CheckMag | 4 best budget non-WearOS smartwatches

The Xiaomi Watch S3 (available on Amazon for $124) is a stylish smartwatch with its design as one of its unique selling points. Like the CMF Watch Pro 2, it has an interchangeable watch bezel, allowing owners to swap it with another that matches their style. The watch is available in silver and black with rubber straps while the replaceable bezels are yellow, blue, rainbow, and a dual-tone black and green. They are also made from ceramic, carbon fiber, and stainless steel. Xiaomi offers the replacement bezels with matching leather straps.

For its health and fitness features, the Xiaomi Watch S3 has all-day monitoring for heart rate, oxygen saturation, and stress. It can also track menstrual cycles and sleep, and has fall detection with emergency calling. There are over 150 sports modes including on-wrist running courses and a professional ski mode with a personal instructor.

The Xiaomi Watch S3 has a 1.43-inch AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass and housed in an aluminum frame. It has a 5 ATM water resistance rating, a barometer, NFC, an electronic compass, and a dual-band 5-satellite positioning system. There’s also a microphone and speaker for taking calls on the watch. The battery life is about 5 days if Always-on Display is turned on, but it can last up to 15 days in typical usage mode.

Priced at $139.99 (curr. discounted to $109.99 on Amazon), the Amazfit Active Edge will appeal to those who want a watch with a rugged design. Despite its bulky size, the watch weighs just 34 grams without the straps. It has a 1.32-inch TFT color display housed in a plastic case with four physical buttons for navigation alongside touch input. The Active Edge has 24-hour tracking of heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and stress level. Like the Xiaomi Watch S3, it supports menstrual tracking and sleep tracking.

The watch supports 132 sports modes including an advanced running sport mode. It also has auto-detection for a few. Owners can create workout templates, import route files, and connect to workout devices such as a heart rate belt or cycling power meter. The workout data can be shared with popular apps such as Strava, Adidas Running, Komoot, Google Fit, and Apple Health.

The Amazfit Active Edge has a 5-satellite positioning system, so it doesn't need to tether to your phone for location tracking. It also has an accelerometer and a gyroscope, support for storing membership cards, app notifications, and media playback control. The battery lasts up to 16 days in typical usage mode and up to 24 days in battery saver mode.

The design of the Huawei Watch Fit 3 (available on Amazon.de for €160) is unashamedly similar to that of an Apple Watch, thanks to a combination of its square screen and rotating crown. Notwithstanding, in our review of the Huawei Watch Fit 3, we called it a beautiful and comfortable smartwatch that is accurate in its health measurements.

Huawei’s smartwatch can track more than a hundred different workouts with auto-detection for six. It also has animations for eight exercises and a track run mode that uses the watch’s five-satellite positioning system to calibrate lap distance and map out routes. The Huawei Watch Fit 3 will also suggest activities for you based on your previous workouts, calorie consumption, and even the weather. The smartwatch can measure heart rate, SpO2 level, and stress level. It also has support for women’s health tracking and sleep tracking.

Among its other features are support for Bluetooth calls, NFC (leather variant only), 5 ATM water resistance rating and compatibility with both Android and iOS devices. The Huawei Watch 3 has a battery life of up to 10 days depending on usage.

The Amazfit GTR 4 may be almost two years old, but it is a pretty decent choice with a premium look and build. The round-faced watch has a 1.43-inch AMOLED screen housed in an aluminum alloy frame and protected by an oleophobic tempered glass. Like the Huawei Watch Fit 3, its straps are available in leather, rubber, and nylon depending on the color option.

The smartwatch can track over 150 sports modes with support for custom training templates and importing of route files. It also has an advanced dual-band 6-satellite positioning system. The Amazfit GTR 4 boasts all-day tracking of heart rate, blood-oxygen saturation, and stress. It also has menstrual cycle tracking and sleep tracking.

There's a microphone and speaker for Bluetooth calls or to call on Amazon Alexa or the offline assistant. In addition to media playback control, it has a built-in storage so owners can load their playlists on the device, allowing them to leave their phones behind when going on a run.

The Amazfit GTR 4 has a battery life of up to 14 days in typical usage mode and 24 days with battery saving turned on. Its original launch price of $199.99 can be termed expensive when compared to WearOS smartwatches like the Galaxy Watch FE. However, Amazfit frequently discounts its products, and the GTR 4 can sometimes drop to as low as $139.99.