Customers commend the Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum for its sleek design, easy setup, and affordable price. They appreciate the clear and colorful display, as well as the comfortable fit. However, customers express concerns about the short battery life, compatibility issues with certain devices, connectivity problems, and the lack of a speaker on the watch.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 137 reviews
Pros mentioned:
Design, Display
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Smart, Stylish, in Need of Some Substance
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The Michael Kors Access MKGO Smartwatch is light, thin, stylish, comfortable on the wrist, and at 7mm thick one of the thinnest smartwatches on the market. It has a brilliant, razor sharp AMOLED touchscreen display that is easy to read even in bright sunlight. The display is 'always on', switching from color to a dimmer monochrome display to save power when no movement is detected. The face is round, rather than square, so it looks more like a traditional watch and at 43mm wide it's not obnoxiously large on your wrist.
The Access MKGO is pretty feature rich, with an on board GPS, optical heart rate monitor, n-way accelerometer, and altimeter, wifi, nfc, and bluetooth. There is a built in mic, but no speaker. It's waterproof to 100ft. WearOS looks a lot like Android and there are a lot of apps to do useful and useless things. The battery is quick charge, a full charge seems to take about an hour, which is good because the battery is only good for about a day to day and a half at best.
Unboxing, the watch comes with a charging cable, a user's manual that essentially says "Download the WearOS App, pair, and follow the instructions". If you want any information about what the buttons do, or what swiping in a direction does (it is a touchscreen afterall), you're directed to the Michael Kors support site. You have to supply a usb charger. And there is a deceptively large book that has the safety information in a zillion languages. Charge up the watch and you're ready to go.
The MKGO is Google WearOS based and comes with the WearOS App installed, along with Google Fit and Assistant. There are lots of apps for fitness (including Strava), as well as music, productivity, agendas, games, etc. Although there is no speaker, the watch will pair with bluetooth headphones/earbuds and can be used for tunes while working out if you've forgotten your phone. I don't know what the crystal is made from, but it's pretty tough. I cracked it pretty hard against a weight without so much as scratching it.
I've used this watch over the last two weeks at the gym and on a half dozen or so bike rides ranging from 20 to 50 miles each. Battery life goes down dramatically when tracking activity, figure about 15% battery/hour. The longest bike ride was about five hours, starting at 90% battery. The watch was in battery save mode and at 15% at the end of the ride. As I said earlier, it's a good thing that the battery quick charges. On days that I didn't do any fitness activity tracking, I would see about 50% battery usage over 16 hours.
I really like the MKGO, mostly because I don't feel it, it's just there when I want it. I don't have this big, clunky, heavy thing swinging around my wrist. It does a lot of what I want, allowing me to check notifications and texts in the car or on my bike without stopping to check my phone (yes, I don't text and drive...). The heart rate and fitness monitoring seem pretty accurate and it's very convenient being able to swipe the screen rather than try to remember which button to push.
That being said, the MKGO is not without its negatives. The biggest is battery life, which could be a lot better. The processor used it the latest Qualcomm Wear processor, but it's a bit hamstrung by only 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. After WearOS and pre-installed apps, about 1.6GB of storage is left for additional apps and user stuff. The performance lag is especially notable when switching apps, which can take a few seconds. And there is no speaker.
For me, the negatives are tolerable and the positives, particularly the fit and the display, outweigh them. The broad selection of apps that is growing all the time is another real selling point. The MKGO is not perfect, but that is the state of the art right now, and it's definitely worth considering.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Pretty decent watch
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I previously had a Huawei smartwatch for 4 years and loved the Wear OS. I got this as a replacement for it because of the price. The top and bottom buttons on the side are programmable, so you can choose an app to launch. The center button is turnable, so you can scroll up and down menus.
The other reviews are correct about the lag, but I found that once it is fully updated, it runs very smoothly. I don't use very many advanced features on it. I mainly use it for notifications so I don't have to look at my phone, fitness tracking, and the calendar. I have also started using Google Pay with it, which is a nice feature.
I turn off "always on" and depending on where I am, I might disable wrist gestures. Background heart rate is also turned on. With me using it that way, my battery seems to last me until I go to bed. I will note that the battery will drain fast when you initially start to update, so I recommend leaving it on the charger while it does it's thing.
