Wearables are everyday gadgets in 2021 and are a kind of must thing in this century. There are many brands manufacturing wearables, and there are watches for different categories, which start from budget users and go to the premium category. It was in 2010 when Fitbit released its very first step counter. By 2013, big brands launched smartwatches and have evolved a long way from those times. Modern-day wearables come with various features like Spo2 sensor (which measures oxygen saturation), ECG, water resistance, and much more.
Must See: How to use Wear OS installer to sideload apps?
One thing to note is that every smartwatch except Apple watches works on both Android and iOS devices. But, if you connect to an iOS device, you may have to sacrifice few features like quick reply and much more. You can enjoy all these features if you connect your non-Apple smartwatch to an Android smartphone. But also, you can’t connect an Apple watch to your Android device. Even though Apple Watch will connect over Bluetooth, it will not work on your Android device. So, I will suggest you buy an Apple watch if you are an iPhone user and vice versa.
Best Wearables with inbuilt GPS!
Since the market is flooded with different watches, we are here with the best wearables with inbuilt GPS, Aka smartwatches/ bands with in-built GPS. You can find different wearables running on different OS like Tizen OS, watchOS, Wear OS, and much more. With this article, we meant this to be a guide for you guys to choose the best wearable. We will also be including the purchase link for these products. Do note that these aren’t affiliate links, so we don’t earn any commission if you buy these products.
Apple Watch Series 6
One doesn’t need to be introduced with the Apple Watch because it is the ultimate end for premium smartwatches. Apple users prefer Apple watches so they can use them without compromising features. We had mentioned the same in the introduction section. The display of the new Series 6 watch is OLED which is gorgeous and is much brighter now. It can measure blood oxygen saturation on demand and has an Always-on altimeter that will real-time track your elevation. It comes with features like ECG, NFC, handwashing countdown timer, sleep tracking, new watch colors, band options, support for third-party apps, and 5 ATM water resistance. The sad thing is that the new watch isn’t great when it comes to the battery department. Being a watch, which is priced at a premium price, Apple should have improved this. We know that there is no need to mention the user experience. It is on the next level, and there is nothing to improve as such. But to mention some letdowns, the watch doesn’t work with Android devices. Apple has two models, one with GPS and another with GPS & cellular connectivity. Finally, coming to the pricing of the new Apple Watch starts from USD 399 and increases according to the size and variants you guys choose.
Garmin Forerunner 245 Music
The Garmin Forerunner 245 Music is an excellent smartwatch that serves the purpose of a smartwatch and a fitness tracker. It can track most workouts there, such as cycling, swimming, running, and much more. The inbuilt GPS is accurate & reliable. Also, it will last for six hours with unlimited usage of GPS. The battery will last up to seven days, depending on your usage. You can stream music and also store the same in your watch. It comes with features like 5 ATM water resistance, Pulse OX sensor, VO2 Max, stress tracking, and sleep monitoring. However, the watch doesn’t look attractive, which may be a reason for some of you not to buy the device. Further, the watch lacks few features which other smartwatch comes with. What we meant is the lack of NFC, so you can’t perform contactless payments. The pricing of Garmin Forerunner 245 Music starts at USD 300.
Samsung Galaxy Active 2
The Samsung Galaxy Active 2 is a smartwatch that possesses both fitness trackers and a smartwatch. It comes with a lightweight design, and the shape of the display is too attractive. The rounded display is one of the best and can get bright enough. Like most Samsung watches & bands, it runs on the Tizen OS. If you are ready to pay more, then you can get the LTE variant. Popular features of the watch include sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, 5 ATM water resistance, stress tracking, automatic exercise tracking for six workouts, GPS, music storage, support for Samsung Pay, additional 39 workout modes, and more. Battery life on the watch is not so great and will last up to three days, depending on your usage. The Tizen OS works well without any issues. The only letdown is the support of third-party apps. The Samsung Galaxy Active 2 starts from USD 180 and depends on the variant you are choosing.
