While most people think fitness trackers are just to keep track of how many calories you burn daily, they’ve evolved to become mini health coaches that sit on your wrist. They still track your daily steps (don’t fret!), but they also monitor your sleep, measure your vitals, and more. If you’re looking into getting a fitness tracker, you’ll know that there are many options in this up-and-coming market, so we’re here to make this easier. From those who just want to track their general health to serious athletes training for marathons, there’s something for everyone.
Fitbit Charge 4
Features:
- Built-in GPS
- Tracks your steps, heart rate, and sleep
- Tracks blood oxygen
- Spotify Controller
- Workout tracking modes
- 7-day battery life
- Fitbit Pay
- Waterproof
- No color screen
- Notification support
- Compatibility: Android/iOS/Windows
Best for: people living an active lifestyle looking for all-day fitness tracking and those who want to keep a close eye on their health.
The Fitbit Charge 4 is sleek and packs a punch with a bevy of features. Most options on the market boast similar features, but what makes this tracker ahead of the game is the GPS function, which offers accurate tracking of your runs and bike rides (so you can leave that phone at home!). It also boasts an SpO2 sensor for blood oxygen, which is definitely not something you find in every tracker in the market. A new feature included in this iteration, Active Zone Minutes, measures any activity faster than a brisk walk. Think of it as a simple heart rate monitor function – it encourages you to spend time at different levels of exertion, taking into account your age and fitness level. It also tracks and tags data from 20 different sports and is swim-proof – for someone who enjoys a variety of activities and ways to keep fit, this is for you.
Xiaomi Mi Band 4
Features:
- Tracks heart rate, steps, and sleep
- NFC enabled for contactless payments
- Waterproof + swim tracking
- Color screen
- 20-day battery life
- Compatibility: Android/iOS
- Connected GPS
Best for: people looking for a budget-friendly option that covers all the bases.
As of writing this, the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has been released globally, but not enough reviews have been done on it thus far – I’ll be talking about both in this section. This fitness tracker tracks basic things like steps and sleep automatically, and sports a 0.95-inch color AMOLED touchscreen display with 120 x 140 resolution. It can also track activities like running and cycling, but with a helping hand from your phone’s GPS. Fitness buffs will love the heart rate monitor functions as well as the 20-day battery life. The Mi Band 5 takes this up a notch with a bigger 1.1-inch AMOLED display with 126×294 resolution. With new features including 11 dedicated sport tracking profiles, enhanced sleep tracking, stress, and breathing features, Xiaomi is definitely leveling the field. For women, it also comes with female cycle tracking.
Garmin Vivosmart 4
Features:
- Impressive sleep tracking functions
- Pulse oximeter
- Heart rate monitor
- Automatic exercise detection
- Rep counting for gym exercises
- Step tracking
- 7-day battery life
- Waterproof
- Compatibility: Android/iOS
Best for: non-serious athletes who want cool features.
While Garmin’s other products tend to cater to serious athletes, this slim number is meant for everyday folk trying to keep fit, with a suite of interesting features to enhance the experience. One of the coolest things about this tracker is a feature called body battery, which measures the amount of energy you have and helps you learn the best times to exercise based off of that data. Equipped with Garmin’s Move IQ software, you won’t have to worry about losing count of reps done when lifting, and with automatic exercise detection, you’ll never have to manually start a session again. Also coming with a pulse oximeter, this tracker can measure your blood oxygen levels through the night, making it able to detect sleep apnea.
Garmin Vivosport
Features:
- Built-in GPS
- Heart rate tracker
- 7 day battery life
- Notification support
- Water-resistant
- Advanced heart metrics
- Compatibility: Android/iOS
Best for: runners and cyclists who want function over fashion.
With both a heart rate tracker and an built-in GPS function, the Garmin Vivosport is by far the best option for outdoor athletes, runners, and cyclists. The best part? Even when using GPS features, the 7-day battery life from a single charge holds true. While water resistant up to 5ATM (50m), we don’t recommend using this for pool workouts as the tracker doesn’t come with a swim mode. With a small screen, you also won’t be able to see your live stats unless you squint. Despite being older than the other options on this page, its quality still holds true – it tracks metrics such as heart rate variability stress scores, your resting heart rate, fitness age estimates, as well as VO2 Max.
This article first appeared on Reflect Fitness.
