Fitness tracker devices are booming, and there are more options than ever to fit every budget. Although smartwatches have taken over, activity bracelets are still very popular, and with good reason. Fitted to smaller wrists, fitness bands are often less tech-savvy, easier to use, and focused on helping you stay healthy.
What does a fitness bracelet do? Think step counting, calorie burn measurement, heart rate monitoring, detailed sleep tracking, stress monitoring, and basic wellness metrics, and they’ve got plenty of training modes, including swimming. And some of the best fitness trackers even include GPS to track runs, and can even save your life with an ECG sensor.
And many offer smartwatch features like notifications and payments. So it’s fair to say that the lines between the two have blurred.
How to buy a fitness bracelet
Choosing the right fitness tracking app is just as important as what you wear on your wrist. After all, the algorithms that measure and analyze the data are the really smart part, not just the sensors.
” This it means that Fitbit wristbands and Garmin watches often offer a better experience with more reliable and interesting data. However, they cost more because you are paying for the research and development of the software in addition to the hardware. If you want to make changes in your lifestyle, an attractive app is a great motivator.
But if you want to control the number of steps, vital signs, and hours of sleep, the range of Chinese brands such as Amazfit, Xiaomi, and Huawei, which is constantly expanding,
Best Fitness Trackers: Top Picks
Fitbit Deluxe
KEY FEATURES OF FITBIT LUXE
• 0.76-inch AMOLED screen
• 124×206 pixels and 326 PPI density
• Heart rate monitor/SpO2
• Stainless Steel Case: White/Black/Orchid
• GPS connected (smartphone paired)
• stress tracking
• sleep monitoring
• HRV, skin temperature, respiratory rate
• Sports Tracking Modes
• Price at time of review: $149.95/£129.99
The Fitbit Luxe launched in 2021 as a new Fitbit lineup, introducing a stainless steel case and color AMOLED display. It’s designed to add a dose of Luxe to the range, and it has delivered: it’s a visual leap over the Charge 4 and Inspire 2, and it really is something you’ll want to wear.
It is available in white, black, and orchid (pink) and there is a special edition with a gold link bracelet. It’s not exclusively for women, but men will probably want to opt for the Charge 5 or the Sense smartwatch.
In terms of features, there is nothing exclusive to Luxe, but it includes the main features of the Fitbit range.
It features a SpO2 sensor for blood oxygen (not found on the Inspire 2), and monitors stress using a daily stress score. This is in addition to sleep, heart rate and steps, Active Zone Minutes (which record time spent with an elevated heart rate), and 50-meter water resistance.
It has several sports tracking modes, such as yoga and swimming. There is no GPS on board, but you can use it from your phone to track the race.
Sleep tracking is top-notch (as it is across the Fitbit range) and the Luxe feeds the health metrics dashboard of heart rate variability, skin temperature, and respiration rate, designed to give you insight under the hood of your well-being. And what’s more, the stress score has been extended beyond Fitbit Sense, so you can monitor mindfulness.
Battery life isn’t bad either, and in our review period, we easily managed 5 days between charges.
It’s a brilliant fitness tracker – and possibly our favorite – though it’s a bit small for male wrists. The Charge 5 or Versa 3 are more masculine alternatives.
Huawei Band 6
HUAWEI BAND 6 MAIN SPECIFICATIONS
• 1.47 inch AMOLED
• 194 x 368 pixels
• Water resistant 5ATM
• 14 days of normal use
• 96 training modes
• HR and SpO2
• stress tracking
• Price at time of review: $44.99/£35.99
The Huawei Band 6 has a great look and feel and its price is pretty good too. It’s hard to find any major flaws in a fitness tracker at this price point that offers so much.
In addition, it has a larger screen than Samsung and Xiaomi devices. The screen is a 1.47-inch AMOLED with a resolution of 194×368, just like the one on the Honor Band 6. So it’s something of a smartwatch hybrid, with a super low price.
The screen is bright, vibrant, colorful and nice and responsive to the touch. However, it doesn’t offer an always-on mode, and rising to wake isn’t always as responsive as we’d like.
