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From fitness trackers that track your sleep to smartwatches specifically aimed at runners or cyclists, the best fitness trackers and smartwatches go way beyond telling the time. Some, like the Apple Watch, Garmin, and Fitbit, can measure your blood oxygen levels, prescribe recovery time, and create exercise plans, as well as help you track your activity and lose weight. Some can even detect if you’ve fallen and automatically notify your emergency contacts.
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According to research from Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends Report, a record 19.2 million health tracking devices were purchased by UK consumers in the year to July 2021, more than double the previous year. Apple is one of the leading brands, accounting for 47 percent of smartwatch owners. About two-thirds of UK adults planning to buy a smartwatch say they want it to track their physical health.
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So what are the best fitness trackers and smartwatches for health tracking and tracking calories burned, sleep, exercise, and step count? I’ve reviewed dozens of them over the years. You can read my full reviews of this year’s crop down the road, along with a quick guide to how they work. If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at my top five:
Ask yourself: Do you want something with GPS to track your running and cycling? Do you really need all the functions of the top model?
“A device with GPS will be more expensive because of the technology required to provide accurate information,” says Nick Anderson of coaching experts Running with Us. “They provide much more data and valuable metrics. It’s worth the splurge if you’re serious about your results and improvements.”
Some trackers also measure your sleep (both quality and quantity), stress levels, cardiac arrhythmias, blood oxygen levels, and even your menstrual health, but it’s important to remember that these are for guidance only.
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“It’s the trends that become useful,” says Anderson. “Without a full EKG, you won’t get 100 percent accuracy in this area, but the trends can be helpful in looking for marginal gains and improvements in your performance.”
Other features to watch out for? “Some fitness trackers come with notifications for your phone apps and can control the music on your headphones,” says Anderson. Top-of-the-line watches almost all come with tap payments, Bluetooth microphones to take calls, water resistance to 50 meters, and longer battery life.
Over the past few years, I’ve tested dozens of GPS running watches, fitness trackers, and smartwatches day and night. Last year alone, I logged nearly 300 hours of exercise in my running shoes and on my bike, covering about 4,000 km to assess their accuracy, usability and comfort. I also compared their battery life, saw how easy they were to set up and access the data from my phone, and sought independent opinions from athletes and coaches.
By the way, if you’re looking for more ways to reach your fitness goals this year, you might also like our new guides to the best hiking boots, stationary bikes, running shoes, massage guns, headlamps, and yoga mats.
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We like: All the advanced health and fitness tracking features you’d expect from a Garmin, but with the sleek look and feel of an Apple Watch
One of my favorite wearables to come out in recent years has been Garmin’s Venu 2 – it’s the watch I trained for and ran the London Marathon with. So it might not surprise you that I liked Garmin’s new Venu 2 Plus just as much, if not more.
With a full AMOLED touchscreen, it’s a beautiful smartwatch with impressive sports tracking, stress tracking, sleep monitoring and battery life. At 43mm it’s slightly larger than the Venu 2, but the general design is the same – and the screen is clear and easy to read.
But it is important to note that ‘Plus’ does not mean ‘plus size’, but refers to additional functionality and features. The most important thing to care about? Voice support. There’s a speaker and microphone on the watch, meaning you can take calls, dictate messages, use voice control for music and activate other tasks via voice assistants, such as Siri or Google Assistant.
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Like the Venu 2S, there are over 25 pre-programmed sports you can track, including running (on a treadmill or outdoors), cycling, swimming, golf, yoga, pilates, and paddleboarding. Animated cardio, strength, yoga and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts are also preloaded – which is essentially like having a personal trainer on your wrist.
Even cheap fitness trackers have step counting, calorie burn estimates and reminders to get up and move, so it’s the more advanced features like stress tracking, menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracking and Garmin’s Body Battery energy monitoring that make the Venu 2 Plus stands out. Every morning, the sleep monitoring feature tells you how long you spent in each sleep stage, such as REM, and gives you a score for your sleep quality.
As a runner, I loved how fast it was to find a GPS signal and how accurate it was. Accurate GPS is important for runners because you don’t want to log unnecessary miles or, worse, under-mile. It can automatically upload the data to third-party apps like Strava and TrainingPeaks (which I live on), which is useful if you want to share your workout with a coach.
That said, if you’re specifically looking for a running tracker then I’d actually recommend something like the Garmin Fenix 7 (£529) or the much cheaper Garmin Forerunner 245 (£249.99). However, if you’re looking for something that offers comprehensive health and wellness features, as well as exercise tracking, choose the Venu 2 Plus.
Which Fitbit Should I Get?
Apple’s latest watch is very similar to the previous one, so if you already own a Series 7 it might not be worth the upgrade. But if you’re new to Apple watches, you’re in for a real treat, especially if you’re a longtime iPhone user.
In terms of looks, there’s not much difference between the Series 7 and Series 8 – both share the same signature square Apple Watch design, dimensions and weight and come in the same 41mm and 45mm case sizes. The Apple Watch Series 8 comes in aluminum and stainless steel in gold, silver, starlight and midnight, and there’s a whole range of different bands, from stretchy silicone to woven nylon.
With an always-on screen so you don’t have to flick your wrist or double-tap the screen every time, it’s one of the brightest and clearest screens on the market. I especially love the full keyboard, which lets you answer emails and text messages on the go.
Apple has announced two new temperature sensors for the Apple Watch 8. The first detects a temperature change of 0.1 degrees Celsius in your body and the second measures temperature fluctuations during sleep. Its purpose is to help you spot diseases early and help track ovulation. Like the Series 7, there’s also an optical heart rate monitor, a blood oxygen sensor (SpO2) and an electrical heart sensor (ECG).
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The Series 8 can also detect if you fall suddenly and can intelligently detect when you’re involved in a car accident, automatically call emergency services for help, provide your exact location and your designated emergency contacts if you don’t respond to a notification on the screen within 10 seconds. It’s really quite impressive.
One of the biggest complaints about Apple Watches is battery life. The Series 7 charged significantly faster than previous models, but the Series 8 still falls short in my opinion. I really don’t feel like charging my watch every day.
If you’re an avid runner or cyclist, there are better smartwatches on the market. But if you’re a seasoned iPhone user and aren’t overly concerned with daily charging, having everything mesh seamlessly is undoubtedly a bonus. Otherwise, check out the brand new rugged Apple Watch Ultra – designed specifically for the “adventurous crowd” and extreme sports enthusiasts.
Fitbit was the brand that made fitness trackers cool and the Versa 4 is one of their latest smartwatches, with over 40 exercise modes, real-time stats and built-in GPS. Available in four different colors – black, blue, pink and ‘beet’ – I liked how the smooth strap tucks into itself so there’s no flapping. The AMOLED display looks crisp and clear, although I found the touchscreen to be a bit slow to respond at times.
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It took me over half an hour to download the Fitbit app, charge the watch, and connect to my phone, but once I was done, I realized why Fitbit is so often praised. The app is by far the easiest to navigate and one of the most useful, with guided breathing exercises, women’s health features, daily stress management score and blood
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