The 10 Best Fitness Trackers and Watches for Everyone

[Karlston]

The 10 Best Fitness Trackers and Watches for Everyone

Whether you're backcountry skiing or running around the backyard, we have an activity tracker for you.

 

 

As the saying goes, “the best gear is the gear you’ll actually use.” Nowhere does this apply more than with your fitness tracker, which you need to wear constantly to monitor your step count, heart rate, and sleep quality. Studies might be mixed on their benefits, but fitness watches have longer battery life, better software, and more stylish designs than ever before. We've tested dozens of the top watches from the past two years to bring you these picks.

 

In addition to our favorites, we've also tried many others, like the Runtopia S1 and the Polar Vantage M, which ultimately didn't make the cut. We hope this guide will help you find a fitness tracker that won't collect dust in your junk drawer.

 

Updated for April 2020: We removed several older picks and added new trackers and watches, such as the Fitbit Charge 4.

 

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  Photograph: Fitbit 

  Best All-Around

  Fitbit Charge 4

   

  With every major tech company trying to eat Fitbit's wearable lunch, it's remarkable that the company's trackers remain the best around. Fitbits are affordable, attractive, and comfortable, with an easy-to-use app as well as a huge, devoted community. The Charge 4 is its best yet, with features like built-in GPS that I've only ever seen in much more expensive trackers.

   

  The Charge 4 also has some smart upgrades, like a Zone Minutes metric that encourages newbies to explore high-intensity exercise and an "outdoor workout" category for rambling hikes and golf games. Fitbit also has the best sleep tracking hardware and software that I've used. It's just too bad you can only access some of its best features with an $80-per-year Premium subscription.

   

  $150 at Amazon

  $150 at Best Buy

   

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  Photograph: Fitbit

  Also a Good Pick

  Fitbit Versa Lite Edition

  For years, one version or another of Fitbit's groundbreaking smartwatch has been on the top of this list. The Versa Lite is still a great pick for anyone who wants a smartwatch/fitness tracker combo at an affordable price.

   

  Unlike the Apple Watch, it works with both Android and iPhones. Long battery life means you can wear it while sleeping and take advantage of Fitbit's comprehensive sleep-tracking features, which are some of the best on the market (something Apple has yet to bake into Apple Health). Unfortunately, it only has connected GPS, no altimeter, and it doesn't track lap swimming. The Versa 2 offers a bit more if you don't mind spending for them.

   

  $160 $99 at Amazon

   

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  Photograph: Xiaomi

  Best Affordable Fitness Tracker

  Xiaomi Mi Band 3

   

  If you're not using your fitness tracker to improve your pacing or find your way home in the woods, you don't need to spend $100 or more on it. The Mi Band 3 is a simple, basic fitness tracker that looks a lot like the Fitbit Flex 2 but is half the price. The waterproof tracker unit pops into a comfortable rubber wristband. It's easy to swipe up and down on the screen, and you can hold your finger on the indented button to record exercise or take a heart rate measurement.

   

  It's not perfect. The sleep tracker is extremely optimistic, the fitness tracker can't distinguish between different kinds of exercise, and the app isn't very attractive. But it can count your steps and the battery lasts for more than a week per charge.

   

  $28 $19 at Amazon

 

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  Photograph: Apple 

  Best Fitness Watch … if You Have an iPhone

  Apple Watch Series 5

   

  The Apple Watch Series 4 has (poof!) disappeared after just a year, but no matter. The Series 5 has many of the same features, and now a digital compass and a useful always-on display.

   

  For the past few months, the Series 5 has been my favorite fitness tracker. Besides the addictive "fitness rings" game and the FDA-cleared app that detects cardiac irregularities, it also has a gyroscope and accelerometer to detect if you've fallen and hurt yourself, a feature I have appreciated more as a parent currently social distancing while taking care of small children. As WIRED senior writer Lauren Goode says, it's the best smartwatch on the market … if you have an iPhone.

   

  $399 at Apple

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  Photograph: Apple

  Best Deal for iPhone Owners

  Apple Watch Series 3

   

  If you've been wondering if you should get an Apple Watch, take the plunge: Apple sells the Series 3 for $200. If you have an iPhone, this is a killer price for a smartwatch that's a perfectly capable fitness tracker. It has the Workout app and will let you close rings, and it's waterproof, so you can take it in the pool. However, it has a two-year-old processor, it won't be able to detect your falls, and there's no electrocardiogram.