It’s a shame GPS isn’t included, when Huawei has already included this feature in its budget trackers. Heart rate performance is also uneven if that’s a feature you care a lot about.
However, it has 96 training modes, so it covers pretty much any type of exercise imaginable.
The Band 6 excels at tracking fitness and also offers some well-executed smartwatch features with a high-quality display.
Aside from steps and sleep, there’s a big focus on heart rate – and a feature set well above the Band 6’s meager price. You can also track stress through heart rate variability measurements. heart rate, which shows you on the Band when stress has been high, low and the current stress level.
If you want to measure blood oxygen levels, you can do that here too, though doing it 24 hours a day has a clear impact on battery life. In short, the Huawei Band 6 is highly recommended.
Fitbit Charge 5
KEY FEATURES OF FITBIT CHARGE 5
• AMOLED screen
• Stainless steel case (black, silver, gold)
• GPS
• Heart rate and SpO2
• stress management
• EDA sensor
• ECG
• 20 training modes
• 7-day battery life
• sleep tracking
• Price: $179.99/£169.99
The Fitbit Charge 5 improves on the design of the Charge 4, with an aluminum casing and an AMOLED screen that makes it the most attractive Fitbit Charge to date.
The Charge 5’s screen size is 11% larger than the Charge 4, and the device itself is 1mm taller but more than 1mm thinner. It’s still a bulky device, though the question of whether it’s truly unisex at this price divides opinion. It might be too big for some women’s tastes, but it’s packed with sensors that make the Charge 5 a mini health watch in its own right.
First off, it brings the Fitbit Sense’s ECG and EDA stress sensor, the first time they’ve been seen on a fitness tracker.
This joins GPS along with the standard suite of advanced sleep tracking, stress score, active zone minutes, and all-day heart rate.
There’s also skin temperature and the new daily readiness score, which assesses how well you’ve rested before recommending workouts. Both are intelligently calculated from personal baselines, tailored to your personal physiological profile. This is a powerful set of health features.
We have already had time to review the device and recommend it has its caveats.
GPS accuracy is problematic, which undermines a lot of its USP. And if you don’t care about ECG, is it worth paying the extra cost to get dubious GPS accuracy? We would certainly warn brokers not to do so.
It really comes down to two things: the design/form factor and the ECG. If neither of those things suits you, you might be better off with other members of the Fitbit range.
Fitbit Inspire 2
KEY SPECIFICATIONS OF THE FITBIT INSPIRE 2
• Works with Android and iPhone
• Track steps, distance, and calories burned
• sleep monitoring
• optical heart rate monitor
• Automatic activity recognition
• 20 exercise modes
• Swim tracking up to 5m
• smartphone notifications
• Up to 10 days of battery life
• Price at time of review: $99/£89.99
The Inspire 2 is a more traditional fitness tracker in terms of size, price, and features, but it’s surprisingly powerful, missing only a few key features for the Fitbit Luxe.
It covers the basics, tracking steps, distance, calories burned, and serving inactivity alerts, and also continuously monitors heart rate throughout the day and night. However, it does not have a SpO2 sensor or the accompanying data.
Fitbit’s sleep tracking is excellent, and here’s the full experience on the Inspire 2. You can see a breakdown of sleep stages, including the important REM stages.
Fitbit has added support for its new Active Zone Minutes feature, which is designed to hit target heart rate zones each week. This is also coupled with the ability to train with heart rate zones and check your cardio fitness level within the Fitbit app.
Plus, you can track outdoor runs and workouts via connected GPS, if you have your phone with you, which a lot of people will do anyway.
To complete the setup of health and fitness features, you’ll also get support for menstrual health tracking and guided breathing exercises to help you stay calm.
While it’s not the Versa or Ionic, Fitbit has managed to pack a couple of smartwatch-like features into the Inspire 2.
Like its predecessor, you’ll be able to receive phone notifications from compatible Android phones and iPhones. This means that you will be able to see incoming calls, text messages, and calendar appointments. If you have an Android phone, you can send quick replies when your phone is nearby.
The Inspire 2 offers a good mix of tracking basics, backed up by an app that’s still as easy to use as ever. The problem is that the competition is getting better at the extras the Inspire offers, like sports tracking and smartwatch features.
