Which fitness tracker?

Flashy

Plainly and simply, I’ve got fat. Not fat-fat, but I need to shift a couple of stone. Since getting married three-and-a-half years ago, my weight has been creeping up and up. Final straw came when I put on a jumper on Christmas morning and it made me look pregnant. My wife said no, it didn’t, don’t be silly, but our two-year-old toddled past and with perfect comic timing rubbed and then patted my stomach...

I know I need to move more and eat less (and cut out the rubbish), so once Christmas is out of the way I’ll be doing more exercise and eating better.

Appreciate this is a lifestyle change. I did it before my wedding through calorie counting, walking more and a bit of running. Will do that again but like the idea of a fitness tracker/smart watch-type device to spur me on and, this time, to keep me going.

Budget not really an issue, mainly thanks to Christmas money and vouchers. But there’s so much choice.  

On the exercise front, gym, cycling and swimming are not really options. It’ll be walking and running.

Don’t want something super-cheap and do want something that’ll both last and satisfy my gadget lust. So I want something that’ll track steps, ideally distance covered without needing my phone with me (so with on-board GPS, presumably?), as we’ll as tracking weight, telling me when I’ve been sat still for too long, etc. Ability to play music from it to Bluetooth earphones would be good, too. A decent iOS app and ease of use are musts.

I’d love an Apple Watch but, despite what I said about budget, I’m not convinced I can justify the cost to myself. But I’m not ruling it out.

I’ve been looking at Fitbits, which the world and his wife seem to have, but think I’d need the Ionic for built-in GPS. If that’s the case, for the price I may as well get a Series 3 Apple Watch.

The Garmin Forerunner 35 ticks most of the boxes, I think, but looks more like it’s substance over style and it might be a bit too run-focused for me without much else.

Can anyone point me in the direction of anything else? Or is the Apple Watch the way to go, on the basis that, price aside, I know I won’t regret it and it’ll do all I want and more.

Or, do I ditch the GPS, as doing so looks like it’d open up many more options?

NorvernRob

The trouble with Apple watches is battery life. They need charging overnight so are no good as sleep monitors and can’t calculate calories burned whilst sleeping. I think the heart rate monitor also only checks your HR once every 10 minutes (though it monitors constantly in exercise mode), whereas my Charge 3 monitors my HR every 5 seconds normally and every 1 second during exercise. Having to charge a watch every night would annoy me tbh.

I have a Fitbit charge 3 (doesn’t have GPS) which I mainly bought to keep a track of my sleep patterns and heart rate, for which is it fantastic. The app is superb too and the battery lasts for close to a week. It tracks steps, distance covered, heart rate, calories burned, floors of stairs climbed, minutes/days active, sleep patterns, fitness score. It’s very very comprehensive.

I do like that it vibrates on my wrist when I get a phone call or message, so even if my phone is turned right down in my pocket I don’t miss a call. It displays text messages on the screen too.

However - I have a Garmin unit for my bike which is why I didn’t buy a GPS watch, but I’ve started running and now kind of wish I had bought a Garmin Forerunner 35. I do link my phone to the Fitbit for GPS on runs and it works perfectly (I use Strava on my phone anyway and the Fitbit to keep track of my overall fitness) but then that means I can’t wear my nice running shorts with zero pockets unless I get some kind of arm phone holder.

My perfect watch would basically be the Fitbit with gps, but I don’t want allsorts of apps on the screen and things I won’t use which is kind of what the ionic would be to me.

Basically - I think the Charge 3 (or you can pick up a Charge 2 for around £80 which basically does the same apart from it’s not fully waterproof and doesn’t track swimming) would be ideal for you and is a superb fitness tracker, as long as you have a pocket in your running shorts or wear a phone holder. If you get seriously into running then a Garmin may be better.

Flashy

Thanks for that, all really useful. I’ve pretty much ruled out the Apple Watch. Sleep tracking of no interest – I’ve a toddler and a three-month-old so it’d only depress me! But it does more than I need something to do, and it’s so expensive I’d be terrified of damaging it.

That leaves the Garmin Forerunner 35 or the Fitbit Charge 3. The Garmin looks very (possibly exclusively) run/walk-focused but the Fitbit doesn’t have GPS. Neither can a play music to Bluetooth headphones. Taking my phone with me would fix both issues but I’d really rather not.

Which brings me back to the Apple Watch, which ticks all the boxes. Charging daily isn’t an issue. It will track walking, running and more. It has GPS and will stream music (without the need to convert to mp3), meaning I wouldn’t need to take my phone.

Guess I either have to compromise on GPS/music or bite the bullet and pay double the cost of the Fitbit or Garmin and get an Apple Watch. Some thinking to do.

booyaka

My son got a Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smartwatch for Xmas - he loves it so far. Tracks his swimming/steps/heart rate/sleep etc - Uploads to the excellent garmin app etc.

Battery lasts a week or so (only had a single charge since Xmas day and still has 30% left just now)

kez

1 for the Vivoactive.

dUnKle

Love my Apple Watch
It lasts me a good two to three days.  Possibly more without need for charge and charges quickly.  If did want sleep monitoring then I would imagine, due to speed it charges, if you bunged it on charger whilst showering or having breakfast etc it would be fine

Heart rate monitor is great and seems constant from what I have seen and the irregularities checked made me visit a hospital and spend two days there.  If I had not had watch then I may not be typing now

I would say though it’s only worth considering if you have the whole Apple library as you need the phone

Inferno

Hi that Garmin Forerunner 35 doesn't store music it only lets you control it on your phone, the Vivoactive 3 does but dependent on money I would go for a Garmin Forerunner 645 if my Fenix 3 gives up that is.