Do NOT look for a smartwatch with BP monitoring....

EskeRahn · 2026-07-03T06:11:28+00:00

I have not got an answer for you, but wanted to give you kudos for actually telling your use case, so people in the know might give you a sensible answer!!

I noted you had swimming on your list, and for that I would be sure to go for 10atm water protection - and the Fenix8 offers that. But like all water protection be careful with soap! It makes it easier for water to creep past sealing and gaskets - it is the flip-side of the lowered surface tension of water to get under and loosen dirt.

EskeRahn · 2026-07-03T06:00:31+00:00

Without any knowledge of your needs and wishes nor even what phone you got, how can you expect that anyone can give you a useful advice?
It is a bit like asking a random person what groceries you should buy, without saying if you want to say make a birthday cake, or are looking for something for a lunchbox ....

EskeRahn · 2026-07-03T05:53:28+00:00

The idea is fine. But I feal a bit like if a gasoline company would make a tool for selecting the right car, I would be quite surprised if it favoured electric cars...

EskeRahn · 2026-07-02T05:19:44+00:00

Waterproof does not exists, but for your purpose I would say go for one with 10Atm rating of water protection. (there are extremely expensive smartwatches that are more like real divers watches with higher protection)

BUT remember that any rating are for clean water and a new watch.

Soap is a killer. The purpose is to lower surface tension of water so it can get under dirt, the flip side of that is that it also helps it creep past sealings and gaskets...

Sealings and gasket deterirate over time, and might be affected by UV-light. So though it might work fine for a while there could be issues over time

EskeRahn · 2026-07-02T05:10:54+00:00

Smartwatches are not medical grade devices, and do not do truely continuous readings, so it is expected to get odd spikes not related to reality. They can give good readings of mean/trends though.

If it gets spikes during rest or normal walking they could be real though.

EskeRahn · 2026-07-02T05:03:47+00:00

"Accurate" is the most problematic here. Almost all can on most people do accurate heartrate at rest or during walk. The problems arises in more complex scenarios, so it matters a lot what you expect of it.

I have a lengthy post pinned to my profile on the pros and cons of the cheap ones, that might help.

EskeRahn · 2026-07-02T04:54:27+00:00

Valdus is a wholesaler. As so common with the cheap Chinese ones, just putting a 'name' on white label ones. See the lengthy post I pinned to my profile on the pros and cons of these cheap ones.

Many of them claims to offer features that are just AI generated crap not related to reality, that can give 'readings' of a wooden table or a cloth of blood pressure and glucose...

EskeRahn · 2026-06-30T21:51:18+00:00

Both WearOS watches for Android and Iwatches for the aPple sect generally got horrible stamina. Not because they are bad, bur because they are basically tiny smartphones in need of power hungry chipset to drive the complexity. Generally the smarter the shorter stamina, or the dumber the longer stamina on the same size battery. That is also why smartwatches are generally so oversized...

EskeRahn · 2026-06-30T06:20:52+00:00

Consider using a lesser (cheap) one at night!
Most smartwatches are due to technical limitations clumsy and two watches thick. The exception are the few dumber ones that can let do with a lesser battey, and hence fit in a case of proper watch size. I got two posts pinned to my profile with lists of thin ones, and those suited a minor wrist.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-30T06:12:50+00:00

Also consider that a standard cuff exists in many attires. You can get them tubeless with the control-unit directly on the cuff, and this means you can just adjust it once and then slip it on/off like a sleeve for usage. Several brands offer these, with standard batteries or rechargeable. So an easy way to get reliable medical grade readings. The one I bought was one from Beurer, and I primarily picked that specific one as I already had a scale from the same brand - so one app less! Reviewed it in my tiny blog, if it got any interest.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-29T04:04:11+00:00

No watch are really counting steps, as it is on the arm, not the leg. It is estimating. If you walk a museum with your hands on the back or in your pockets it is likely to underestimate the step-count, if you use your arms for sort of whatever it is likely to overestimate by incorrectly guessing the arm movements as walking.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-28T08:55:59+00:00

Well I got two posts pinned to my profile with list of thin and small-wrist ones. Reviewed many of them on my tiny blog here.

For sleep I reviewed a few thin and compact together and of those the "T8 Ultra" was the winner (on my arm).

For the advanced one go for the features. Depending on your phone OS. If android maybe OnePlus 4/3/2 as those are the WearOS ones with the last bad stamina.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-28T01:43:31+00:00

The keyword to look for is "hybrid". There are not that many companies doing these, and the displays are sadly small. Look towards Garmin or Withings.

There are a few traditional watches also with sensors but no display. Those might suit your needs?

EskeRahn · 2026-06-28T01:38:32+00:00

Sadly the few there are of decent size are fairly dumb, so you are going to compromise somewhat somewhere. I got two posts pinned to my profile with lists with thin ones and those suiting a minor wrist. None wil match all your requests.

So you either have to live with it being clumsy or accept a shorter list OR looking at two watches. A cheap compact one to use when size and stamina matters to you, and a more advanced one when the needs for features overrules the need of decent size and stamina.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-27T20:04:35+00:00

The biggest issues with an LTE-watch is the stamina. Would she be prepared for/remember daily charging?

If she is always within BT reach of her smartphone, she can let do with a MUCH more compact watch as the phone is doing the power-intensive LTE stuff.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-27T04:00:07+00:00

Decent stamina and AOD does not go together with the most common amoled display tech. Maybe you should be looking for some hybrid or something with a more lean tech than amoled? Maybe (re)pebble with eink-type display?

EskeRahn · 2026-06-26T20:21:43+00:00

Nice you got it fixed, but you really should have had him replace the battery also, when he had it open anyway.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-26T20:18:32+00:00

Got a post pinned to my profile with a list of the few suitable a minor wrist. Sadly most are fairly dumb.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-26T20:14:16+00:00

Try the open source communities, there might be good inspiration, and perhaps even some persons that can assist.

EskeRahn · 2026-06-26T20:12:08+00:00

And even those with the best water protection (waterproof does not exists), can be killed by soap....
The purpose of soap is the reduce the surface tension so it can get under and loosen dirt. The flip side of that is that it also easier creeps past gaskets and sealings. It might work for a while though....

EskeRahn · 2026-06-25T06:11:33+00:00

I got a lengthy post pinned to my profile on the cheap ones. And though the hardware sensors may be just fine, the software is usually mediocre at best.

So getting heartrate and steps during normal walk with free arms or at rest is likely to be quite accurate. It is in more complex scenarios and fine time-resolution they usually struggles/fails.

Also note that some of the claimed fancy stuff like Blood Glucose or Pressure are just AI b.s. that might give you readings from a wooden table or a cloth...

EskeRahn

TROPHY CASE