Best Fitness Tracker
WHOOP STRAP 4.0 MAIN SPECIFICATIONS
• Works with iOS and Android
• Requires subscription ($30 per month)
• Records heart rate 24/7
• Measure HRV
• Record sleep automatically
• SpO2
• New health monitor: HRV, skin temperature, resting HR, respiratory rate
• 5-day battery life
• Free with a $/£30 subscription. Other payment options are available.
The Whoop Strap 4.0, the best fitness band for gym lovers and trainers, is more than just an activity band.
The band itself is screenless, and the fabric strap dominates the design. It’s discreet, not obtrusive, and you can wear a watch (or smartwatch) on the other wrist without looking like an idiot.
The Whoop doesn’t track steps and doesn’t care about calorie burn. It’s not even that good at tracking workouts itself. It focuses on the effects of training on your body, how much you recover and the quality of your rest, and how prepared you are to do it again.
Whoop assigns a sleep quality score based on the duration of your sleep measured against your prescribed “need for sleep,” as well as the time you spend in various stages of sleep, such as REM sleep and wave sleep slow.
It will also take into account data about sleep conditions, such as whether you’ve had caffeinated or alcoholic beverages, worked on a device with a screen, or shared a bed.
All of this is used to advise you when to train and when to take a day off. This is presented with a unique Strain number and recovery percentage.
Increasingly, this kind of insight is being done by rivals like Fitbit, and its new Daily Fitness Score and Health Metrics Dashboard – which is essentially Whoop for regular folks.
But it costs a lot. There is a subscription of 24 dollars per month – contracted for one year – but you get the Whoop Strap for free.
You can pay less, with a subscription of 18 dollars a month, if you contract for 18 months, but you have to shell out (insane) 324 pounds. That’s for a wearable without a screen, basically a heart rate monitor in a black casing.
The problem for Whoop is that Fitbit is doing most of its core metrics and analytics at a fraction of the price. That makes it hard to recommend for anyone except those who are hugely invested in their fitness and recovery. But there is a great wearable here.
Oura Ring 3
OURA RING 3 KEY SPECS
• Works with iOS and Android
• Requires subscription ($6.99 per month)
• Records heart rate 24/7
• Measure HRV
• Record sleep automatically
• SpO2
• Records body temperature and respiratory rate
• 4 to 7-day battery life
• $299 with a subscription of $6.99 per month.
The Oura Ring 3 is a fitness tracker that discreetly monitors you and offers some of the best sleep support along with an easy-to-understand app to make the most of its amazing range of features.
It’s a smart ring that looks like a regular ring, with a lightweight titanium frame and a waterproof rating that means you can comfortably wear it day and night and when you get in the shower or go swimming.
It manages to include optical and infrared sensors that are capable of continuously measuring heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen to boost its ability to understand how ready your body is for exercise, and when needs to rest, and can also help indicate if you are okay.
We find features like continuous heart rate monitoring and sleep monitoring on par with the best fitness trackers in the industry, and that information is clearly communicated in the companion app, where you can better understand what that data means.
While we didn’t get sick while using the new Oura, the health monitoring features are well set up to raise an alarm if something goes wrong.
Not all of the features promised by Oura are currently in place, particularly with regard to exercise tracking, which is arguably Oura’s weakest point as a platform.
There are more good things than bad though, but if you’re looking for a tracker that reliably tracks sleep and helps you better understand your recovery and daily readiness for a tough day, this is one of the best we’ve tested.
The best cheap fitness bracelets
Xiaomi Mi Band 6
MAIN FEATURES OF THE XIAOMI MI BAND 6
• Track steps, heart rate, and sleep
• Blood oxygen monitoring
• 14-day battery life (7 days in tests)
• Notifications
• 30 workout-tracking modes
• 1.56-inch AMOLED screen
• Price: $59.99/£39.99
The Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 has already been released, and it’s one of the biggest budget fitness band reviews in years. The screen size has been increased by 50%, with an attractive 1.56-inch AMOLED display.
