Please do not buy the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch, even for $80

Fossil latest fire salewhich appears to be already sold out 9to5Google as reported, this is another version of a deal that is too good to be true. This is a good time to remind you that unless you’re buying an old smartwatch for archival purposes, a deal like the $80 Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch isn’t worth it, even for a laugh.

The company has been trying to get rid of stock of this smartwatch for some time now. It started a few months ago after Fossil announced it was shutting down its wearable software division in January 2024, nine years after it was one of the first fashion brands to announce its collaboration with the Android portable operating system. The company promised updates to its devices despite the shutdown.

The Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch it’s an old watch. It initially launched in 2021 for $300 after mediocre reviews. Its drawbacks were slow software, poor battery life, and a lack of exciting health features that would have helped the Android platform stand out from the competition. Fossil also had poor timing: it released Gen 6 after Google’s announcement that he overhauled the watch’s operating system and made it shine.

There has long been a running joke about how Fossil smartwatches tend to outperform sales when discounted. But you’ll also see plenty Reddit Threads where people say that this Fossil Gen 6 in particular is a “dead product” and not worth the attractive price.

If you want to wear a smartwatch that can handle notifications and music browsing, there are cheaper options, especially if you don’t mind the hardware you use. I saw the first generation Pixel watch $60 to $140 used on eBay and is a much better representation of what Wear OS can do.

If you want to collect a piece of Android history, you can do better than this Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch. I would start by finding one LG watcha relic of the days when Android thought it would be a square smartwatch platform Or round.