{"id":6565,"date":"2024-10-07T23:38:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T21:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/?p=6565"},"modified":"2025-04-30T23:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:52:23","slug":"cheap-chinese-watches-some-simple-some-simply-crap-pros-and-cons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/?p=6565","title":{"rendered":"Cheap Chinese watches. Some simple some simply crap!! Pros and Cons."},"content":{"rendered":"

I posted this a while back on Reddit here<\/a>, but thought it would be appropriate to have the text here as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(yes it is lazy reuse of the image from here<\/a> on some crappy ones)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The cheap Chinese smart watches is a\u00a0hit-and-miss category!<\/strong><\/p>\n

You should be sure to find a trustworthy review before buying!<\/p>\n

Some offers a LOT of value for the money, others are just crap!<\/p>\n

I would say that the ratio of good to bad models at the most is 1:5, bought so many crappy ones!<\/p>\n

Crap and fakes<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Sellers<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Who? And support.<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

There is\u00a0nothing<\/em>\u00a0wrong in this, it is just so different from what we usually see in “the West”, where we cling to brands and names.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Here an example of a Chinese manufacturer declaring to FCC that almost\u00a0150<\/strong> names(!) are used for the same product, for different vendors!
\nfcc.report\/<\/sup>FCC-ID\/<\/sup>2BEGX-B02\/<\/sup>7101194.pdf<\/p>\n

Dumb vs advanced and stamina<\/h2>\n

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….<\/p>\n

Even the good of the dumb ones often have limited functionalities, and the firmware and app are usually\u00a0not beyond mediocre<\/strong>, and often the English (or other local) translations can be dubious, but that\u00a0might for some be “good enough”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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..<\/p>\n

Some brands try to find a good middle ground, with not overly customizable but with a fair stamina. E.g. Garmin and Polar.<\/p>\n

Messaging<\/h2>\n

Not all apps handle notifying on different message\u00a0types<\/em><\/i> equally well. That is that it can matter if it is SMS, MMS or RCS or aPple’s proprietary stuff. Where the notifications might not even reach the watch!
\n(There are related issues with lacking display of emoticons in plain SMS, either omitted, or shown by placeholder)<\/p>\n

Power handling<\/h2>\n

Some of the cheap ones does a really poor job of power handling and explicitly states that they require a charger capped at 1000mA. And though that certainly should be a warning sign of a poor device, if it can not handle not pulling more current than they actually need, for those I would recommend using the\u00a0USB port of a PC<\/strong>\u00a0, as it usually is capped at 500mA.<\/p>\n

Pillbox-on-a-string<\/h2>\n

Practically all smartwatches are\u00a0two watches thick<\/strong>, 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<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

There are a few thin ones, though in the dumb end only. Try to maintain a list here:
\nreddit.com\/r\/<\/sup>smartwatch\/comments\/199kgho<\/p>\n

Compromises<\/h2>\n

ALL smartwatches of ANY brand are compromises between different aspects!<\/p>\n

And obviously for many the advanced features outweigh the lacking wearability and ridiculously low stamina.\u00a0To each their own!<\/strong>\u00a0The dumb ones are\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0the ideal compromise for\u00a0everyone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0personal<\/em>\u00a0needs better.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Try to avoid buying it more advanced (and thus typically expensive) than you actually need….<\/p>\n

Personal favourite<\/h2>\n

My\u00a0personal<\/em>\u00a0favourite\u00a0is currently<\/s>\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0a cheap\u00a07mm<\/strong>\u00a0thin round one (\u00f843mm), with six weeks stamina on a charge, that I would not swap for\u00a0any<\/strong>\u00a0of the currently available expensive ones, even if I got it as a gift, due to the wearability outweighing the limitations\u00a0for me<\/em>. The Sovogue T8 is from 2022 and is sold at about $25. (seen scammers trying to sell it for $200…)<\/p>\n

ADD: I have late 2024 gotten another cheap and even more compact one, sold among other names as Vanssa\u00a0H06<\/strong>, that has replaced the above T8 as my favourite, despite I only seem to get three weeks stamina, it certainly is better than the new T8 trio launched in the spring of 2024 IMHO.<\/p>\n

Reviews<\/h2>\n

I got reviews of some here<\/a><\/p>\n

Wish<\/h2>\n

I would WISH that one or more of the known brands tried to make something the size of a T8 \/ h06. With more advanced components they could do an (even) better job, that obviously would be more expensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I posted this a while back 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)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-watches-bands-smart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6565"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7018,"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6565\/revisions\/7018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eskerahn.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}