Best Fit Watches For Personal Monitoring

Modern fitness trackers can monitor recovery after training, sleep, heart health, and much more. They can cover a wide variety of activities, including running, climbing, walking, golfing, and more. They have sensors that can give a smartwatch a good run for the money and track data to support your fitness goals. In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the more popular fitness trackers that may be a good fit for your lifestyle.

Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar 

The Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar has over 80 activity profiles installed as standard, including climbing, golf, surfing, backcountry skiing, and many more. The screen is resistant to scratching, and the five button touchscreen layout is intuitive and simple to program. This tracker has advanced health monitoring, HRV status, recovery time, training load, and in-depth performance metrics to track progress. The MIP ( memory in pixel) transflective display allows the user to view the screen even in direct sunlight at different angles. With a battery life of up to 18 days as a smartwatch or 22 with solar charging, it’s possible to stay on the go for days. Some activity modes have navigation with preloaded maps or “Navigate” or “Map” can be viewed outside of the activity mode for planning. The preloaded workouts are effective, but the “Garmin Coach” can be used to create custom workouts. Certain unique features such as “ClimbPro” are helpful for the user to adjust their efforts to deal with upcoming ascents. This tracker has standard, run, cycle, hike, swim, and GPS watch features and music support for Amazon, Deezer, and Spotify. The Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar comes in three case sizes: 42mm, 47mm, and 51mm. There are several variants with different screen types and with or without solar to meet specific needs. 

The Amazfit GTR 4  

This smartwatch tracker is compatible with Alexa, it features a multiband GPS and it has an impressive 14-day battery life. There are plenty of features, such as a bright OLED screen, stress tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, sleep stage tracking, and an offline assistant. There’s a built-in Pomodoro timer and a native camera remote. GPX routes from Komoot and Strava can be imported to the device. Standard smart features include quick text reply, timers, alarms, push notifications, and call answering via Bluetooth. The only real drawback is contactless payment, which is more than understandable given the impressive feature set at a very affordable price. 

Apple Watch Ultra  

This is the best-selling smartwatch, and most experts agree that it’s the best device on the market. Of course, this comes at a premium, but for many, the higher price tag is worth the investment. This latest upgraded model features a larger 49mm tough titanium case with a brighter screen, water resistance down to a depth of 100 meters, and the battery life has been extended to 36 hours. This watch can track steps, sleep, and calories, and present them in a format that’s easy to understand. Structured workouts for almost any activity are present, including running, swimming, kickboxing, strength training, and more. The different modes can be customized for warm ups, and recovery periods, and all the usual metrics, such as pace, heart rate, distance, elevation, and more, can be tracked. The Apple Watch Ultra now has a multi-GNSS chipset paired with multiband GPS technology that has solved the lackluster GPS performance of previous models. But, the battery life is still comparatively low; the AMOLED screen is constantly on and this makes it even harder to squeeze some extra time out of the battery. On a full charge and in normal smartwatch mode, the Ultra has around 35 hours of battery life. This drops dramatically to only 12 hours of operation if GPS tracking mode is used. So, if smartwatch features and daily convenience take precedence, the Apple Watch Ultra may be a good fit for those already invested in the Apple ecosystem.

Withings ScanWatch Light  

This is a hybrid analog smartwatch that can track the most used activities with up to 30 days of battery life at an affordable price. All the basic tracking is present, including steps, sleep, GPS, alarms, notifications, and menstrual cycles. The watch comes in pale blue or minty green, and it has a Swatch-like aesthetic that may appeal to techies. The ScanWatch Light variant is based on the ScanWatch 2 with some missing features, including blood oxygen tracking, an altimeter, an EKG atrial fibrillation detection sensor, and a temperature sensor. These features are nice to have, but for basic fitness tracking, they are overkill for most users. Both the ScanWatch 2 and the ScanWatch Light lack contactless payments and built-in safety features that are found on other smartwatches in the same price range. So, the Light variant starts to look like a real bargain for day to day use. That said, the ScanWatch 2 has a second step-counter dial which adds a touch of class to the overall design. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6  

The Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic are the best fitness tracking options for Samsung phone users. These watches were the first models to get the Wear OS 4, which added a ton of new health and sleep tracking features, including personalized heart rate zones, custom workout routines, temperature-based cycle tracking, and more. The 3-in-1 sensor is capable of body composition analysis which, at the time of writing this article, is unique to these Samsung smartwatches. The Samsung Health app can be accessed via the device to watch workout videos, but these are not as professional as the Peloton or Fitness Plus content. The Samsung Watch 6 Classic is a popular choice because it has the rotating bezel for interface navigation and a classy stainless steel case. The Galaxy Watch 6 has a more basic interface and an aluminum case, but it’s much cheaper. It can be argued that the Watch 6 is better suited to fitness tracking because it’s smaller and lighter. This makes it more comfortable to wear when sleeping and less distracting during a workout. The main drawback with earlier models was the battery life, but this has been significantly improved on the Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic. In most scenarios, the battery will last an entire day, and even with the display on and the GPS running, there’s only a drain of 3-4% per mile. Fast charging gains 8 hours of battery life per charge, and in bedtime mode, the drain is only 10-15% overnight. So, a charge may be needed for snore detection, skin temperature tracking, and continuous SpO2 sensing if those features are needed during sleep.