My father is notoriously difficult to shop for. He likes tech, but he likes to stick with the classics. He rarely buys the latest and greatest devices, but he at least knows about them, and he's still young enough to keep up with today's tech. He also loves Samsung (like father, like son). So, when the time came to look for a Father's Day gift, two things came to mind: Prime Day and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic.
Of course, I'm late to Father's Day, but that's what happens when Prime Day begins days later. I'm glad I waited, though, because the Galaxy Watch 8 is currently on sale with a 33% discount, shaving $165 off the price.
The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is hard to recommend at its regular $500 price, but when you're getting more than $150 off, the watch becomes much more enticing of a buy.
Price comparison: Best Buy - $349.99 | Samsung - $349.99View Deal
✅Recommended if: You want a powerful smartwatch with good battery life, tons of health and fitness features, and a classic design with a rotating bezel for navigation.
❌Skip this deal if: You don't want a heavy smartwatch, you own a Pixel (get a Pixel Watch), or you want a smartwatch that lasts for more than a couple of days per charge.
Samsung has on-and-off years with the Classic series of Galaxy Watches, and last year's Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is the best one we've gotten. It has a very fast, high-performance processor, so navigation is smooth as ever. It also runs Wear OS 6 with Samsung's UI on top, and we can expect Wear OS 7 to bring even more goodies.
But I think my dad (and dads like mine) will love it because of the design. Samsung tried something new by giving it a squircle shape, but the round watch face and metal chassis still give a classic style. And the best part is that you can rotate the bezel for easy navigation (or just to fiddle with).
Our reviewer said that he liked the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic's bezel "because its ridged design is more striking than past models; the 6 Classic's bezel is easier on the fingers but almost too subtle for anyone to see, especially with my Black model. This version's bezel is rougher to the touch, but still easy to turn."
I also think it will be good for my dad to have something to monitor his health and, hopefully, motivate him to get serious about exercising, as my favorite fitness tech products have for me.