Top cheap smartwatches that won’t break the bank
If you’re looking for a budget smartwatch, there’s never been more choice. And unlike in the past, cheap sub-$150/£150 smartwatches stack up as very useable options.
The likes of Huawei, Amazfit and Honor are making genuinely powerful smartwatches for low prices – and we’re seeing plenty of competition emerging from the likes of Redmi, Poco and Realme.
While top smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 9 and Google Pixel Watch 2 still command top prices for features like ECG and a wide array of third-party apps, there’s an influx of less expensive devices going big on features and little on price.
Read on for a list of tried-and-tested smartwatches, that
Huawei Watch Fit 3
Huawei Watch Fit 3 key features
- Lightweight (26g) and thin (9.9mm) with a bright and vivid 1.82-inch AMOLED display.
- GPS, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, stress monitoring, and over 100 workout modes.
- 10-day battery life (4 days with always-on display enabled).
- Supports Android and iOS.
The Huawei Watch Fit 3 is the best budget smartwatch we’ve tested this year, and while there are a handful of cheaper rivals, you won’t find better.
At £139 the Watch Fit 3 is around half the price of an Apple Watch SE, from which it draws plenty of design inspiration. Huawei’s return to a square format is certainly derivative, but it’s so light and comfy to wear (it tips the scales at just 26g), it’s hard to be critical.
It’s also no slouch when it comes to fitness tracking. Accurate GPS makes it a good choice for runners, and Huawei integrates with Strava too. The heart rate and biometric tracking all stood up too, making this a superb all-rounder.
You don’t get too many health features, with ECG and Health Glance reserved for the Watch 4, but there’s stress tracking, and it offers a good overview of your resting heart rate.
Sleep tracking slightly disappointed, and it missed a few naps, and tended to over-estimate the duration of our sleep. But if you’re casually tracking sleep, it’s not a dealbreaker, and there’s plenty of data to pore over.
Battery life was strong – we got around a week – but HarmonyOS doesn’t have the types of apps, mobile payments or support for music streaming services of the likes of Wear OS or Apple Watch. If you can look beyond that, this is the best budget smartwatch you can buy.
Read our full Huawei Watch Fit 3 review
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So thin and light -
Decent battery life -
Accurate GPS
Amazfit Active
Amazfit Active key features
- 1.75″ AMOLED display, bright & clear
- 14-day battery life (typical use)
- Tracks heart rate, sleep, GPS & activity
- Smart features: calls, music, Alexa
A new entrant into our best budget smartwatch round-up, the Amazfit Active is a true all-rounder that impressed us in our testing.
The $149/£129 price tag puts it at the upper end of what we’d class as a budget smartwatch – but you get so much for your money here.
It’s not the best looking smartwatch ever, but it’s sleek and lightweight.
The AMOLED screen is a big upgrade on the Bip 5 (below), and Amazfit packs in new health and fitness features such as Daily Readiness and its AI coaching.
We put it through its paces and found GPS accuracy to be more than passable, and as long as you wear it nice and tight, heart rate accuracy was on par with big-name rivals, too. We prefer the similarly priced Huawei Watch Fit 3, however.
The health features are a little lacking, but sleep tracking is detailed and well presented, and the Amazfit app offers a good experience with plenty of analysis.
The only real downside is the general feel of the OS, which is certainly very basic.
In short, the Amazfit Active is a decent budget fitness smartwatch, which offers way more than its price tag should allow.
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Decent workout features -
Heart rate accuracy decent
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OS feels dated/budget -
Build quality inferior to Huawei
Xiaomi Watch 2
Xiaomi Watch 2 key features
- Single day battery life
- Wear OS 3.5
- HR, stress, sleep and blood oxygen tracking
- Android only
We’re pushing the price of this budget smartwatch round up, but at $149 the Xiaomi Watch 2 just about makes it. But what a performer. It brings full Wear OS (slightly dated 3.5 here) to the budget category for the first time – and is worthy of any Android user’s attention.
The build quality and display are superb for a cheaper smartwatch, while the software – though not the version of Wear OS we would prefer – was much slicker than we found with the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro.