Check out the Samsung Galaxy Active 2 by clicking here.
Garmin Venu 2
Garmin is one of the best smartwatch brands out there. The Garmin Venu 2 comes in a beautiful design and in two different sizes. It also features a bright and responsive AMOLED display which is indeed a touch screen. The watch comes with a lot of fitness tracking options as well as smartwatch features. It has features like GPS, barometric altimeter for elevation, pulse oximeter, compass, SpO2, stress tracking, music storage, workout mode with animations, NFC for contactless payments, support for Bluetooth accessories, and much more. The interface of the watch is simple and easy to use. But it lacks third-party app support; I meant it is less compared to Wear OS watches. Also, it doesn’t come with any apps by default for maps. It will last for eleven days if you use it as a smartwatch and about eight hours if you are using GPS continuously for your workouts. Another letdown is the lack of support for any assistants. On a positive note, it has improved HIIT modes and supports all sports for tracking. The pricing of the new Garmin Venu 2 starts from USD 399.99 and varies according to your market.
Tap here to view Garmin Venu 2
Amazfit GTR 2 / Amazfit GTS 2
Amazfit is one of the brands which makes cheap smartwatch without any compromises. It comes with a 1.39-inch AMOLED display which is vivid and bright enough to view outdoors. The auto-brightness works great, be it indoors or outdoors. In addition, the watch comes with SpO2 sensor, GPS, Alexa integration (which works even offline), music storage, BioTracker 2 sensor (to find heart rate), can connect earphones, step counting (using altimeter), HIIT workouts, PAI metrics, stress tracking, sleep monitoring, 5 ATM water resistance, barometer altimeter (to find altitude), etc. The companion app is named Zepp and syncs data without any delays. It can last for fourteen days and will last up to forty-eight hours by using continuous GPS.
The strap isn’t of top-notch quality & like other watches, and it doesn’t have an app store. However, the watch can track most sports activities like swimming (both indoor & outdoor), walking, cycling, running, walking, climbing, free training, and much more. Do note that, Amazfit also has a watch named Amazfit GTS 2, which comes in a rounded square shape and has a higher 1.65-inch AMOLED display. Apart from the display, design, and battery, both the watches have the same features. The GTS 2 will last for seven days and up to 25 hours with GPS. The pricing of Amazfit GTR 2 starts from USD 160, and that of GTS 2 starts at USD 180.
Fitbit Versa 3
The Fitbit Versa 3 comes with a stellar battery life of a week or so, and it solely depends on your usage. It is the best watch from the brand Fitbit, and the same as a lot of fan base for its design. The support for features included heart rate tracking, sleep tracking, local music storage, automatic exercise tracking, etc. The watch is a perfect balance between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch. It comes with a microphone and obviously with a speaker. The design of the watch is tremendous, nothing to complain about. However, you will not be able to use the previous straps of the other Versa model since this comes with a new quick-release system. The display is vivid and bright enough to view outdoor. But like every Fitbit model, you may have to sign up for premium to view more data. Also, it doesn’t support playing Spotify music offline. And, the data is slow to sync, which is not acceptable. The pricing of Fitbit Versa 3 starts from USD 230 and can be bought from various online & offline stores.
OPPO Watch
OPPO Watch is one of the best Wear OS watches out there and is one of my favorite watches. It is one of the Wear OS watches which doesn’t lag and perform well. With Wear OS, it gets support for various apps, and you can analyze the data with Google Fit app apart from OPPO’s app. The build quality of the OPPO Watch is excellent and durable. As you know, it is the first watch by the brand. The display is gorgeous and bright enough to view outdoors. It comes with a ton of tracking features. The various features include heart rate monitoring, 3 ATM water resistance, tracks five different sports, in-built GPS, sleep tracking, and more. Few letdowns are that the battery backup is not great, and it doesn’t support third-party straps. The battery will last for more or less a day. But the best thing is the VOOC charging which will charge the watch up to 50% in just 15 minutes. Also, the app doesn’t have many workout modes, and it needs improvement. The pricing of the watch starts from USD 200 and varies according to the size you pick.
