Smartwatches are an excellent extension of your phone for quickly interacting with notifications, controlling music playback, and more. With so many makes and models to choose from, we've made it our mission to help you find the perfect fit for your wrist.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro
Battery champ
Pros
- Outstanding battery
- Hybrid mode works well
- Two user-programmable buttons
- Google Pay + GPS
Cons
- It's freaking huge
- Essential Mode can be slow
Small wrists need not apply to the TicWatch Pro, but if you have large enough wrists to accomodate it, it delivers every feature you could ask for and some of the best battery life we've seen on any Wear OS watch.
Misfit Vapor 2
Sleek design
Pros
- Available in two sizes
- Simple, understated design
- Google Pay
- Built-in GPS
Cons
- Laggy performance
- Crown doesn't work well
- Disappointing battery life
The Misfit Vapor 2's greatest strength is its design. Its simple aesthetic works just about everywhere and the two size options make it accessible to wrists both big and small. Unfortunately, performance and battery woes hold it back.
With both watches selling for $250, the TicWatch Pro is the better overall option thanks to its exceptional battery life and unique dual screen technology. You should only really buy the Vapor 2 if you're in love with the way it looks or find a good deal on it.
A battle of aesthetics and battery life
Alright, so your Wear OS journey has lead you to two possible options — the Misfit Vapor 2 and Mobvoi TicWatch Pro. Both watches cost exactly the same, and as a result of this, you'll find a lot of the same features shared across each one.
Both the Vapor 2 and TicWatch Pro have heart-rate sensors, built-in GPS chips for mapping outdoor runs or walks without needing a connected phone, NFC for contactless payments with Google Pay, and water resistance that allow you to go swimming with them. All of these are excellent attributes and things we've come to expect from a Wear OS watch hitting the market these days.
A less than desirable trait shared between both watches is the chipset that powers them. At the heart of the Vapor 2 and TicWatch Pro is the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100. It's a processor that was first released back in 2016, and it's definitely showing its age.
Opening apps, raise-to-wake gestures, and navigating through the UI regularly feels slower than you'd probably like. It's certainly less than ideal, but that's the reality of using Wear OS with the 2100. It's not a game-breaking experience, but it's also an annoyance that doesn't go away.
| Misfit Vapor 2 | Mobvoi TicWatch Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 41mm 46mm |
45mm |
| Display | 1.2-inches 1.4-inches |
1.39-inches |
| Processor | Snapdragon Wear 2100 | Snapdragon Wear 2100 |
| Battery | Around 1 day | 2-30 days |
| GPS | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| NFC | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Heart-rate sensor | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Water resistance | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Price | $250 | $250 |
Each watch has one big difference that makes it better than the other, and with the Vapor 2, that standout aspect is its design. Misfit offers the Vapor 2 in both 41mm and 46mm case sizes, making it accessible to people of all wrist sizes. Add that together with a sleek, understated design that pretty much fades into the background, and it's something I greatly prefer over the chunky, meatball-like build of the TicWatch Pro.
Then again, that chunkiness of the TicWatch Pro is warranted in one very important way — battery life.
On the Vapor 2, you'll only get around one day of use per charge. On the TicWatch Pro, you can get up to five days with regular use and up to 30 days if you take advantage of its Essential Mode.
The TicWatch Pro manages to offer so much endurance thanks to its unique dual-screen design. The primary AMOLED screen is what you'll use for interacting with the Wear OS interface, but you can easily switch to a grayscale panel that just shows the time, date, and your steps + heart rate. You can swap back and forth between these screens as you please, giving you great flexibility over the available battery endurance.
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro
Battery champ
The best battery life of any Wear OS watch to-date
The TicWatch Pro gets a lot right, but without a doubt, the main reason to pick it up is its outstanding battery life. You can easily get up to five days of regular use, and when you add that together with incredibly fast charging speeds, it's a lot easier to forgive its bulky casing.
Misfit Vapor 2
Sleek design
A capable Wear OS watch that looks great
If there's one thing we like about the Vapor 2 the most, it's definitely its design. It's sleek, modern, and accessible for just about everyone. The peformance and battery life are disappointing, but a great display, support for Google Pay, and built-in GPS help to redeem it.
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