The incredibly cheap AGM Legion Pro is ideal for users who want a rugged Garmin-style watch for less than $100/£100 | Tech Radar

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The incredibly cheap AGM Legion Pro is ideal for users who want a rugged Garmin-style watch for less than $100/£100

A reasonably reliable smartwatch for adventurers

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The AGM Legion Pro is a rugged, durable outdoor smartwatch with an impressive set of design features, including an aluminum frame, a Gorilla Glass 1.43-inch AMOLED display, and a strong MIL-STD-810H and 5 ATM rating. While it excels in toughness and provides highly accurate GPS distance tracking, its performance is hindered by multi-minute delays in acquiring a GPS signal and poor heart rate accuracy during intense exercise. Its 370 m Ah battery provides an impressive 10 to 14 days of life, charging fully in 75 minutes, but the overall user experience is less polished than rivals, reflecting its budget price tag.

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The AGM Legion Pro is a budget-friendly, rugged outdoor smartwatch which competes with more expensive, adventure-focused rivals like those from Garmin or Suunto. It aims to do this by offering specs that typically belong to higher-end models, including military-grade durability, aluminum frame, and a Gorilla Glass-protected 1.43-inch AMOLED display.

The watch's performance is characterized by a significant trade-off between its impressive physical resilience and its unpolished user experience, which is a constant reminder of its low price tag. While the GPS is highly accurate once locked, matching the precision of the Suunto Race S, the process of starting an activity can be frustratingly slow.

Health tracking similarly lacks the finesse of its competitors. The optical sensors are reliable for heart rate accuracy at rest, but they cannot maintain the same level of precision during high-intensity exercise, frequently exhibiting a noticeable lag in capturing peak heart rate.

On a positive note, the physical durability of the Legion Pro is excellent; it withstood being plunged into water with zero performance issues and showed no damage from weeks of hard use, confirming its ability to outlast many other budget-tier alternatives.

One of the Legion Pro's most compelling features is its battery life. The 370 m Ah cell provides outstanding endurance, lasting around 14 days with typical usage and dropping to a still-excellent 10 days with heavy usage that includes regular GPS tracking and Bluetooth calling.

The AGM Legion Pro is unlikely to be considered for our guide to the best smartwatches but might bulldoze its way onto our best cheap smartwatch list, if only for its rugged durability.

Up to 10 days of heavy use, or 30+ days on standby.

Up to 10 days of heavy use, or 30+ days on standby.

More well-known brands compete well at this price point

At

The AGM Legion Pro is a rugged outdoor smartwatch that is focused on durability. With an aluminum frame and solid plastic base, not only is the overall weight kept to a minimum, but it's also strong enough to withstand the knocks that inevitably come from exercising and exploring.

Its rugged aesthetic is backed up by meeting the MIL-STD-810H military standard for extreme conditions and its 5ATM water resistance rating, which makes it suitable for swimming and water sports up to 50 meters. It's shockproof, drop-proof, and highly resistant to dust and water.

Moving on to the display, AGM have opted for a vibrant 1.43-inch AMOLED offering that serves up a high level of clarity and contrast while also delivering excellent visibility. I was also impressed by its 600 nits of brightness, which meant I had zero issues viewing the display, even in direct sunlight. The Apple Watch SE 3 offers 1,000 nits of brightness as a comparison, but it’s also more than double the price of this watch. To protect the display and cement its rugged status, the Legion Pro’s screen is shielded by ultra-tough Gorilla Glass, ensuring it can withstand significant scratches and impacts.

The Legion Pro features two physical buttons, one of which is a programmable ‘hot key’ for instant access to a favorite function, like the best Garmin watches. This adds a layer of convenience when wearing gloves or when the touchscreen might be wet. The rotatable crown button is effortless to use and enables movement through menus at a predictable speed.

There are two strap options in every box, with the neon orange option being my favorite. The silicone material is ideal for versatility and resistance to sweat, but I did find an issue with the implementation of the buckle and hole. In my experience, the silicone was too rigid to make for a comfortable fit.

A rugged smartwatch that delivers for outdoor enthusiasts

The Legion Pro is a genuinely tough smartwatch with a rugged durability that gives users the confidence that it can handle an adventure where other watches might fail. To put its rugged credentials to the test, I submerged it in water and was pleased that I didn’t encounter any performance issues as a result. I also experienced no issues with screen or case damage despite using the watch for a number of weeks and being far from careful about knocking it.

To complement its outdoor credentials, the watch features built-in GPS and offline maps. The combination makes it a perfect solution for accurate location and route tracking, especially when you don't have access to an internet connection. There’s also an integrated barometer, altimeter, and compass which enables users to find their exact position without a signal. I comment on its accuracy in more detail in the Performance section.

The AGM Legion Pro has all the health features and activity tracking that you would expect from a smartphone of this price. This includes heart rate and sleep monitoring as well as dedicated swimming and golfing modes. In fact, there are over 100 trackable activities, which will be more than enough for most people.

