Best smartwatch around $200...

[DevinTheGreat]

I am interested in buying my first smartwatch, and I would like some recommendations. I really like the design of the Skagen Falster 2, but it has an older chip so I don't know if it would be slow or not... I really like the bezel on the Galaxy Watch, but it seems a bit too large. The fossil sport looks nice as well... 

 

If anyone owns any of these devices or has any recommendations, help would be greatly appreciated.

[Origami Cactus]

If you want android wear then the Fossil Sport is the only real option with the w3100 chip.

Falster 3 might come out in the Autumn.

[DevinTheGreat]

Just now, Origami Cactus said:

If you want android wear then the Fossil Sport is the only real option with the w3100 chip.

Falster 3 might come out in the Autumn.

Do you know if there is any noticable slowdowns on the Skagen Falster 2 due to the older chip?

[Origami Cactus]

3 minutes ago, DevinTheGreat said:

Do you know if there is any noticable slowdowns on the Skagen Falster 2 due to the older chip?

They are the same speed, so no, but the new chip enables the second hand on the "always on display", and some battery life improvements.

If you are okay with only seeing hours and minutes on the AOD, then it is a fine choice too.

[DevinTheGreat]

1 minute ago, Origami Cactus said:

They are the same speed, so no, but the new chip enables the second hand on the "always on display", and some battery life improvements.

If you are okay with only seeing hours and minutes on the AOD, then it is a fine choice too.

Thanks! I definitely don't need to see seconds on the always-on display.

[Commodus]

4 hours ago, DevinTheGreat said:

I am interested in buying my first smartwatch, and I would like some recommendations. I really like the design of the Skagen Falster 2, but it has an older chip so I don't know if it would be slow or not... I really like the bezel on the Galaxy Watch, but it seems a bit too large. The fossil sport looks nice as well... 

 

If anyone owns any of these devices or has any recommendations, help would be greatly appreciated.

How about the Galaxy Watch Active?  No rotating bezel, but it is smaller and fairly nice-looking.

 

There's also the Fitbit Versa, although that's best if you're mainly looking for standard notifications (calls, texts, etc.) and fitness.

[DevinTheGreat]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

How about the Galaxy Watch Active?  No rotating bezel, but it is smaller and fairly nice-looking.

 

There's also the Fitbit Versa, although that's best if you're mainly looking for standard notifications (calls, texts, etc.) and fitness.

I really like the rotating bezel/crown, so that is why I wasn't really too interested in the galaxy watch active. I also am not interested in fitbits at all. 

[Rupe]

10 hours ago, DevinTheGreat said:

I really like the rotating bezel/crown, so that is why I wasn't really too interested in the galaxy watch active. I also am not interested in fitbits at all. 

It's worth keeping in mind the Galaxy watch comes in a smaller size the 42mm version, as a Gear Sport User I would recommend it

[DevinTheGreat]

3 hours ago, Rupe said:

It's worth keeping in mind the Galaxy watch comes in a smaller size the 42mm version, as a Gear Sport User I would recommend it

Right! I do think that the 42mm size is nice. I am also curious about what you think of tizen, and how it performs after a few years. 

[Commodus]

18 hours ago, DevinTheGreat said:

I really like the rotating bezel/crown, so that is why I wasn't really too interested in the galaxy watch active. I also am not interested in fitbits at all. 

Mind you, if you're looking at Wear OS watches you'll have to go without the rotating bezel anyway, so it might not hurt too much.  But if you really want it, the 42mm Galaxy Watch is your best bet.

 

The challenge with getting a smartwatch for Android is that there are few particularly good choices.  Most Wear OS watches are using chips from 2016, and the ones from 2018 are only a bit better.  Samsung is better at keeping the hardware up to date, but Tizen means you'll have a fairly limited (not horrible, just limited) app ecosystem.  Fitbit actually has a solid platform, but it's definitely not where many developers are headed.

 

[Rupe]

23 hours ago, DevinTheGreat said:

Right! I do think that the 42mm size is nice. I am also curious about what you think of tizen, and how it performs after a few years. 

I am really happy with Tizen. My watch and the older Gear S3 have been updated to One UI 1.0 recently so samsung seems to be pretty good at updating their watches.

The operating system looks good, you use the bezel to scroll through the different widgets, which can include calender, audio controls, workouts etc

And if you scroll the other way you see your notifications

I use it to track my jogs and it does a good job. The samsung health app pushes information to Strava. I don't care about 3rd party app support, to be honest. It does everything I need as is.

The best part is for sure the rotating bezel. Great to navigate the OS but also just to fidget with, it has a really satisfying click to it, for this reason I wouldn't get the Galaxy Active. V5 water resistance for swim tracking is also nice to have.

[DevinTheGreat]

4 hours ago, Rupe said:

I am really happy with Tizen. My watch and the older Gear S3 have been updated to One UI 1.0 recently so samsung seems to be pretty good at updating their watches.

The operating system looks good, you use the bezel to scroll through the different widgets, which can include calender, audio controls, workouts etc

And if you scroll the other way you see your notifications

I use it to track my jogs and it does a good job. The samsung health app pushes information to Strava. I don't care about 3rd party app support, to be honest. It does everything I need as is.

The best part is for sure the rotating bezel. Great to navigate the OS but also just to fidget with, it has a really satisfying click to it, for this reason I wouldn't get the Galaxy Active. V5 water resistance for swim tracking is also nice to have.

Awesome! Do you have any issues with app support or lack thereof? Also I would like to hear your thoughts on the galaxy watch active. It's been getting a lot of good reviews and I would like ot know if they are justified. 

[Rupe]

3 hours ago, DevinTheGreat said:

Awesome! Do you have any issues with app support or lack thereof? Also I would like to hear your thoughts on the galaxy watch active. It's been getting a lot of good reviews and I would like ot know if they are justified. 

They've got some big names on their store like Strava and Spotify, to be honest, the watch does pretty much everything I need so app support has been irrelevant