The number of recorded sports has increased to 30, and there is now a SpO2 sensor for blood oxygen tracking. In addition to spot checks, sleep oxygen levels are now reported along with the full set of sleep stages, including REM sleep. It’s an enormously powerful tracker, though it still lacks GPS, which gives the Fitbit Charge 4 an edge.
In terms of price, it’s increased in the US and will go on sale for $59.99, and this challenges the notion that this is a premium budget option when the Amazfit Band 5 is available for less.
EU and UK pricing has remained the same as the Mi Band 5 at £39.99, which seems like good value for money.
We fully tested the device, and while it’s not a huge step up from the Mi Band 5, the larger screen and SpO2 still make it a superior tracker.
Sleep tracking is a highlight with lots of data on sleep stages and sleeps quality, and the SpO2 sensor is used to good effect here to calculate sleep breathing, which can be a sign of apnea of the dream However, we felt that while sleep duration was more accurate than other budget trackers, sleep scores were calculated too generously.
Battery life has also increased to 14 days, although we found “normal use” in our tests to average seven days, which isn’t bad at all.
Complaints remain about the heart rate accuracy and the fiddly clasp, and the cheap strap, which makes it hard to get a perfect fit and can be easily dislodged. Also, the Mi app is difficult to navigate and doesn’t offer the same health data analytics as Fitbit or Amazfit.
But for those who have a more passing interest in their health data, the Xiaomi Mi Band offers great value, as it always has.
Amazfit Band 5
Best Fitness Tracker
• Works with Android and iOS
• Follow the footsteps and dream
• Automatic training tracking
• Show notifications and music controls.
• Amazon Alexa on board
• swimming lanes
• Includes heart rate, monitor
• 15 days of battery life (typical use)
• 5ATM waterproof rating
• Price when reviewed: $49.99 / £44.90
If you think the Amazfit tracker looks familiar to you, that’s because it’s essentially the Xiaomi Mi Band 5, with a few extra features thrown in.
Design-wise, it’s a polycarbonate tracker paired with a TPU plastic band, housing an excellent 1.1-inch, 126 x 294 resolution AMOLED screen. That’s a higher resolution than you’ll find on most smartphones. bracelets.
In terms of fitness tracking, it takes steps and distance, and also continuously monitors your heart rate. There’s also sleep monitoring on offer and you have a connected GPS to take advantage of your smartphone to track your runs.
The Amazfit Band 5 also features a SpO2 sensor and features a superior heart rate sensor to offer improved accuracy.
There’s also more smartwatch functionality than on the Mi Band 5 with the addition of Amazon’s Alexa, although answers to queries will be displayed rather than read to you. That’s along with notification support, music controls, the ability to take smartphone photos remotely, and a nice collection of watch faces.
Even with those extra features, you can still get up to two weeks of battery life, probably closer to 7-10 days if you use all of its features regularly every day.
For its mix of fitness tracking and smartwatch features along with that great display and battery life, the Amazfit Band 5 delivers.
Samsung galaxy fit 2
KEY FEATURES OF THE SAMSUNG GALAXY FIT 2
• Works with Android and iPhone phones
• Track steps, sleep, and stress.
• Automatic training tracking for walking, running, dynamic training
• Show notifications
• Includes heart rate sensor
• 15 days of battery life (typical use)
• 5ATM waterproof rating (up to 50 meters)
• Price when reviewed: $59.99 / £49.99
Although the MSRP is above our limit, the Fit 2 can easily be found for less, making it a good budget option.
The Fit 2 features a 1.1-inch AMOLED display paired with a band that’s slimmer and feels more comfortable than its predecessor.
It has sensors on board to count steps, and monitor sleep, and you can monitor your stress using the optical heart rate monitor. There’s automated training support for activities including running, elliptical, and indoor rowing, though we did have accuracy issues. What’s more, while it’s suitable for use in the pool, it won’t track your activity in the water, which is disappointing.
On that AMOLED screen, you can take control of your music, view notifications, and send quick replies if you have an Android phone. There is also a huge collection of watch faces to choose from.
Battery life is on par with trackers from Xiaomi and Amazfit at around a week. So if you’re a fan of Samsung’s hardware and companion app, it’s another solid option to consider.
