Best Budget Smartwatches – Our Top 3 Picks
Smartwatches can get expensive quickly. But, they don’t have to break the bank. That being said, be careful. Less costly smartwatches are often cheap for a reason. We’ve chosen our top three picks (all at or under $150) that we think are worth the lower cost.
Pebble 2 – $90
Now that Pebble has been acquired by Fitbit, all future hardware plans have been canceled, although Pebble has updated their app on iOS and android to ensure all current watches keep functioning. Hopefully, this solution works. We’ve chosen Pebble 2 as a great deal for 2017, because of all it’s great features. We think for the cost, it is an outstanding option for a budget smartwatch.
What we like:
- 7-day battery life
- Optical heart rate monitor
- Pebble Health and Timeline
- Water resistant
- Always-on display
- Solid voice-to-text functionality
- Many apps
- Instant notifications
- Step and sleep tracker
- Music Control
- Built-in Microphone
Amazfit Pace – $160
We have been really impressed with the China based company, Xiaomi. They are an electronics company that lately seems to be growing in popularity. A number of their products are high quality, low cost and we think the Amazfit Pace is one of them. The one downside to the Amazfit Pace is that it only syncs to Strava so this may be a problem for some users.
What we like:
- 5-day battery life
- Optical heart rate monitor
- Water resistant
- Always-on display
- Built-in GPS
- Instant notifications
- Tracks running distance, time, pace, speed, altitude, elevation gain and loss and calories burned
Martian Notifier – $65
The Martian Notifier does not have a lot of bells and whistles, but what it does, it does well. An attractive, more classic looking watch you can’t beat it for the price!
What we like:
- Rechargeable battery for long life
- Vibration alert system
- Instant notifications
- Classic design
