Fitness trackers

[Rob s]

I know there are a lot of sporty, active members on here and I've seen a few mention wearing a fitness tracker on one wrist and a normal mechanical watch on the other.
I've been looking to do this but have wanted a tracker that looks more like a bracelet band rather than another watch, so something as slim as possible.

For those wearing a watch and tracker what one did you go for? Has anyone tried one of the smart rings?

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[Mj2k]

Like the idea of the smart rings, but took me long enough to get used to a wedding ring & didn’t fancy one on the other hand.

I’ve had fitbits for years, starting out with the basic one, then Alta, Alta HR and most recently the charge 3. I got rid of the lot & ended up with an Apple Watch & wear one in each wrist. The added functionality make me happy to look a bit of a tit!

If you’re after a basic one, I’ve got an Alta sitting in the cupboard I can send off to you. It requires a charger though as it broke.

Drop me a pm if any use to you.


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[Rob s]

Thanks that's very nice of you. Seems to be one of the thinnest around so might be the way to go. I'll come back to you.
The fitbit flex seems to offer what I want to but I don't think they make that anymore.

I like the idea of the ring but it seems quite thick and I think might be uncomfortable

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[Mj2k]

Thanks that's very nice of you. Seems to be one of the thinnest around so might be the way to go. I'll come back to you.
The fitbit flex seems to offer what I want to but I don't think they make that anymore.

I like the idea of the ring but it seems quite thick and I think might be uncomfortable

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I’ve got a flex here still, first generation with the lights. Welcome to that too, it has a charger & have a load of straps for it too

To be honest the Alta isn’t much bigger & has some alerts from your phone you can have, texts etc.

Can pop them both in the post for you & decide from there.

[Rob s]

@Mj2k I've sent you a PM

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[ELD1970]

My trusty Fitbit One that clipped to my trouser pocket has died after it went through the washing cycle . I’ve been changing work trousers most days recently due to paranoia about CV19 so it was going to happen one day..
Bought the latest Fitbit Charge 4 which was released last week and it’s brilliant.
It’s just about thin enough to not look like another watch so I can still wear my PO happily.
Charge 4 has GPS tracking which downloads to a map on Fitbit to keep a log of lockdown walks.
Anyone looking for a tracker I can give a thumbs up to the Charge 4


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[Harry Smith]

We've got Fitbit Blaze, Charge 2 and Charge 3 all bought off here and happy with them.

[Rob s]

Thanks for the replies so far guys, seems like a lot of love for the fitbits

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[jordan-arch]

I tried a few trackers, running ones, I eventually gave up and got a suunto Spartan tracker 2nd hand on eBay.

Its a full sized watch, I wouldn't wear it with one on the other wrist personally but you could, it can link to your phone for messages, phone calls, but I leave all that off and get over a week of battery, including tracking my training.

[Rob s]

I tried a few trackers, running ones, I eventually gave up and got a suunto Spartan tracker 2nd hand on eBay.

Its a full sized watch, I wouldn't wear it with one on the other wrist personally but you could, it can link to your phone for messages, phone calls, but I leave all that off and get over a week of battery, including tracking my training.

Thanks Jordan, I've got a Garmin 645 that's great but I like wearing my other watches as well so wanted a thin tracker to wear on my other wrist while wearing my watch

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[jordan-arch]

No worries, the wife as a huawei/honnor fitness band that's pretty slim and she wears it with a watch. They they are about £30 from Amazon, worth a look.

[sjedwardz]

I’ve got a Garmin vivosnart 4 which is small and thin and I wear on my right wrist all of the time. It replaced a Fitbit Alta HR. My wife has just bought the new Fitbit charge 4 which looks very good so far.

Can recommend both, I only went with Garmin as I also have one of their rubbing watches and it made sense to keep in one ecosystem.


