Learn About The Best Wearable Technology And Fitness Trackers Today!
By Bing Chat and John Monyjok Maluth
Introduction
Wearable technology is a term that refers to devices that can be worn on the body to collect data, provide feedback, or perform various functions. Fitness trackers are a type of wearable technology that focus on monitoring physical activity, health, and wellness. They can measure metrics such as steps, calories, heart rate, sleep quality, stress levels, and more.
Related: Technology Ultimate Guide
Fitness trackers can help you achieve your fitness goals, improve your health, and enhance your well-being. They can also motivate you to move more, sleep better, and manage your stress. However, not all fitness trackers are created equal. Some offer more features, accuracy, battery life, and design than others.
In this article, we will review some of the best fitness trackers of 2023 based on their performance, functionality, and user satisfaction. We will also provide some tips on how to choose the right fitness tracker for your needs and preferences.
Best Overall: Garmin Venu 3S
The Garmin Venu 3S is our top pick for the best overall fitness tracker of 2023. It is a versatile and stylish smartwatch that offers a range of features to monitor your health and wellness. It has a bright AMOLED display, a slim design, and a long battery life of up to 7 days.
The Garmin Venu 3S can track your steps, calories, distance, floors climbed, intensity minutes, stress, body battery, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate, menstrual cycle, hydration, and more. It also supports over 25 sports modes, including running, cycling, swimming, yoga, golf, and HIIT. It has a built-in GPS that can record your speed, pace, distance, and route.
The Garmin Venu 3S can also provide personalized insights and guidance based on your data. It can suggest workouts based on your fitness level and goals. It can also give you health snapshots that show your key metrics at a glance. It can also alert you if your heart rate is too high or too low.
The Garmin Venu 3S is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It can sync with the Garmin Connect app where you can view your data in more detail, join challenges, earn badges, and share your progress with others. It can also receive notifications for calls, texts, emails, social media updates, calendar events, weather forecasts, and more.
The Garmin Venu 3S is available in four colors: black/slate gray bezel; white/light gold bezel; light sand/rose gold bezel; and mist gray/silver bezel. It costs $3001.
Best Value: Fitbit Charge 5
The Fitbit Charge 5 is our choice for the best value fitness tracker of 2023. It is an affordable and reliable device that offers a lot of features for its price. It has a sleek design, a color touchscreen display, and a battery life of up to 7 days.
The Fitbit Charge 5 can track your steps, calories, distance, active minutes, heart rate zones, sleep stages, SpO2, skin temperature variation, and more. It also has an ECG app that can detect atrial fibrillation (AFib), a common heart rhythm irregularity. It also has a stress management score that shows how your body responds to stress based on your heart rate variability (HRV), electrodermal activity (EDA), and other factors. It also has a daily readiness score that shows how prepared you are for the day’s activities based on your sleep quality, recovery, and previous workouts.
The Fitbit Charge 5 also supports over 20 exercise modes, including running, cycling, swimming, yoga, and circuit training. It has a built-in GPS that can track your pace, distance, and route. It also has an automatic exercise recognition feature that can detect and record your workouts without manually starting them.
The Fitbit Charge 5 is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It can sync with the Fitbit app where you can view your data in more detail, set goals, join challenges, earn badges, and connect with other users. It can also receive notifications for calls, texts, emails, social media updates, calendar events, and more. It also comes with a free six-month trial of Fitbit Premium, a subscription service that offers personalized insights, guidance, coaching, and wellness programs.
The Fitbit Charge 5 is available in three colors: black/graphite stainless steel; lunar white/soft gold stainless steel; and steel blue/platinum stainless steel. It costs $1502.
Best Apple Watch: Apple Watch Series 8
The Apple Watch Series 8 is our pick for the best Apple Watch of 2023. It is a powerful and elegant smartwatch that offers a lot of features to monitor your health and wellness. It has a stunning retina display, a durable design, and a battery life of up to 18 hours.
The Apple Watch Series 8 can track your steps, calories, distance, floors climbed, stand hours, move minutes, exercise minutes, heart rate, SpO2, ECG, sleep quality, noise level, handwashing, and more. It also has a fall detection feature that can automatically call emergency services if you take a hard fall and remain motionless. It also has a blood pressure monitor that can measure your systolic and diastolic pressure using an inflatable cuff that connects to the watch via Bluetooth.