   

  $200 at Apple

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  Photograph: Withings 

  Best Analog Watch Dupe

  Withings Move ECG

   

  Withings' light smartwatches have an analog face, which makes them an affordable option for anyone who doesn't want to wear a tiny computer on their wrist. Of their latest styles, I like the Move ECG the best. It's marketed as an affordable replacement to an ECG watch like the Apple Series 5, but it also reliably records activities automatically and can track sleep (although not as well as a tracker with an optical heart rate monitor).

   

  Unfortunately, the Move ECG is not yet shipping in the United States. Good alternatives are the more affordable Move and the Steel HR. The best part? All of them use a watch battery, so you don't have to charge them every night or week.

   

  $130 at Withings

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  Photograph: Garmin

  Best Outdoors Watch

  Garmin Fenix 6S Pro

   

  Garmin's Fenix 6S Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the best outdoor multisport watch I've had the pleasure of using. Unlike the bigger 6X Pro Solar, it doesn't have solar charging. But in addition to Garmin's impressive satellite navigation systems and tons of different sport modes, it also has a plethora of new power management features to extend the battery life if it looks like you'll end up outside for longer than you thought.

   

  There's also Garmin's new emergency alert and incident detection system. The watch is small and comfortable like the Fenix 5S but with a larger, colorful, sunlight-visible display and comprehensive onboard topographic maps.

  $700 at REI

 

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  Photograph: Garmin

  Best Running Watch

  Garmin Forerunner 645 Music

   

  Garmin makes the most accurate GPS watches. WIRED editor in chief Nick Thompson prefers the Forerunner 935, but because I'm spoiled, I love the Forerunner 645 Music. It's small, light, and waterproof, with a display that's readable in sunlight and navigable via a five-button system. In addition to giving you recommendations on rest and recovery time, it can measure your stride length and estimate your times for a 5K, half-marathon, or marathon. It also has contactless payments for when you need a burrito on a 20-mile run. It can store 500 songs.

   

  $450 $285 at Amazon

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  Photograph: Suunto

  Best for Android Phone Users

  Suunto Suunto 7

   

  For years, Suunto has struggled to move beyond its core user group of hardcore alpine guides who mountain-run for fun. This year at CES, the company debuted the Suunto 7, which is currently the best sports watch that uses Google's Wear OS smartwatch platform.

   

  The merger between Suunto's excellent hardware and Wear OS needs ironing out. For example, when tracking a sport and using offline maps, you have to make sure you select the separate Suunto Wear app, instead of Google Fit. (Google Fit has its own limitations—it still doesn't track swimming, for example.) But Wear OS makes the watch much easier to use daily than any other Suunto watch that came before. If you ever wished that Suunto made a usable smartwatch, this is it.

   

  $499 at REI

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  Photograph: Samsung

  Best for Galaxy Phone Owners

  Samsung Galaxy Watch Active

   

  If you own or are lusting after an expensive Samsung Galaxy S20 phone, you may want the Galaxy Watch Active (8/10, WIRED Recommends). I also reviewed the newer Active2, but unless you have your heart set on a digital bezel, the Active is the better deal.

   

  It's light, attractive, and half the price of the Apple Watch. It's also dust- and water-resistant and has built-in GPS, continuous heart rate tracking, and cheery notifications when you accomplish the smallest fitness goals. You can even use your Samsung phone to charge it with the Power Share feature! Aside from a few big names like Spotify and Strava, there aren't a lot of high-quality apps in Samsung's app store, but the built-in apps work well.

   

  $199 $120 at Amazon

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  Photograph: Garmin

  Honorable Mentions

  Other Trackers We Like

   

  The Garmin Venu is a versatile watch that combines Garmin's data-tracking acumen with a gorgeous AMOLED screen. Reviewer Scott Gilbertson says it's a good all-around Garmin watch; I prefer the Venu to the slightly wonky touchscreen of the Vivomove Luxe.

   

  I like the low profile of the Polar Ignite. If extremely granular data interests you, you can also check how factors like heart rate variability, breathing rate, and heart rate all combine to ramp up your autonomic nervous system.

   

  I ran with a Timex Ironman for years, so I was pleased to see Timex come out with the new Ironman GPS R300. This is a great price for a GPS-enabled watch. It also allows you to tinker with the distance measurement after your run, in case the GPS fudged up your mileage a little bit.

   

   

  Source: The 10 Best Fitness Trackers and Watches for Everyone (Wired)