TicWatch Pro 3 GPS
The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is one of the best wearables with inbuilt GPS. Underneath the device, it has the Snapdragon Wear 4100 SoC and runs on Wear OS. With the new processor and 1GB of RAM, the watch runs without any issues. One advantage of Wear OS is the unlimited support of third-party apps, which no other OS can offer. It has an AMOLED display which is quite extensive and easy to read. But some of you may find the watch too big if you have a small wrist. Despite its large display, the watch is light enough. It comes with a SpO2 sensor, heart rate sensor, IP68 certification, sleep tracking, NFC for contactless payments using Google Pay, Google Assistant, 13 workout modes, GPS, and much more. The battery will last for three days, and you can squeeze up to a whooping forty-five days by putting the watch into essential mode. The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS pricing starts at USD 300 and is one of the premium watches out there.
Motorola Moto 360
Motorola was one of the first brands to launch a watch with the Wear OS. Now, they have launched the third-generation model of the Motorola Moto 360. It comes with a beautiful design, and the highlight is the customizable key which is a rare option. The AMOLED display is excellent for viewing both indoors and outdoors. Since it is a Wear OS running watch, it comes with the integration of Google Fit. So, it can track most of the activity out there. Adding to this, it has GPS, NFC for contactless payments using Google Pay, music storage, and more. The best thing being a Wear OS watch is the support of third-party apps, which other watches lack. However, the battery backup isn’t great, and there are connectivity issues for some. The battery will last for a day and not more. It is one of the expensive watches out there, which starts from USD 399. But the sad thing is that it doesn’t have 5 ATM water resistance. Instead, it comes with a lower 3 ATM resistance. We will suggest you this if you need a Wear OS watch.
Fossil Sport
Fossil Sport is one of the premium smartwatches which is recommended for first-time users. A guy who isn’t familiar with fitness tracking can easily understand things with this watch. It comes with features like heart rate monitoring, NFC for contactless payments, GPS, and 5 ATM water resistance. The watch comes with Wear OS, and there is a slight lag because of the same. The brand has improved the chipset and now runs on Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC. But on the flip side, it gets support for Google Assistant and can track activity with Google Fit. The display is bright enough to view from outside. But the letdown is that the watch will last for a single day, and it may be an issue for most of you guys. Also, the GPS will take some time to wake up, which may irritate you. One thing to note is that the brand has made the watch lightweight despite coming with great hardware. The pricing of the watch starts from USD 230 and varies according to your market.
Garmin Vivosport
Most fitness bands out there don’t come with in-built GPS and rely on your smartphones for GPS. But the Garmin Vivosport is a fitness band that comes with an in-built GPS and works excellent without any issues. Even though the band has 5 ATM water resistance, it doesn’t come with an option of tracking swimming. On a positive note, the battery backup of the band is fine and is consistent. Apart from fitness tracking, it comes with heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, sleep tracking, VO2 Max, automatic exercise tracking, etc. The heart rate tracking is accurate and works without any issues. Since it is a fitness band, the screen is too small to operate, and some may find difficulties in it. The price of the band starts from USD 140 and varies according to your markets.
We have listed the ten best wearables with inbuilt GPS that are available on the market. Also, we’d listed watches for every segment, i.e., starting from budget watches to premium ones. So please do read everything we mentioned about those watches before buying the ones we listed above. Also, do share the article with your friends and family members who are planning to buy wearables. It will be a motivation for us to create more contents like this. Also, you can read our previous article which lists the best fitness trackers for athletes by clicking here. The reason why I suggest is that, if you don’t need GPS then you can save some money and buy those wearables instead.
