The Best Fitness Trackers for Every Type of Exerciser

If it seems like everyone you know has some sort of smart device strapped to their wrist these days, you’re not wrong. One in 5 U.S. adults already wear a smartwatch or fitness tracker. What’s more, wearable technology was named the number-one fitness trend for 2022 by the American College of Sports Medicine.

Essentially supercomputers worn on your wrist, these devices all compile data via proprietary algorithms, but the data you want to prioritize is going to depend on your fitness goals. “The best question you can ask yourself is why you want one,” says Ciarán Friel, a behavioral scientist and exercise physiologist at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y. An occasional exerciser might only need to track steps and calories burned, for example, while a professional ultramarathon runner might prioritize GPS tracking and battery life. (Of course before starting any new exercise routine, it’s smart to check with your healthcare provider.)

Ultimately, the right fitness tracker is one you’ll enjoy wearing consistently—so we talked to experts and put the top trackers through 14 days of testing for factors like comfort and ease of use to help you find the one that fits your routine.

Shop the Best Fitness Trackers

• Best for runners
• Best for workout-class types
• Best for hikers and bikers
• Best for generalists (varied workouts)
• Best for exercise fanatics
• Best fitness tracking ring
• Others you should know about
• How we picked

Best for runners

Pros

• Six built-in sensors
• Lightweight design
• GPS mode and long battery life

Cons

•  No trail mode
•  Slight delay in picking up GPS signal
•  Lacks SpO2 blood oxygen level sensor

Running is an inherently data-driven sport—how far did you go, how fast—and the Coros Pace 2 uses six built-in sensors (an optical heart rate monitor, barometric altimeter, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope and thermometer) to deliver essential running data like distance and pace, as well as elevation gains and losses, cadence, stride length and running power. It shares this all in a lightweight, affordable package too; the Garmin Forerunner 245, for example, is comparable in terms of training metrics but 10 grams heavier and costs $100 more. (Disclosure: The Coros company had previously given me a Pace 2, and it has been my go-to running watch for the past six months; I’ve used it to train for and run two marathons.)

It has lasting power too. Many similarly priced fitness trackers we considered offer approximately one week to 10 days of battery life and fewer than 10 hours in GPS mode—far less than the Pace 2, which provides 20 days of battery life and 30 hours in GPS mode. That means you should never have to worry about this watch dying mid-marathon, even if you forgot to juice it the night before. At the end of a recent 16-mile run, I still had 95% battery life left, compared with the Garmin Epix, which had 87% left, and the Apple Watch with 72% left.

With the Pace 2, you can also switch between terrain—road, treadmill, track—to get the most accurate tracking. For example, in track mode, the brand’s proprietary algorithm measures laps during interval workouts according to the lane you choose. (The length of each lane around the oval differs by 7 to 8 meters.) In treadmill mode, you can set the speed on your watch to match that of the belt and easily adjust it as you run.

The built-in navigation proved to be as accurate as the Garmin tracker, though it took a few seconds longer for the Pace 2 to pick up the GPS signal at the start. Over the course of one run, there was a negligible difference in total mileage, and both watches recorded the same average heart rate and pace.

Best for workout-class types

Pros

•  Largest display, for easy viewing during workouts
•  Soft synthetic rubber band available standard
•  Keyboard for texting or looking up directions during workouts

Cons

•  Lower battery life
•  Workout insights less detailed than competitors
•  Requires an additional subscription for Apple Fitness+ 

When Apple first launched the Apple Watch in 2015, it was marketed as a fashion accessory. But with each iteration, it’s shifted more toward the mechanics of fitness tracking—without sacrificing the design elements and seamless integration across the Apple ecosystem that made it so appealing.

The Series 9 features a larger display than earlier versions—at 1.8 inches it has 20% more screen area than the Series 6—and includes a keyboard that allows you to answer a text mid-workout without pulling out your phone. (The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 also offers a keyboard, but requires a Samsung smartphone to access certain features and doesn’t work with iPhones.)

These features do sap the battery significantly faster than every other watch we tested—the Series 9 lasts about 18 hours after an overnight charge, factoring in typical actions like checking the time, receiving notifications, using apps and doing a 60-minute workout—another reason it’s a better fit for class-goers than endurance athletes. A Low Power Mode, also available via a software update for older Apple Watch models, can extend that battery life by limiting some of the wearable’s features.