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[julian2002]

I use an Huawei Honour Band 5. £30 from amazon and does everything you could want. I get 6 days battery life out of it with constant heart tracking on and it does all the minimal smart stuff like notifications and different faces (limited on apple). Big reason for me to get one was it measures blood oxygen as well as heart rate which is important in this time of CV19 etc.
Other nice things, it charges in a few hours, the straps are interchangeable / replaceable and it's hardly noticable on my right wrist. Not really many drawbacks compared to my old apple watch - I do miss maps/ navigation notifications and the remote shutter, but that's about it.

[L8_M8]

2nd the Huawei range... I had a charge 2 and looked to upgrade to Charge 3 but really was nothing new or better bar waterproof to 50m. I ended up with the Huawei Band Pro 3 this has now been replaced with the Pro 4 which the wife has. These are £60 but if you go for the old model I have seen it go for £30.

These have GPS, built in fully waterproof to 50m but also do SWOLF tracking (swim tracking which the charge series does not) as well as about 15 other sports. The sports tracking and sleep tracking seem great and have been rock solid as mentioned I get roughly a week of monitoring including heart rate and some GPS runs or cycling.

However the step tracking on them has been a little suspect. It counts roughly half of what the charge registers. I did have both on my arm for a while so yes really did look a tit. Everything else is virtually identical to what the charge recorded. I found that it gives a much greater level of detail compared to the charge and all for free where the Fitbit detail is now behind a paywall. My main focus was sleep tracking, swimming and general fitness which it has been great at.

My only criticism is the band fits but is small, probably geared towards women, which ultimately I find all fitness trackers are. I had the large straps on my Fitbit which was more generous for fit. The other negative is where your data goes which is also a concern with Fitbit..but I’ll leave that for the tin hat brigade.

I do wish that there would be a quality fitness tracker that was bigger on wrist but thin... and designed for men with big wrists that doesn’t look like a watch, but they seem like rocking horse poo.

[sjedwardz]

Have you had a look at the Garmin vivosmart 4?

I have a 7 1/4 wrist and have 9 holes left on the large sized one. They are thin and very comfortable, I wear mine all the time on the right hand.

2nd the Huawei range... I had a charge 2 and looked to upgrade to Charge 3 but really was nothing new or better bar waterproof to 50m. I ended up with the Huawei Band Pro 3 this has now been replaced with the Pro 4 which the wife has. These are £60 but if you go for the old model I have seen it go for £30.

These have GPS, built in fully waterproof to 50m but also do SWOLF tracking (swim tracking which the charge series does not) as well as about 15 other sports. The sports tracking and sleep tracking seem great and have been rock solid as mentioned I get roughly a week of monitoring including heart rate and some GPS runs or cycling.

However the step tracking on them has been a little suspect. It counts roughly half of what the charge registers. I did have both on my arm for a while so yes really did look a tit. Everything else is virtually identical to what the charge recorded. I found that it gives a much greater level of detail compared to the charge and all for free where the Fitbit detail is now behind a paywall. My main focus was sleep tracking, swimming and general fitness which it has been great at.

My only criticism is the band fits but is small, probably geared towards women, which ultimately I find all fitness trackers are. I had the large straps on my Fitbit which was more generous for fit. The other negative is where your data goes which is also a concern with Fitbit..but I’ll leave that for the tin hat brigade.

I do wish that there would be a quality fitness tracker that was bigger on wrist but thin... and designed for men with big wrists that doesn’t look like a watch, but they seem like rocking horse poo.

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[andyjay]

I think it depends on exactly what you want to track?

If it’s steps, then there are plenty of step trackers which seem to be OK, but as a fitness tool, I’m not to convinced that it is a good metric - what happens when you cycle, what about swimming, what about weight training etc? Your step tracker won’t help you with these tracking.

Does it also track sleep? Do you want this? I’m not sure which ones track this, but there are devices that only track sleep, and not steps. Or do you want an all day HRM to track ‘activity’ and raised HR? Or, is it just to give yourself a bit of motivation, we’ll again, motivation for what? For example, the higher spec Garmin’s do steps, all day HR, sleep etc and much more. But is this what you want/need? There are also many other bands that do a similar multitude of tracking, it doesn’t have to be a Garmin...

