It’s cheap
Cheap but probably won’t work I’m guessing?
If you really want a cheap smart watch there’s a bunch of reliable ones worth looking into rather than getting something random on temu. I haven’t tried the Pine Time but it looks good if you like fiddling with the tech.
If you can put up with Xiaomi they make a ton of different options. I used a Mi Band for a few years and it kinda did what I wanted it to do better than my current Wear OS watch does
I never heard of Pine Time before, but that looks interesting!
Didn’t nothing make a relatively cheap one too?
Another person mentioned nothing by another name, and it is definitely interesting to me.
Pros: Might look cool, is cheap.
Cons: Won’t be very durable, the app for it will be shitty and closed-source(probably malware), the battery will probably suck, any vital sensors won’t be accurate, the screen will probably suck, and it will probably have a bad UI.
In summary: Save up for a better watch.
You’ll be probably be happier with a higher quality watch than with one that barely works. I would not recommend going for an option because it’s cheap, instead go for the one that’s good enough for you needs.
No need to buy the same one as I did, but I have been very happy with my “not the cheapest, not the most expensive”-garmin watch for years. It is reliable, does what i need it to do and is not so expensive that i am afraid of breaking it for instance. I did need to make choices to be able to get it, i could not spend that money on other things, but that only made me feel better when I got it.
More on topic: it’s easy to find accesoires/replacement parts for my watch, it’s easier to get it repaired, both at garmin as well as a local shop, the software has a lot of integration option with other software (strava, komoot, etc.) and i can download apps and watch faces other people with the same watch built and i can be sure my alarm goes off in the morning. I don’t expect the temu watch to have these things. For me it was worth to pay a bit more. Sidenote: I did get a screen protector for my watch from AliExpress, so apparently I’m not against that 😏
You don’t need it. Save your $.
As someone who has bought a fair number of smartwatches and fitness trackers and always over-researches every decision I make:
- See the rest of the replies for info on cheap smart watches. They’re basically a cereal box toy.
- Depending on what you need, the MiBand or Amazfit bands had excellent battery life and there used to be 3rd party apps for your phone that did a much better job collecting and displaying your stats than Zepp or MiFit (the official apps) did. I miss my 1.5 month battery life. Its also possible to use gadget bridge so it’s all 100% offline though I understand its still a bit more rudimentary than a corporate cloud-based solution. I remember the bands I got from them running $25-50 USD
- Used Garmin devices or previous gen garmin devices can be had MUCH cheaper than list price on Amazon or so. I picked up a Fenix 6 a few years ago for less than half of the $600 list price. I love the lack of touchscreen because the button navigation is absurdly fast and no mistouches! This suits how I use a watch much better than trying to put a tiny a 2x2cm touchscreen on my wrist. These are fitness watches, but some have a few smart features. Depends on what you plan to use it for I guess.
- If you are a nerd (a good thing) and want to contribute to a cool project, Pine Computers, which makes the pinebook, pinetab, pinephone, etc. makes a device called the pinetime that is basically a smartwatch that is open to the community’s hacks and modifications. I haven’t bought one because my biking depends on my Garmin stats, but I am tempted to grab one to mess with it.
None of these are fancy “smarts first” watches like an Apple Watch or an Android Watch. I found I needed less smarts than I thought as I usually carry my phone at all times anyway. It is nice to have the doorbell ring on my wrist and to reply to texts by choosing from a few pre-written responses while biking, or otherwise unavailable to text. If you really want a bunch of apps and integration with your phones OS, Apple and Android are the big two and its not really feasible to go 3rd party for the same experience.
Pros: cheap
Con: you support temu, and slave labour.
It might or might not:
- arrive
- work
- be genuine
- be fit for purpose
- Give lead poisoning
- Leak battery juice
- Explode
Pros: price
Cons: the watch doesn’t work and now you have lead poisoning
Hey, you could be paying a lot more for lead poisoning of this strength.
Simpler question, why would you buy a Smart Watch?
I use my bicycle for commuting. I often forget to text my partner that I’m on my way home. It’s smart to text them when I’m on my way home in case if I get hit by a car. I want to be able to quickly send a text while riding my bike. It is an inconvenience to do so with a phone.
But I also like the idea of having a pedometer, heart rate monitor.
If you use Google maps you can share your location and set up alerts when you leave it aside in certain zones
sometimes I want to get a pretzel after work without him knowing. need to figure that out before I share with him lol
Tim walz–level confession
🤣 reasonable! got to protect cheeky snack time
I am also a bicyclist with three different bikes. One watch replaces three bicycle computers. I can track performance metrics, longevity of components, and service intervals… for all of my bicycles.
My watch also has functions for sailing performance metrics, kayaking, hiking, running, and lots more sports.
That’s ignoring the other watch functions: timers, find my phone (great for when the phone slips between cushions and I didn’t notice), compass, barometric trends, notification filtering…
My partner has the same watch. The longitudinal health stats from her watch was one of the key factors in getting her health complaints taken seriously. One medical facility completely, repeatedly dismissed her concerns as “nothing serious.” Turns out she had Stage-IVb cancer (now recovered).
For me personally, I want to limit interactions with my phone by reading notifications on my wrist, only allowing certain apps to send notifications through, and maybe sending a quick reply through the watch if needed.
