Best rugged smartwatches in 2024

Not all smartwatches are made equal, and that’s especially true when it comes to whether they’re durable enough to withstand harsh conditions or wear and tear. Most models are designed to track all sorts of activity, but not necessarily to handle the rigors of repeated hard workouts in difficult terrain or weather. Finding a smartwatch like that once proved to be a tough task.

No longer. Just as with the latest rugged phones, you now have options to choose from — good ones, too — that aren’t only built tough, but also equipped with the components required for serious performance. Take a good look at those on this list to find something that can keep up with you while strapped to your wrist.

Go hard wearing a rugged smartwatch

Suunto made a number of changes to bring the Vertical to a more competitive place, but one area where it truly stands out is how it’s constructed. The 49mm body comes in three variants — two made with stainless steel and one titanium — and two of which include solar charging. It’s also manufactured in Finland from 100% renewable energy, giving it a different level of quality control and customer support.

Suunto also offers offline GPX maps that you can download from its app and store on the Vertical’s increased 32GB internal storage to plan routes in advance. While the 3D mapping isn’t as detailed on the watch face itself, routes are very precise noting changes in elevation and terrain as you go along.

Improved GPS tracking and accuracy add to the overall reliability while using it to track outdoor activity, and there are plenty of sports and exercises to choose from. The challenge is that the software running everything feels slower and less intuitive than what competitors deliver, even with Suunto addressing some of those things with software tweaks. The good news is battery life holds up well despite everything the Vertical can do, lasting past three days with GPS always on, and up to 60 days at the most economical feature set.

The Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is a big smartwatch, no matter which size you choose, though take note of the slight differences in name. There are the 42mm Fenix 7S Pro, 47mm Fenix 7 Pro, and 51mm Fenix 7X Pro — all of which offer the same hardware and feature set. That includes a built-in flashlight that can shine white or red, along with smart features switching between them based on how you swing your arm while running.

It’s a rugged design meeting U.S. military standards with a polymer body and steel or titanium bezels all tested for thermal, shock and water resistance. It’s capable of working in a wide variety of conditions to keep up with any outdoor or indoor adventure.

A strong GPS connection certainly helps with the multitude of exercises, training, and workouts available on both the watch and Garmin Connect app. So does a newer heart rate monitor to improve accuracy for health and fitness. While there’s no skin temperature sensor to measure any shifts that way, you do get an ECG (electrocardiogram) to check for atrial fibrillation (AFib). Despite all these features, the Fenix 7 Pro offers excellent battery life, lasting between 14 and 37 days per charge based on how you use it.

Rugged smartwatches are often more expensive because they cost more to make them more resilient, and that’s why a budget option like the Amazfit T-Rex 2 presents as an intriguing choice for tighter budgets. For one, it sports impressive build quality that enables it to handle some punishment and work just fine in a variety of conditions. There are plenty of sports modes to choose from, and effective GPS connectivity to keep tabs on it all outdoors, including the right sensors to track proper metrics along the way.

The T-Rex 2 covers a lot of ground, but it requires patience to use because of a clunky app and tracking inaccuracies that pop up. Case in point, it tracks everything from steps to calories, but also sports-centric details like VO2 Max, training load, and anaerobics. Take it swimming to measure performance in the water, or on a hike up a mountain. It will stay active in those situations except it may over or underestimate how fast or far you’ve gone. Other times it may get it just right.

The battery holds up well throughout. Amazfit rates the T-Rex 2 at up to 24 days on normal use, 10 days with heavy use, and 50 hours with GPS always on.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is larger and thicker than most smartwatches, whereas it’s middle-of-the-pack in a list of purely ruggedized models. Its 45mm titanium body and sapphire crystal glass screen combine to make this Samsung’s toughest watch so far, even if it’s not the brand’s latest model.

It has one of the best displays you’ll find on any smartwatch, and includes all the bells and whistles you’d expect from Wear OS. That means it has more of functional mix than others in that you can track all sorts of exercises and sports, health data, and work with a wide range of third-party apps. If you want a Spotify playlist to come with you without your phone in tow, it’s easy to do here.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is also the first Samsung watch to introduce GPX route tracking, though it’s still only applicable to hiking and cycling, and getting them from other sources isn’t always going to be free. Battery life also can’t match traditional rugged smartwatches given how demanding Wear OS is on power consumption. Samsung’s 80-hour claim is hard to reach, though three days per charge is possible with very moderate usage. The default strap it comes with is also a tricky one because of the latch mechanism it uses, but there are so many replacement options out there so it’s easy to swap it out for something else.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 differs from Apple’s other smartwatches in various ways, beginning with the titanium frame and sapphire crystal glass, orange action button, and prominent digital crown. On a list of rugged smartwatches here, the Ultra 2 is also the only one with a square display. And naturally, it doesn’t work with any Android phones, so this is a purely iOS affair.

