Fitness trackers can help you get information about your health, by providing data about your physical activities, heart health, recovery, and more.
But the number of options on the market can make choosing one confusing, and we’ve picked the best fitness trackers to help you out.
What to look for in a fitness tracker in 2022?
While choosing a fitness tracker, thinking about your fitness goals is a good starting point.
Are you a beginner trying to be more active, an enthusiast looking to get a better idea of your workouts, or someone preparing for a marathon or something similar in particular?
The more specific your goal, the more specific features you’ll need from your fitness tracker, which can help narrow your search.
Additionally, you may want to look for features like waterproofing, built-in GPS, and the ability to sync with your favorite fitness app, depending on your needs.
If you’re planning to go swimming, for example, you’ll need a tracker that can handle being in the water so you can monitor your exercise.
Once you are clear about what you want to monitor and how much detail you want the data to have, you can check out these features in potential fitness trackers.
When you know the features you want, you can be sure to choose a tracker that you actually want to use.
After that, long battery life is vital if you exercise frequently, for long periods of time, or if a lot of your fitness tracking includes GPS.
In addition, charging time is equally important.
When you forget to charge your fitness tracker and are about to start working out, can you get a decent charge in a few minutes?
Comfort is another important aspect that you should not ignore.
If your fitness tracker is uncomfortable, it will end up sitting in a drawer somewhere.
Also, if you wear it all day, you may want it to go with a dinner outfit or a professional look.
Finally, while many fitness trackers have some smartwatch features, you may want to consider a complete smartwatch if you want your fitness tracker to be a companion device for your phone.
The best smartwatches generally have a good set of health and fitness features, although a dedicated fitness tracker will generally give you more information.
With the essentials left out, now is the time to take a look at howtogeek’s recommendations:
Best overall fitness tracker: Fitbit Charge 5
The Fitbit Charge 5 is the best overall fitness tracker, according to howtogeek.
It has everything most people are looking for in an activity tracker.
It looks excellent, and the color AMOLED display is bright and crisp.
In addition, its slim shape and light weight make it comfortable to wear.
There are 21 workout modes, and Charge 5 is very accurate.
It can automatically detect workouts and provide you with detailed data about your performance, making it great for anyone who wants information effortlessly.
You also get 24/7 heart rate monitoring, and the smart bracelet can alert you if your heart rate is abnormally high or low.
On top of that, Fitbit has included an ECG app, and there’s also a sleep tracking feature to help determine how much rest you’re getting.
Battery life is good, and you can expect two to three days of backup with an always-on display.
However, the tracker will only last for five hours of continuous GPS workouts.
Keep this in mind if you plan to go for a long walk or bike ride!
Unfortunately, many of the tracker’s most valuable features, such as the daily readiness score (which tells you if you’re ready to work out or should focus on recovery) are only available as part of a premium subscription.
Fitbit Premium costs $10 a month or $80 a year.
Best Price-Based Fitness Tracker: Garmin Vivosmart 4
Vivosmart 4 is a great fitness watch that is an excellent choice if you are not looking to spend more than $100 on one watch.
It’s packed with advanced health and fitness tracking options, all in an attractive design.
One of the most important features of Vivosmart 4 is the body battery gauge.
Calculates the body’s energy levels by calculating heart rate, sleep quality, activity and stress levels.
You can use this data to determine if it’s a good idea to exercise or give your body some rest.
Plus, you get regular tracking of steps, calories, blood oxygen level while you sleep, and more.
Vivosmart 4 also mirrors notifications from your smartphone, allowing you to control music playback and more.
Additionally, there is support for replying to texts with predefined responses, but it is limited to Android phones.
The battery life of the smart bracelet is very good.
You can expect about seven days of uptime with around-the-clock heart rate monitoring.
However, if you enable blood oxygen monitoring during sleep, you can expect your battery backup to drop to four to five days.
The only area where the Vivosmart 4 failed was the lack of built-in GPS or even connected GPS support.
If GPS isn’t important to you, you should consider some of our other recommendations.
Best fitness tracker for kids: Fitbit Ace 3
If you’re looking for a way to get your kids more active, the Fitbit Ace 3 is a great choice.
It stimulates a healthy lifestyle by making fitness fun with motivational challenges.
