Rugged smart watch help

[robinh73]

Evening all, I am looking to get a new daily watch and have started considering a smart watch. The major consideration is that is needs to be durable, rugged and with a scratch resistant face if possible, as I am a tree surgeon and wear a watch through the day. I did get a non smart G-Shock but I found the face to be too cluttered in real life when it arrived. I prefer an analogue watch (which the G Shock was) but have started to look at smart watches. The Garmin Instinct looks decent in terms of durability but a little basic on the display front. I am not really looking for activity monitoring/tracking but the ability to have phone/message/email notifications displayed on the watch would be useful. The other downside is that my wrists are just under 7" in diameter and as such larger watches just don't do it for me as they look daft. The Samsung Galaxy watch seems to not only look decent but offer the notifications side of things too, but how rugged are they? Anyway, if anyone can assist in this, that would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

[xx99xx]

I've had a galaxy watch for about 18 months. Wear it every day and although I don't operate on trees, it has remained in pretty good condition. No scratches on the face. I've done DIY, gardening, gym etc but perhaps nothing too testing in terms of ruggedness. The only visible signs of wear are on the rubber strap where the bottom (underside of wrist) has worn smooth from doing desk work.

If you get a black one, you may find scratches on the bezel will show up if you're knocking into branches etc frequently. Can't fault it overall though.

[MiseryStreak]

I bought a Garmin Tactix Charlie. It's holding up well (worn every day since May last year) but the DLC coating does still scratch:



https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/623921

It is quite a large diameter face though, the Instinct series have smaller faces and are a lot cheaper:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/690051/pn/010-02...

But these are polymer and toughened glass, rather than DLC coated titanium with sapphire glass like the Tactix, so won't be quite as tough.

It's great for Strava, as just hit one button to start recording a ride, and it has Strava routes and a map display so can use it for way finding when out on the bike. Haven't used the HALO jump function yet though...

[r159]

The Casio f20s are down to £175 from Casio outlet site, I enjoy mine it’s pretty rugged needs charging pretty regularly but it depends how heavy you are on the gps. Lots of useful apps

[Dolf Stoppard]

I've had a Samsung Galaxy Watch and I now have a Garmin Fenix. The Garmin is better built, but it's still a plastic watch that cost £400, and I'm not sure just how tough any smartwatch is really going to be. I do therefore wonder if a used Samsung S3 Frontier might be your best bet. If it gets smashed it's c£90 gone - not the end of the world. There are also cases you can buy to add extra protection,.and they actually look fairly decent.

[robinh73]

Many thanks indeed for the comments, very much appreciated. I did call into PC World today as they have a very basic selection of smartwatches. I tried the Samsung 46mm on and it did look slightly large on my liliputian wrists. I also do wonder about the rotating bezel, as there is all sorts of mud, tree sap and general muck floating about that may get in there and stop it from working. So, it would look like Garmin. The Fenix 5 looks decent and is available in a couple of sizes I believe. The Instinct is also a decent contender. I just wish that some of the G Shock analogue watches were less fussy and cluttered, as they really are bomb proof. I have to say, I am quite torn!

[SpamDisco]

Amazfit have just released a new tough watch:

https://en.amazfit.com/t-rex.html

Name is a bit crap, but look quite durable. 20 day battery, "Miltary grade" - whatever that means, It will do phone notifications.

I've had a Amazfit Stratos for the last year and been happy with it.

With it only just being relased you'll need to import one, but should be around £100-£150.

[bigandclever]

Might be more than you need (and want to spend) but sportpursuit have the, brace yourself, Fenix 5 Plus GPS Sapphire Titanium Watch (Solar Flare Orange) for 399 this week. Stick a screen protector on, fiddle with the face to your heart’s content.

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/...

[robinh73]

SpamDisco said:

Amazfit have just released a new tough watch:

https://en.amazfit.com/t-rex.html

Name is a bit crap, but look quite durable. 20 day battery, "Miltary grade" - whatever that means, It will do phone notifications.

I've had a Amazfit Stratos for the last year and been happy with it.

With it only just being relased you'll need to import one, but should be around £100-£150.

This looks very tempting indeed, will keep a close eye on it. Cheers

[robinh73]

bigandclever said:

Might be more than you need (and want to spend) but sportpursuit have the, brace yourself, Fenix 5 Plus GPS Sapphire Titanium Watch (Solar Flare Orange) for 399 this week. Stick a screen protector on, fiddle with the face to your heart’s content.

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/...

lovely bit of kit but suspect it may be too big being the plus version sadly.

[Dolf Stoppard]

I love my Fenix, but it is a fitness watch first, and a smartwatch second. It will destroy anything as far as fitness stats are concerned, but it's smartwatch functionality is basic. That doesn't bother me, but if smartwatch features are important, I'd suggest looking elsewhere, or going for one of the newer Garmin models.

[robinh73]

Dolf Stoppard said:

I love my Fenix, but it is a fitness watch first, and a smartwatch second. It will destroy anything as far as fitness stats are concerned, but it's smartwatch functionality is basic. That doesn't bother me, but if smartwatch features are important, I'd suggest looking elsewhere, or going for one of the newer Garmin models.

Ah right ok, that is good to know as I did quite like the Fenix range but I would prefer more of the smartwatch features over fitness. I need to look into the Garmin range in more detail I think.