Finest General |
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Willful Good Watch |
A sensible rugged smartwatch that’ll sync together with your cellphone, observe your health, and final for a very long time to come back. |
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Best Value |
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Yamay Smart Watch |
An affordable, value-filled smartwatch that’s lightweight and durable enough to wear under any conditions. |
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Best Premium |
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Samsung Electronics Galaxy Watch 3 |
A high-quality, premium material smartwatch that can replace your smartphone and survive any activity level. |
Since they first began appearing in the 2010s, smartwatches have becoming increasingly smarter. But there’s one big problem with most of today’s smartphones: They’re incredibly delicate. Featuring glass screens and polished, sleek metal exteriors, many smartwatches are far too fancy to actually survive rugged situations. Whether you work with your hands, in tactical environments, or with materials that can easily cause damage, you need a more rugged product. Fortunately, there is a selection of rugged smartwatches available. Built with well-protected screens, highly durable straps and exterior housing, and able to deliver all the tech features you want, rugged smartwatches come in many different styles and forms. You just have to decide which rugged option with which features meets your everyday needs best.
We’re here to help — check out our picks below for the best rugged smartwatches you can buy right now.
The Willful Smart Watch has everything you need packed in a long-lasting, highly durable, and wonderfully convenient device. From its price to its functionality, this is one rugged smartwatch that meets just about every possible need. Compatible with most iOS and Android smartphones, you can connect your calls, messages, calendar alerts, and even social media notifications to this smartwatch. It also works as a fitness tracker, with a 24/7 heart rate monitor, sleep tracker, and the ability to pick up sports like walking, running, cycling, and even yoga. This watch will track your steps, distance, calories burned, active minutes, and other data. It’s built to be waterproof, with an IP68 rating, and you can swim with it right on your wrist. This rugged smartwatch looks sleek, but it’ll be a reliable, durable companion. With up to 10 days of battery life, you’ll love the functionality you get out of this watch whether you’re listening to music on the go, hiking outdoors, or taking calls.
Opting for a budget-friendly smartwatch doesn’t mean you have to forgo features you want — the Yamay Smart Watch includes just what you need at the right price. This fitness tracker-style smartwatch offers great value, capturing and tracking your daily data while allowing you to easily stay connected to your smartphone. The watch is compatible with most iOS 8.0 and Android 4.4 smartphones and above, and it’ll allow you to take calls, texts, and other app notifications right on your wrist. At the same time, this smartwatch will track your steps, calories, heart rate, sleep stages, and exercise. It connects with your smartphone for GPS data, and there are special modes you can choose depending on what, exactly, you’re doing. When it comes to durability, this watch is waterproof with a battery that lasts seven to 10 days, with a lightweight build that can withstand all of your daily movements and activities.
If you want a classic, sleek smartwatch but need one that’s more durable and more rugged, you’re going to love the Samsung Electronics Galaxy Watch 3. This version of the Samsung Galaxy Watch is actually built to be tougher. Though it features a stylish titanium exterior, it’s constructed with military-grade durability and impressive water resistance. It passed military specification testing and can survive situations including drops from a height of 4.9 feet, extreme temperatures, dust, shocks, and even low pressure. It’s water-resistant up to 50 meters, giving you great protection against the watch’s sensitive inner workings. A long-lasting battery powers the watch for more than just one day, and you can pair it with both Android smartphones and iOS models. You’ll get everything from fitness tracking to automatic sleep tracking to Samsung Play wallet-free payments to Bixby the voice assistant — all right on your wrist. This smartwatch is a significant investment, but it offers so much more than its competitors.
The Garmin Instinct Outdoor Watch is one of the best rugged smartwatches you’ll find for outdoor hobbies and activities. Built to survive tough, unpredictable environments, this high-tech watch will allow you to find your way, map your routes, and stay connected to your smartphone no matter where you go. It’s a GPS-centric watch that’s built to meet U.S. Military standard 810G, so it’s protected against extreme temperature changes as well as shocks and impacts. This smartwatch is also water-resistant up to 100 meters. A built-in three-axis compass and barometric altimeter used alongside three global navigation satellite systems help you track and navigate anywhere. You can find your way even in challenging environments. The watch battery also lasts impressively long — up to 14 hours in smartwatch mode, up to 16 hours in GPS mode, and up to 40 hours of Ultratrac battery saver mode. Along your travels, this watch will keep you connected to your calls, texts, apps, and more.
A rugged smartwatch doesn’t have to be unattractive, bulky, or even designed with rough edges — the Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle Smartwatch is proof of this. This stylish smartwatch looks as sleek and classic as a traditional watch, but it’s built to be both more durable and smarter than your average watch. The Gen 5 Carlyle is powered by Wear OS by Google and works with both Android and iOS devices. It combines all the perks of a smartwatch with the benefits of a fitness tracker thanks to its included Google Fit platform, which offers tracking and coaching for your activity level, workouts, and even step goals. With access to calls, texts, emails, and hundreds of different apps, this smartwatch puts everything on your wrist. It also includes built-in GPS for on-the-go distance tracking and is swim-proof so you can wear it into the water. With a glance at the exterior of this watch, you’d never imagine it was a smartwatch, let alone one that can handle water and everyday wear.