The tracker has a durable design, ensuring that it does not get damaged while playing.
In addition, it is water resistant to 50 meters and resistant to swimming.
As you can expect, Ace 3 is completely different from adult fitness trackers.
For example, it has animated watch faces and distributes virtual badges to complete a fitness goal.
Ace 3 also allows kids to challenge family members to competitions so everyone in the family can participate and stay active.
There are the usual trappings of fitness tracking, such as the ability to count steps, track activity and monitor sleep.
But all tracking is done automatically, so kids don’t need to do anything.
The Fitbit Ace 3 also shines on the battery front with about a week of playback time on a single charge, making it easy for parents.
You can buy it in two color options — cosmic blue with green accents and black with accents of red — but the company also offers a special edition Minions Yellow.
Best GPS Fitness Tracker: Fitbit Charge 5
The Fitbit Charge 5 (also our top overall recommendation) is an excellent fitness tracker that comes with built-in GPS.
You can track your walking, running and cycling tours without the need for your phone.
It features a vibrant and clear display, an ergonomic design, and an easy-to-use interface.
The tracker supports over 20 exercises covering everything from running and swimming to pilates and kickboxing.
It can automatically detect the most popular workouts and its tracking accuracy is top notch.
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You also get a heart rate monitor, a SpO2 sensor, a temperature sensor, and multi-purpose electrical sensors to track your sleep, stress responses, and vitals, including an ECG.
This fitness tracker features pretty much everything you need for your health.
The Charge 5 lasts about seven days on a single charge with no always-on display.
But the battery life is halved if you enable the Always On Screen feature.
In terms of smartwatch features, the tracker supports contactless payments and app notifications from your phone.
Unfortunately, Fitbit wants you to spend money on a premium subscription to get features like Readiness Score and personalized views.
Fitbit has also removed Spotify support in the Charge 5, a feature available on previous Charge series trackers.
Keep this in mind if these features are important to you!
Best watch for fitness tracker: Apple Watch Series 7
The Apple Watch Series 7 is the best smartwatch with fitness-centric features for most people.
It can track more than 15 types of exercises, and you can access a heart rate monitor, SpO2 sensor, and ECG app.
While the Apple Watch’s fitness software is more convenient for casual users, third-party apps can help you get more use out of the health and fitness data the watch collects.
It’s the features that really make Apple Watch shine as a smartwatch.
Containing an unparalleled selection of third-party apps, you get polished software that integrates deeply with your iPhone.
Plus, if you want to get more out of your Apple Watch, you can subscribe to Apple Fitness +, which gives you access to curated workouts and meditation sessions led by expert trainers.
The battery life of a smartwatch is average, and it will last about a day with an always-on display or about two days without an always-on display.
Fortunately, this iteration of Apple Watch supports fast charging.
You can buy the Series 7 in 41mm and 45mm variants with optional LTE connectivity.
The Series 7, like all other Apple Watch models, only works with iPhones.
So if you have an Android phone or need a more fitness-focused smartwatch, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus is an excellent alternative.
It has excellent fitness tracking, long battery life, and decent features for a smartwatch.
Best Screenless Fitness Tracker: Whoop 4.0
Whoop is one of the most exciting fitness trackers to hit the market over the past few years.
Not only does it eliminate the screen for a distraction-free experience, but it also offers multiple ways to wear it, such as a biceps strap or a wrist strap.
In addition, the company offers a line of sportswear called Whoop Body that has horns to unlock the Whoop tracker.
The latest version, Whoop 4.0, is aimed at fitness enthusiasts or athletes who want to improve their workouts.
It takes a data-driven approach to your fitness and gives you the necessary ideas on how to improve it.
Unlike most mass-market fitness trackers that report activity tracking data on steps taken or calories burned, Whoop gives you cardiovascular stress, recovery, and rate.
sleep.
Plus, since Whoop has all the sensors you’ll find in other trackers, you can get your blood oxygen levels, heart rate information, and skin temperature.
and respiratory rate data.
Another important way in which Whoop 4.0 differs from other fitness trackers on this list is the pricing structure.
You buy a $30 per month subscription with a minimum six-month membership to get the device and access the Whoop app.
You can save some money by choosing long-term plans, but there is no other way to get tracked.
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