Over all, I like the watch and it serves it purpose well. The bands are very easy to change out. I'm ordering a band for work and I'll use the silicone for the gym.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design
Cons mentioned:
Os
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Sleek, lightweight, but needs improvement
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
So I have mixed feelings about this watch. It has many pros, but the OS seems unrefined.
From the get go the watch looks very nice and sleek. It is well polished and the band is very thick and feels sturdy. The watch itself is very light weight, like half the weight of most full size Galaxy watches. It is very easy to setup via the Wear OS app on your phone. It syncs with your Google account so it works with your contacts, calendar, etc very seamlessly.
Now the bad part, the OS. Sending a text is almost impossible. For some reason there is no keyboard to type. You can only compose a text through speech. I do not like that. You can reply easily to a text via the built in "smart responses" and that is great. But if you want to draft a message from scratch and want to use the Google keyboard (which is in the settings), you cannot use it. I have tried everything, but the keyboard never pops up in the message app.
It also takes a long time to think when running most processes. The Google colored circles spin around for what seems like a tad bit too long to launch a speech feature like the message or opening an event. It just doesn't feel like it is running to it's full potential.
The physical characteristics are very nice on the watch. It has three buttons and the middle one spins. This allows you to scroll through the menus very easy. The top and bottom buttons allow you to program them to quickly launch what you want. This makes things very easy for common processes.
The Overall usability for the watch is very good, it simply works. I just don't think it works as smooth as the Galaxy OS. I expected more from Google. If you have never used a smart watch before you may not notice these differences so this may be the watch for you. It is light and very sharp looking and easily customize able. It works well, but with a few quirks, I can recommend overall.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Easy setup
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Perfect for those new to smartwatches
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I’m pretty new at smart watches, and to be honest, I never thought I would ever get one.
So, if you are new to smart watches this one is perfect for you.
First of all, the setup was pretty easy. As soon you turn the watch on, it will guide you through. The next step is to download the app. I have an iPhone 8 plus, and again pretty painless. It comes with a charging pad, which is magnetic.
The watch has a sports look but the size makes me believe it is a woman’s watch, and husband agrees. I love the fact you can change faces, so you can match your outfit with it!
You can setup to get notifications for new email, texts, calls... but I thought that was kinda annoying.
Another cool feature is the heart rate and steps tracker. How many steps are you supposed to do on a daily basis anyways?
Overall I think is a pretty cool watch and I would definitely recommend it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Day to Day Watch
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Not too much negative things can be said about this watch except that it just seems to do the basic of Google Wear functions. At first glance, it looks like Michael Kors was going for a toned down, minimalistic style, and everyday watch. They did a good job with the aesthetics overall, black aluminum with a black band looks great. Now for the OS and overall use of this watch, it does lack a little bit in the software department. Again with the Wear OS being what it is, Android functionality is good. There are a few times where it lags a bit with either touch input or with opening up apps and you feel like it just isn't registering touches but it is just delayed.
This makes for a great gift for those that are looking to get a everyday use watch. If this is for you, unless you are a Michael Kors loyalist, you can probably do better off researching another name brand watch to see if they have more ram memory or functionality.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Easy setup
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Great watch but needs a larger battery
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The watch was easy to setup and use. For some reason the google assistant kept waking up randomly with out my permission and searched or listened to my conversations. Returned it for this reason and because the battery would not last from 7 am to 10 pm, it would go to clock mode at around 7 pm.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Price
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Price better be good
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have been looking for a smart watch for a long time. I was having trouble justifying $300 for one & found this one on sale for less than half of that price.
Overall, it is okay... but battery life is my biggest complaint. If you change to custom settings, you can make it last all day, otherwise, it's less than 24 hours.
I wanted a Google Assistant device (Wear OS), so a Samsung watch wasn't an option.
I had trouble getting some features properly setup... and finally gave up on some of them (ie. Google Fit, getting Assistant to always listen, etc)
I'm content to stick with this one, but probably should have held out or spent more
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design, Price
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Best in class style....
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The watch is absolutely stunning in a minimal way. Which is how I like it. The software has come along and feels more complete and stable. It is a steal when on sale.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design
Cons mentioned:
Battery life, Os
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Just Okay
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I had never heard great things about Wear OS smartwatches, but I’ve still always wanted to have one, thinking they would integrate better with my Pixel phone then other watches I’ve tried. I came away from the experience underwhelmed. It’s not bad-looking watch, but the limitations from the OS, performance, and battery life make it hard to recommend.
