[ndonnellan]

I'm trying out a withings steel HR and it pretty much fits this bill. Unfortunately it's much more expensive than your price point.

- The HR monitor is very good; it has a passive mode and active mode you can activate if you want more detailed readings during exercise

- It looks like a nice watch without being bulky

- Battery life is almost a month

- It does have minimalist notifications (name of person texting you), but I actually don't want to get buzzed every time that happens so I turn it off

- Waterproof

- Step tracker element (analog 0-100% counter) is actually brilliant because it's super obvious how far I am in the day

Cost is north of $200. It was free for me because I'm experimenting on wearables for work (API integration)