Best Fitness Trackers: Fitbit, Apple, Garmin, and More

While some may consider fitness trackers trendy, they don’t appear to be going away anytime soon. And with good reason! They not only help you monitor your activity, but they can also help you track the quantity and quality of your sleep, record your heart rate, and provide reminders to get up and move. We’ve rounded up some of the most popular and useful options to help get you started on your fitness tracking journey.

For those who want to track their activity without looking like they’re tracking their activity, the Withings Activité Steel is a great option. Don’t let its sleek, minimal face fool you, it syncs up with an app to provide you with the details of your day.

I’ll admit, this one surprised me. I always associated Garmin with GPS technology, but it makes complete sense that they would get in on the wearables game. The Vívosmart provides all of the standard fitness tracker services, along with a few smart watch capabilities, including alerts whenever you receive a call, text or email.

Ah yes, the Fitbit. Perhaps the brand most synonymous with fitness trackers, there’s a reason it’s so popular. There are a million ways to customize the look of the band, accessories to help you manage your fitness and health holistically, and a simple and easy-to-use interface. And for an additional $20, you can upgrade to the Charge 2, which has a handful of other great features.

Android users, this one’s for you! In addition to multi-sport fitness tracking—cycling, lunges and crunches can all be counted—the watch offers enough storage to hold 500 of your favorite songs from Spotify.

While rumors are floating around that the Series 3 is set to launch in the fall of 2017, those who can’t wait will be happy to find that the current model includes a built-in GPS and is water resistant up to 50 meters (so it won’t face the same fate as your last deep sea-diving iPhone).

• What I Learned After a Year of Fitness Tracking
• 5 DIY Ways to Transform Your Fitness Tracker
• Try Out Fitness Wearables, Warby Parker-Style
• Iris Apfel Debuts Wearables Line

Affordable and functional, the Misfit is a staff favorite. You can wear the tracker on your wrist, clipped to your shirt and even on your shoe. It comes in a wide variety of colors and syncs to a user-friendly and informative app.

If you don’t want the world to know you’re counting your steps and watching your calories, try this tiny, easy-to-hide tracker. Discretion is the Zip’s forte: It can even be clipped onto a belt loop or bra.

Sleek and chic, the Misfit Ray’s minimalist design has us swooning. We love that the sweat-proof sport band can be switched out for a leather version, and the metal tracker can also be worn as a pendant necklace.

• The Best Fitness Trackers of 2017 – PCMag
• The Best Fitness Trackers – The Sweethome
• Which Activity Monitor is Right for You? — Yahoo Shopping

If you want the high-tech functions of a fitness tracker, but hate the idea of walking around with what looks like a mini computer on your wrist, consider Bellabeat’s natural leaf design, which can be worn as a bracelet, necklace or clip. This pretty tracker monitors activity, sleep, meditation and even menstrual cycles.

This rose gold bangle is pretty enough to wear out on a date. Underneath, it conceals a slender wristband that can track your activity, whether you’re swimming or sleeping.

Although reviewers have experienced some glitches with this bracelet’s ability to count steps accurately, it wins as one of the most beautiful options. Grab this one now while it’s on sale.

Affordable and slim, this is a great introductory option if you’re new to the fitness tracker game. If you’re guilty of always hitting the snooze button, try this tracker’s alarm function which can wake you up during the optimal time in your sleep cycle.

*Re-edited from a post that originally appeared 03.21.16. – KH