Who owns a smartwatch with good battery life and health monitoring? (Buying advice up to £300)

FrankFalcon

Hi all.  I’m looking to buy a smartwatch but the sheer quantity of the Watches available is mind-blowing. Whilst I want to spend up to a MAXIMUM OF about £300 I still want a watch will excellent battery life. A few years ago I received an iwatch as a present but soon got annoyed with being forced to charge it every 8 hours. I notice that the current iwatch Series 7 needs charging every day so that’s a definite non-starter. The wife has a small Fitbit Luxe that she hasn’t charged for 4-5 days but I want more of a watch. I’m not interested in talking to the watch for calls, texting, email alerts or social media alerts etc. The main features I’m looking for are: Long battery life. IMPORTANT Water-resistant. IMPORTANT Heart rate: IMPORTANT Blood Oxygen: IMPORTANT.  Texts on screen: NOT BOTHERED. PREFER NOT.  Phone calls: PREFER NOT.  Music: PREFER NOT.  Emails/Alerts: PREFER NOT.  Any recommendations guys based on what you are wearing? I know I can sift through the millions of reviews etc but I think it’s better to get real accounts from peeps who own these items, not just believe sales garbage..  ReplyForward

tafelmoneysaver

FrankFalcon said:

Any recommendations guys based on what you are wearing?

    I have a Garmin vivosmart 4 for daily step and HR monitoring and switch to a Garmin vivoactive 3 Music when I want added GPS (plus bluetooth music).

    Both sync well to the Garmin app and keep in sync with each other so activity recorded on either contribute to the same daily count.

The number of alerts you receive is configurable.

MSE_Laura_F

Hi @FrankFalcon,

This MSE guide might help, though it's focussed mainly on fitness trackers - it mentions various models and their features. Be aware this guide was last updated in January so it's best to check prices etc yourself.

Fitbit MoneySaving tips & tricks

cymruchris

The Apple watch (you call it an iWatch - but it's never been called that) ticks your boxes, in that you can customise the notifications it gives you, so that it doesn't light up like a Christmas tree every five minutes. It also has some of the more accurate measurements of the things that are important to you. Yes it does need charging - but you could drop it onto a charger overnight, and it'll last all day. I have a series 6, and it easily manages my day that can be 15 hour long, including two workouts of around a total of an hour and a half of 'Active measurements' before needing a charge. 

There is no 'perfect' watch available yet that can give you 7 day battery life, accurate regular measurements, if there was Apple or Garmin would already have launched it, particularly for the budget set. Maybe a year or two, and we'll be closer to your goals, as technology does continue to progress on these devices. 

As a side note - you can own more than one Apple watch, and have automatic handover, so as you remove one watch, and put on another, measurements continue overnight without having to faff about in the phone telling it you've changed watches. I happen to be in the situation where I have two, as my dad passed away, and I have his. So I'm in the habit of using the newer model in the day time (Series 6), and the older model (Series 2) in the night time, and just swapping them on the charger when I go to bed/get up. If you looked at the used market, you could run something similar - a newer one for daytime, and older one for sleeping. You might not have been aware of the handover feature, so it's worth mentioning. 

Martin_the_Unjust

I have, and can happily recommend, a Withings scanwatch, 2 to 3 weeks battery life and does all (and more) that you want

RumRat

The new Xiaomi smart band 7 does everything you want well at an affordable £55ish....My colleague had the band 6 and says it works really well and has just bought the 7.
Xiaomi Smart band 7 | Xiaomi UK

The_Fat_Controller

I was considering something that looked like a watch and ended up with a Huawei Band 6 which has all the functions you need.

The Bank 7 is now out for around £50.

I use mine mainly for tracking my swims and it works very well.

Only very slight downside is you need to download the Huawei Fitness App directly from Huawei due to the spat with the US.

I had no issues doing so and it updates regularly.

atlantis187

check the new Poco Watch it has excellent 14 day battery life and has most of the features you are looking for

powerful_Rogue

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 ticks all those boxes. I easily get over 2 days use before charging.

Took mine off charge this morning and still on 68%

FrankFalcon

Wow! Brilliant advice guys.  I now have the weekend to decide.  Judging by the comments here I will deffo buy one mentioned here.

Thanks all

jon81uk

cymruchris said:

The Apple watch (you call it an iWatch - but it's never been called that) ticks your boxes, in that you can customise the notifications it gives you, so that it doesn't light up like a Christmas tree every five minutes. It also has some of the more accurate measurements of the things that are important to you. Yes it does need charging - but you could drop it onto a charger overnight, and it'll last all day. I have a series 6, and it easily manages my day that can be 15 hour long, including two workouts of around a total of an hour and a half of 'Active measurements' before needing a charge. 

There is no 'perfect' watch available yet that can give you 7 day battery life, accurate regular measurements, if there was Apple or Garmin would already have launched it, particularly for the budget set. Maybe a year or two, and we'll be closer to your goals, as technology does continue to progress on these devices. 

I was thinking the same thing, I've always charged my Apple Watch overnight and never had an issue. Not sure why the OP had to charge every 8 hours.