The best budget smartwatch
View(s):By Mahesh de Andrado
I’ve been using a Haylou Solar Smartwatch for almost a year now. At the time, it ticked all the boxes I needed for a smartwatch/fitness tracker hybrid. So then why did I switch to the Haylou Smartwatch 2 Pro? Well, because I got it for free. I’m not joking. I entered a contest on Haylou’s official Instagram page, and won a watch.
So what’s special about it?
I wasn’t really a fan of square watch designs, but something about the Smartwatch 2 Pro grabbed my attention. It packs a 1.85” 240 x 284px display wrapped in a metallic frame, weighing in at just 51.4g with the strap – either a white strap (for the silver body) or a black strap (for the black body). If these are not to your liking, you can just get any 22mm strap off AliExpress or similar.
Say hello to the Haylou Watch 2 Pro (Image Credits: Haylou)
The watch is powered by a 250mAh battery and offers approximately 10 days of continuous usage when utilising heart rate monitoring. Alternatively, it can last up to 20 days functioning as a basic watch, excluding features like Bluetooth, app notifications and call alerts. The Watch 2 Pro (also known as LS02 Pro) is fully equipped with the anticipated attributes of a budget-friendly smartwatch and fitness tracker. In addition to displaying calls, messages, and app notifications, it offers heart rate and stress level monitoring, step tracking, and sleep measurement. Further, it provides the capability to monitor blood oxygen levels, view weather forecasts, and even has female health tracking functionality.
A number of other features caught my attention. Namely, the calculator, calendar, and remote camera shutter. So far the Watch 2 Pro was looking like a good upgrade from my Solar, the only con being a lesser battery capacity. Haylou also unfortunately only allows you to bind one device to their Haylou Fun app at any given time so if I was to switch between my watches, I would have to set them up individually each time. If you’re familiar with the Haylou Fun app, then setting up the watch is easy. Just scan the QR code on the watch screen via the Haylou Fun app, pair the watch and you’re good to go.
If you’re on the lookout for a budget smartwatch/fitness tracker, definitely give the Haylou Watch 2 Pro a go (Image Credits OficinaDaNet)
The Watch 2 Pro does look more premium compared to the Haylou Solar. The metallic build feels solid and while the display is not an AMOLED, is quite crisp and visible even in direct sunlight. Navigating the watch is easy too and Haylou offers you a choice of List, Honeycomb or Sudoku layouts for navigating the watch interface.
As mentioned before, battery life was a bit of a let down for me. Don’t get me wrong though. The Watch 2 Pro can go an entire week on a single charge but if you turn on the all-day blood oxygen monitoring and stress monitoring, then battery life is definitely going to take a hit. App notifications will also affect the battery as the watch constantly lighting up and vibrating will drain the battery faster. Fortunately, you can choose the apps you want and disable all day blood oxygen monitoring.
It also has a plethora of watch faces as well as 100+ workout modes — there’s a way to personalize it to your liking and even add a custom image. The expansive workout modes list almost every sport available so that it can track your steps, heart rate, distance and calories burned.
So far, I have been thoroughly impressed with the Watch 2 Pro. Priced around LKR 8,000, this is one of the most affordable smartwatches – a perfect blend of smartwatch and fitness tracker on a budget. Sure you don’t have features such as replying to messages, or answering phone calls. There’s no built-in GPS to track your workout (the watch uses your smartphone GPS for that), and there’s not always on display either (since it’s not an AMOLED display). But if you’re looking for a smartwatch that has a competent assortment of health features, decent battery life, a plethora of watch faces as well as workout modes, you can’t go wrong with it.
Searching for that next furry family member but couldn’t find one in your area? Hitad.lk has the solution with our extensive listings of dogs for sale in Sri Lanka!