More than the other trackers on our list, the Series 9 maximizes the fitness-class experience. With a fee of $10 a month, you can connect to Apple Fitness+ to stream thousands of on-demand, studio-style workouts on a synced device like your iPad or TV through an Apple TV streaming box. During those classes, the Watch broadcasts your real-time exercise data‚ such as calorie burn and heart rate, to the screen so you can see your progress. Those stats are only visible to you, but the instructors might prompt you to hit a target heart rate or see your progress on the “burn bar,” which compares you to other people who’ve completed the workout. Apple Fitness also pulls in workout data from third-party apps supported by Apple Health (including Peloton, Strava and MyFitnessPal), and uses your fitness history to populate customized workout recommendations.

When we originally published this story, we tested the Apple Watch Series 7, which has since been discontinued. The Series 8 added temperature tracking related to ovulation and car crash detection, and the Series 9 has a brighter display and faster processor; it’s otherwise the same device for the same price, so we’re confident in recommending the new model. Apple also has the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which adds the same Series 9-upgrades to the original Ultra’s larger, brighter screen, tougher titanium body, longer lasting battery and an additional hardware button that’s easier to activate during strenuous activities. It’s designed to accommodate the needs of extreme athletes and adventurers.

Best for hikers and bikers

Pros

• Touch screen for easy navigation
• Long battery life
• Extensive mapping capabilities

Cons

• Shorter battery life than some competitors
• Significantly heavier than most fitness trackers
• Much higher price

Garmin’s rugged wrist pieces have long been the go-to option for adventurers, and the newest is no exception. The hefty Epix 2 is made of materials known to be durable: chemically strengthened Gorilla Glass, stainless steel and fiber-reinforced polymer. It tracks your stats for a variety of outdoor activities, including skate skiing, bouldering, snowshoeing, surfing, kiteboarding and windsurfing. It also offers 16 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and 42 hours in GPS mode.

Outdoor enthusiasts will appreciate how deep the nine sensors allow you to dig into different activities: When biking or hiking uphill on a preloaded course, for example, the device automatically provides real-time insights as to how far, high and steep a climb it will be. During mountain biking, specialized measurements rate trail difficulty and how smoothly you descend. On high-altitude hikes or climbs, you can see how well your body is absorbing oxygen.

The 1.3-inch OLED touch screen provides a crystal-clear display with touch screen capabilities that make it easy to navigate Garmin’s extensive downloadable topographical, road, trail and ski-resort maps. (The Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge also have touch screens but lack the route-planning features you’d want to zoom in on when far from home.)

Like the Coros Apex and Vertix, Suunto Peak 9, Polar Vantage M2 and other Garmin devices, the Epix allows you to import GPS route files before heading into the wilderness. But with the Epix, you can also plan a course in the Garmin app or on a third-party app such as Strava and sync it to the watch for turn-by-turn directions.  (This was unerringly accurate for me on a recent run through the unfamiliar streets of Boston.) From your watch, you can also enter a specific distance and receive up to three suggested routes that will bring you back to where you started.

The Epix also has some built-in safety features. With LiveTracking enabled, friends and family can see your exact location and if the watch detects an incident (like a fall), it can alert an emergency contact. Both require a GPS signal on the device and cellular signal on your smartphone, though, so they’re not a reliable safety plan for truly intrepid explorers—merely a backup option for when you’re not actually off the grid.

Best for generalists (varied workouts)

Pros

•  Automatic exercise recognition
•  In-depth sleep tracking
•  Six health-tracking sensors

Cons

• Premium features require an additional paid subscription  
• Smaller screen than competitor models
• Limited on-screen workout data

Fitbit introduced wrist-based activity tracking to the masses with its focus on daily step count. The Charge 5 is a more advanced take, offering similar features to what you’d find in Coros or Garmin devices, but with less of a focus on sport-specific activities.

Most fitness trackers require you to manually start a workout by tapping the screen or pressing a button; the Fitbit Charge, like the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy 4, automatically recognizes movement patterns to turn on a specific exercise mode after 10 minutes of high-movement activity.

