My brother recently got a second hand Apple Watch S8 recently and we were talking about watch bands, trying different ones out and such and we both came to the conclusion that counterfeit ones are not worth your money and you should get pre-owned or open box bands if you don't want to pay Apple's stupid prices.
- The differences in the rubber on a counterfeit versus a genuine Sport Band is pretty massive. Genuine ones are much stronger, softer and comfortable to wear. I didn't realise the difference was so huge until I tried my brother's genuine Sport Band.
- The lugs on counterfeit bands almost always do not sit snugly or securely to the watch. This is especially a problem if they are metal lugs because they can scratch the anodized aluminium off the casing of your device (I've had this happen to me :|).
- The thread count of counterfeit Sport Loops is lower, they fray faster and the velcro doesn't attach very well.
You will need to be able to identify the difference between counterfeit and genuine bands, there are guides out there and the differences are generally pretty easy to spot.
