The short answer (checked 8 November 2026)
- Best overall is the Garmin vivoactive 5, number 1 in Amazon UK's Smartwatches chart this week. Garmin claims up to 11 days of battery, or about 33 charges a year, against roughly one a night for an Apple Watch.
- None of the five watches here needs a subscription, but each maker sells one. Five years on the annual plan comes to £349.95 for Garmin Connect+ and £399.95 for Apple Fitness+. Google Health Premium, which replaced Fitbit Premium, is listed from £7.99, which comes to £479.40 over five years if paid monthly.
- Audit finding: none of the twenty best-selling smartwatches on Amazon UK mentions a subscription plan.
- Four unbranded watches in the top twenty sell themselves on blood pressure. MHRA guidance says a blood pressure monitor is a medical device, even one meant for the gym, and none of the four listings says its readings are not for medical use.
A smartwatch is one of the biggest-selling Christmas gifts, and Black Friday is when most of them get bought. The price on the day is not the whole cost. Garmin, Apple and Google each sell an optional monthly plan on top of the watch, and the watch has to be charged anywhere from every night to every fortnight. We worked out what each plan adds over five years from the makers' own prices, and read the twenty best sellers to see what they tell you.
How this page was made
Prices and specs last checked by Look Into on 8 November 2026 · next check 1 January 2027 · how we picked
Prices in this table come from Amazon and are refreshed at least once a day, with the date of the last update under the table. The cost-per-use and running-cost figures on this page use prices Look Into read on 8 November 2026, so they can differ from today's price.
The subscriptions, over five years
| Plan | Needed? | Listed UK price | Five years | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garmin Connect+ | No. Garmin says existing Connect features stay free | £6.99 a month or £69.99 a year | £349.95 (annual) | 30 days |
| Apple Fitness+ | No | £9.99 a month or £79.99 a year | £399.95 (annual) | 3 months with an eligible Apple Watch |
| Google Health Premium (was Fitbit Premium) | No | From £7.99 | £479.40 (monthly) | 3 months, per Google Store |
All three watch platforms track steps, heart rate, sleep and workouts for free. The plans add coaching, extra charts or workout classes. If the person getting the watch is unlikely to want those, the plan is a cost to cancel before the trial runs out.
How often each one needs charging
Battery life is what changes most from day to day between these watches. Taking each maker's claimed battery life from its Amazon listing, the best case is:
- Garmin vivoactive 5 and Forerunner 165: up to 11 days, so 365 ÷ 11 = about 33 charges a year.
- Fitbit Versa 4: 6 or more days, so about 61 charges a year.
- Apple Watch Series 11: up to 24 hours of normal use, so a charge most days, about 365 a year.
- Apple Watch SE 3: 18 hours, so a charge every day, 365 a year.
These are the makers' best cases. GPS workouts and an always-on screen use the battery faster. The electricity for charging a watch is pennies a year, but none of the makers publishes its battery capacity, so we have not put a number on it.
How we picked these
We read the top twenty of Amazon UK's Smartwatches Best Sellers chart on 8 November 2026 and opened all twenty listings, reading the title, bullet points, specification table and description. We picked five watches from the brands in the chart that have their own app and an optional plan (Garmin, Apple and Google's Fitbit), then checked each plan's price on the maker's own site. We left out the unbranded watches for the reasons in the audit below. We have not used any of these watches.
As an Amazon Associate, Look Into earns from qualifying purchases. Product prices and availability are accurate as of 8 November 2026 8:33 pm and are subject to change.Compare live prices for every pick
Garmin vivoactive 5
Price: check the live price on Amazon · up to 11 days of battery, about 33 charges a year · Connect+ optional · number 1 in Smartwatches, 8 November 2026
An AMOLED touchscreen GPS watch that works with iPhone and Android, with up to 11 days of battery in smartwatch mode according to its listing. Health tracking, sleep and Garmin's Body Battery score all come through the free Garmin Connect app.
The catch: the AI insights and extra performance charts sit behind Connect+, at £6.99 a month or £69.99 a year. Garmin has said existing features stay free, but some new ones arrive behind the paywall.
Garmin Forerunner 165
Price: check the live price on Amazon · up to 11 days of battery, about 33 charges a year · Connect+ optional · number 2 in Smartwatches, 8 November 2026
A lightweight 43mm GPS running watch with an AMOLED touchscreen and Garmin's training features, with up to 11 days of battery according to its listing.
The catch: it is built around running. Someone who mostly wants notifications and apps may be better served by the vivoactive 5 or an Apple Watch.
Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS, 40mm)
Price: check the live price on Amazon · 18 hours of battery, a charge every day · Fitness+ optional, 3 months free · number 10 in Smartwatches, 8 November 2026
The cheapest way into an Apple Watch, with the full watchOS app store and the Apple Health app. Its listing gives 18 hours of battery and says it charges up to twice as fast as the SE 2, with up to 8 hours from 15 minutes on the charger.
The catch: it needs an iPhone, and 18 hours means charging every day, so overnight sleep tracking means finding another time to charge. Apple Fitness+ starts with three free months and then costs £9.99 a month unless it is cancelled.
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm)
Price: check the live price on Amazon · up to 24 hours of battery · Fitness+ optional, 3 months free · number 15 in Smartwatches, 8 November 2026
Apple's main watch, with up to 24 hours of normal use according to its listing. The listing says it can spot signs of chronic high blood pressure and notify you of possible hypertension. It does not claim to show a blood pressure reading.
The catch: a notification is not a diagnosis. If it alerts you, the next step is a proper cuff reading with your GP or pharmacist. It also needs an iPhone.
Google Fitbit Versa 4
Price: check the live price on Amazon · 6+ days of battery, about 61 charges a year · Google Health Premium optional · number 24 in Smartwatches, 8 November 2026
A square fitness smartwatch with built-in GPS, sleep profiles, a daily readiness score and SpO2. Its listing gives six or more days of battery and says it works with iPhone (iOS 15 or higher) and Android (9.0 or higher).
The catch: the Fitbit app has become Google Health, and Fitbit Premium is now Google Health Premium, listed from £7.99 on the Google Store. Basic activity and sleep tracking stay free; the plan adds Google's AI health coach.
What the twenty listings actually say
- None of the twenty mentions a subscription plan. That includes the five Garmin and three Apple listings in the top twenty, although both makers sell one.
- Four unbranded watches, at numbers 4, 5, 9 and 12, list blood pressure among their health features. MHRA guidance on GOV.UK says blood pressure monitors are medical devices, even when meant for use in a gym. None of the four listings says its readings are not for medical use. If you need a blood pressure reading, use a validated cuff monitor.
- Eight of the twenty sell themselves on answering and making calls from the wrist, and four are children's watches.
Buying one as a gift
Check the phone first. An Apple Watch only works with an iPhone, while Garmin and Fitbit work with both. If the watch comes with a free trial of a plan, put a reminder in the recipient's calendar a week before it ends, so they can decide whether to keep paying. For more gifts worked out on what they cost to own, see our tech gifts guide, the digital photo frames guide and the subscription tax index.
Questions people ask
Do smartwatches need a subscription?
None of the five in this guide does. Garmin, Apple and Google all sell optional plans: Garmin Connect+ at £6.99 a month or £69.99 a year, Apple Fitness+ at £9.99 a month or £79.99 a year, and Google Health Premium from £7.99.
Which smartwatch has the longest battery life?
Of these five, the Garmin vivoactive 5 and Forerunner 165, at up to 11 days each according to their listings. The Fitbit Versa 4 claims six or more days, and the Apple Watches 18 to 24 hours.
Can a cheap smartwatch measure blood pressure?
Several cheap watches in Amazon's chart say so. MHRA guidance treats blood pressure monitors as medical devices, and none of the four listings we read says its readings are not for medical use. For a reading you can rely on, use a validated cuff monitor.
What happened to Fitbit Premium?
Google renamed the Fitbit app Google Health in 2026, and Fitbit Premium became Google Health Premium. The Google Store UK lists it from £7.99 and offers three months free.
Sources
- Apple, Apple Fitness+, UK pricing and free trial, checked 8 November 2026.
- Google Store UK, Google Health Premium, checked 8 November 2026.
- TechRadar, Garmin adds premium Garmin Connect+ tier, UK pricing, checked 8 November 2026.
- Garmin, Garmin Connect+ launch announcement, 27 March 2025, checked 8 November 2026.
- MHRA on GOV.UK, Borderlines with medical devices and other products in Great Britain, updated 29 June 2026, checked 8 November 2026.
- Amazon UK, Smartwatches Best Sellers, top twenty, and each of the twenty listings, plus the Fitbit Versa 4 listing (number 24), read 8 November 2026.
Claims CheckedDo 20,000mAh power banks really deliver 20,000mAh? The makers’ own figures say about three-quarters
Buying DeskBest router battery backup UK 2026: what each hour of backup costs
Tech & GadgetsDigital landline switchover 2027: what stops working, and what each fix costs
Buying DeskBest wind-up and emergency radios UK 2026: what the Be Ready checklist needs, and what listings oversell