That said, most smart watches now are overcomplicated bloat, it’s all been downhill since the Pebble Time IMO
For me personally, I want to limit interactions with my phone by
reading notifications on my wristincreasing interactions with my watchThat just sounds like interactions with your phone but with extra steps.
Nah, there’s a fair bit of legitimacy in wanting to minimize how often you pull out your phone. If you can’t ignore notifications (i.e. devops) it’s nice to be able to check them without getting the full device out.
Yeah, exactly. A buzz in my pocket, pull out the phone, see a bunch of different distracting stuff vs glance at my wrist, know it’s a casual message from a friend I can respond to later or in rare cases, something I need to deal with immediately. It’s a lot less mental energy
For me:
- It tells time and is always correct, also during daylight saving season
- It tells the weather forecast, I check it before leaving my house.
- I like that the alarm wakes me up with vibration mode, but not my partner (yes I wear my watch at night, but around my ankle, pro-tip)
- I like to easily read important notifications (I am quite strict in what it does show, so only texts from important people, my calendar and like bank notifications get through). Added benefit is that I don’t get distracted with other stuff because I don’t open my phone.
- I often lose my phone, my watch is able to find it.
- I use my watch to get simple navigation option when I go running/inline skating in an area I don’t know yet. Works better than the phone because I don’t have to hold the phone in my hand.
- I set it up so my partner can see where I’m at. When I see a notification from them asking where I am I can easily (and safily) start the tracking without having to pull out my phone.
- It tracks my heartrate, so I can do heartrate based training.
So is it really necessary? No obviously not, I will survive without it, but I do like it a lot and would miss it of it wasn’t there. But that’s how it is for me, that does not mean it will be the same for you.
For me, hourly movement reminders and medication reminders without having to constantly keep my phone in my pocket has been a godsend. Keeping track of my heart rate (especially while asleep) has also been great for being more aware of when my PTSD symptoms are acting up. I’m also never going back to a sound based alarm instead of a vibrating one, no idea if regular watches have that now too or not.
Pro: Price, Convenience, Looks
Cons: Much like buying an “iPhone” from Temu, the price is usually reflected in the quality.
Don’t get me wrong, there are cheep smart watches if you look for them or go second hand. But what you’ll find advertised on Temu isn’t it.
Build quality is usually the first to suffer, but you’ll find mislabeled battery info a 500mah instead of the promised 1000mah. Or an LCD instead of an OLED.
But those are things we can adapt too. The biggest problem is software. That’ll do and close enough has been the name of the game for years now. And sometimes “smart” just means it can (badly) track your steps and pretend to check your heart rate with a led pretending to be a sensor.
Alternative
If you are looking for any budget electronics try looking for last years or a few years ago models. I got a Garmin Forerunner 235 in 2022 for 1/5 of its asking price because I found a deal on eBay.
I’d also look into the landscape of the market you are buying into and seeing who is actually making these things, and what is running on it.
For smart watches I found the answer was
Apple
Android with Watch OS (Samsung google and many more)
Garmin
If the watch isn’t running android watch os or is made by Apple or Garmin. Assume its good too be true and look into it more, or look elsewhere.
Good news China is lazy and one clone usually is made by many factories and someone else made a video about it. Might not be the same name, but it’ll be close enough.
Cons: Ewaste and bad for the environment. Get something High quality used like on Facebook marketplace or a thrift store.
Isn’t Facebook marketplace an awful place to buy things? The only people I know used it all got scammed.
USA: eBay
JP: Rakuten
NL: MarktplaatsThere is probably a zillions better alternative in w/e country you are, if not online then flee markets or thrift stores
Not awful. I’ve had only positive experiences. No buyer protections, but it’s hard to get scammed buying something in person from someone local, unless you get it home before realizing it’s fake/broken, or they kidnap you and lock you in their basement. There are pretty simple precautions you can take against either, not that there’s any foolproof solution…but I wouldn’t say awful.
The best advice is just to be cautious. Obviously don’t send money before you get something and make sure it’s functional. Facebook marketplace is a good place to find deals if you know to be safe.
Agreed. Getting something second-hand is almost always better.
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Seems like asking for disappointment
if you want a decent cheap option, the wyze watch seemed okay
Thanks for the suggestion!
When smart watches were begining to be a thing, a friend of mine bought a smartwatch for like 5$ in Ali express. When I asked him how the watch is he said “I am surprised that even for this low price, they still managed to disappoint me”
I recall there being a LOT of those watches out that were “mobile data connected” for very cheap.
The catch? The mobile data radio was 2g, and those networks are all obsolete and gone now (I think)
Someone close to me had positive things to say about the Wyze watch as well. If apple and android are tier A, wyze is below that, but above all the F tier temu and amazon junk.
All of the wyze stuff seems to be decent, but not super premium.
The headphones are 85% as good as the Bose, but for $49
The scale is quite good, nothing even remotely off about that and it integrates with Fitbit just fine.
The Color smart bulbs have been solid. One of the wyze smart plugs lost its memory once and needed to be re-setup, but fine since.
The cameras all work great too, as long as you’re comfortable with the fact that the video goes to some cloud location.
CMF watch, the old one, is a nice, cheap option, that works with Gadgetbridge, keeping your privacy intact.
No one else has yet to mention privacy. I do like the watch, and it’s price as well.
I have been using it for a few months, now. I will say the sensors are not perfect, but they do the job. I needed it mostly for calls and notifications.
