New guide: Which smartwatch should I buy?

MSE_Ruby

Hi all,

We have a new Which smartwatch should I buy? guide, and we'd love to hear your feedback.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

Thanks for your help,

MSE Ruby

born_again

The longer the battery life the better.
One that has Battery Life quoted in hours is pretty pointless, if you want activity & sleep tracking.

Personally run a Huawei GT3 Pro. Over 2 years old & still lasts between 1 to 2 weeks. Average 50K a week walking.

Would have thought below would have been a better section. Than Phone & TV🤷‍♀️
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/techie-stuff

Emmia

I'm happy with my Garmin Fenix 6S pro. An older model but when it dies, I'll be replacing with another Garmin, probably a Fenix as I want multi sport watch include swimming.

I wear mine all the time,  so it's my daily watch not just for sport/activities. I don't use it for payments as the Garmin payment support is limited to a few banks, none of which I use. 

I note your guide only has the cheapest Garmin watches - there's a huge range of Garmin watches, which one is best probably depends on what someone wants to do / track.

MeteredOut

I have the Garmin Fenix 8 after nearly 6 years with the Fenix 5, but that's because I use it as a sports watch with some smart watch features. It's also my everyday watch and has changeable straps to match different events/outfits. If I didn't need a sports watch, I'd look at the more consumer level smart watches such as Apple or Samsung. Although the rounded-square design of the Apple watches don't appeal to me.

Murmansk

I've got a 

Xiaomi Redmi Watch 5 Lite

It's really good value at £40 and well worth a look if you don't want spend hundreds of pounds. I'm not interested in the fitness tracking features I just use it for notifications and telling the time plus I can answer calls on it if I want to. The battery lasts a couple of weeks before it needs recharging. Take a look on YouTube for reviews

Frozen_up_north

Whether you buy a watch or fitness tracker, what they “all” suffer from is poor visibility in sunlight. A display using the same technology as the Kindle Paperwhite has would solve the problem… but the manufacturers seem obsessed with colour displays rather than practical displays.

Emmia

Frozen_up_north said:

Whether you buy a watch or fitness tracker, what they “all” suffer from is poor visibility in sunlight. A display using the same technology as the Kindle Paperwhite has would solve the problem… but the manufacturers seem obsessed with colour displays rather than practical displays.

I don't personally have any issue seeing the display on my Garmin, even in strong sunlight.

Grumpy_chap

Whenever this subject comes up in the forums, the Garmin watches always seem to get a good level of recommendation.  That is a recommendation I am absolutely happy to back, having had other brands in the past I really can't imagine moving away from Garmin.  

I have never had any difficulty reading my Garmin screen whatever the weather / brightness so not the experience that Frozen_up_north had with whatever watch he had.

The Garmin devices are rather more focused on fitness features.
If I wanted a watch that was more focused on being "smart" then I suppose I'd have to consider the Apple Watch (Apple os) or the Samsung Galaxy Watch (Android os) but neither are MSE.

Emmia

Grumpy_chap said:

Whenever this subject comes up in the forums, the Garmin watches always seem to get a good level of recommendation.  That is a recommendation I am absolutely happy to back, having had other brands in the past I really can't imagine moving away from Garmin.  

I have never had any difficulty reading my Garmin screen whatever the weather / brightness so not the experience that Frozen_up_north had with whatever watch he had.

The Garmin devices are rather more focused on fitness features.
If I wanted a watch that was more focused on being "smart" then I suppose I'd have to consider the Apple Watch (Apple os) or the Samsung Galaxy Watch (Android os) but neither are MSE.

I have to agree, I think if I didn't want fitness features I'd probably revert to using one of my non-smart regular watches, of which I have a few, gathering dust...

I have considered getting a Garmin band to wear with a normal watch on days when I'm just out and about, not doing a formal activity as such 

Grumpy_chap

Emmia said:

I have to agree, I think if I didn't want fitness features I'd probably revert to using one of my non-smart regular watches, of which I have a few, gathering dust...

I have considered getting a Garmin band to wear with a normal watch on days when I'm just out and about, not doing a formal activity as such 

What product do you refer to as a "Garmin band"?

Your idea is what I do.  I have a Vivoactive 3 (nearing end of life and due replacement) for when I run plus a Vivosmart 5 which I wear to the office on the right wrist with my normal watch on the left wrist.  It works quite well, the TRUE UP function is pretty good at syncing the two devices.  I generally wear the Vivosmart 5 under the shirt sleeve so there is no obvious knowing it is there from others, though the device is a bit more bulky than I'd really like.  I am not sure whether the Vivofit 4 is more "slimline" - I don't think I saw that when I purchased the Vivosmart 5.

I do think there is a market for a very unobtrusive device, it does not even need to have a display necessarily.

Emmia

Grumpy_chap said:

Emmia said:

I have to agree, I think if I didn't want fitness features I'd probably revert to using one of my non-smart regular watches, of which I have a few, gathering dust...

I have considered getting a Garmin band to wear with a normal watch on days when I'm just out and about, not doing a formal activity as such 

What product do you refer to as a "Garmin band"?

Your idea is what I do.  I have a Vivoactive 3 (nearing end of life and due replacement) for when I run plus a Vivosmart 5 which I wear to the office on the right wrist with my normal watch on the left wrist.  It works quite well, the TRUE UP function is pretty good at syncing the two devices.  I generally wear the Vivosmart 5 under the shirt sleeve so there is no obvious knowing it is there from others, though the device is a bit more bulky than I'd really like.  I am not sure whether the Vivofit 4 is more "slimline" - I don't think I saw that when I purchased the Vivosmart 5.

I do think there is a market for a very unobtrusive device, it does not even need to have a display necessarily.

I was thinking of the Vivosmart 5 - the reason I've not bought it,  is because I was,/am allergic to the silicone strap that came with my Fenix 6s, which got replaced (expensively) with one of the metal straps Garmin do.

Options for a non silicone strap on the Vivosmart seem to involve a 3D printed case, which looks a bit bulky. I'd prefer to have Garmin for both devices - and completely agree there's a gap in the market for a slim tracker that can be worn with a watch to track steps etc.