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Part of what helps to keep the battery going is the return of TicWatch’s secondary FSTN display which sits above the main panel and is able to convey key information like your step count, heart rate and the time of day in a low power state. Plus, it can now also flash a particular colour during a workout to indicate your heart rate zone without needing to wake up the watch. It’s probably best to say right off the bat that if you have a Garmin Fenix 7 then there’s no need to immediately go out and upgrade to the newer Fenix 7 Pro. The reason being that the upgrades here are relatively small, but if you’re looking to buy your first high-end Garmin watch, or even just invest in a proper running watch to hit your fitness goals, then the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is easily one of the company’s best. The original Apple Watch SE was a great prospect for consumers, offering up the core watchOS experience at a significantly lower price than the mainline numbered Apple Watches. The Watch SE 2 continues that trend but this time it’s implemented a few of the latest high-end features whilst also bringing the price down slightly. The Series 8 uses the same end-to-end display that was brought in for the Apple Watch Series 7, which makes great use of larger watch faces, including Modular Max which crams a ton of information into the watch face.
Battery life tends to last 3-4 days of moderate use, which is decent for a smartwatch such as this, and the charge speeds (1 hour 22 minutes to full) are decent but not best-in-class. The Garmin Vivomove Trend has a fantastic design, offering a combination of an analogue case and a traditional watch-faced design with a discreetly hidden display. It can be found in four colours, Cream Fold, Slate, Peach Gold and Silver, giving customers plenty of choice when it comes to styling. There’s also the issue of seemingly-strong smartwatches not performing well in the real world, offering terrible battery life and poor build quality, despite having decent specs sheets. Like all Garmin watches, it is waterproof up to 50 metres, meaning that you can keep it on while showering or swimming without needing to worry about damage. If you’re looking for a smartwatch for diving or other intensive underwater activities, you will want to invest in a device like the Apple Watch Ultra, which has an underwater rating of 100 metres.In addition to the improved mapping, Garmin has added a new heart rate sensor which, in theory, should produce more accurate results than before. In testing however, we struggled to see any noticeable difference with the newer sensor, so if you want the most accurate data possible then we still recommend grabbing a chest-worn heart rate strap. Every smartwatch we test is used by the reviewer for at least a week, or longer if the battery life lasts beyond that point or we need more time to trial its features. Also added to the SE 2 is Apple’s new accelerometer which allows the watch to detect if you’ve been in a car accident before calling the local authorities. Of course it’s the type of feature that hopefully you should never have to put to the test, but it does give some peace of mind to know that it’s there.
You’ve also got elements like compatibility to consider. Apple Watches, for example, only work when paired with an iPhone, making them a poor investment for Android users. Android users aren’t safe either; the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic will work on any Android, but only Samsung phone users will be able to access the whole suite of features.Overall it doesn’t boast the amount of upgrades that Garmin Fenix fans were probably hoping for, but that doesn’t mean that the Fenix 7 Pro isn’t still a great watch for fitness enthusiasts, and unless you want a few more smartwatch features from the more expensive Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2), then you’ll get on well with what’s on offer here. But while the wide selection of wearables is great for choice, it can also make the decision of which to buy a difficult one. With so many wearables focusing on specific types of user and the market, and many still costing a fair amount of cash, how can you be sure that you’re getting the right smartwatch for your needs? What really helps the TicWatch to stand out (particularly against the Pixel Watch) is its phenomenal battery life. Under the right circumstances, it’s entirely possible for the Pro 5 to get from Monday to Friday on a single charge which just absolutely decimates the competition in this area. Even the latest Samsung watches struggle to get past two-days of use. The main downfall of the Vivomove Trend is that you can find other more capable watches, like the Vivomove Style, for a little more money. If you’re interested in a stylish smartwatch that offers up fantastic wellness and health insights, the Vivomove Trend is a very easy recommendation.
The biggest upgrade for the SE 2 is the included S8 chipset, which is the exact same processor found within the far pricier Apple Watch 8. This means that you’re getting the same speedy performance of Apple’s latest wearable, so when it comes to day to day use, you’re not penalised by opting for the cheaper watch. The list of available colour variations have also changed, moving to a more subdued palette in the form of Midnight, Gold, Silver and Graphite, just to name a few. While the battery hasn’t been changed over its predecessor, the Series 8 does now come with a ‘Low Power Mode’ that shuts off features like the always-on display and fall detection, but in doing so it can bump the battery life from 18-hours to a whopping 36-hours. It’s not worth upgrading to if you have the original Apple Watch SE, but if you’re looking for your first Apple wearable and you don’t want to spend too much money in the process, then there’s a lot to love about the Apple Watch SE 2. For starters, the watch is incredibly comfortable to wear, even when exercising. The slim, almost Apple Watch SE sized frame gives it a fashionable and discrete look that let our reviewer comfortably wear it while out of the gym, and at smart casual work events. Based on our experience, it’s only up close that most people will notice it’s not an Apple Watch, due to the slightly larger bezel surrounding the screen.The hidden display sits at 1.01 inches with a 254×256 resolution, meaning that you will be missing out on the OLED and AMOLED displays on watches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. We still found it to be fine for general use indoors, although we did need to adjust the brightness to be higher when used on particularly sunny days. If you want a smartwatch that can actually go the distance to the point where you’ll almost forget that it even needs to be charged then the Vertix 2 is your best option by a country mile. While the Garmin Enduro 2 can last for up to 33-days on a single charge, the Vertix 2 trumps that with a staggering 60-day battery life in smartwatch mode. Yes, you read that right – two whole months. There has never been a better time to buy a smartwatch, with wearables available in all kinds of shapes and sizes at a variety of price points. We were impressed how many features Fitbit managed to cram into the tiny square chassis, despite the Versa 3 costing nearly a third of the Garmin Fenix 7. The only real downsides are that its app offering is behind Apple and Google’s and Fitbit, unlike Garmin, asks you to pay a subscription to access all the post-workout analytics the Versa 3 offers, which feels a bit cheeky.
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