Cheap fitness watch

[trancem]

Hi guys. Need some recommendations please, criteria is fairly simple

Cheap
Thin, lightweight
All it needs to do is track distance and measure calories burnt for Running & Football
Have a Samsung phone so would be nice to pair up to that

Which one to buy?

[reapercushions]

The smallest fit bit you can buy.

I wear the Fitbit inspire on my right wrist so I can still wear a mechanical watch on my left without feeling like a plonker.

[-crookedtail-]

I would recommend an honor band 5, my friend got gifted one through a work scheme but uses it to track his runs etc. They seem dirt cheap too at about £20

[boyse7en]

reapercushions said:

The smallest fit bit you can buy.

I wear the Fitbit inspire on my right wrist so I can still wear a mechanical watch on my left without feeling like a plonker.

Don't get a Fitbit!
My missus bought me a Charge 2 a few years ago and while it was fine when it was working, it would randomly lose the ability to connect with the app and then would take a combination of hours of fiddling about involving a phone, laptop, cables and some sort of IT voodoo to get it to connect up again. After the fourth or fifth time it refused to link with everything and Fitbits support team gave up and said it was out of warranty so they couldn't do anything.
If you search fit forums they are full of people unable to get their phone and watch to see each other.

I bought my daughter a cheap Chinese fitbit copy off Amazon for about £25 that has worked flawlessly.

[jhiker]

I've got the previous version of this one - it's excellent and the battery lasts ages between charges.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Xiaomi-Band-Health-Fitnes...

[reapercushions]

boyse7en said:

reapercushions said:

The smallest fit bit you can buy.

I wear the Fitbit inspire on my right wrist so I can still wear a mechanical watch on my left without feeling like a plonker.

Don't get a Fitbit!
My missus bought me a Charge 2 a few years ago and while it was fine when it was working, it would randomly lose the ability to connect with the app and then would take a combination of hours of fiddling about involving a phone, laptop, cables and some sort of IT voodoo to get it to connect up again. After the fourth or fifth time it refused to link with everything and Fitbits support team gave up and said it was out of warranty so they couldn't do anything.
If you search fit forums they are full of people unable to get their phone and watch to see each other.

I bought my daughter a cheap Chinese fitbit copy off Amazon for about £25 that has worked flawlessly.

Sounds more like a one-off issue, mine has been fine for years.

[deebs]

I just bought a honor magicwatch2 for 80 quid. Was one of the cheaper ones I could find with GPS that is reviewed well (https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/honor-magic-watch-2) . This is the 46mm but the 42mm is cheaper and is almost the same.

I didn't specificly want a watch over a band but I didn't want to have to carry my phone when running and wanted l route tracking so this fitted the bill for me.

[brman]

reapercushions said:

boyse7en said:

reapercushions said:

The smallest fit bit you can buy.

I wear the Fitbit inspire on my right wrist so I can still wear a mechanical watch on my left without feeling like a plonker.

Don't get a Fitbit!
My missus bought me a Charge 2 a few years ago and while it was fine when it was working, it would randomly lose the ability to connect with the app and then would take a combination of hours of fiddling about involving a phone, laptop, cables and some sort of IT voodoo to get it to connect up again. After the fourth or fifth time it refused to link with everything and Fitbits support team gave up and said it was out of warranty so they couldn't do anything.
If you search fit forums they are full of people unable to get their phone and watch to see each other.

I bought my daughter a cheap Chinese fitbit copy off Amazon for about £25 that has worked flawlessly.

Sounds more like a one-off issue, mine has been fine for years.

Nope, the net is full of people with this problem. I also have a charge3, it has just started failing as above. Fitbit's "solution" appears to be a fullr reset, losing all data. My daughters charge3 has done the same thing.
To be fair, my wife's alta appears to still work but they have lost me for as a customer.

[8Ace]

jhiker said:

I've got the previous version of this one - it's excellent and the battery lasts ages between charges.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Xiaomi-Band-Health-Fitnes...

Me too. Simple clear display, reliable step and he data and I charge it about 1-2 times a month.

Only paid £20 too.

[trancem]

Thanks guys. Think I'll go for one of the cheap ones off Amazon 👍🏻

[RizzoTheRat]

What do you actually want to track? If you want a relatively accurate distance for running you need GPS, step counters, even when calibrated, aren't usually that accurate. However if you only need accurate distance for running, Strava or Runkeeper on your phone will do a pretty good job, and then get a cheap step counting watch.

[brman]

brman said:

Nope, the net is full of people with this problem. I also have a charge3, it has just started failing as above. Fitbit's "solution" appears to be a fullr reset, losing all data. My daughters charge3 has done the same thing.
To be fair, my wife's alta appears to still work but they have lost me for as a customer.

I have just spent 45 minutes with fitbit support trying to fix a charge 3 that worked fine for 9 months and I have basically been told "We changed the app so it will not work with your phone anymore, tough. What do you mean you were not aware we only support a very limited number of phones? Didn't you find our compatibility list (with very limited phone coverage) hidden on our website?" Or words to that effect.....

Like I said, I will never have another fitbit. Reading this thread it sounds like a Mi band 5 will be a good replacement.

[FurballS2000]

jhiker said:

I've got the previous version of this one - it's excellent and the battery lasts ages between charges.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Xiaomi-Band-Health-Fitnes...

I second that, I’ve the mi band 5 since about august last year and it’s been brilliant. Definitely worth the £30-35 asking price.
Only thing it can’t do is outdoor gps tracking without needing a phone, but I doubt you’d get that as well for the price!