A Wearables Editor Picks the Black Friday Tech He'd Rebuy If His Smartwatch Collection Vanished

The premise is a burglary that hasn't happened. The Wearables Editor at Android Central imagines a thief hauling away ten years of accumulated gadgets from a closet packed with them, then asks what he would actually pay for to start over. His fiancée, he figures, would be glad of the extra space.

The exercise exists because of an awkward contradiction in his job. He is usually juggling about six reviews at once, and right now that means devices from Garmin, COROS, Polar, Suunto and Amazfit. Some manufacturers want review units mailed back and others don't, but he considers it unethical to sell what he's been given, so the devices pile up and come out whenever he needs to test a feature. Buying more is the last thing on his mind. This list, he says, balances the best products against prices that ordinary people would accept, and he can only vouch for what has helped him day to day.

The watch comes first, and it is the hardest choice. His current rotation includes a half-dozen Garmins, the Pixel Watch 4, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and more besides. Among the deals he has already covered are a Galaxy Watch 7 at $129 and up to $100 off the Pixel Watch 4. The Pixel Watch 4 is his favorite smartwatch of the year by a wide margin, thanks to its design, efficient battery life and improved fitness tools. He also sees promise in its Fitbit Personal Health Coach beta, which he thinks could nudge him toward more cross-training and strength work.

But fitness comes first, even on an Android site. He just finished a marathon, and he relies on Garmin's training load focus widget to tell him whether his mix of slow jogs, fast runs and hard sprints is balanced as he works on his VO2 Max. So he'd pick a Garmin: the Forerunner 265 at $299, $150 off. He admits the Venu X1 for comfort and the Forerunner 965 for battery life and maps are tempting, and that newer models costing twice as much have better sensors. Still, the previous generation of Garmins helped him become a better athlete and lose weight, and $300 is about the ceiling of what his budget can bear.

Audio is next. He needs something in his ears during every run, walk or hike to keep boredom from ending a workout early, but he wants his ears left open so he stays aware of his surroundings. After reviewing the latest Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, he'd be drawn to a $65 discount on the Ray-Ban Meta, which offers open-ear audio plus eye protection. Only the first-generation glasses are on sale. They have weaker battery life and video quality, he notes, but they match the newer model on photo and audio quality, and Meta is still adding features to them.

His first purchase, though, would be the Shokz OpenFit 2 or the OpenFit 2+, which he calls the best workout earbuds he has tested. They sit lightly but securely and aim dual high and low drivers into the ear canal without blocking it, which helps awareness and, he adds, avoids impacted earwax. He likes the Plus model's Dolby Atmos mode but would save money with the standard OpenFit 2, which still offers rich sound, useful button shortcuts and strong battery life.

For sleep, he has worn an Ultrahuman Ring Air since last year because he dislikes sleeping with a watch. Ultrahuman faces a U.S. ban stemming from a lawsuit by Oura, so he'd need a replacement. The obvious one is the Oura Ring 4 at $249, $100 off. He hasn't used it, but colleagues praise its style and accuracy, and he expects it to flag signs of illness and negative trends like sleep debt.

Two more items round out the list. One is the Withings Body Smart scale, which he has used for two years to check whether weight loss is fat or muscle. It's only $20 off, but he trusts the data, and his fiancée likes its Eyes Closed mode, which hides the number until she opens the app when she's, in her words, emotionally prepared. The other is a phone, if he needed one: the Pixel 9a at $399, $100 off, which the site rates as its top budget Android phone for its battery life, bright display and respectable photos.

The Ultrahuman ban is the one thing here worth watching, since it would force ring buyers toward alternatives like Oura.