Water-resistant or waterproof trackers keep their battery life even after many swims. Some trackers also have fast-charging, so you can quick-charge them between swims if needed. For those who want insights into sleep, heart rate, and recovery—without dropping $400 or signing up for a monthly membership—the RingConn Gen 2 Air https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/madmuscles.com offers great value. RingConn has refined its hardware with this second generation, offering a noticeably lighter and more comfortable fit than the original.

Health Tracking

And as the Huawei Watch D is expensive, hard to get hold of, and something we have not tested, you are better off with a more traditional cuff-style design for now. You also have 32GB on which to store any music you might want to carry around with you, smart notifications and handy workout suggestions to spruce up your exercise routine. When we compared it to its predecessor, the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 7, it was way faster and more responsive to the touch, even when we used it with wet hands. We’re unable to offer personal health advice, but we’ve partnered with JustAnswer who offers on-demand doctors to answer your medical questions 24/7. Talk online now with a doctor and get fast 1-on-1 answers from the comfort of your couch. Many individuals note how they can receive calls and messages on their watch, making it useful for managing communication without touching their phone.

Lastly, decide whether you want a minimalist design, like that of the Whoop or the Oura. “A lot of my clients don’t like things on their wrist,” says Honore, who works with dancers who don’t want to be distracted by a screen. You may prefer having a screen so that you can glance down during a workout and check your progress. I’ve been reporting on tech professionally for nearly a decade and have been obsessing about it for much longer than that.

Some have their own dedicated app while others use established ones. Most can be downloaded and hooked up to your fitness band in under five minutes. The apps usually give much more detail than what you see on the watch face. As it’s constantly measuring all manner of metrics, we found that this watch with built-in GPS needed charging every couple of days, especially if used for runs, walks or rides. It’s the most expensive watch we tested, but for mad muscles reviews some the hefty price tag will be worth it, especially if you’re a data geek. We found the sleeping analysis fairly accurate, and it lets you see how much of your sleep is deep or light.

The Best Outdoors Watch

The SE doesn’t offer as bright or large a display as the Series 11 and Ultra 3, but unlike previous versions of the watch, it does have an always-on screen option. It’s packed with just about every workout mode you could ever need, and it has built-in GPS. That said, the battery life is less than a lot of the other trackers on this list at 18 hours.

To go a little deeper, the app is functional, though not especially polished, and some might miss the granularity offered by more premium competitors. Still, for the price—just under $200—the Helio Ring offers a step into smart rings, especially for anyone prioritizing affordability and comfort. They offer estimates based on algorithms and sensor data, not lab-verified testing. All of the options we currently recommend offer more than enough fitness tracking capabilities for runners, gym users, and swimmers. Basically, if you like to exercise but aren’t a maniac about it and you’d like to start tracking, you might as well start with something more affordable, test the water, see if you like it. Its Polar Flow app content is vibrant and easy to follow; there is a clear breakdown of steps, active time and calories burnt.

The 9 Best Fitness Trackers, Tested By Our Fitness and Tech Experts

My biggest gripes are the touch screen is hard to use with sweaty fingers and the onboard AI assistant for voice commands sometimes requires you to enunciate. You do lack advanced health features, like EKGs or sleep apnea detection, but that’s not really the point of something like the Active 2. This is meant to be a classic, basic fitness tracker that happens to look like a watch — and it does that with aplomb. The battery can also last up to eight days now, instead of just seven.

The Best Pre-Workouts Of 2025, With Insights From Wellness Experts

We’re not exaggerating when we say this is the most rugged fitness tracker we have tested. According to Men’s Health contributor Korin Miller, this Garmin can take a beating. “I accidentally banged it into several doorways and even scraped it against a kettlebell during a clumsy gym moment—it still looks brand new,” Miller says.

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• In our Apple Watch SE 2 review we did write “Apple’s cheaper smartwatch is all most people will need”.

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• The best thing of all though, is that this watch is super affordable.
• We started cross comparing fitness trackers as early as 2017, when we broke down the best fitness trackers for activities like strength training, running, hiking, golf, and more.

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• For each new fitness tracker, we evaluate its hardware design and comfort; you need to be able to wear the device all day, and we’ve found that some larger trackers don’t fit well on smaller wrists.

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• Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions.

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• If they are too big, they might slip or rub your skin when you swim hard.

Pebble’s long-awaited comeback is here as first smartwatches begin shipping

The Bip 6 gives me a breakdown of my quality of sleep based on my heart rate and respiratory rate. This helps with managing activity loads during the day based on readiness scores. The Amazfit Bip 6 smartwatch has a 14-day battery life and effectively tracks 140 different workouts and sleep. The data that the watch gathers can be accessed in detail through the companion app, where you can even get feedback on how to improve your workouts to get the best results. Choosing a swimming fitness tracker isn’t just about finding a waterproof gadget.

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Software and App Experience

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Men’s Health Fitness Director Ebenezer Samual backs this product for that reason. “Simplicity is what works here, because it’s reliable, has great battery life, and I don’t need to think about it,” he says. The Whoop 4.0 is a fitness tracker band, which means though it’s still decently functional, it does not have a display like most wrist devices.

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As A Personal Trainer, These Are The 7 Best Fitness Trackers I Recommend In 2025

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As we mentioned already, the Amazfit Balance is a particularly good option for those who want to better manage their sleep hygiene and stress levels. This sleek fitness tracker is packed to the brim with wellness apps and health tracking features designed to help you boost your post-exercise recovery and live a more mindful lifestyle. It also comes with a whopping 14-day battery life, dual-band GPS navigation, compass, altimeter, and many other features typically reserved for more premium models. As runners, we focused our research on devices that made sense for our specific needs — watches with GPS capabilities to track mileage, pace, and other run metrics.

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Most stylish fitness watch

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Fitness trackers work best when worn every day, so they can build up a full picture of your habits and lifestyle, and the Luxe is one that you’ll genuinely want to. There’s no onboard GPS; instead, the Luxe needs a connection to your phone, which is its only real drawback. If that’s a deal-breaker for you, the slightly pricier Fitbit Charge 5 would be a better choice.

The Polar Unite has the sporty look of a fitness watch, and it can hold up to 20 sport profiles. It was comfortable — its heart-rate sensor is flat, which is a nice touch. The 50 wrist-worn wearables we’ve tested over the past decade have included the discontinued predecessors of many of the devices reviewed here. The “Whoop Age” feature, which provides an estimated age based on user input and activities, is similar to other fitness aging metrics many companies are increasingly promoting.