All posts tagged: smartwatch

This Garmin smartwatch is a top-selling Prime Day deal (that’s still live) – here’s why I recommend it

This Garmin smartwatch is a top-selling Prime Day deal (that’s still live) – here’s why I recommend it

Published by skeptic

Matthew Miller/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Save $350: The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro is still discounted by $350 after Amazon Prime Day, bringing the price down from $1,200 to $850 — the lowest price it’s ever been.  Amazon Prime Day may be over, but with several discounts lingering, it’s still a great time to buy high-ticket items you’ve been eyeing all year at a discount. One device that ZDNET readers have been ordering during Prime Day week is the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, which has been one of our top 3 sellers of the sale.  Also: Amazon is selling Garmin watches for up to $500 off right now – I recommend these models The Fenix 8 Pro is a rugged and cult-favorite smartwatch loved by outdoor enthusiasts and exercise freaks. It’s also our tested pick for the best Garmin watch you can buy. The $1,200 smartwatch’s price is nothing to sneeze at, and a $350 Prime Day discount brings it down a bit.  The smartwatch tracks practically every sport in the book, and …

This Is Why Your Smartwatch Is Giving You Anxiety, and What You Can Do About It

This Is Why Your Smartwatch Is Giving You Anxiety, and What You Can Do About It

Published by skeptic

Whenever I wear a smartwatch, I find that my anxiety increases — specifically, my health anxiety. Also known as hypochondria or illness anxiety disorder, this type of anxiety makes me worry that I am or may become ill even when I’m healthy. What’s ironic is that part of my job involves testing health-monitoring wearables, including fitness trackers and smart rings. While I love exploring this technology and do think it can help you learn more about your body, I have to be careful about how I use it so my anxiety isn’t triggered. “Healthy adults and individuals with pre-existing medical conditions are increasingly using these devices to manage their health. Whether 24/7 access to health information from a wearable actually helps or potentially harms people is really unclear,” says Dr. Lindsey Rosman, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology and co-director of the Cardiovascular Device and Data Science Lab at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. When you add in the ability to search your symptoms online or ask an AI …

This Garmin smartwatch is half off while Prime Day lasts

This Garmin smartwatch is half off while Prime Day lasts

Published by skeptic

Garmin/ZDNET Save $500: Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2 is $500 off, cutting the price down to $500 during the final hours of Prime Day.  It’s the final day of Amazon Prime Day, and deals on tech abound. One product ZDNET readers have loved shopping during this Prime Day is Garmin smartwatches, and they’re still on sale.  Also: I wore the best Garmin and Amazfit smartwatches for a month – is the $250 price gap noticeable? Garmin is known for its rugged and sport-built smartwatches, and the company offers a wide range of devices for casual exercisers to ultramarathoners and off-grid hikers. There’s one Garmin smartwatch that fits in the middle of that aforementioned casual to hardcore exercise spectrum, and that’s the Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2. It’s on sale during Prime Day for $500 off its original price, slicing the price exactly in half.  The Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2 includes a vivid AMOLED display that makes it prime for easy viewing from any angle and in many environments. This will come in handy when …

The Best Apple Watch Is 30 Percent off Right Now (2026)

The Best Apple Watch Is 30 Percent off Right Now (2026)

Published by skeptic

We on the WIRED Reviews team are huge fans of smartwatches and fitness trackers in general. Rather than needing to pull out a phone for quick actions like accessing texts and music, you can do it at a glance at your watch. Plus, you can track your workouts, heart rate, and other health metrics without needing another device. If you’re already an iPhone user, we think the Apple Watch Series 11 is the best Apple Watch for most people. It usually hangs around at an MSRP of $399 and a sale price of $299. At $279 right now, it’s more than $20 below its lowest price this year. (In fact, we don’t expect it’ll be this low price again until Bl*ck Fr*day.) We gave the Apple Watch Series 11 a coveted 9/10 WIRED Recommends rating because of its long battery life, iOS-integrated health updates, satellite messaging for off-grid communication, and blood oxygen monitoring. For a long time, short battery life plagued Apple Watches, but this watch can last a full 24-hour day. This helps to …

Is using a smartwatch while driving illegal? Motorists urged to act or could ‘unwittingly pay the price’

Is using a smartwatch while driving illegal? Motorists urged to act or could ‘unwittingly pay the price’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get our weekly Drive Smart newsletter for motoring news, reviews and advice from EV editor Steve Fowler Get motoring news, reviews and advice from EV editor Steve Fowler Get our EV editor’s weekly Drive Smart newsletter Motorists are being urged to avoid using smartwatches behind the wheel, with legislation covering the gadgets described as “unclear”. The RAC, which issued the plea, warned drivers could fall foul of handheld phone rules if they clear notifications on smartwatches. The motoring services company cautioned that smartwatch owners are “in the dark” about the rules for using while driving. A survey commissioned by the RAC suggested 40 per cent of motorists who drive at least once a month own a smartwatch, rising to 73 per cent among 17-34 year-olds. Some 22 per cent of respondents with smartwatches said they touch them while on the road, while 21 per cent use voice commands. The RAC described these actions as “potential causes of distraction” but stated people doing them “cannot be sure whether they are committing an offence”. RAC cautioned that …

Got World Cup Fever? Send scientists your smartwatch data.