We applaud Samsung for taking the original Galaxy Fit, simplifying the look, and lowering the price to make it better value for money. However, the accuracy issues mean you might be better off with an Amazfit or Xiaomi tracker.
Honor Band 6
HONOR BAND 6 KEY FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS
• Works with Android and iOS
• 1.47-inch AMOLED touch screen
• 10-14 days battery
• 5ATM waterproof rating
• Connected GPS support
• Monitor heartbeat
• View notifications and control music playback
• Price when reviewed: £40
If the Honor Band 6 looks familiar, it’s because it shares a strong design resemblance to Huawei’s Band 6. Huawei used to have Honor, but not anymore. You still get a lot of Huawei software leverage here and for the price, the Band 6 really is a top budget tracker.
It has a nice, bright, and responsive AMOLED screen that offers good visibility indoors and outdoors and is a comfortable tracker to use day and night. 5ATM water resistance rating means you can swim too.
It’s capable of tracking daily activity like steps and automatically monitoring sleep, and we’ve found it helps improve accuracy on both fronts. It also includes guided breathing exercises to give you a more mindful monitoring appeal.
You can track sports, though you’ll need to rely on using your phone’s GPS for the most accurate tracking outdoors. It didn’t shine in racing, but it worked well for swimming in the pool and was reliable for indoor workouts like rowing.
For general well-being, the accuracy of the heart rate sensor is a bit hit and miss based on our tests, though blood oxygen readings matched our dedicated pulse oximeter.
It handles smartwatch basics like notification support and music controls (Android only) well, and you get up to a week of battery life, even when using more power-hungry features.
If you can live without built-in GPS, this is a great-looking fitness tracker that delivers what matters most.
Best Waterproof Fitness Trackers for Swimming
Samsung Galaxy Fit
SAMSUNG GALAXY FIT FEATURES
• 0.95-inch AMOLED touch screen
• Step tracking/automatic sleep monitoring
• Accelerometer-based training tracking
• Includes heart rate, monitor
• 5ATM (up to 50 meters) waterproof
• Works with Android and iOS
• Show notifications
• Price when reviewed: $89.99 / £89.99
If you’re looking for the best fitness tracker for swimming, the Fit gets our vote.
Sitting below the Fit2 Pro, the $99.99/£99.99 Fit does all the basics, including step counting and distance traveled, and offers solid sleep monitoring features too.
You also get smartwatch features like notification support and the ability to change watch faces on the beautiful 0.95-inch AMOLED touchscreen. There are no music player controls, payment features, or Bixby support, but that’s not surprising considering the price.
On the swim tracking front, rely on built-in motion sensors to monitor time in the pool.
As for accuracy, we found it provided data on par with what our Garmin sports watch recorded, which is impressive given the sub-$100 price tag. Plus, its slim design means it’s nice and unobtrusive in the pool.
For battery life, you can expect around seven days depending on usage. If you want a slim and comfortable tracker with decent swim tracking abilities, this is definitely one to consider.
Garmin Vivosmart 4
GARMIN VIVOSMART 4 FEATURES
• Monitor heartbeat
• step tracking
• Automatic exercise detection
• VO2max
• Rep count for gym exercises.
• Heart rate variability for stress scores
• iOS and Android compatibility
• Price when reviewed: $89.99 / £89.99
The Vivosmart 4 is slimmer, sleeker, and even better equipped for the gym than its predecessor. It’s the best fitness tracker for those looking for deep data, with blood oxygen, energy, and stress tracking all part of the mix.
It includes a heart rate monitor, VO2 Max test (which is a great metric for those who like HIIT and CrossFit classes), and automatic exercise detection, so you won’t miss out if you forget to start tracking a workout. session.
The ‘body battery’ energy check will also give you a better idea of how well prepared you are for your next workout.
The Vivosmart 4 also includes Garmin’s Move IQ software and rep counting for those who like to lift weights, while the addition of the pulse oximeter sensor means it can even help detect sleep apnea.
And the decent accelerometer-based run tracking slightly makes up for the lack of GPS support, if you’re not too concerned about pinpoint accuracy.
