Reddit Recommendationsfor the best Smartwatch

I have a Gamin Instinct 2, solar. 28 days battery time. Body battery, wrist HRM (although would buy a HRM chest belt as the wrist one doesn’t work well for hockey - I think it’s when you grip the stick tight). Sleep monitor, Apple Watch doesn’t do this.

10/10 use it for hockey, running, gym

Besides the 945, no other garmin watch has LTE. (And even then, it's just for emergency texts and can't do phone calls.) So no other watch has texting/calling without your phone. You can use canned replies to texts on android phones but not on iphones (it's a limitation by apple, not grmin). You still need your phone with you for this.

For podcasts, you'd need to have your phone with you to stream them to the watch. Or, if you can download directly (not sure what, if any, apps allow offline listening). For great GPS, you'd want multiband. At your price point, this really kind of narrows it down to the Instinct 2 or 2X (mono crome MIP screen, insane battery life, no maps and no touch screen) or the Forerunner 165 or 265 with touch screen and AMOLED but no maps. If you can, see if you can find a refurbished Forerunner 965 to get at/under your $500 price point. The Fenix 7 (non-Pro) and Epix 2 (non-pro) are often on sale for around $500. Those watches are touch screen, AMOLED, have maps and substantially higher build quality (Titanium/steel, sapphire screens) but somewhat more 'bulky.'

I'm not sure of anything in the $150 range, but it looks like the Garmin Forerunner 55 (I have the 255s and love it) is on sale for $180.

The one that keeps showing up each time I try to research a good value budget watch is the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro, that or the $149 Garmin Forerunner 55. Personally, I would get the Garmin one.

I have an Amazfit Balance and I'm happy with it.

Any of the Amazfit will probably do. The Balance is unique in allowing contactless payment, but the GTR3 would do everything and that's £99 at the moment.

CMF Watch Pro 2 might do too, though I'm a little disappointed in the battery, getting maybe 5 days from it.

Just testing the OnePlus 2R, WearOS and should do 4 days use.

I might go back to Amazfit though, I like the battery life of those.

Garmin Instinct

/thread

I’ve got a garmin instinct. It’s not really comparable to an Apple Watch or something, but it shows texts, phone calls, has heart rate, fitness monitoring, GPS location and tracking and the battery life is usually like 2 weeks before I charge it. I wear it every single day, Ive smashed it off numerous things, it’s been covered in concrete dust, fully waterproof up to 100m.

I’m also a firefighter and I’ve warn it in the burn room when temps are VERY high and it’s been fine. I’d buy it again in a heartbeat. I’m not careful with it by any means, I did put a screen protector on it and a little plug for the charging port.

Looks like it’s a $100 off right now at Best Buy as well, just thought I’d add that.

I like my Garmin forerunner 255though I wouldn't say it's entry level, but you could probably get a Garmin forerunner 55 or 165 for cheaper.

I think go for a cheaper Garmin and it'll be perfect. To be fair, I only ever wear my garmin watch while running (personally, I don't really like the aesthetics of smart watches and wear my regular dumb watches throughout the day), and I think my Forerunner 255 was a bit of overkill for my needs.

If you're only using it to track your running stats, something like a Forerunner 55 is great.

Apple Watches are good if you are integrated into the Apple ecosystem and you want an extension of your other devices, but it comes with the big downside of having absolutely terrible battery life. I am bad at charging my devices and having to charge it daily is such a pain! It's also quite expensive

Most of these best of lists do not rank watches by their ability to do fitness tracking, but for how good they are as smartwatches. I personally find the concept of typing texts on a tiny watch screen, when we all have huge all screen phones nowadays, incredibly silly and stupid. And don't get me started on taking calls on a watch... So I choose to ignore these lists and focus on what's the best for what I need.

I'm never in the market for a smartwatch anyway.

That said most YT reviews have positive things to say about Garmins. Mike O'Brien apparently uses a Venu 3 for his daily driver.

Hint, many SmartWatch can notify you when BT connection with the phone is lost - this helps to prevent the issue as such.

Next important point is distance. If he usually/often in a Bluetooth range from the garage/bedroom, a SmartWatch will pickup notifications via Bluetooth.

