was different the second time, but I'm pretty sure I created the account the exact same way.

 

[Venelar]

Yes, that is the exact issue I had the first time. I ended up making a new account from scratch a few days later and for whatever reason it was fine. I wish I could say what was different the second time, but I'm pretty sure I created the account the exact same way.

Ok thanks. I went another route, bought it from the same seller bu through the website superbuy.com, they kind of act like a broker for taobao.

 

[xendula]

Ok thanks. I went another route, bought it from the same seller bu through the website superbuy.com, they kind of act like a broker for taobao.

Could you please post a direct link to the band? I tried a search and it came up empty.

My og band broke off at the attachment points last year, replaced it with the leather band, but now this one is breaking at the hole where I close it (rubber on the underside is broken already, only the leather top is holding it together).

Thanks!

 

[mdw1995]

Could you please post a direct link to the band? I tried a search and it came up empty.

My og band broke off at the attachment points last year, replaced it with the leather band, but now this one is breaking at the hole where I close it (rubber on the underside is broken already, only the leather top is holding it together).

Thanks!

Hey Xendula, see if this works...

https://www.superbuy.com/en/page/bu...6ojQm&id=549595140604&ns=1&abbucket=18#detail

I'm thinking of ordering one myself. My original band has finally started to crack.

 

[xendula]

Hey Xendula, see if this works...

https://www.superbuy.com/en/page/bu...6ojQm&id=549595140604&ns=1&abbucket=18#detail

I'm thinking of ordering one myself. My original band has finally started to crack.

Heyyy! Thanks!! I am also considering just getting an “kind of almost new” Urbane 2 LTE off Ebay instead. I think those are the ones that were returned in Nov 2015.

I bought a brandspanking new Wear24 watch sealed in its box for $60 last week and it made me realize how crappy my Urbane’s screen has become with the lines going across it. The Wear24 does not have GPS, NFC or a sim card slot that I could use, but it was a “just in case if my watch craps out on me before I have a replacement" purchase, and I can wear both interchangebaly so I can give the Urbane watchband some rest when I don’t need NFC/GPS/LTE.

 

[Antrods]

Hey Xendula, see if this works...

https://www.superbuy.com/en/page/bu...6ojQm&id=549595140604&ns=1&abbucket=18#detail

I'm thinking of ordering one myself. My original band has finally started to crack.

Hello, on Superbuy I cant see International shipping.
it was good to get the contact from this seller.
Any help please?
Thanks

 

[mdw1995]

Heyyy! Thanks!! I am also considering just getting an “kind of almost new” Urbane 2 LTE off Ebay instead. I think those are the ones that were returned in Nov 2015.

I bought a brandspanking new Wear24 watch sealed in its box for $60 last week and it made me realize how crappy my Urbane’s screen has become with the lines going across it. The Wear24 does not have GPS, NFC or a sim card slot that I could use, but it was a “just in case if my watch craps out on me before I have a replacement" purchase, and I can wear both interchangebaly so I can give the Urbane watchband some rest when I don’t need NFC/GPS/LTE.

I ended up buying a band for the Urbane 2 at taobaoage.com. It's also an agent site that buys from taobao.com for you. They use Amazon gift cards as payment (one for the initial purchase and one for shipping once they have it in hand). It cost me $17.99 for the band (with their small fee included) and $13.46 for the cheapest shipping. So a little over $31 total. I could have bought up to 5 bands for the same shipping rate. So 2 bands would cost around $50. The process takes a little while since they have to purchase it, receive it, then ship it out. I started my purchase on 4/22 and they just shipped it to me yesterday. Might take a week or two more to get it. They were pretty good at updating the status and responding to questions and they provided a tracking number. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I I'll get it soon.