Decide what you are trying to achieve, then work from there...

[Captain Morgan]

I think it depends on exactly what you want to track?

If it’s steps, then there are plenty of step trackers which seem to be OK, but as a fitness tool, I’m not to convinced that it is a good metric - what happens when you cycle, what about swimming, what about weight training etc? Your step tracker won’t help you with these tracking.

Does it also track sleep? Do you want this? I’m not sure which ones track this, but there are devices that only track sleep, and not steps. Or do you want an all day HRM to track ‘activity’ and raised HR? Or, is it just to give yourself a bit of motivation, we’ll again, motivation for what? For example, the higher spec Garmin’s do steps, all day HR, sleep etc and much more. But is this what you want/need? There are also many other bands that do a similar multitude of tracking, it doesn’t have to be a Garmin...

Decide what you are trying to achieve, then work from there...

This is very good advise, look at what you want now and consider what any goals you set could lead too and look for a band that can accommodate it and expand if you need more features.

I’m wearing a garmin vivosport 24/7 for steps/hr/sleep tracking, it also has gps so can track hikes, runs, walks and cycles, it’ll track cardio workouts too. When I use the rower I have a fenix 3 and hr strap as the vivosport won’t track this, I also use the fenix for mountain biking.

All the stats including steps on either device end up on one dashboard making using the right device for the right activities easy. It also means if my needs change or I have a hardware issue it’s easy to maintain with a new device (as long as it’s still garmin)

Have a look on dc rainmaker he’s reviewed a lot of the fitness bands.

[Rob s]

I think it depends on exactly what you want to track?

If it’s steps, then there are plenty of step trackers which seem to be OK, but as a fitness tool, I’m not to convinced that it is a good metric - what happens when you cycle, what about swimming, what about weight training etc? Your step tracker won’t help you with these tracking.

Does it also track sleep? Do you want this? I’m not sure which ones track this, but there are devices that only track sleep, and not steps. Or do you want an all day HRM to track ‘activity’ and raised HR? Or, is it just to give yourself a bit of motivation, we’ll again, motivation for what? For example, the higher spec Garmin’s do steps, all day HR, sleep etc and much more. But is this what you want/need? There are also many other bands that do a similar multitude of tracking, it doesn’t have to be a Garmin...

Decide what you are trying to achieve, then work from there...

It will be for steps/activity and sleep mainly as I have a Garmin 645 for when I'm running or working out so doesn't need to be too advanced. It's to fill in the 'gaps' when not wearing the Garmin without looking like I'm wearing two watches.
Im very kindly being sent an fitbit Alta and flex by another member to try so will see how I get on with those.
Wanted to see what else was suggested. Honour band seems like an option.

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[sjedwardz]

Rob - I do a similar thing, I use a Garmin 735xt for running, workouts, cycling etc. as it is very good at that and provides tons of information along with a screen I can actually read when on the move.

I did have a FitBit but had the issue of some activity logged in Garmin Connect and other in FitBit app, which is why I went to Garmin Vivoactive and gave my wife the Fitbit.

I suppose I could have consolidated everything in something like Apple Health but I've never really got into that app.

It will be for steps/activity and sleep mainly as I have a Garmin 645 for when I'm running or working out so doesn't need to be too advanced. It's to fill in the 'gaps' when not wearing the Garmin without looking like I'm wearing two watches.
Im very kindly being sent an fitbit Alta and flex by another member to try so will see how I get on with those.
Wanted to see what else was suggested. Honour band seems like an option.

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[Captain Morgan]

It will be for steps/activity and sleep mainly as I have a Garmin 645 for when I'm running or working out so doesn't need to be too advanced. It's to fill in the 'gaps' when not wearing the Garmin without looking like I'm wearing two watches.
Im very kindly being sent an fitbit Alta and flex by another member to try so will see how I get on with those.
Wanted to see what else was suggested. Honour band seems like an option.

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In that case if you want to keep all the data in the same place I’d look at the vivosmart or vivosport they’ll integrate the data with your existing garmin account.