It’s loaded with features, including a rarity with an alert siren capable of hitting 86 decibels. It meets U.S. military standards, yet still has a brighter screen than its predecessor does by hitting a peak brightness of 3,000 nits to make it more visible in bright daylight.

The thing about the Watch Ultra 2 is that it’s a highly iterative change over the previous model, so it’s neither more nor less durable. Apart from Apple’s newer S9 chipset and a few other changes, this watch largely does the same things in the same ways. One key difference is controlling certain features on the watch face through double-tap finger gestures without actually touching the watch, making it applicable system-wide rather than for a specific app. Battery life remains a downer, as it is for any Apple Watch, hitting no more than 36 hours per charge in most cases.

When Coros first released the Vertix 2, it stood out as being among the first to support five global satellite systems to help it maintain pinpoint accuracy during all movement outdoors. That’s still the case, and its rugged design sports a titanium body with a sapphire crystal glass screen, with coating that gives it 10 ATM water resistance to go as deep as 328 feet underwater. It is larger and heavier than most rugged smartwatches considering there’s only the one 50mm size available, so smaller wrists may never feel comfortable wearing it.

If you have the wrist to wear the Vertix 2 without issue, you can benefit from the various health and fitness hardware inside that includes a barometer, altimeter, heart rate monitor, SpO2 sensor, and even an ECG sensor. The watch supports offline maps, which is great for taking a route in areas with little reception, and while the Coros app is more streamlined now, it doesn’t really provide the same level of detail the way Garmin does.

Battery life is excellent, and can sometimes even trump Coros’s own estimates of 140 hours with GPS on or 60 days under regular use. Even if you max out the GPS settings, you can still flirt with four days of battery to get there.

Polar didn’t overhaul everything in the Grit X2 Pro, but there are plenty of new features that put distance between it and the previous Grit X. A brighter screen is certainly one. It’s also the first Polar smartwatch to have 810H military-grade durability, though water resistance stays at 100m depth limits. Adding dual-frequency GPS brings the Grit X2 Pro into a better position to track movement and location more accurately during outdoor activities, which is also great news because the increased 32GB of storage can store offline maps.

Polar will integrate further with other services, like Strava, to bring in routes and historical route data to the mix. With an improved heart rate monitor, new skin temperature sensor, and some ECG functionality, this smartwatch should present a broad picture of your performance.

There are two variants — a regular one made of stainless steel and the Titan made of titanium. The Titan also comes with a leather band, but there are otherwise no differences between them. Battery life is rated at 43 hours with GPS always on and 140 hours in a more economical mode.

A rugged Garmin smartwatch can cost a pretty penny, but not all of them do. The Instinct 2 is interesting because it comes in three sizes: 40mm, 45mm, and 50mm. That covers a broad range of wrists, ensuring smaller and bigger ones can try one out, though you have to accept some trade-offs either way. All Instinct 2 variants use a monochrome display, so you won’t be seeing in colour when viewing your latest metrics. Nor will you find the software and maps to be as smooth and responsive as they often are on Garmin’s more expensive models. Still, it’s got military-grade durability and 10 ATM water resistance to go as deep as 328 feet.

You can also expect a long list of sports and exercise options to track, courtesy of the connection to the Garmin Connect app where you can set up workouts and training to use on the watch. One of the challenges in stripping certain features out to lower costs is that offline maps are devoid of a lot of detail, which can be troubling on remote and unfamiliar routes. You won’t have to worry about battery life, though. It varies depending on which Instinct 2 model you have, especially since there are two solar variants among them, but you can get days’ worth of life per charge based on how much you use GPS tracking.

Take the adventurous route with a rugged smartwatch

Not everyone needs a rugged smartwatch but those who do will appreciate trusting one that can keep up with an active and adventurous lifestyle. Manufacturers know this and continue to find ways to make them more and more durable with each iteration. Figuring out which one is best for what you have in mind may also depend on what you feel you need most and what you might be willing to give up as far as features go.

For those reasons, the Garmin Fenix 7 Pro is hard to beat because of its deep level of control and integration that makes it so versatile for any athlete or active user. It has a long list of exercises and sports, not to mention the huge array of training regimens and workouts to follow and track through its Connect app. Throw in the challenges and sheer data points involved and you have a very full plate to work with.

The Suunto Vertical aims to accomplish the very same thing at a lower price. Its improved design and performance make it a worthy choice if you’re looking for a smartwatch solely focused on training and staying active.

If those are both a little too rich, the Amazfit T-Rex 2 is a fraction of the price without compromising much on overall durability. You won’t get the same depth and performance, but you will get more than just surface or cursory features to work with, no matter how much you need it.