A wearable fitness tracker will help you track your steps, workout, sleep and more. It can also provide motivational posts that can push you towards a specific goal.
What criteria are important for a tracker?
Comfortable to wear. When choosing a device, you need to pay close attention to battery life, convenience, ease of menu navigation, customizability and intuitiveness of the application.
It's also worth paying attention to the accuracy of activity tracking, workout recording, and heart rate measurement accuracy.
Fitbit Charge 5
Sleek and feature-rich, the Fitbit Charge 5 activity tracker accurately and automatically records a variety of activities, has built-in GPS and an app that makes it easy to use and set up.
The Fitbit Charge 5 is one of the most accurate for measuring steps and heart rate (though accuracy isn't everything).It reliably detects, almost always correctly identifies and automatically starts recording workouts: running, walking, cycling, swimming, after about 10 minutes of activity.
The color touchscreen display is bright and clear, even in bright sunlight, with easily recognizable icons for fuss-free menu negotiation. The clean, simple Fitbit app makes it easy to analyze your daily activity data and connects you with a strong network of other Fitbit users, which can help you stay motivated.
Charge 5 has 21 activity modes, six of which you can add to your favorites list. In the app, you can also define which smartphone notifications you want to receive on your wrist. The Charge 5 has a wrist-based ECG (electrocardiogram) sensor and built-in GPS, which allows you to get real-time pace and distance data without the need to connect to your phone (though it is sensitive to bumps, as GPS often is).
Brief characteristics:
- Battery life: up to seven days in watch mode or up to five hours in continuous GPS mode.
- Sleep tracking, including sleep lasting more than an hour.
- Water resistant up to 50 meters.
- There is a heart rate monitor.
- Built-in GPS.
Fitbit Inspire 2
Streamlined yet multifunctional. Compared to the Fitbit Charge 5, the Fitbit Inspire 2 has a slimmer silhouette and a battery that lasts three days longer. But it has a smaller, non-color screen and no built-in GPS.
The Fitbit Inspire 2 has a thinner profile than the Fitbit Charge 5. Its touchscreen display is bright and vibrant, although not in color (the Charge 5 is color). The Inspire 2 doesn't have built-in GPS (like the Charge 5).It measures pace and distance while you walk or run when connected to your phone's GPS - meaning you'll need your phone with you.
While the Inspire 2 may be less accurate when counting steps throughout the day, it performed well in heart rate tests. It features wrist-based breathing sessions, something the Charge 5 doesn't have. Like the Charge 5, this Fitbit model offers about 20 goal-based exercise modes and tracks sleep stages (although alarms are programmable only in the app; the Charge 5 lets you set alarms on the device). The Inspire 2 can be worn on the wrist or on clothing using a clip, sold separately.
Brief characteristics:
- Battery life: up to 10 days.
- There is a sleep tracking function.
- Waterproof.
- There is a Heart Rate Monitor.
- GPS: when connected to a phone.
Garmin Vivoactive 4S
If you're particularly active and want to keep detailed records of your workouts, consider the Garmin Vívoactive 4S. This is a sports, advanced fitness tracker with an emphasis on exercise. The 4S is the smaller of the two Garmin Series 4 models (it has a 40mm screen, while the Vívoactive 4 has a 45mm screen).
It's sleek and very comfortable to wear—the 4S is larger than the two Fitbit models we recommend, but smaller than other watch-like trackers from Garmin and Polar (another brand we tested). Its color touchscreen is clear and responsive, although more muted than several color-screen competitors. Buttons next to the screen make it easy to switch between workout modes or start and stop a workout, and workout data screens display multiple metrics at once.
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