Whether you’re hunting, backpacking, or simply hiking along a trail, it’s critical that you know where you are. With the Garmin fenix Multisport GPS Smartwatch on your wrist, that’s always possible. This rugged smartwatch is designed to pair all of the perks of a traditional smartwatch with a more durable design and features made just for getting lost. The watch is made with stainless steel and a protective case made from fiber-reinforced polymer. You’ll be able to connect to your smartphone and the Garmin Connect online community to personalize your apps and data. The smartwatch offers a host of outdoor sensors, including GPS and GLONASS satellite reception, a three-axis compass with gyroscope, and a barometric altimeter. It’ll track your heart rate, show your key stats on-screen, and even show you your oxygen consumption. Whether you’re getting in some exercise or are headed deep into the woods for a few days, this is the watch to have so you’ll always know your location.
The Amazfit T-Rex Smartwatch is one of the most impressive rugged smartwatches you’ll find. It’s a standout because of its high level of durability and its tactical-ready design. This is no simple watch; it’s one that was built to become a military standard. In fact, its design won it 12 military certificates. Constructed with a rugged exterior and a water-resistant body, you can wear this watch into temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’ll keep working just fine. This watch can last for 20 hours on a single charge, but with tweaks to the settings, it can last 40 hours with continuous GPS usage. Strong enough to handle drops, impacts, shocks, and more, this smartwatch will actually track your exercise and fitness data while it provides you with smartphone connectivity. You can even use the included 14 professional exercise modes to track and gauge your activity. No matter where you’re headed, the built-in Sony GPS chip will offer accurate, instant positioning data.
If you want a smartwatch that’s both rugged and highly capable, you’re going to want to check out the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch. We love how versatile this watch is — you can make calls, send texts, and respond to emails while your watch offers GPS location tracking, app alerts, and so much more. This is a do-it-all kind of smartwatch that works with most Android and iOS smartphones. You’ll be able to access nearly all of your favorite apps. In fact, you can even use Samsung Pay to use your smartwatch like a credit card, with no need for your wallet. The built-in GPS tracks your activity as well as your location so you can share your position with others or find your way home. While this smartwatch offers a ton of versatile options, it’s also highly durable. It’s built with military-grade toughness, able to resist water, dust, extreme temperatures, and even drops. With a battery that lasts for days, you can go anywhere and rely on this smartwatch to survive.
The HopoFit Smart Watch is a fitness tracker-style watch that focuses primarily on your daily activities. Part smartwatch and part activity tracking device, you’ll be able to monitor your progress towards step goals, activity goals, and more while taking calls, replying to texts, and catching notifications. Featuring a 1.3-inch round touchscreen face made with HD glass, this watch is modern in style. However, it’s also durable; it has an IP68 waterproof rating so you can wear it right into the water. This watch will monitor your heart rate, sleep, steps, calories, and even your sport modes (or the kind of exercises you perform). You can leave your phone at home and still access your apps, calendar, and messages right from your wrist. It’s like having a personal trainer built into your smartwatch. The watch will train you, offer the latest data throughout the day, and even let you control music while you’re on the move with ease.
The TicWatch Pro 3 Smart Watch is exactly what you need on your wrist if you want a long-lasting, highly reliable smartwatch. This watch blows others out of the water when it comes to battery life — it lasts just 72 hours in its typical “smart” mode, with the 1.4-inch AMOLED display running, but it can last a whopping 45 days in “essential” mode. This low-power mode gives you critical smartwatch data without sucking your battery dry. Powered by the Google smartwatch platform and a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 with 1G of RAM and 8G of ROM, you’ll get great tech performance from this watch. It offers fitness tracking, monitoring your heart rate, sleep, stress, and even noise. However, it also works with your smartphone, allowing you to make and receive calls, texts, and more. A built-in GPS and barometer are perfect for heading outdoors, too. You’ll also get access to all of Google’s apps, like Google Maps, Google Pay, and Google Fit.
Related: 7 men’s watches to kickstart any collection
Why do you have to belief us
I’ve almost a 12 months of expertise reviewing merchandise for Brookline Media’s web sites, together with The Drive and Automotive Bibles. My previous evaluations embrace best ATV bags, best solar chargers for backpacking, and best waterproof tents. I’ve additionally written historic articles for Warfare Historical past On-line, how-to articles for WonderHowTo, and the nonfiction e-book Fidget! for Adams Media.
