What to look into before buying the best smartwatch on a budget
Before spending money on a smartwatch, make sure it offers the following basic features:
Health and fitness metrics ?
In theory, all smartwatches track health and fitness metrics, but it’s worth checking it twice before buying one. Plus, you might notice that a particular smartwatch tracks more metrics than others, so pay attention to what they really offer.
Most smartwatches come with metrics like heart rate, calorie counter, step counter, blood oxygen score (SpO2), stress levels, and breathing score.
Workout modes ?
Workout modes are built-in programs that your smartwatch tracks more accurately because it takes into consideration characteristics that are specific to a given sport or training technique.
Through workout modes, you can measure how you performed during a particular training session, rather than see the all-day general stats.
NFC ?
A practical smartwatch comes with the NFC function that allows you to pay at any point of sale by just approaching the watch to the payment terminal.
GPS ?️
Moreover, you can use your smartwatch to navigate anywhere you go. No matter if you just want to go to an address or record a running/hiking route, activate the GPS and you’re set.
Sleep monitoring ?
Smartwatches should come with a sleep monitoring feature, through which you can learn more about your sleep patterns. Based on the data you receive, you are able to improve and get a better sleep score in the long term.
The best smartwatch on a budget: top options under $200
Let’s explore the best options under $200 available on the market (in no particular order):
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active
Specs ?️
- Screen size: 28 mm
- Workout modes: 30+ (6 auto-tracked)
- Battery life: 45 hours
- Sleep tracking: ✔️
- SpO2: ❌
- GPS: ✔️
- NFC: ✔️
This one is the first version of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active series. It ticks most of the basic features you might be expecting to find in a smartwatch.
It tracks your heart rate, stress levels, and calories. When stress is high, you can use the watch’s breathing techniques and mindfulness sessions to calm down. This watch comes with over 30 workout programs, but only 6 can be automatically detected. The rest of them need to be recorded manually.
You can connect the watch to both Android and iOS through the Samsung Health app. It also provides integrations with Spotify (to play music directly from the watch), MyFitnessPal,
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This article was written by Adelina Tuca and originally published on CodeinWP.