If not, he needs a watch which can either get notifications via WiFi or via LTE.

LTE often needs a paid like and drains battery. I know that galaxy watches can deliver notifications over WiFi (via Samsung servers), not sure about others.

If BT only is fine, I would go for a non wraps watch for better battery. Garmin, could be an interesting option, but their notifications representation is not very human friendly (I switched to venu3 from galaxy watch).

So I gave up on the Apple Watch. I have been rocking my gshock 5610 for several years. It’s solar powered and super tough. Really all that I need.

If I was going to get another smart watch though, I’d probably go with the Garmin instinct solar. I’ve heard they are pretty tough and have long battery life.

Garmin Instinct Solar. Great battery life, tough, and has useful features for the job.

Garming Forerunner 265 is a great fitness watch. It looks cool and provides all the features you need in a fitness tracker. 

Besides the 945, no other garmin watch has LTE. (And even then, it's just for emergency texts and can't do phone calls.) So no other watch has texting/calling without your phone. You can use canned replies to texts on android phones but not on iphones (it's a limitation by apple, not grmin). You still need your phone with you for this.

For podcasts, you'd need to have your phone with you to stream them to the watch. Or, if you can download directly (not sure what, if any, apps allow offline listening). For great GPS, you'd want multiband. At your price point, this really kind of narrows it down to the Instinct 2 or 2X (mono crome MIP screen, insane battery life, no maps and no touch screen) or the Forerunner 165 or 265 with touch screen and AMOLED but no maps. If you can, see if you can find a refurbished Forerunner 965 to get at/under your $500 price point. The Fenix 7 (non-Pro) and Epix 2 (non-pro) are often on sale for around $500. Those watches are touch screen, AMOLED, have maps and substantially higher build quality (Titanium/steel, sapphire screens) but somewhat more 'bulky.'

1. If you want absolute best battery life but willing to compromise by having a bread crumb trail without maps, look at the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. Budget option. $
2. Best battery life with maps and all the bells and whistles, look at a Garmin Enduro 2. Pricier. $$$
3. If you want AMOLED screen similar to your phone, with good battery life, maps and all the bells and whistles look at the Garmin Epix Pro. Pricier. $$$$
4. With MiPS screen with all the features of the Garmin Epix Pro, look at any Fenix 7 Pro series. Pricier. $$$

If interested in 2 - 4, at a lower price point, look at the Fenix non-Pro 7’s or even previous generation’s Fenix 6’s. $$

Garmin makes great smartwatches for In and Outdoor Activites. I own a Garmin fenix 7 pro and so far the watch has been great. Great build quality with all the features I need for hiking and mountain biking.

If it's mostly for the "Smart" features maybe not but, I love my Garmin Venu. Does everything I want and has awesome battery life

Google pay is limited to wear os watches - and you aren't going to get one with 2 weeks. The one with the longest battery life is Ticwatch Pro 3 if you resort to primarily using the dual lcd screen - but you aren't going to get more than 3-4 days.

Fitbit offers fitbit pay and you may just get a week out of it.

Samsung pay - same battery life as wear os.

Garmin Pay would be your best option. Cheapest with Garmin Pay is garmin venu but looking at around 5 days. If you really want around 14 days of use between charge (w/o GPS i.e. tracking) then you are looking at a forerunner 955 as about the cheapest, or an older Fenix 6Pro and new Fenix 7 or Epix 2. Fenix 6x Pro or Fenix 7x will give you around 3 weeks pretty easily and then there is always the new Enduro 2. However if you can live with a B&W screen there is the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar (needs to be solar for NFC, non solar version doesn't have NFC) and that with no tracking (GPS) and with enough sunlight (approx 3hrs per day at 50k lux) is pretty much unlimited......

If you want mic & speaker to answer calls on the watch, only the Garmin Venu 2 Plus has that and you are looking at around 7-10 days battery life (AOD off, wrist gesture on).

If you bank isn't supported by one of these NFC pay systems, then check to see if a digital service like Curve/Revolt is supported, and if so you just link your card etc and hey presto you are set. I use Curve - its free and haven't had an issue in 2 years with Curve on Garmin Pay in the UK.