The most typical kinds of rugged smartwatches
Smartwatches all appear form of the identical once you first begin looking for one. Nonetheless, relating to rugged smartwatches, you’ll need to pay shut consideration to even the little variations between varied merchandise. Some smartwatches work like the favored non-rugged varieties you already know properly — just like the Apple Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch. Others are particularly constructed with performance and options meant for rugged environments or makes use of.
There are two major kinds of rugged smartwatches out there: conventional smartphone smartwatches and health tracker smartwatches. Be taught extra about what every variety can supply beneath.
Smartphone smartwatches
Smartphone smartwatches are extra generally simply known as smartwatches. These watches are loaded with options. They connect with your smartphone, they usually can really change your cellphone altogether once you need to depart your cellphone behind. You need to use your smartphone to make or reply calls, ship and obtain textual content messages, open apps, and a lot extra. These types of rugged smartwatches additionally embrace health monitoring, maintaining report of every little thing out of your steps to your coronary heart charge and extra.
Smartphone smartwatches are probably the most well-rounded and versatile possibility. The one draw back is that many conventional smartphone smartwatches aren’t really rugged. It’s essential to have a look at the supplies and whether or not or not a watch is examined towards drops, impacts, water, mud, and harsh put on to find out if it’s actually rugged.
Health tracker smartwatches
The choice to a smartphone smartwatch is a health tracker watch. These smartwatches are available in so many alternative types, from easy health trackers that embrace watch performance to wholly complete health trackers with extra apps. Nonetheless, mostly, health tracker smartwatches are centered on capturing metrics like coronary heart charge, steps, exercises or exercise stage, and GPS.
If you’re in search of a rugged health tracker smartwatch, you’ll find some which are made for harsh environments or powerful put on and tear. These usually embrace extra options you want in tactical settings, like location knowledge, GPS monitoring, and altimeters for instance. It’s a good suggestion to search for health tracker smartwatches that may do extra than simply observe your steps should you’re hoping to get probably the most versatility and worth.
What to search for when shopping for rugged smartwatches
As you’re shopping completely different rugged smartwatches, it’s essential to maintain two crucial options in thoughts: the apps or features and the battery life.
With out the correct apps or performance, your smartwatch received’t be capable to meet your wants. Ask your self what’s most essential in your watch. Would you like to have the ability to make cellphone calls and ship texts? Do you care extra about monitoring your movement and actions all through the day? Or would you like a watch that may do all of it? This data will allow you to resolve what number of apps or features you want, and it’ll inform you whether or not you want a extra complete smartwatch or not.
Battery life is essential as a result of it impacts how a lot upkeep your watch will want. An extended battery life (and a extra highly effective battery) will let you go longer between every cost. Search for a rugged smartwatch that provides extra reliability with days of battery life. Some can supply as a lot as every week or extra — these are particularly nice choices should you received’t be close to an influence supply for days at a time.
The benefits of proudly owning a rugged smartwatch
Any smartwatch will take your entire smartphone’s capabilities and put them proper in your wrist. Nonetheless, once you purchase a rugged smartwatch, you get extra advantages that your primary smartphone can’t match — like elevated sturdiness and higher safety towards put on and tear. A rugged smartwatch really makes what’s in your wrist harder and extra capable of arise within the face of unpredictable, harsh environments.
There’s a lot {that a} smartwatch can supply. It doesn’t matter what variety you finally select, as a result of each smartwatch contains benefits like:
- Lengthy-lasting battery life so you may put on your look ahead to days at a time while not having to recharge ceaselessly.
- The flexibility to reply calls, texts, and even emails with out your smartphone in hand.
- Entry to good voice assistants like Google, Amazon’s Alexa, and Samsung’s Bixby proper out of your wrist.
- GPS and placement knowledge, which let you see the place you might be and the way far you’ve traveled.
- The comfort of health monitoring, which lets you see your steps, miles traveled, and train or exercise ranges along with nightly sleep knowledge.
Pricing ranges for rugged smartwatches
- Underneath $50: For lower than $50, you’ll find a wealth of inexpensive smartwatches. Many, nevertheless, are health trackers that target your actions and the time. You’ll get fewer options, however you’ll additionally discover watches with nice rugged sturdiness and reliability.
- $50 to $150: Inside this value vary, you’ll have loads of choices. You’ll find each conventional smartwatches and health tracker watches, every with its personal different capabilities. These watches embrace extra apps and extra performance, too.
- $150 and Up: For probably the most premium rugged smartwatches, you’ll spend $150 and extra. Most watches on this vary fall between $200 and $400 in value, they usually embrace fancier choices that change of their capabilities.
How we selected our high picks
To pick our greatest rugged smartwatch product picks, we seemed on the highest-rated and most-reviewed merchandise out there on Amazon. We thought-about the options and capabilities of every smartwatch, studying customers’ real-life evaluations about their greatest professionals and cons, and assessed the sturdiness of every product primarily based on battery life and design.
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