What To Consider When Buying A Wearable Fitness Tracker
Wearable fitness trackers are in high demand right now.
They’re a neat piece of tech that sits on your wrist and provides all sorts of data about your health straight to an app. If you love working out or just want to know some key health points, they’re a great purchase.
As a bonus, wearable tech like this doubles up as a smartwatch! With so many options from a range of great brands, how can you pick the right one? We’ve put together a short guide to help you know what to consider when buying a wearable fitness tracker:
Fitness Features
Fitness trackers will boast a range of features related to health and fitness. This will pretty much let you know what the device can track. Some of the common features to look for are:
- Step counter
- Calorie counter
- Heart-rate sensor
- Sleep pattern tracker
- ECG – helps detect irregular heartbeats
- PulseOx – detects your blood oxygen levels
- Deep breathing exercises
- Coaching
- Menstrual health monitoring
The list goes on but you may not want all of these features. If all you’re interested in is seeing your step count and calories burned, a basic fitness tracker will suit you. There are loads of Fitbits or Amazon-branded trackers that’ll have a step counter, heart rate monitor, calorie counter and maybe a few extras.
If you’re interested in a better overall view of your health, opt for watches with substantial fitness features.
Accuracy
Of course, there’s no point in buying a wearable fitness tracker if it’s not accurate. There have been reports of some watches showing inaccurate step counts or poor sleep tracking. The only way to know for sure is by comparing every model in existence and seeing how they differ.
This is impractical, so your second best bet is to check reviews. See if people complain about the accuracy before you buy. If it’s a common complaint, stay away.
Battery Life
Battery life is super important as wearable fitness trackers aren’t the same as watches. Most watches have long-lasting batteries or use solar power to charge them. As such, you never need to take your watch off to charge it.
Fitness trackers will need charging – and battery life varies. Some watches must be charged overnight as they only have 18 hours of uptime. Others can last for 10 days or more before they need charging. If you prioritize sleep tracking, you should choose a watch with a long battery life. Otherwise, you’ll never track your sleep as it’s on the bedside table charging every night.
Ease of Use
Next, we come to ease of use. This refers to a couple of things. Firstly, how easy is the watch to use? Can you easily activate features and scroll through the screen to see an overview of your fitness? Or, is it really fiddly and you’re always pressing things multiple times before they work?
Secondly, how does the watch pair with your smartphone? They all come with apps, but are the apps good enough and easy to use? This is where the Apple Watch really stands out as it pairs seamlessly with iOS devices. It’s a bit pricey, but as this Apple Watch comparison shows, some of the older models are still very good and more than affordable these days.
Our suggestion is to avoid using watches that are specifically made for certain devices with other devices. For instance, don’t get an Apple Watch if you have a Samsung phone. It makes more sense for usability to get a Samsung Watch instead. Brands like Garmin or Fitbit don’t have dedicated smartphone products, so they’re good to use with any device.
Screen
The last consideration is the screen. Speaking of Fitbit, this brand is known for making smaller watches with tiny screens. While cheap, the big problem with these devices is the screen size and quality. It can be impossible to view any stats on the screen when it’s even remotely light outside.
You need to find a wearable fitness tracker with a bright screen that’s easy to look at. It doesn’t need to be too big – just make sure it’s comfortable on your wrist and you don’t have to squint to see everything. It’s also handy if the screen can turn on by itself when raising your wrist – it saves you from needing to tap it or press a button every time.
Take all of these things into consideration when buying a wearable fitness tracker. There are loads of brilliant options out there with insane tech inside. Pick one that suits your needs based on the points above.