Withings ScanWatch Fitness Tracker Watches
WITHINGS SCANWATCH FEATURES
• Automatic exercise detection and connected GPS
• electrocardiogram
• Continuous heart rate monitoring
• Dedicated running and swimming tracking
• sleep tracking
• 30-day battery life
• iOS and Android
• Price when reviewed: $329.99 / £279.99
We’ve been reluctant to put the ScanWatch on our best list, as the lack of FDA approval has meant it’s been banned from sale in the US, until now.
Available in 38mm and 42mm size options, the ScanWatch is constructed from premium stainless steel with a small AMOLED screen on top of the watch face to show you notifications for tracking stats and heart rate data.
It uses connected GPS to track outdoor activities like running, offers VO2 Max estimates, and automatically recognizes activities, which we found pretty reliable in our tests.
On the health front, you’re getting an ECG sensor that can look for arrhythmia, thus low or high heart rates. There is also a SpO2 sensor to measure blood oxygen levels and it can monitor breathing disorders during sleep, which will come in handy when removed for signs of sleep apnea disorder.
Its heart rate and sleep tracking features are some of the best in the business, and ScanWatch is a striking example of putting powerful sensors into something that’s discreet and non-techy.
Data is stored and synced with the awesome Withings Health Mate app and you can get up to 30 days of battery life depending on what features you’ve enabled.
If you’re looking for a hybrid that looks like a lovely watch and shines with its fitness tracking and innovative health features, the ScanWatch should be right up your street.
Withings Steel HR Sport
FEATURES WITHINGS STEEL HR SPORT
• Automatic exercise detection
• Continuous heart rate monitoring
• Dedicated running and swimming tracking
• sleep tracking
• 25 days of battery life
• iOS and Android compatibility
• Price when reviewed: $199.99 / £189.95
If ECG isn’t top of your list, save some money and give the Steel HR Sport a try. A gorgeous-looking hybrid smartwatch, don’t be fooled into thinking this is style over substance: the Withings Steel HR Sport is a massively powerful fitness and wellness device masquerading as an analog watch.
The key here is the accuracy of the heart rate monitor, which, in our tests, was a superior performer.
It is designed for continuous use and will take a reading from your wrist every minute. However, the fact that it’s combined into such a beautifully designed watch-tracker hybrid, and still manages 25 days of battery life, is a boon to Withings.
Swim tracking is also present, as well as GPS connection by phone, which means that you can now more accurately track runs with the help of your smartphone.
In short, the Withings Steel HR is a great fitness tracker, but even more powerful devices are coming.
Apple Watch SE
KEY FEATURES OF THE APPLE WATCH SE
• iOS only
• Monitor heartbeat
• Automatic exercise detection
• VO2max
• Movement, exercise, and support goals
• native sleep tracking
• Single-day battery life
• Price when reviewed: $279.99 / £269.99
When it comes to fitness tracking, the Apple Watch is one of the best in the business, and that’s because it does things differently than just about every other fitness-tracking watch out there.
Apple Watch rings have now become synonymous with experience, with three tracking lenses as the core experience of the watch.
The Move goal is based on calories, which makes a lot more sense than steps, as it’s inherently customized to your individual levels. However, you can see your step count below.
The exercise goal tracks those crucial minutes of activity to achieve the WHO-recommended 150 minutes per week.
And lastly, the Stand target ensures you get up and moving every hour.
Rings fill up as you progress towards your goals, and you can challenge any friend who has an Apple Watch to a ring challenge, which awards points for progress for a week.
It’s incredibly motivating, far more so than many trackers on this list with its mere 10,000 steps.
Of course, the Apple Watch does a lot more than just goal tracking. It’s a great fitness tracker with GPS, swim tracking, heart rate, a new focus on VO2 Max and now there’s the Apple Fitness+ service that’s fully integrated with Apple Watch and Rings.
There are downsides. Sleep tracking is basic (good third-party apps are available) and the single-day battery life is a pain if you choose to use it all night. Then there’s the fact that it’s iOS-only, and the $279/$269 price tag means it’s not for everyone.