Starting off with the good this is a very nice-looking watch. I’m not a huge fan of the embossed Michael Kors text on the band, but it’s not nearly as noticeable as the pictures make it seem and can be replaced with any other 20mm watch band. The black casing has a nice understated look and thankfully the branding on the watch itself is limited to a small ‘MK’ on the center button. It’s very comfortable to wear and is light enough that I don’t really notice on my wrist. The watch has taken on a few light scratches in the 2 weeks I’ve used it, but has held up pretty well otherwise. It’s also swimproof, so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet.
Setup just required the download of the Wear OS app, which was nice coming from the Galaxy Watch that required me to install about 5 different apps on my phone. Getting everything linked up with my phone was fairly effortless as it was just taking all the data that was already synced to my Google account.
Using the watch is when my opinion of it started to decline. It has the latest Snapdragon 3100 processor built in, but everything I did felt very sluggish, especially opening apps. Even basic menu animations show some stutter from time to time. Battery life is also not impressive. With the always-on screen I never made it through an entire day and was forced to turn that off, which means checking the time requires pulling the watch up to your face with the ‘I have somewhere else to be’ motion. When the battery is low the watch will still function in an ultra-low battery mode that only shows the time, which is better than nothing. There’s also no speaker on the watch, which is baffling to me. Google Assistant is there and you still get a microphone, but responses come in text only.
The app selection is limited, though the built-in apps were mostly fine with me. I did go and get some third-party watch faces as all of the ones included here include some kind of Michael Kors branding that I wanted to get away from. Having Google Fit to keep track of my steps and activities is nice.
For the price I don’t think this compares that badly to other Wear OS watches, but I think that’s mostly because they aren’t that great either. It’s not all bad, but I don’t think that it’s worth it right now.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Easy to use
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Beautiful color comparable with android phone, highly recommended
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Gold with White Silicone Band
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design
Cons mentioned:
Compatibility
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Great design and features
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
It you have android phone then it’s great. Got this for cool design, but it didn’t work great with my iPhone. Had to get the Apple Watch instead.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Excellent watch I love the red is very beautiful and work great
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Red with Red Silicone Band
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Easy setup
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great smartwatch
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Posted . Owned for 9 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I like the ColorS, súper easy setup with me iphone
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Red with Red Silicone Band
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Compatibility
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
MK watch
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Ok, bought it because I could not justify the new or series 3 Apple Watch, this fills in nice for Apple Watch till Apple can get there stuff to tether and make the watch usable for the user, I’m not going to answer my email or text on a small screen.
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Nice watch but battery is not good
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I really like this watch. My only complaint is the battery. It says 24 hours but I find that end of my work day 10-11 hours it is under 40% from normal use. If I start messing with things I can drain the battery in a matter of hours.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great basic smartwatch
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This watch was easy to set up. So far with minimal use the battery has lasted just about two days. I love the custom watch heads. Lots to choose from and can customize each color scheme to match your outfit. Seems a bit slow reaction to touch (about 2 seconds). Google Assistant is also slow to respond from the wake phrase "OK Google." There's no speaker so you can't listen to music with it. Definitely not a watch for fitness. I don't know if the step count is accurate or not but I sure hope my heart rate doesn't fluctuate as much as this watch says it does. You can't customize the settings screen and there's no instructions to what the symbols mean. You just have to figure it out.
If you're just looking for a watch to get your notifications and calendar appointments then this watch works great!
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Pink With Pink Silicone Band
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great watch for the value
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Posted . Owned for 8 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Wife wanted a smart watch and loves Michael Kors, so i HAD to go with this watch. She loves it and uses it every day. They didn't have any rose gold, so gold and white was the best option. Makes her wrist look elegant and not TOO flashy.
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Gold with White Silicone Band
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Laggy
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great watch for someone new to smart watches.
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Has a bit of lag, but decent! Sad that it doesn't have any sound, yet being water resistant makes up for that part! The band is really comfortable, and love all the different faces!
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Battery life, Compatibility
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Looks amazing
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Better suited for android not a great match with apple. Battery life is not great
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Pink With Pink Silicone Band
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Price
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Watch
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I got this on sale for a gift. But after reading more reviews I returned it and got a Samsung galaxy watch.
This review is from Michael Kors - Gen 4 MKGO Smartwatch 43mm Aluminum - Pink With Pink Silicone Band