14 days battery life with typical usage, dropping to 10 days with heavy usage

I didn't know what to expect when I received the AGM Legion Pro. I had already done my research and couldn't quite reconcile the low price tag with the impressive set of features. But after even just a short while of testing, it quickly became clear that this is a smartwatch that aims for the moon while lacking implementation finesse.

Take the GPS, for example. This proved to be as accurate as the Suunto Race S with only a small margin of error over a long distance, but unfortunately the experience of starting activities was a test of patience. Annoyingly, you can only have up to ten activities listed on the watch at any one time, which is far from ideal for anyone who takes part in a varied set of exercises. But maybe more frustrating were the delays that it took to acquire a GPS signal, sometimes taking around 10 minutes before it locks on. It's a clear trade-off: amazing results for the price once it gets going, but a noticeable hurdle getting out of the starting gate.

The story continues when it comes to health metrics. Comparing it to the reliable Huawei Watch Ultimate 2, I found no issues with heart rate accuracy when I was at rest. Unfortunately, its optical sensors couldn't maintain the same accuracy during high-intensity exercise. The feeling of my heart pounding in my chest was oftentimes only captured by the device after a distinct lag. I know it's not a smartwatch for serious runners, but the lack of real-time accuracy is a little disappointing.

In terms of battery performance, the 370 m Ah battery of the AGM Legion Pro lasted around 2 weeks with a typical level of usage. The testing period included constant health tracking, daily exercise tracking, and smart feature usage, including reading and responding to notifications. I found that the battery life dropped to nearer 10 days when I used GPS tracking and Bluetooth calling more regularly. No surprises there.

I was able to charge the smartwatch from empty to 50% in only 30 minutes, with a full charge taking 75 minutes. This was at a charging speed of 1W, which was the maximum that I was able to achieve using the supplied charging cable. The cable has a simple two-pronged attachment which magnetically connects to the back of the smartwatch. I found it to be fairly reliable, although not as secure a fit as the round attachment offered on the Suunto Race S.

An affordable smartwatch with a number of pro features.

An affordable smartwatch with a number of pro features.

A rugged design that is durable enough to withstand a reasonable level of exploration.

A rugged design that is durable enough to withstand a reasonable level of exploration.

With GPS, offline maps, 5ATM, and an IP68 waterproof rating, this is an excellent feature set to power even the most ambitious of adventurers.

With GPS, offline maps, 5ATM, and an IP68 waterproof rating, this is an excellent feature set to power even the most ambitious of adventurers.

Rugged excellence, but GPS locking is slow, and health tracking isn’t always accurate.

Rugged excellence, but GPS locking is slow, and health tracking isn’t always accurate.

The MIL-STD-810H certification and a 5 ATM rating make this watch an ideal choice for outdoor adventurers.

With outdoor navigation tools like built-in GPS, offline maps, a barometer, altimeter, and compass, there's no shortage of helpful features to keep your adventures moving in the right direction.

This smartwatch couldn't be further from the Fitbit or Apple Watch design ethos. If that's what you're looking for, I would stay away from the AGM Legion Pro!

The watch lacks automatic syncing with Strava, which will put a lot of runners off. It's also pretty bulky, which isn't ideal for running.

Boasting supreme durability, unbeatable battery life, and excellent core GPS/mapping capability, the T-Rex 3 Pro is a solid offering. Lacks third-party app integration, LTE connectivity, and advanced safety features.

An extensive feature set, accurate health tracking, and a brilliant classic design – all for an unbelievably low price.

If you're looking for a casual wearable tracker, the Fitbit Charge 6 is a great option. It's unobtrusive, has an ECG heart health reader, full GPS, and above-average sleep tracking.

I wore the Legion Pro smartwatch almost non-stop for three straight weeks. In this time I regularly tracked my health and sleep metrics as well as engaged in numerous different activities. Most notable were a number of walks, bike rides, a soccer game, and a little bit of hiking. To test its waterproof rating, I took great joy in plunging the watch in a bucket of water. I also tested its smartwatch features, including taking calls, answering texts, and map navigation.

Writer, app-hoarder, and professional "low battery" enthusiast. Paul spends his days testing wearables so you don’t have to, and his nights wondering if his sleep tracker is judging him. He’s fascinated by the tech that claims to make us better humans—and if it’s wearable, downloadable, or requires a firmware update, he has thoughts on it.

With over 20 years of experience and a first-class Computer Science degree, Paul has navigated the front lines of the tech and creative industries. His work has been published internationally and appears regularly in Digital Camera World and Creative Bloq.

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Key Takeaways

• News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets

• Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more

• Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards

• The incredibly cheap AGM Legion Pro is ideal for users who want a rugged Garmin-style watch for less than $100/£100

• A reasonably reliable smartwatch for adventurers