They give you the fitness-tracking functionality of a pure-play fitness band, plus they sync to your phone so you get notifications on your wrist -- answer and reject calls, read messages, reply with a thumbs-up or whatever -- and you get the fun stuff like customisable watch faces.

And they are well under $100.

It's already a product category, but many people seem unaware it exists.

Much the same as the high-end budget smartphones. I've had a couple of decent capable modern Android phones that were under $200 new. This is a thing that exists, but the folks that follow fashion don't seem to realise.

I spent years being relatively poor and in serious debt. You learn to live without luxuries, but if you're smart, you find the ways to get good stuff cheap.

A $150 smartphone can deliver 90% of the functionality of a $1000 smartphone. In the same way, a $75 smartwatch can deliver 70-80% of the functionality of a $500 watch.

And TBH, I know which I prefer. Phones and watches live hard lives, for electronics, and they are easily lost, stolen, dropped, broken, etc.

I would rather have a $200 phone in my pocket than a $1000 one, because I know the risks, and if the 4-digit-price one gets damaged or vanishes, that hurts my budget... but I can tolerate a low-3-digit loss more easily.