I posted this a while bag on Reddit here, but thought it would be appropriate to have the text here as well.
(yes it is lazy reuse of the image from here on some crappy ones)
The cheap Chinese smart watches is a hit-and-miss category!
You should be sure to find a trustworthy review before buying!
Some offers a LOT of value for the money, others are just crap!
I would say that the ratio of good to bad models at the most is 1:5, bought so many crappy ones!
Crap and fakes
So the risk of buying some crap is high, and many of the crappy ones are design-wise pure copies of some of the expensive ones from known brands. But that in it self isn’t really scams, as long as they do not claim to be genuine. Whether those are breaking some design copyrights, is an entirely different discussion.
Sellers
There are those that tries to sell the cheap ones at grossly elevated prices (e.g. “BP Doctor MED” , “Spade & Co” and many others) so those could be considered scammers.
Though it is quite fair for a local seller with stock to have a higher price for the same watch you can find on say AliExpress, where it typically takes a month after you order it, to it lands in your hands.
Using google image search can be helpful, as the overpriced ones often use (some of) the same ad-materials from the manufacturer seen at more fairly priced sellers. Some might even try to push the watches at ten times the price others do, so you really have to be careful.
Who? And support.
It is quite common for the same cheap Chinese watch to be sold under numerous brands and names. And this can be really confusing as a westerner as we are so used to the brand being important.
It can be really frustrating (or even impossible) to find out WHO the actual manufacturer of a specific smart watch is. So many wholesalers claims a model as theirs, even if it is not, and they do not even bother to brand the device or boxes. If you can find FCC info on it, that can be a good source for the manufacturer.
It is quite common that you can get the device, manual, packing and even firmware/software branded by the manufacturer (also offered by wholesalers), making it harder for the customer to know what they actually get.
That is why the default material from the manufacturer, including any manual and boxing can be completely anonymous, without any hint of the manufacturer, and often the seller just add a simple label with a bar-code for logistic reasons.
There is nothing wrong in this, it is just so different from what we usually see in “the West”, where we cling to brands and names.
The flip side of this is that it can be really hard to get competent support, as you only have the seller to contact, and often the only they can offer is for you to return the watch if faulty. And for a $20-$30 item returning it to China for repair does not make sense beyond some warranty, as paying postage both ways plus repair would grossly exceed the product value.
Dumb vs advanced and stamina
Generally speaking the more advanced the poorer the stamina… Some of the advanced ones like those with IOS and WearOS might be down to a day or two on a charge, some of the dumb ones go well beyond a month….
Even the good of the dumb ones often have limited functionalities, and the firmware and app are usually not beyond mediocre, and often the English (or other local) translations can be dubious, but that might for some be “good enough”.
For the dumb ones the customisation the user can do is typically limited to turning things on/off and to select different watch faces and similar simple stuff. No app and app store..
Pillbox-on-a-string
Practically all smartwatches are two watches thick, well beyond 1cm thick, to hold a bigger battery, and I personally HATE that! So annoying to have such a pill-box-on-a-string on the arm, that does not easily pass under the sleeve of a shirt/jacket/sweater/… IMHO
But if they weren’t two watches thick some of the advanced ones would not have room for a battery so they could make it through a single day on a charge, so I do understand why they do it. But for me the lacking wearability is a turn-off.
Compromises
ALL smartwatches of ANY brand are compromises between different aspects!
And obviously for many the advanced features outweigh the lacking wearability and ridiculously low stamina. To each their own! The dumb ones are not the ideal compromise for everyone.
I generally say that people should start with one of the simple ones and see what they lack/hate and use that experience to buy a more expensive being a compromise fitting their personal needs better.
Why buy one of the advanced ones only to find you rarely use most of what it offers, and have to live with its poor wearability and low stamina, if something simpler had suited your needs?
Try to avoid buying it more advanced (and thus typically expensive) than you actually need….
Personal favourite
My personal favourite is currently a cheap 7mm thin round one (ø43mm), with six weeks stamina on a charge, that I would not swap for any of the currently available expensive ones, even if I got it as a gift, due to the wearability outweighing the limitations for me. The Sovogue T8 is from 2022 and is sold at about $25. (seen scammers trying to sell it for $200…)
BTW Sovougue have launched a trio of a further compacted “T8 Mini” at ø40mm, as well as an advanced version with the same ø43mm case as the original T8, but with speaker and mics. I’m not a huge fan of the new versions, except the size of the mini…
Wish
I would WISH that one or more of the known brands tried to make something the size of a T8 / T8 Mini. With more advanced components they could do an (even) better job, that obviously would be more expensive.