My dad has been wanting a smartwatch for a while since both my mom and I got one in the past few years. She uses the Amazfit GTR-2, and I have the older Amazfit GTR 47mm. We both love them and use them daily, especially me.
My dad works with his hands a lot since he has a trade job. He needs something durable enough to handle getting bumped around. I think a protective cover might help, but it still needs to be pretty sturdy. I’m not particularly careful with my GTR 47mm, and it’s held up so far, which is great.
He’s looking for basic features like heart rate monitoring. Blood pressure monitoring would be awesome, too, because he’s started having some issues with it recently, and keeping track could help. However, there’s a bit of a risk he won’t end up using it much since he’s not used to wearing watches. That’s why we don’t want to spend too much.
I’ve been looking at the Amazfit T-Rex 2, but it’s hard to find detailed info that isn’t from Amazon (which hasn’t been the most reliable in the past). I guess I’m leaning towards Amazfit because they’ve been affordable and reliable for us so far.
So, is there anything on the European market I’m missing? What would you recommend for my dad?
Don’t count on the blood pressure feature being very accurate. At best, it might show trends rather than give reliable numbers.
Some models with inflatable bands might do a better job, but even those can’t really replace traditional cuffs. If it were that simple, cuff machines wouldn’t still be around.
@Pip
Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe blood pressure is asking for too much. Heart rate, stress monitoring, and maybe blood oxygen should be enough for his needs.
Colby said: @Pip
Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe blood pressure is asking for too much. Heart rate, stress monitoring, and maybe blood oxygen should be enough for his needs.
The Amazfit T-Rex 2 sounds like it could work well for your dad.
If you want to explore other options, Casio G-Shock has models that use Polar algorithms (search for ‘Casio G-Shock Polar’). Garmin’s Instinct 2 series is another solid choice.
All of these are super durable. From what I’ve seen, the G-Shock and Instinct tend to be tougher than the T-Rex. They all offer heart rate monitoring, and the Instinct 2 has excellent stress tracking. Keep in mind that when smartwatches track stress, it’s usually based on your autonomic nervous system, so it measures how much strain your body is under (physical or mental). They also have blood oxygen monitoring, which goes by different names like pulse ox or SpO2.