Best Fitness Trackers

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We all know that exercise is a great way to improve your well-being and overall health. I find that when I exercise regularly my anxiousness becomes much less severe. Fitness trackers are great fun way of staying motivated and tracking your progress.

Best of the Best

Best Value

Best on a Budget

Depending on the tracker you can track, calories, distance travelled, steps, heart rate and even sleep. Some of the trackers offer GPS so you can map out your walking or running path, and see your pace.  Here are some of the advantages of having a fitness tracker:

BEST OF THE BEST

#2 WINNER
Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro

Pros: Water-Resistant. Huge array of built-in sensors. Built-in hard drive. GPS

Cons: Not waterproof. Some issues with heart-rate accuracy reported in strenuous workouts. Pricey.

The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro is a feature packed fitness tracker and smart watch.  It comes with all-day fitness tracking and GPS for pace and tracking your workout . It has heart rate monitoring, auto exercise detection, smartphone notifications, and even has a 4 gB hard drive so you can store some of your songs on it. The screen is a curved AMOLED which is super modern and bright. It fits comfortably on your wrist. It also comes with Spotify preloaded so you can sync your account from your phone to the watch. The watch works with android and iOS. It takes the #2 Winner spot because its not as comfortable to sleep with for sleep tracking. Its also more smartwatch-like which may not be the type of fitness tracker that you want.

#3 WINNER
Fitbit Charge 2 Fitness Wristband

Pros: Nice design. Tracks sleep. Always on heart-rate sensor.

Cons: Not fully waterproof. No built-in GPS.

The Fitbit Charge 2 is a nicely designed comfortable wristband tracker. You can remove the tracker and change bands. It has auto modes which recognize what activity you’re doing. It also functions a bit like a smartwatch and shows you call, text, and calendar notifications if your phone is nearby. You can track your sleep stages with it also. I really like that it wirelessly syncs to your computer and to your smartphone. On the downside, its only splash proof but not waterproof. Also because there’s no built-in GPS you’ll need to bring your phone with you if you want to track your route. For these reasons its my pick for #3 Winner.

BEST VALUE

#1 WINNER
Spire Stone: Stress Management and Activity Tracker

Pros: Can track stress through respiration sensor. Waterproof

Cons: Uncomfortable to wear all day long. No heart rate sensor.

What really sets the Spire Stone apart from other trackers is that it can track your stress levels. It does this by tracking your breathing patterns. This is especially useful for people that have anxiety. For this reason and because its affordable it takes my #1 Winner position for Best Value. You can also track your activity including steps, calories and more. The Spire Stone is recommended by many health professionals. Its water-resistant and charges wirelessly. A single charge lasts 10 days. It lets you know when you are tense or not taking frequent breaths. On the downside, people have reported that it can get irritating to wear it for more than a few hours. It also doesn’t track your heart rate.

#2 WINNER
Bellabeat Leaf Nature Health & Fitness Tracker

Pros: Attractive jewelry design. Versatile. App is well designed. Doesn’t require charging. Sleep tracking.

Cons: Sometimes inaccurate. Not waterproof. Doesn’t actually track stress.

The Bellabeat Leaf is a fantastic jewelry like tracker thats aimed specifically at women. It can be worn on a strap on your wrist or as a jewelry piece on your clothing. It tracks steps taken and sleep quality when paired to an app via bluetooth. A great thing about it is that it has a built in battery that lasts 6 months so you don’t have to charge it. It can also track menstrual cycles and reproductive health. The app has an attractive intuitive design and its fun and easy to use. It takes the #2 Winner position because the breathing measurements are awkward and hard to use. Its advertised as being able to detect stress but really it only works as a guided meditation. And its very inaccurate and hard to position. So if you want something that’ll check your breathing the Spire Stone may be the better choice for you.

#3 WINNER
Fitbit Zip Wireless Activity Tracker

Pros: Affordable. Easy to use. Auto wireless syncing with PC and smartphones. Comes in various colours.

Cons: No sleep tracking. Sometimes hard to sync. Not the best display.

The Fitbit Zip is a great tracker. It has thousands of positive reviews and is feature packed. It can track distance, steps, and calories burned. You can set goals and view your progress.  It runs on a coin battery so you don’t need to constantly charge it. It takes the #3 Winner position because its screen isn’t very good and it doesn’t track sleep quality. On the up-side its fun to use and you earn badges when you reach your goals which really helps to motivate. Its a solid easy to use tracker.

BEST ON A BUDGET

#1 WINNER
Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band

Pros: Water-Resistant. Motivating. Battery lasts one year. Great value. Accurate. Tracks sleep.

Cons: Syncing problems. No GPS or altimeter. Display isn’t bright enough.

The Garmin Vivofit is a great all around tracker. Its simple to use and really does a good job. Its very affordable and for that reason takes the #1 Winner position for Best on a Budget. It can be bundled with the Garmin heart rate monitor. Its very popular and has thousands of positive reviews. It features a Move Bar which motivates you to stay active during the day. Its comfortable to wear all day and it has a long battery life. Achieving your goals is super easy with this tracker. It learns your activity level and creates new goals for you every morning. It also can monitor your sleep. On the downside, some people have had problems with syncing the data from the tracker automatically. Also, some people have said that the display isn’t bright enough.

#2 WINNER
Fitbit Charge HR Wireless Activity Wristband

Pros: Silent alarm. Its also a watch. Challenges are fun. Can track flights of stairs climbed.  Tracks heart rate.

Cons: Not discreet.  Not waterproof.

The Fitbit Charge HR is a good overall fitness tracker. It synchronizes automatically with your devices. Its water resistant but you can’t shower with it on.  It can track your steps, continuous heart rate monitoriingand even stairs that you’ve climbed. It also tracks distance sleep quality. It has a silent alarm that can wake you with gentle buzzes. It takes the #2 Winner position because there have been some complaints about the quality of the band. Some people have said it breaks after regular use. Its still makes my list because its a great value and offers a lot of functions and sensors for a good price. There are also thousands of positive reviews for it with more than 20,000 5-Star reviews on Amazon.

#3 WINNER
Fitbit Flex 2

Pros: Sleek design. Affordable. Waterproof. Available in a few colours. Tracks swimming.

Cons: Basic tracker. Clasp can be hard to use. No sleep tracking.

I really like the simplicity and affordability of the Fitbit Flex 2. Its easy to use and tracks steps, distance, and calories. It also tracks active minutes. Its a very sleek think design and is waterproof. You can swim and shower with it. It takes my #3 Winner spot because it doesn’t track sleep or have an easy to read display. Instead it uses patterns of LED display lights to show you your progress. It features a silent vibrating alarm which is great. There have been some complaints about difficultly securing the clasp on the band. There have also been some complaints about accuracy. Overall, the majority of reviews are positive in nature. If you’re a swimmer this is the tracker for you.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Regular exercise has huge health benefits especially for those suffering from anxiety. Fitness trackers are a great way to stay motivated. They’re fun to use and also allow you to be social with your exercises and compete with friends. Many of them can also be used to track and improve your sleep, which is another great way to reduce your anxiety. I hope you enjoyed my report and found the perfect fitness tracker for you.

Want to know more about Activity and Fitness Trackers?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity_tracker

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-4-unexpected-ways-to-use-fitness-trackers-20180103-story.html

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy_heart/move_more/could-a-fitness-tracker-boost-your-heart-health