Got World Cup Fever? Send scientists your smartwatch data.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. If you’ve developed World Cup fever over the past few days, then researchers at Bielefeld University want to hear about it. The team is inviting football/soccer fans to share the data collected from their smartwatches for a study on how supporters around the world physically experience their team’s thrilling victories and heartbreaking defeats. “We are interested in whether fans of different national teams react with differing intensity to the same match event, for example, whether a goal is measurably different for German fans than for Turkish or Brazilian supporters,” Dr. Christian Deutscher, co-project leader and sports scientist, said in a statement. “The World Cup provides an ideal research setting because it places fans from all over the world in comparable emotional situations at …

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Ultra Smartwatch Review (2026): Solid Off-Road Performer

Amazfit Cheetah 2 Ultra Smartwatch Review (2026): Solid Off-Road Performer

Published by skeptic

I really liked the color-coded presentation of the elevation changes on the course. It meant I could mentally prepare myself for the big climbs and look forward to the sections that were going to be much kinder to my legs. It’s similar to Garmin’s great ClimbPro mode, but without the ability to configure the additional data you see on screen. Then we get to battery life. Amazfit smartwatches in general post up some impressive battery numbers. The one Zepp Health wants to focus on here is when you’re using it in trail-running mode. That’s where it can last up to 33 hours. You do have more battery to play with if you’re willing to sacrifice GPS accuracy. By ditching multi-band GPS, switching from sampling GPS data every second to once per minute, reducing screen brightness, and disabling the always-on display mode, you can get a maximum of 228 hours of battery life. I didn’t run anything close to the distance of a UTMB race. I did manage to spend over three hours with it where …

Before you buy a smartwatch or smart ring, consider what you’re giving up

Before you buy a smartwatch or smart ring, consider what you’re giving up

Published by skeptic

Apple / Oura / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Wearable owners need to understand how their data is being handled. The US lacks federal regulations around consumer health data. Consumers should properly manage their data and explore privacy policies. Our modern smartwatches and smart rings go far beyond counting steps, constantly collecting data on our fitness, sleep, fertility, and so much more, and uploading them to an app. (Remember the days when we were told not to share any information online? How quaint.) But this widespread adoption raises new questions about data privacy, security, and your rights — because who actually owns all of that health data, you or the company collecting it? The more data we collect, the more risk we take on of having our information compromised in a breach, or potentially having companies sell that data to third parties for marketing, insurance profiling, or other purposes that you don’t even know you’re opting into. “People were cautious years ago when it …

Is Amazfit’s most premium smartwatch worth it? I tested it on the golf course, and it paid off

Is Amazfit’s most premium smartwatch worth it? I tested it on the golf course, and it paid off

Published by skeptic

pros and cons Pros High quality titanium and sapphire glass materials Brilliant 3,000-nit AMOLED display Long battery life Accurate positioning and offline navigation Watch faces with extensive complications Cons $450 price is rather high for Amazfit Premium subscription required for advanced analysis Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. In 2024, I tested the Amazfit Cheetah, a smartwatch with a heavy focus on runners. Two years later, we see a much more elegant and premium watch in the Cheetah 2 Pro also targeted toward runners. The new watch is priced $150 higher than its predecessor, but it competes directly with watches like the Garmin Forerunner 570 and the Coros Apex 4.   Also: I tested the best sports watches in 2026: Here are the latest and greatest watches, no matter your budget While the Cheetah 2 Pro is marketed for runners, it can track more than 170 activities. Since I’m dealing with a hip injury at the moment, I couldn’t run extensively and focused on other activities I could do, including indoor rowing, walking, biking, …

This Is Why Your Smartwatch Is Giving You Anxiety, and What You Can Do About It

Doctors Explain Why Your Smartwatch Is Giving You Anxiety, and How to Stop It

Published by skeptic

Whenever I wear a smartwatch, I find that my anxiety increases — specifically, my health anxiety. Also known as hypochondria or illness anxiety disorder, this type of anxiety makes me worry that I am or may become ill even when I’m healthy. What’s ironic is that part of my job involves testing health-monitoring wearables, including fitness trackers and smart rings. While I love exploring this technology and do think it can help you learn more about your body, I have to be careful about how I use it so my anxiety isn’t triggered. I know I’m not alone.  “Healthy adults and individuals with pre-existing medical conditions are increasingly using these devices to manage their health,” says Dr. Lindsey Rosman, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology and co-director of the Cardiovascular Device and Data Science Lab at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Whether 24/7 access to health information from a wearable actually helps or potentially harms people is really unclear.” When you add in the ability to search your symptoms …