Smartwatches are quickly replacing the traditional watch. Not only do these watches tell time, but they also bring smartphone notifications, exercise tracking, sleep tracking, and even standalone apps to your wrist. There are smartwatches for every budget and personality. We round up five of the best smartwatches you can buy.
Best for active iPhone owners
The Apple Watch Series 5 is one of the top smartwatches you can purchase, especially if you an iPhone owner. It not only tracks your fitness, but it also has an app store that lets you install apps on the watch. You can use the Apple watch to ad items to your to-do list, check the weather, or monitor stocks. The Apple Watch Series 5 has a sleek design and interchangeable bands so you can personalize it. Our only gripe with the Apple Watch is that it doesn’t do sleep tracking.
Best for fitness enthusiasts
The Fitbit Versa 2 is ideal for fitness enthusiasts who want a training companion without a lot of extra bells and whistles. It pairs a beautiful touchscreen AMOLED display with interchangeable bands. The Versa 2 offers a robust set of activities that it can track and covers all the basics, such as pace, time, and distance. It does not have integrated GPS, so you must use it with a phone if you want GPS-based tracking. It isn’t as powerful as the Apple Watch and has significantly fewer apps, but where it excels is sleep. When worn overnight, Fitbit’s Versa 2 can provide a detailed analysis of the duration and quality of your sleep.
Best for health and wellness tracking
The Garmin Venu rivals the Fitbit Versa 2 in functionality and design with a focus on fitness tracking and gorgeous AMOLED display. It, too, is a step down from the Apple Watch with fewer apps and features, but it also is significantly less expensive. The Venu has a myriad of health and wellness features that allow you to track your water consumption, your stress level, and energy reserves right from the watch face. It also tracks sleep and uses a pulse oximeter to monitor your oxygens levels, a health metric that can be used to detect sleep disturbances and altitude acclimation.
Best for the budget-minded consumer
With a price tag well under $100, the Amazfit Bip is our top choice for those who don’t want to spend a lot of money on a smartwatch. It has a fantastic amount of fitness and sleep tracking features for such a low price tag. It has GPS for outdoor activities, a heart rate monitor, and 45 days of battery life. It looks like an Apple Watch but doesn’t have quite the same luxurious feel.
Best for Android owners
If your allegiance lies firmly in the Android camp, then the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is the smartwatch for you. The sleek and small Galaxy Active packs a punch. It is powered by Samsung’s Tizen operating system, which integrates seamlessly with Samsung’s smartphones. It offers integrated GPS, heart rate monitoring, and sleep tracking. Everything the casual gym-goer and tech enthusiast could want.