Looking for the best smartwatches to give as gifts this holiday season? We’ve collected our top favorites this year, the majority of which have nothing to do with that popular fruit company in Cupertino. Check out our picks below:

Huawei Watch

Gaining a 4.5 out of 5 star review rating on Amazon, the Huawei Watch has quickly become one of the more popular smartwatches on the market due to high-end design. The watch offers a 1.4″ full circle AMOLED display (42 millimeter) as well as a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 4GB of storage and roughly two days of battery life.

• Compatibility: Android and iOS
• MSRP: $299
• Best Recent Price: $200 (refurb)

Check Price on Amazon

Samsung Gear S2 Smartwatch

Stepping up with a beautiful display at 360 by 360 resolution, the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch is Samsung direct response to the Apple Watch. The stylish watch includes a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. In addition to providing notifications from your Android smartphone, it also include a built-in fitness tracker. The watch will offer a 3-day battery life.

• Compatibility: Android Only (for now)
• MSRP: $299 to $349
• Last-Gen Alternative: Samsung Galaxy Gear S for $150

Check Price on Amazon

Pebble Time Steel Smartwatch

Rolling out the company’s first color display on a smartwatch, the Pebble Time Steel is a platform agnostic smartwatch that’s roughly the same size as the 42mm Apple Watch. While the display is notably more muted and less advanced than other smartwatches, the advantage to that display is a 10-day battery life. Also, the screen always stays on, compared to other smartwatches that require user interaction all the time.

• Compatibility: Android and iOS
• MSRP: $249
• Last-Gen Alternative: Original Pebble Steel at $100

Check Price on Amazon

LG Watch Urbane Smartwatch

Offering up a gorgeous design in both gold and silver, the Urbane from LG is another style-oriented design that’s meant to tackle the Apple Watch head on. It’s one of the first Android watches to offer compatibility with iPhones and is outfitted with a speedy quad core 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage.

• Compatibility: Android and iOS
• MSRP: $349 / Ben’s Best Price: $204
• Last-Gen Alternative: LG G Smartwatch R for $140

Check Price on Amazon

Moto 360 Smartwatch (2015 revision)

Available in a 42mm and 46mm version, the Moto 360 revision for 2015 sports a speedy 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and an on-board GPU. Features include on a heart rate sensor on the back of the smartwatch as well as an ambient light sensor, which auto-adjusts the display brightness depending on light in the area. Battery life rated between 1.5 to 2 days, depending on model.

• Compatibility: Android (and iOS soon)
• MSRP: $299
• Last-Gen Alternative: Original Moto 360 for $115

Check Price on Amazon

ASUS ZenWatch 2 Smartwatch

Easily mistaken for an Apple Watch, the ASUS ZenWatch 2 is a stylish follow-up to the original ZenWatch. Complete with a snappy 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage, the ZenWatch 2 is available as a 1.63-inch version with a 400mAh battery pack (3-days) and a smaller 1.45-inch version with a 300mAh battery pack (2-days). Also, the price is amazing, basically half the MSRP of most competitors.

• Compatibility: Android Only
• MSRP: $149
• Last-Gen Alternative: ASUS ZenWatch for $130

Check Price on Best Buy

Apple Watch Series 7

Rounding out the bottom of our list specifically due to the exorbitant price, the Apple Watch 7 is only compatible with iOS. Reviewers love the design of the product, but battery life is still short at roughly 18 hours. It includes activity tracking as well as GPS, NFC and a heart rate monitor.

• Compatibility: iOS Only
• MSRP: $399 to $1,759
• Cheaper Alternative:

Check Price on Apple

2016 Tech Gift Guide: Best Smartwatches

Gadgets designed to help people stay active and healthy are becoming more and more popular, and capable of doing some pretty cool things. Gone are the days of trying to keep track of how many calories you’ve eaten or how much exercise you’ve gotten in a day — now, as they say, “there’s an app for that.” Here are some of the best fitness gadgets out there making it easier than ever to get or stay in shape.

Buy this gift for someone into fashion as well as fitness

Releasing on November 6, 2015, the Misfit Shine 2 is the followup to the original Misfit Shine; an extremely popular wrist wearable that was very affordable. Keeping the same round design of the device, the disc can be inserted into a necklace as well as worn on a wrist. The device can also be clipped onto clothing at night to track sleep data.

