Worth the $240 dollar difference? REAL vs. FAKE Apple Watch Milanese Loop Comparison (Series 4 upd.)

Is there a difference between real Apple Watch Bands and rip-offs? The answer is yes. A very tiny yes. One of these watch straps cost me $20 dollars whereas the other cost me close to $300 dollars.

*Checked both bands with the Apple Watch Series 4. Whatever I say in this video stills stands

Can you see which one is the real one?

Probably not. When I first got these two bands, the only way I could tell the differences was by the color of the magnet on the clasp. The dark one is the genuine Apple product. I’ll mark the knock-off with a piece of tape.

After spending several months with both straps, which one is better? Which band held up better to everyday use? The genuine Apple Watch band did but is it worth the $240 price difference? I’ll let you decide after I go into the details.

Check out what Apple Watch Bands Amazon has:

Amazon US: http://mreh.ca/2pux8lU
Amazon CA: http://mreh.ca/2puv5OC
Amazon UK: http://mreh.ca/2puCihP
Amazon DE: http://mreh.ca/2pusvbr

Or get it on eBay: http://mreh.ca/2pueF9e

Now I know Apple Products seem overpriced. In general, you do get what you pay for. More money usually means a better product which is true when it comes to Apple hardware in my opinion. Just ask my first iBook.

Accessories on the other hand are ridiculous? Apple’s iPad cases are brutal. The cases work well but are way too much.

For the iPhone, Apple’s cases are decent but are still definitely over-priced but the difference between a $10 dollar case and the $45 dollar case is quite noticeable. For $10 dollars, you get cheap plastic with sharp corners and for $45, you get a grippy case.

With the Apple Watch, when I started looking into different Milanese bands after getting the real one, I was appalled at the price difference.

They bands weigh almost the same, they have the same width but the links on the Apple watch are a little bigger but that’s about it. Both have a solid fit in the Apple Watch and neither of them gave me any issues while wearing them.

The $20 dollar band has a bit more bend which won’t make a difference when wearing it. I’m guessing that the links in the Apple Watch band have a tighter fit to them, which would be an indication of the build quality.

The biggest difference I noticed between the two? The coating on the $20 dollar band is starting to wear off. Sort of. You can definitely see wear the band makes contact with itself. How big of a deal is it? I am guessing not much because it happens on the part of the band that nobody sees.

The only other thing I’ve noticed between the two bands is that the $20 dollar has way more scratches than the genuine Apple product which goes back to the beginning of the video. You get what you pay for but these scratches are pretty hard to see on an everyday basis.

That’s it. Those are the only two things I’ve noticed over the last 22 weeks.

So I ask you, is this slightly better wear and tear worth the extra $240 dollars? I think the answer for most people is going to be….no? Let me know below.

But here’s a few things to think about.

When you’re buying the cheap band, you’re supporting a company that didn’t spend any time designing the band. They just copied it. They didn’t try to make it better, they straight up copied it. As a responsible consumer, I have a hard time feeling good about myself giving money to knockoff companies.

That’s the main reasons why I stay away from reviewing knockoff iPhone accessories. I’m not going to give any sort of credit to companies whose business model is to just copy what other’s are doing.

The second thing to think about is the fact that your premium priced Apple Watch has a $20 dollar band keeping it to your wrist. Now the average person isn’t going to be able to tell if you’re rocking the real or fake band. In fact, I don’t think I’d be able to see the difference without pulling the watch off that person’s hand to see if it is real or not.

I know I found myself falling into this mental trap. The real band “felt” better on my hand than the fake one even though they are pretty much identical and have the same functionality.

Now the last thing to consider is whether or not Apple should be supported. Is the product that much better that they deserve to command a premium price?

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