As you would expect at this price, there are compromises – battery life is limited to a single day and there’s no room for features like LTE.
But you simply can’t get access to the wealth of apps and features of Wear OS for less than this – and the Xiaomi Watch 2 offers a mix of usability and build quality we’d thought was impossible at this price point.
Read our full Xiaomi Watch 2 review.
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Superb price tag -
Light and attractive design -
HR accuracy is very solid
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Battery life is very average -
Mi Fitness is a glitch-fest -
Doesn’t run Wear OS 4
Amazfit Bip 5
Amazfit Bip 5 key features
- 10-day battery
- 24/7 heart rate tracking
- Over 120 sports modes + GPS
- Alexa on the wrist
The Amazfit Bip 5 is a true budget smartwatch with a $80/£80 price tag – but it stands up to more expensive competition.
The screen has been enhanced over the Bip 3 Pro, but it’s still a limited 320×380 TFT display. It’s not AMOLED quality – and this is a major compromise.
The Bip 5 offers GPS, which produced decent accuracy results in our testing, with a heart rate sensor with SpO2. While heart rate while exercising wasn’t excellent, it produced some good sleep and basic health data – all well analyzed within the mature Zepp Health app.
Battery life is also excellent, and 10 days is easily achievable with the advanced breathing and health tracking turned on. And the Bip 5 even has Alexa support built in.
The main downside is the build. It’s chunky and plasticky, and it’s not a pleasing watch to wear. Add the screen in, and it’s clear that the aim is to drive people towards the more premium Amazfit GTS 4 Mini – but if you can look past design, there’s a lot to like here.
Read our full Amazfit Bip 5 review.
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So cheap -
Loads of features
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Looks really basic -
Terrible TFT screen
Honor Watch 4
Honor Watch 4 key features
- 1.75″ AMOLED display
- 14-day battery life
- GPS
- 100+ workout modes
The Honor Watch 4 seriously impressed us in the budget smartwatch category and ended up with our Best Affordable Smartwatch 2023 award.
It brings an excellent mix of sleek looks, impressive fitness smarts, and a slick experience.
Unlike many budget smartwatches, you get a quality 1.75-inch, 450 x 390 resolution AMOLED display.
It’s a well-constructed smartwatch with a nicely weighted aluminum case that’s matched up with a silicone strap.
And it goes further than just looks. It’s fair to say Honor offers a lot on the fitness and sports tracking front.
The Honor Watch 4 includes navigation features that can point you back home when you’re tracking outside. It also enjoys built-in GPS that stood up to our accuracy testing.
Overall, it’s a good all-rounder, with a sleek design that doesn’t feel cheap. The Honor Watch 4 is a top pick if you’re shopping on a budget.
Read our full Honor Watch 4 review.
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Good AMOLED screen -
Aluminum case feels nice -
Decent sports features
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Dodgy HR tracking -
Works better with Android than iOS
CMF Watch Pro
CMF Watch Pro key features
- 1.96″ AMOLED display
- Bluetooth calling with AI noise reduction
- GPS and 110+ sports modes
- Up to 13-day battery life
Smartwatches don’t come much cheaper than the CMF Watch Pro – which comes as a sub-brand for tech upstart Nothing. The build and design are excellent, with a 47mm case and aluminum alloy construction that’s lightyears ahead of rivals at this price.
That big case houses a lovely 1.96-inch, 410 x 502-pixel resolution AMOLED touchscreen, and again, it’s rare to see a screen of this quality and size on a smartwatch that costs less than $100/£100.
However, it’s important to note that this smartwatch only has an IP68 rating, so it’s not fully water resistant for swimming.
There’s also GPS, which produced decent accuracy over long runs – if not quite up to the best in the business.
The only let-downs here are some bugs in the software and heart rate accuracy was also poor in testing – but if those aren’t your focus, this is a great wearable at a top price.
Read our full CMF Watch Pro review.
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Fun and likeable -
Great price
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Workout accuracy not great -
Few bugs