MSRP: $99 | Lowest Price on Ben’s: n/a

Check Ben’s for Deals on the Misfit Shine

Get this gift for the person who just likes to stay active

The Fitbit Charge Wireless Activity Wristband is similar to the Flex model but includes an actual LED readout screen and an altimeter. The newest offering from the most well-known of the activity tracker brands out there, the Fitbit Charge keeps track of calories eaten/burned, activity and even sleep. You can also step up to teh HR model, if you want heart rate tracking.

MSRP: $130 | Lowest Price on Ben’s: $86

Check Ben’s for Deals on the Fitbit Charge

Buy this gift for the person serious about getting healthy

The Withings WS-50 WiFi Scale is a high-tech scale that measures weight, body fat, composition, heart rate, and even indoor air quality, and also allows you to automatically upload and track your progress (via Bluetooth/Wi-Fi) using the included Health Mate app. The older model (WS-30) has almost all of the same features if you want to save a bit of money.

MSRP: $150 | Lowest Price on Ben’s: $120

Check Ben’s for Deals on the Withing Scale

Buy this gift for the kid who spends too much time playing video games

The GeoPalz iBitz Pedometer  is a small clip-on activity tracker that syncs with a game/app that requires kids to have to actually exercise and eat well to keep a virtual “pet” alive (sounds kind of like a real-life Tamagotchi — anyone else remember those things??). It also tracks your kids’ steps throughout the day and exchanges them for prizes, awards and online game time.

MSRP: $35 | Lowest Price on Ben’s: $10

Check Amazon for the iBitz Pedometer

Buy this gift for a casual that’s just trying to lose the holiday weight

There’s a reason Fitbit took two spots on our holiday list, they make awesome fitness trackers! The Fitbit Zip is not a wristband, but rather a tracker that can be clipped onto your clothing or slipped into a pocket. It tracks steps, distance and calories burned; perfect for anyone that wants to shed a few pounds after all those delicious holiday dinners.

MSRP: $60 | Lowest Price on Ben’s:$30

Check Ben’s for Deals on the Fitbit Zip

Buy this gift for the person super serious about running

People who are into running can be, like, really into running. For these people, the Garmin Forerunner 620 GPS Watch w/ HRM-Run monitor1 is as technical a running watch as you’re going to get. This GPS watch, when used with the HRM heart rate monitor, tracks and calculates a ton of things that quite honestly, I’m not familiar with (vertical oscillation, recovery time and VO2 max estimate, to name a few) but I’m sure runners are. If you’re not as concerned with some of those things, you can get an older, less high-tech Garmin Forerunner GPS watch on sale for $100 to $150.

 MSRP: $450 | Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

Check Amazon for the Garmin Forerunner 620

Fitness gadgets worth buying this holiday season

I’ve never been a fan of smartwatches. Well, scratch that. I was a fan of those ridiculous TV remote control watches available a couple decades ago. You know, the ones that become popular among devious teenagers that wanted to turn off all the televisions in the mall. That was the Rick Roll of the 90’s, pressing rewind and fast forward during that one life-scarring scene of the birthing video in Sex Ed in order to freak out all your classmates over and over again.

Fast forward to 2014 and the reemerging smartwatch doesn’t have much appeal to me. I was always intrigued by the original Pebble, but thought it looked like a child’s toy.  As an aspiring adult, I like to think that I’ve outgrown a watch that looks like a prize at the bottom of a cereal box. I’m also not a fan of Samsung’s take on the smartwatch and Apple seems content to sit idly by while other companies define the product.

However, I am impressed with the recently announced Pebble Steel. The classic stainless steel design is gorgeous as well as the version with the black leather strap. It’s a man’s watch, no question.

I also like that Pebble went with Corning Gorilla Glass for the front as well as metal buttons on the sides of the actual watch. I could care less that it’s also waterproof, but if I have a hankerin’ to take it into the shower, I suppose I can.

Even the price point doesn’t seem ridiculous at $249, mostly because Samsung’s poorly reviewed Galaxy Gear still has a $299 MRSP. The Pebble Steel also has a sleeker look than the Galaxy Gear, mostly because I prefer the class band styles to the odd, futuristic rubber look to the Galaxy Gear band.

If you want to read more about the Pebble Steel, you can check out the site here. Below you will find some product shots of the Steel.

Old Pebble versus New Pebble Steel

Shut Up and Take My Money: Pebble Steel Smartwatch