During a 7-mile run, the device took about 4 minutes to automatically start tracking. (A notification popped up, asking me if I wanted to record my workout, and I selected “yes” via the responsive touch screen). The total workout time was within 90 seconds of a run that I manually started tracking on the Coros Pace 2. The device also tracked several walks and bike rides I had taken throughout the day in the partner app.

Instead of delivering super-granular metrics (like cadence while cycling or stride length while running), the Fitbit app breaks all activities into Active Zone Minutes. Say you’re doing a HIIT workout: The watch will buzz as you move between the three target heart-rate zones (fat burn, cardio and peak) to help you better understand how hard you’re working at any given moment, and whether you need to dial it back or up the intensity, depending on your fitness goals.

And because sleep is one of the most important elements of exercise recovery, Fitbit makes it easy to see what kind of shut-eye you’re getting each night using heart rate and respiratory rate measurements. You can check the app for your time spent asleep, sleep stages, restlessness and restoration.

It is worth noting that you’ll get the most detailed insights out of the Charge 5—including a Daily Readiness Score, which uses data to create personalized workout recommendations each day—if you combine it with the Fitbit Premium subscription service, which is an additional $9.99 a month.

Best for exercise fanatics

Pros

•  Provides a holistic view of how exercise is affecting your body
•  Generates customized weekly and monthly performance assessments
•  Offers in-depth sleep measurements and recommendations
• Lightest of all trackers on this list

Cons

• No screen
• Limited workout data 
• The $30 monthly membership includes the device, but that fee adds up

Tracking movement is the main point of most fitness wearables. But exercisers who push themselves hard will appreciate that the Whoop 4.0 goes beyond merely tracking movement to quantifying recovery (that post-exercise period when your body repairs and restores itself). The data, based on sleep and strain, will indicate whether you’re recovered enough to push yourself harder or if you should scale back on the intensity in your next workout.

During a workout you’re not going to get any data points other than heart rate, distance, pace and duration, though, like the Fitbit Charge 5, Whoop automatically recognizes periods of elevated heart rate and higher-than-average movement. The tracker also uses the same sensors you’ll find in the Apple and Fitbit watches and Garmin and Coros devices to capture three different proprietary “metrics” at any given point in the day: cardiovascular strain, recovery and sleep. Strain measures your stress (whether from a workout or tough day at work) on a scale of 0 to 21. Recovery denotes how ready your body is to take on strain, using a color-coded system from zero to 100% (red is bad, green is good). And the sleep metric determines how much shut-eye you need each night to make up for excess stress or missed Zzzs.

None of this information is available on your wrist; everything is displayed in the partner app, where you’ll get personalized insights that can shape your training. For example, unlike the Apple Watch, which lets you set your own preferred sleep and wake times, Whoop’s Sleep Coach recommends times that will maximize recovery and will gently wake you at a specific hour, when you’ve reached a desired sleep goal or when your recovery is green. And while Garmin devices will tell you how many recovery hours you need immediately after a workout, Whoop’s Strain Coach takes that a step further, providing new suggestions each morning as to how hard you should work out (or how easy you should take it) based on your stress levels and how much sleep you got.

This does take some time: four days before you get any real insights, a week to establish a baseline and a month to generate insights on patterns and trends.

Best fitness tracking ring

Pros

• Comfortable to wear day and night
• Automatically tracks workouts
• Battery lasts up to seven days

Cons

• Only has five supported workout types
• Solid shell doesn’t allow for sizing flexibility
• Subscription costs $5.99 a month after one free month with purchase

The Oura Ring is like Whoop for your finger. More of a holistic health tracker than a single-minded fitness one, Oura uses sensors to track heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, breathing rate, steps and calories burned.

There’s no screen, so everything is based in an app that’s more streamlined and actionable than the data-centric partner of other rings we tested: Circul+ ($299), a ring more focused on pulse oximetry (aka measuring blood oxygen levels), and Circular ($284), which has a major overhaul coming before the end of 2023, according to the brand, and demonstrated connectivity issues during testing.

To track a workout with the Oura Ring, all you do is tap “Record workout HR” in the app, then the accelerometer—the same kind of sensor you’ll find in watches like the Coros Pace 2 or the Apple Watch—measures how your ring moves up and down, side to side and back and forth to analyze activity. And like the Fitbit Charge 5 and Apple Watch, the Oura Ring automatically recognizes periods of elevated heart rate and higher-than-average movement as workouts.

