Smartwatches - Options other than Apple?

cambsno

cambsno

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I am an Apple fanboy - have the lot, Macbook, ipad, phone and will never move. But the one thing I am less keen on is the Apple watch. On my 3rd one (SE) now and while it 'just works seamlessly' as per Apple, it doesnt excite me and I only really wear for exercise.

As a watch can also be a fashion thing, I am seeing other watches I prefer the look of. Especially round faces. Obviously the benefit to Apple is it does just work, and everything syncs. But has anyone tried the Amazefit or other brands with an iPhone? Does everything work easily?
 
I use a Fitbit Versa 4 with an iPhone 13 max pro and everything works fine - battery lasts days, unlike Apple watches. :)
 
To be honest, I tried a Samsung smart watch and I much prefer the Apple Watch implementation (generally seamless with iPhone) and battery life. I only tend to wear my watch when I want a smart watch on rather than all the time though so I never have an issue with the battery life on my SE. The battery life on the Samsung was dreadful.
 
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I have the Amazfit Trex -2 and it's brilliant. The battery life lasts over a month it's taken some battering's and still looks like new. I have iPhone , MacBook Pro4 and an iPad but I only sync with my phone with no issues.

I have had a Apple, Samsung and numerous Fitbits and none have lasted very well. I must say though, when my wife had problems with her Fitbit the customer service was excellent, although we had to open a Twitter account o communicate with them!
 
Swanseajack said:
I have the Amazfit Trex -2 and it's brilliant. The battery life lasts over a month it's taken some battering's and still looks like new. I have iPhone , MacBook Pro4 and an iPad but I only sync with my phone with no issues.

I have had a Apple, Samsung and numerous Fitbits and none have lasted very well. I must say though, when my wife had problems with her Fitbit the customer service was excellent, although we had to open a Twitter account o communicate with them!
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Good to know - its about the look as much as anything hence Huawei or Amazfit as they are the two that I like the look of, not a fan of the look of Garmin or Fitbit or the rest.

Mainly use for running or exercise, as well as a simple watch. Assume that maps works / syncs with Apple Maps on phone?
 
cambsno said:
Good to know - its about the look as much as anything hence Huawei or Amazfit as they are the two that I like the look of, not a fan of the look of Garmin or Fitbit or the rest.

Mainly use for running or exercise, as well as a simple watch. Assume that maps works / syncs with Apple Maps on phone?
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My uses will be different to you and I have never used the Maps. I just use my sleep data, steps etc.. just basic use. Like you, I liked the look of the watch and had enough of Fitbit at the time.

What maybe great for you is the Torch and compass for when out running, IMO the torch is outstanding. The Amazfit TREX-3 is out now and I would highly recommend one. If you buy from Amazon you have 30 days to try the watch out to see if it suits your needs. They are chunky watches.

I didn't consider Huawei at the time due the noise around them being spies and 5g issues etc and if IIRC.
 
I've got a few different things for fitness.

Fitbit Sense 2 - was okay at first but do not use it now and gave it to my daughter.

Polar Grit X and H10 strap - always loved Polar and they are very good in terms of heart rate tracking. I have just come back from two weeks in Morocco and took this with me for sleep and exercise.

I have a Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Solar Sapphire - love it and it works well. I link this with my cycling computer and sensors - also Garmin and have the Garmin index scales to intergrate.

I also have the Amazfit Helios strap - my latest purchase. Got this to wear on my right wrist as I do not wear anything on that wrist and then it frees uo my left wrist for my collection of mechanical watches. For the money it is great and I actually like the fact I do not get notifications on it. Downside to using it as a sole fitness tracker would be the fact you have to use your phone to do everything on it.

Polar are about to release their version of the Whoop band / Amazfit band on 3rd September, which I will probably get also.

I like my fitness though, so do not see these as a waste of money and use them all.

I did have a Google Watch but passed that off to my son as battery life is awful.

I use both android and Apple devices.
 
I have a Garmin and love the 18 day battery life on gesture mode. It's also amazing for recording runs, swims, bike rides etc with Garmin connect superior imo to Apple and Google fitness apps

I confess I don't use the smart features much. In fact I've even turned off the touch screen and don't use it to be notified of messages. I just use it as a sports watch as I prefer my phone for smart things
 
Both me and the wife have the Google Pixel 4 watch. Integrates perfectly well with our Pixel phones. I wear mine even in the pool at the gym, it tracks everything fitness related/health related like the apple watch does, even detects 'lack of pulse' and sudden deceleration from a fast speed (ie a crash) and dials 999 using the GPS location. Looks trendy too - round face and lots of different looks via the face. There is an abundance of straps available too.
 
I bought a Garmin Approach S62 about 10-days ago (it was on offer at American Golf). Very pleased with it, but I’m something of a newb when it comes to smartwatches. Decent battery life even in GPS/golf mode. I get message notifications from my iPhone and it works fine with the Garmin apps.

The missus is very pleased with her Apple Watch 11, has better battery life than advertised and integrates well with her iPhone.
 
Ended up going for the Apple 10. Tempted by others but the fact everything works (as have iPhone) sealed it
 
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