People have been trying to get active. One aspect of this trend has been the creation and rise of the activity tracker. This started out as a pedometer that could be clipped on the belt or pocket to track the number of steps taken in a day. Fast forward a few years and activity trackers are everywhere. Turn on the TV, scroll through your Facebook feed and try to find someone who isn't wearing one.
In terms of features, those seem to be expanding just as quickly as new trackers are brought to market. There always seems to be one brand that tries to outdo the others – much like smartphone companies. When you think you've seen a product that has every feature you thought possible to put on a tracker, another company comes out and adds one more. Pretty soon you can become bogged down in the reality of how many products are out there that you don't even understand.
When it comes to buying an activity tracker, there are some essential features you want to look for and some bells and whistles you don't need. To help make your decision more comfortable, we've put together this list to help you find the tracker that will lend you the most help in your quest to move more.
Comparison Table
Product | Preview | Ratings | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Fitbit Blaze – Fitbit |  | No products found. | |
Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro – Samsung |  | No products found. | |
Moov Now – Moov |  | No products found. | |
Fitbit Charge 2 HR – Fitbit |  | No products found. | |
Garmin Vivoactive HR - Garmin |  | No products found. | |
TomTom Spark 3 – TomTom |  | No products found. | |
Garmin Vivofit – Garmin |  | No products found. |
Fitness Trackers v. Smart Watch
Primary function is to track activity and steps. While there are features of some watches that interface with your phone, they are not themselves phones. You can't call or return texts from your activity tracker like you can on your Apple Watch. Those that interface with telephones are a convenience, but that is not the expectation.
Top Features of Activity Trackers
An activity tracker was created to keep track of your level of movement throughout the day. Lately, tracking sleep has also become quite a favorite feature, with Fitbit making claims that their trackers can accurately keep count of your different levels of sleep, just by your heart rate and your lack of movement.
Heart rate is another favorite feature as this can be helpful in getting a more accurate picture of your overall calories burned and activity level. Without heart rate, it seems like it would be much more difficult to track actual effort as in the difference between running and walking. Your stride length does come into play a bit, but some people can speed walk with a relatively short stride that resembles jogging. Without a heart rate monitor, how will the tracker know to calculate the calories burned accurately?
Benefits of an Activity Tracker
The power of suggestion is just that: powerful. When an activity tracker has been idle for a bit, it may remind you to start moving. If you want to hit your step goal, you are more willing to comply with that nudge than an actual person asking you to get up and move. If you are a person who is competitive by nature, the challenges are going to be an excellent way to keep you aware of your activity level. If you see that your college roommate is up on you by 200 steps, you may find yourself doing laps around your dining room table at 10:30 at night to get a leg up.
In this way, activity trackers are doing something people really need: they are getting them to move and take action. Too much sitting around has taken a definite toll on our health, and with the rate of obesity and Type 2 diabetes on the rise, now more than ever movement is essential. Even if you aren't running marathons and only walking around your dining room table, you're still taking healthy steps (literally) to get moving in the right direction. Whether you intend to extend that out into the rest of your life with eating habits that is up to you. The intent of an activity tracker is to get you started in one area.
How We Came Up With This List
Activity trackers used to be virtually non-existent, but that is no longer the case. While the technology is always developing to improve them and give them more sensitive sensors or a bigger and brighter screen, there are now many entrants into this game where there used to be none. In order to bring you the best activity tracker, we did the research you don't have time to do. We looked through the main features including battery life, GPS tracking, heart rate monitor and price, and we put them all together in this ranking. We intend to make this process an easier one to get you the tracker that will work and get you moving sooner rather than later. We know you are depending on our information being accurate and precise, and we take pride in knowing we are providing you with that.
The Best Activity Trackers in 2018
1. Fitbit Blaze – Fitbit
No products found.
Heart Rate Monitor | Yes |
Built-in GPS | No - Must use your phone |
Battery Life | Five Days |
Price | $$$ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
People who have this product enjoyed it and used it as an activity tracker and not a smartwatch. Features such as text and call notifications were appreciated and enjoyed.
Overall rating:
4.7 out of 5 stars. |
No products found.
2. Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro – Samsung
No products found.
Heart Rate M​onitor | Yes |
Built-in GPS | Yes |
Battery Life | Three days |
Price | $$$ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
An overwhelming majority of current customers state their Gear Fit2 Pro is comfortable to wear and use, makes an excellent tracker and functions perfectly as a smartwatch. The only people who seemed to complain stated their tracker broke and customer service didn't offer them a solution.
Overall rating:
4.7 out of 5 stars |
No products found.
3. Moov Now – Moov
No products found.
Heart Rate Monitor | No |
Built-in GPS | No - Through phone |
Battery Life | Six Months |
Price | $ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
Overall, customers seemed to enjoy this tracker especially the waterproof feature and the voice coaching. The price on this tracker and the battery pack were also features customers reported being happiest with.
Overall rating:
4.4 out of 5 stars |
No products found.
4. Fitbit Charge 2 HR – Fitbit
No products found.
Heart Rate Monitor | Yes |
Built-in GPS | No - only with phone |
Battery Life | Three Days |
Price | $$ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
The Charge 2 HR is, by far, a fan favorite. Most of the reviews were positive stating the ability to swap out the band was a huge deal to them (before that most activity trackers didn't give you a choice of bands). The cons all had to do with the battery dying too soon or the GPS tracking not working, even when the phone is in hand.
Overall rating:
4.3 out of 5 (would be higher just because of the price) |
No products found.
5. Garmin Vivoactive HR - Garmin
No products found.
Heart Rate Monitor | Yes |
Built-in GPS | No - only with phone |
Battery Life | Eight days |
Price | $$$ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
Customers generally enjoyed the tracker and used it for the purposes it was created. Some customers claimed it wasn't waterproof as was suggested by many things. Their customer service received high reviews from anyone who had a problem.
Overall rating:
4.2 out of 5 stars |
No products found.
6. TomTom Spark 3 – TomTom
No products found.
Heart Rate Monitor | Yes |
Built-in GPS | Yes - no phone required |
Battery Life | Three weeks with GPS off; 11 hours with GPS on |
Price | $$$ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
Customers seemed to enjoy the Spark 3. The course mapping feature due to the built-in GPS was a hit. The music storage too seemed to please those who bought it. The cons we found merely had to do with price or lack of function. The battery is drained so quickly by the GPS feature being turned on was a problem as well.
Overall Rating:
4 out of 5 stars. |
No products found.
7. Garmin Vivofit​​​​ – Garmin
No products found.
Heart Rate Monitor | No |
Built-in GPS | None |
Battery Life | One year |
Price | $ |
Pros
Cons
Customer reviews:
Customers really liked the price and basic functionality of the Garmin Vivofit. The most significant complaint people appeared to lodge through the forum was the fact the tracker can start to wear out after a while.
Overall rating:
4 out of 5 stars |
No products found.
The Verdict
In the arena of the activity watches, it appears like Fitbit Blaze and the Samsung Gear were a close one and two. Their distinct features and overwhelming extras made them an excellent choice for those who either wanted to get their first activity tracker or for those who were looking to change things up a bit. The straightforward interface of both trackers is a definite factor, and the fact they are both waterproof is a huge plus. There is a slight edge with the Gear only because it is a smartwatch, and it can read and respond to emails, texts and the like on the watch. However, because the price was so steep, we decided to put the Blaze in the top spot for this particular list. While it too is not the cheapest product on our list, it is the one that made the best impression on us.
After careful thought and consideration, as well as the data and the research gathered, we have decided to name the Fitbit Blaze as the best activity tracker of 2018.