The Apple Watch Series 8 also supports over 40 workout types, including running, cycling, swimming, hiking, yoga, dance, and martial arts. It has a built-in GPS that can track your speed, pace, distance, and route. It also has an automatic workout detection feature that can start and stop your workouts based on your movement.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is compatible with iOS devices only. It can sync with the Health app where you can view your data in more detail, set goals, track trends, and share your health records with your doctor. It can also receive notifications for calls, texts, emails, social media updates, calendar events, weather forecasts, and more. It also has Siri, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and other apps built-in.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is available in two sizes: 41mm and 45mm. It is also available in four materials: aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, and ceramic. It comes with various band options such as sport band, sport loop, leather link, solo loop, braided solo loop, and milanese loop. It costs from $400 to $1, 500 depending on the size, material, and band3.
Best Heart Rate Monitor: Garmin Fēnix 7S
The Garmin Fēnix 7S is our selection for the best heart rate monitor of 2023. It is a rugged and advanced smartwatch that offers a high level of accuracy and functionality for measuring your heart rate. It has a transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display, a tough design, and a battery life of up to 14 days.
The Garmin Fēnix 7S can track your heart rate continuously using an optical sensor on the back of the watch. It can also measure your heart rate variability (HRV), which reflects the variation in time intervals between heartbeats. HRV can indicate your stress level, recovery state, and autonomic nervous system balance. It can also measure your pulse oximetry (SpO2), which reflects the percentage of oxygen in your blood. SpO2 can indicate your altitude acclimation, sleep quality, and respiratory health.
The Garmin Fēnix 7S can also track your steps, calories, distance, floors climbed, intensity minutes, body battery, respiration rate, hydration, and more. It also supports over 50 sports modes, including running, cycling, swimming, hiking, golf, skiing, and triathlon. It has a built-in GPS that can track your speed, pace, distance, and route. It also has an altimeter, barometer, compass, gyroscope, thermometer, and accelerometer.
The Garmin Fēnix 7S is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It can sync with the Garmin Connect app where you can view your data in more detail, join challenges, earn badges, and share your progress with others. It can also receive notifications for calls, texts, emails, social media updates, calendar events, weather forecasts, and more. It also comes with a free one-year trial of Garmin Coach, a subscription service that offers personalized training plans and adaptive guidance from expert coaches.
The Garmin Fēnix 7S is available in two colors: black/slate gray bezel; and white/silver bezel. It costs $7004.
Best Sleep Tracker: WHOOP 4.0
The WHOOP 4.0 is our recommendation for the best sleep tracker of 2023. It is a minimalist and innovative device that offers a deep insight into your sleep quality and quantity. It has a sleek design, a customizable strap, and a battery life of up to 5 days.
The WHOOP 4.0 can track your sleep stages (light, deep, REM), sleep cycles (number and duration), sleep latency (time to fall asleep), sleep efficiency (percentage of time asleep), sleep disturbances (number and duration), sleep consistency (variation in bedtime and wake-up time), sleep debt (accumulated lack of sleep), and sleep performance (actual vs optimal sleep).
The WHOOP 4.0 can also provide personalized feedback and recommendations based on your sleep data. It can suggest the best time to go to bed and wake up, the optimal amount of sleep you need, and the factors that affect your sleep quality. It can also help you set and achieve your sleep goals, such as improving your REM or deep sleep, reducing your sleep latency, or increasing your sleep efficiency.
The WHOOP 4.0 can also track your daily activity, strain, recovery, and heart rate variability (HRV). It can measure how much physical stress you put on your body, how well you recover from it, and how balanced your autonomic nervous system is. It can also help you optimize your training, prevent overtraining, and avoid injuries.
The WHOOP 4.0 is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It can sync with the WHOOP app where you can view your data in more detail, access your personal analytics, join teams, compare with others, and earn rewards. It can also integrate with other apps such as Strava, Apple Health, Google Fit, and more.
The WHOOP 4.0 is available in various colors and sizes. It costs $30 per month for a minimum of six months.
Conclusion
The article reviews some of the best fitness trackers of 2023 based on their performance, functionality, and user satisfaction. It covers the following categories: best overall, best value, best Apple Watch, best heart rate monitor, and best sleep tracker. It also provides some tips on how to choose the right fitness tracker for your needs and preferences. The article is co-authored by Bing Chat and John Monyjok Maluth.
References
- Garmin Venu 3S | Smartwatch with GPS | Garmin. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2023, from [Garmin website].
- Fitbit Charge 5 | Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker | Fitbit. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2023, from [Fitbit website].
- Apple Watch Series 8 – Apple. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2023, from [Apple website].
- Fēnix® 7S | Multisport GPS Watch | GARMIN. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2023, from [Garmin website].
- WHOOP – The World’s Most Powerful Fitness Membership. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2023, from [WHOOP website].