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Top Pros
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Top Cons
Reddit Reviews
Let me start by saying I have spent way too many hours researching the best smart watch for my needs. All the different options and features are overwhelming. So my hope is I can save you some time and stress if your needs are similar. I am starting to count calories and workout again with a mix of strength training, pilates, walks and running. I wanted something that could track my calories burned, step tracker, heart rate monitor and obviously simply tell time without being too big on my wrist. Also receiving reminder notifications from my phone and messages were important too. I've gotten many cheap fitness watches over the years that never lasted long so it was time to spend some more money on one. I have an android, so at first I went with the galaxy classic 6 43mm in silver. The rotating bezel was awesome and the watch had everything I needed and more, but as a female the size was way too big on my wrist and the silver color made me look like a spy kid. The bezel made it look chunky. I returned it and researched Garmin instead. Vivoactive 5 I considered but many reviews said it was not worth it. Has too big a watch face for me anyway. The forerunner 165 is great if you care about detailed running metrics at a lower cost. I ran a half marathon for a college elective and only really learned about many of the metrics from that class. So if you're big into running, I'd definitely recommend this one. Still a bit too big for my wrist though. The venu 3s I also highly considered and is a popular choice amoung smart watch users. Has all the features you need, but still was too big for me at size 41mm. This one is on the pricier side but has more features and a longer battery life. It's great for an all around fitness and lifestyle watch. If you have the money and don't care about the size as much, I recommend this one and almost got it myself. I finally landed on the lily 2 active. The smallest Garmin watch I could find at 38mm. 2 side buttons, and it had all the features I was looking for as mentioned above but could see myself using more features as time went on. I really didn't feel I needed anything too complicated. The screen is in black and white vs color, but as a previous review had said, if I want color I can just look at my smartphone. I decided to buy the lily 2 active and am so happy I did. It's the perfect small size for me and looks sleek. Even has sleep score and body battery functions, which will get more accurate as time goes on. The silver color does NOT make me look like a spy kid. The lines on the screen took a little time to get used to, but are not a big deal to me. I love that I can choose what notifications I want to receive on my watch on ALL my phone apps. If you want to see the feature comparisons in detail side by side you can search "Garmin product comparison" in your browser which I found helpful. If you have any questions I'd love to help if I can!
A scraped up Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 classic so I can keep up my steps, blood sugar and have a nice homage to Tom Clancy's the Division when I wake up
Amazing... And I have 4 other Galaxy watches to compare. My GW6 Classic is pretty close, but the ultra really is ultra. I work out 6 days a week and live a very healthy exercise lifestyle. Results are very consistent and TBH, most of the earlier watches do a pretty good job. The ultra has the best sensors to date and the best battery so far.
I have both and both are almost the same as far as operational use and sensors. If battery is a big concern, get the Ultra 100%. The 8C, while stylish and with the rotating bezel gets similar time as my 6C between charges but I do work out a couple hours a day 6 days a week. The ultra gets me around 2.5 days and my 8C and 6C both give me around 1.5 days. I have everything on always because I don't want to dumb down my smart watches.
I have the 6C, the 8C, and the Ultra. Although the 8C and Ultra are somewhat better and a little snappier...battery is just a little better on the 8C versus the 6C. It really depends on your budget because there are some insane deals on the 6C now. You could also do what I did and purchase a beat up 5 pro for around 45 bucks that doesn't have a cracked screen and boots up...which will pass the Samsung trade in standard and use that to get the $250 trade in towards the 8C. Then, the price difference will be worth it. I usually pick up my trade ins from Ebay. This way, you can also keep your 4 as a usable beater or for using when the newer one is charging.
My leg day HR today. Matches almost exactly to my oura ring. This metric never excited me either way as it's always pretty consistent as long as I am wearing it properly. Similar readings from all my Galaxy watches going back 5 years. I would need to wear a medical HR monitor to really know if there was any difference.
Yea I used to jog years ago and workout with one of those. I think it was a Polar...anyways, at my age now, I am more interested in HRV , sleep metrics, and ease of use and I love the Galaxy watches and kinda have become somewhat of a collector. I swim 4 days a week and find they work excellent there. I enjoy seeing the advances in tech each generation and since my entire ecosystem is Samsung, I stay true to this brand because of compatability. BP is also VERY accurate but in the US it needs to be side loaded because FDA has never cleared it even though it's been working in most other countries for 5 years. While these wearables aren't perfect, they do keep improving and it really depends what is most important to you as far as features. It seems in your case that HR is at the top of the list which I totally get.
Most recently had had galaxy watch 6 classic 43mm, watch 7 44mm, and watch 8 40mm, all great watches . Wanted to go back to pixel watch since all the improvements so I sold my watch 7 and got the pixel watch 4 45mm.. it's my favorite of them all now. Great display and battery life is the best out of them all.
6 series has an ancient processor. I wouldn't buy it new.
I've had a 6 classic for a few months (with my new Fold 6) after using iOS and apple watches since the first apple watch was released. I've been disappointed with the 6WC's sluggish performance and unresponsiveness compared to the apple watch so I've already ordered my 8WC. Plus I love retro watches and the 8WC looks like an old divers watch 😊 What would have been even cooler is if the bezel was red/blue split like the 'Pepsi' styled watches. But black will do just fine.
Yep, it works fine for me. P9P and watch 6 classic
I use Samsung Health. (pixel 9 pro and Samsung watch 6 classic). I installed the xda app for blood pressure, though I rarely use it.
GW6C hands down. Except for a slightly slower UI, the 6C is better than the 7 in every other aspect that matters.
Rankings by Use Case
Top recommendations from others in the same boat
Best for Chronic health condition management

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Oura - Oura Ring Series
Best for Elderly & emergency safety

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Apple - Ultra Series
Best for Extended battery life

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Garmin - Fenix 7 Series
Best for Rugged durability for extreme environments

Top pick
Garmin - Fenix 7 Series
Best for Running performance & coaching

Top pick
Garmin - Forerunner 255 Series
Best for Sleep quality tracking

Top pick
Oura - Oura Ring Series





