Wearables have evolved far beyond simple step counters. These days, the best smartwatches are personal trainers, health monitors, and even adventure companions, all while looking sharper than ever.
Some watches, including the best outdoor watches and best triathlon watches, are built to handle harsh trails, complete with GPS mapping, altitude tracking, and solar charging. Others double as stylish accessories that slip effortlessly under a shirt cuff, blending traditional design with smart features like notifications, sleep tracking, and contactless payments.
And then there are the all-rounders that can do a bit of everything, from tracking your workouts to monitoring recovery, and still have battery left to spare. From rugged multisport wearables to elegant hybrids, this year’s smartwatch lineup proves there really is a model for every occasion, activity, and personality.
All-rounders
Oneplus Watch 3
With a sleek stainless-steel body, sapphire-coated 1.5in AMOLED screen, and a newly functional rotating crown, the OnePlus Watch 3 feels premium and user-friendly while offering stellar battery life of around five days in smart mode and up to 16 days in powersave mode. Even more pleasing is fast 10W USB-C charging. The watch is feature-rich, offering the Google Assistant, 100+ sport modes, GPS, and a host of health features.
Apple Watch Series 11
How’s your blood pressure? If it’s been raised by the excitement of a new Apple Watch release, you’ll find out with the Series 11’s new hypertension alerts. The newest Apple Watch looks a lot like the old one, just twice as scratch-resistant and with a 24-hour battery life, a 5G option, and personalised fitness plans thanks to Apple Intelligence. It’s an all-round digital companion, and a good one too.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic
Though the standard version is cheaper and lighter, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, with its stainless steel case and bezel, blends premium looks and smarts, with health tracking and AI running coaching for beginners. It’s bulkier, pricier, and short on battery life compared to some rivals, but for those wanting a stylish health-focused smartwatch, it’s an easy one to love.
Google Pixel Watch 4
The world’s first smartwatch to feature standalone emergency SOS satellite communication, the latest Pixel Watch leapfrogs the Apple Watch Ultra 3 when it comes to life-saving functionality off the grid. Available in 41mm and 45mm sizes, the Pixel Watch 4 is a full reinvention of Google’s smartwatch ambitions, with powerful new hardware, a brighter domed display, and smarter fitness tracking.
Garmin Venu X1
The Garmin Venu X1 marks a shift in the brand's design philosophy – it’s less about VO₂ max graphs and more about good looks, while still being a capable smartwatch for the gym and office. It’s more expensive than the average Apple Watch, but for those who prioritise fitness tracking, multi-day battery life and Android compatibility, it offers genuine depth, making it better value than it might first appear.
Moto Watch Fit
A fraction of the price of the majority of other options out there, the Moto Watch Fit is a no-fuss fitness tracker disguised as a smartwatch. It’s impressively lightweight and slim, with 5ATM and IP68 water-resistance, has a decent 1.9in OLED display, and boasts a battery life that wipes the floor with more expensive rivals. While it lacks bells and whistles, it nails the basics for the price.
Adventure types
Garmin Fenix 8 Pro
A smartwatch to impress your outdoor pals? The world’s first microLED wearable, the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, is here. Mad price aside, microLED delivers brighter visuals, better energy efficiency, and enhanced durability over OLED. The Pro also introduces inReach satellite SOS messaging, and is fully loaded with health, fitness, wellness and outdoor features.
Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro
Successor to the T3 Award-winning T-Rex 3, the Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro version adds a speaker, microphone, and physical flashlight. It’s an exciting proposition, with more premium materials, including a sapphire glass lens and a titanium alloy bezel. The AMOLED screen has also been boosted to 3,000 nits. If you like the look of the Fenix 8 but don’t have the budget, this is an excellent substitute.
Coros Nomad
The Nomad is aiming to outdo adventure wearables in one surprising category: memory. This rugged outdoor smartwatch blends navigation and sport tracking with a suite of storytelling tools to help you relive every hike, summit, and cast. All of this comes in a 49g watch, a 1.3in always-on touchscreen, and battery life of up to 50 hours in GPS mode or 22 days of daily use.
Polar Grit X2 Pro
The Polar Grit X2 Pro is a feature-packed multisport watch with a rugged yet sleek design, featuring a stainless steel case and bezel and a sapphire glass lens, offering comprehensive activity tracking. It boasts impressive battery life and features advanced, multi-band GPS plus Polar’s Elixir bio-sensing platform, providing accurate data to optimise training and recovery.
Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple likes to call the Apple Watch Ultra 3 a sports and adventure watch, but there’s no reason not to have the best just because you’re not ultra-running in the Sahara. You get 5G and satellite communications built into the watch, which offers up to 42 hours of battery life without needing to enter low-power mode. It comes with the usual Apple Health and sleep insights, and looks good while doing it too.
Suunto Vertical
The Suunto Vertical has superb mapping features, long battery life aided by solar charging, and a durable build – everything you might want in an outdoor watch. It may lack an AMOLED screen, but it makes up for it by being made using 100% renewable energy, and the small amount of carbon generated by the production process is offset by the company in Africa.
Running champions
Garmin Forerunner 570
A polished update to the Forerunner 265, the Garmin Forerunner 570 refines the company’s mid-range formula with a sharper AMOLED screen, upgraded heart-rate sensor, and handy additions like a mic and speaker. It’s a sleek, capable running watch with just enough upgrades to feel fresh, ideal for runners who want performance features in a more stylish package.
Coros Pace Pro
For athletes focused on performance and recovery, the Coros Pace Pro is a strong option. It delivers a bright AMOLED display – a first for the brand – long battery life, and solid training features. The Pace Pro offers metrics like VO2 max estimates, race predictions, and recovery advice. You can also plan workouts and monitor progress, as well as get feedback on your running and cycling form.
Kiprun GPS 500 By Coros
Can’t quite stretch to a Garmin Forerunner, but need to track your runs? Then Decathlon’s own-brand offering, the Kiprun GPS 500, should do the trick. It’s a no-frills, affordable multisport wearable with a long battery life. It won’t recommend specific daily workouts, but it’ll tell you your training load and how long you need to wait to recover. And with the money saved, you can buy a decent pair of running kicks.
Smart meets style
Withings Scanwatch 2
Subtle but capable, the Withings ScanWatch 2 packs a wealth of health and fitness tracking tech into its slender body. It has a heart rate monitor, ECG functionality, and can measure blood oxygen saturation. It can also track sleep and log workouts. The new-for-2025 version adds predictive AI to alert you of health changes, a gargantuan 35-day battery life, and a new blue and silver 42mm colour.
Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid
The Sintesi Hybrid watch blends advanced technology with luxurious design, exemplifying Pininfarina’s commitment to high-end craftsmanship. With its titanium case and carbon fibre details, the look reflects Pininfarina’s automotive heritage. On the smarts side there’s fitness tracking, notifications, and customisable watch faces.
Garmin Vivomove Sport
A hybrid fitness watch for women that combines the traditional look of an analogue watch with essential smart features. With up to five days of battery life, the Vívomove Sport combines an analogue face with a discreet touchscreen that only appears when you need it, the hands moving smartly out of the way.