The Oura Ring also measures resting heart rate, heart rate variability (the amount of time between heartbeats) and body temperature data to rank your daily readiness (how ready your body is to handle stress) and sleep (including in-depth sleep stage data) on a scale of 0 to 10. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal “Sensors” found that the Oura Ring Gen 2—the previous generation—slightly overestimated heart rate and underestimated heart rate variability compared with an electrocardiogram. The testing in the study also found that it outperformed some fitness trackers by correctly identifying 89% of all sleep epochs (a way of scoring sleep data) compared with polysomnography, a common sleep study.With a fitness-tracking ring, fit is crucial for accurate measurements. The Oura Ring comes in sizes 6 to 13, and is meant to be worn on your ring or middle finger (a 2018 trial found data discrepancies when it was worn on the ring finger).The titanium shell (which comes in Silver, Black, Stealth, Gold and Rose Gold, as well as two shapes) sat comfortably on our finger while testing and more easily passed as jewelry than the others we tried. It may not be a perfect fitness tracker, but it is a stylish option for people who want to track fitness goals more discretely.

Others you should know about

Suunto designs rugged devices with similar navigation features as Garmin’s, like in the Suunto 9 Peak, but doesn’t offer quite the same level of tracking capabilities.

Polar multisport watches, like the Vantage M2, are also popular among runners and cyclists, but our tester has experienced issues syncing it with phones, which is why we recommend Garmin and Coros instead.

As far as budget options go, the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 and Amazfit Bip U are comparably priced to the now-discontinued Amazon Halo View with similar sensors and amount of activity modes, but they lack the third-party integrations that made the Halo more appealing.

How we picked

Trust us

In more than a decade of reviewing fitness gear and writing about health and fitness trends for magazines such as Runner’s World, Women’s Health and Men’s Journal, I’ve found that fitness trackers can be educational, motivating tools for any wearer—from people trying to walk more to endurance athletes. But they’re not perfect: In laboratory-based settings, Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Samsung appeared to measure steps accurately, while heart-rate measurement was more variable; and no brand was accurate when it came to energy expenditure, a 2020 systemic review found.

The most important thing to pay attention to is trends over time, whether in heart rate, sleep or another data point, says Friel of the Feinstein Institutes. When you spot patterns, you can ask yourself what factors may be influencing those, which empowers you to make changes. In addition to getting Friel’s guidance on evaluating fitness trackers, I conducted research and talked with two other experts: Keith Hodges, a National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified personal trainer and founder of Mind in Muscle Coaching in Los Angeles, and Matthew Stults-Kolehmainen, Ph.D., a clinical exercise physiologist at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn.

We tested

We looked at three main factors for choosing a high-quality fitness tracker:

• Data-monitoring capabilities. According to our experts, any truly useful fitness tracker will include an accelerometer, which senses the frequency and intensity of movement; a gyroscope, to measure orientation and rotation during motion; and an altimeter, to assess elevation. Some also have a heart-rate monitor, which is helpful for tracking sleep and stress data, says Hodges. You’ll find all four of these sensors in every tracker on our list. 

• User-friendly data delivery. Some fitness trackers can overload you with information. We looked for devices that distill the data into actionable recommendations you can easily implement, prioritizing steps and exercise minutes because “those two data points encourage consistent movement and quantify it in a way that’s easy for everyone to understand,” says Stults-Kolehmainen. 

• Functionality. A fitness tracker should enhance your workout, not distract from it, so each device on this list has responsive touch screen capabilities or dials and buttons that make navigating your stats super straightforward. Some even allow for hands-free automatic exercise tracking. Our experts also emphasized the importance of a long battery life. All of our picks retain power for at least 18 hours, and up to 20 days; they are also capable of fully recharging in two hours or less.

To test them out, I wore each tracker on multiple runs (including one 16-miler) and bike rides, during 30- to 60-minute strength training, HIIT and yoga workouts and through several back-to-back nights to get sleep and recovery insights.

Our experts

• Ciaran Friel, behavioral scientist and exercise physiologist at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, NY

• Keith Hodges, National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified personal trainer and founder of Mind in Muscle Coaching in Los Angeles
• Matthew Stults-Kolehmainen, Ph.D., clinical exercise physiologist at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn.

—Additional reporting by Nick Guy