Choosing a new smart watch / fitness tracker

January 19, 2020 5:11 AM

My Fitbit Charge 2 is on its last legs and I am planning to replace it before too long. I'm considering another Fitbit device, but also an Apple Watch 5. However, I'm having trouble sorting through the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different models, and how they might fit my needs. What does Metafilter recommend?

I've had my Fitbit Charge 2 for a while and, for the most part, it's performed well for me. Now, it's suffering from a corrupted display as well as other hardware issues and so I'm looking for a new device. I'm currently trying to lose fat and be more healthy generally. I work out a few times a week (lifting weights, as well as doing spin class; I'll be looking to work in running when the weather improves a bit, too, but not at like a competitive level or anything).

I'm mostly considering a new Fitbit device (but not sure which one) and the Apple Watch 5 because those are the ones I am most familiar with, but I'm open to others. I like the look of some of the Garmin devices but they feel like a bit of an overkill in terms of the fitness tracking while lacking some of the smart watch features that appeal to me.

The features I like on my Fitbit include:

- Tracking my daily calorie expenditure
- Silent alarm
- Heart rate tracking (and resting heart rate
- Sleep tracking (though this is more of a nice to have)
- Battery life is pretty good

What I don't like about it are:

- No GPS or music/podcast storage. I have to carry my phone around when I go outside.
- The touchscreen is often... touchy or not very responsive.
- The Google acquisition. I'm trying to wean myself away from Google, and I guess maybe I trust Apple an iota more? Probably irrationally?

Things I don't care about much:

- a billion different exercise modes. I don't think I use any of them except running on my Fitbit. If it can figure out what I'm doing, cool, but if it's manual, I probably won't use it.
- Relaxation advice.
- Environmental noise alerts.

I use a few fitness apps, most notably LoseIt, Strong, Strava, and Happy Scale; when I pick up running again I'll likely use a Couch to 5K app. I'm also a Mac user with an iPhone. The Apple Watch appeals partially because it just seems more versatile in terms of having different apps, whereas the Fitbit is more of a unitasker. But, then again, the Apple Watch is much pricier.

What would you recommend?

posted by synecdoche to Technology (12 answers total)

Garmin devices might be what you're looking for. They cover a wide range of price points, aren't tied to Google, support all the popular apps, have gps, and many models support music playback from the device.

Many of them also don't have touchscreens, which IMO is a benefit, not a drawback, because touchscreens and exercise don't go together.

My wife has one from the Fenix line and loves it. She only needs to charge it every three nights, and she runs almost every day.

I have a Samsung gear sport 2 and would not recommend it, due to its battery life, touchscreen, poor app support, and unresponsive UI. It was however the cheapest running watch I could find that would play Spotify music offline.
posted by dbx at 5:55 AM on January 19, 2020

I just got a Series 3 Apple Watch, which costs more than the fitbit but still much less than a Series 5 Apple Watch and I like it a lot - it covers a lot of the bases you're talking about.
posted by mskyle at 6:09 AM on January 19, 2020

You'll want to look at reviews on Ray Maker's blog, DC Rainmaker. If you listen to podcasts, he has a good one - The FIT File. They recently (Episode #87) did a rundown of 12 new smartwatches that came out in 2019; it includes several Garmin models, Fitbit, the Apple 3 (because of price change), and the Apple 5. They make a strong case for the Apple 3, mainly because of the ecosystem of apps and the new price point.

I don't listen to music when I run/bike/exercise, so commentary about that is just blah, blah, blah to me, but this is an area where there have been a lot of changes in watch lineups in the last 12 months and requires some research to figure out (example: Garmin launched Amazon Music on some of their watches in August of 2019).

Having said all of that, I've used Garmin devices for last 10+ years - I think I'm on my third one, a Garmin 35 Forerunner. Garmin has a bewildering variety of devices to choose from, but they are all good
posted by kovacs at 7:15 AM on January 19, 2020

Just wanted to second the Garmin recommendation. After years of Fitbit wearing, I switched to a Garmin Vivoactive 3 and it is awesome. The battery lasts way longer than the Fitbit and I like that your step target dynamically changes based on your previous days. The heart rate readings sometimes seem a little off but so did my Fitbit ones. If I was doing it again, I might get the Vivoactive 4 because it also can track your pulse ox, which seems pretty cool.
posted by JuliaKM at 7:48 AM on January 19, 2020

I went from a FitBit to an Apple Watch (Series 3) a year ago and I am still constantly amazed at how convenient and wonderful my Apple watch is, in so many unexpected ways. In addition to all the things the FitBit can do, it can also:

Play a tone on your phone so you can find it easily
Access Siri just by raising it to your mouth, for reminders and timers and such
Control music, audiobooks, etc.
Pay with ApplePay/Wallet
Automatically unlock your Mac when you're wearing it
Text by dictation or suggested replies (which are customizable)
Integrate with your calendars for reminders and such
When you use Apple Maps for nav, it gives you a little nudge when you need to turn or take an exit
All the various weight, sleep, and fitness apps integrate with Apple Health so you have a dashboard of your stats and trends

And so, so, so much more.... I can turn on the heat in my car from my watch!!

I highly recommend it, if you're already in the AppleVerse. It's so ridiculously handy.

Oh, and if you decide to go with it, know that (at least on my 3) the sleep tracking is not native; I recommend Pillow, which integrates with Health and is an automatic sleep tracker, so you never have to fiddle with it.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:24 AM on January 19, 2020

Have the instinct, and would recommend for step, heart, rate, temperature, calendar view, timer, sunrise/sunset times, battery, and ruggedness. Does not do notifications very well and it has a fairly big profile. I still have not figured out how to use the interval or music control but I have not spent much time yet.
posted by typecloud at 9:21 AM on January 19, 2020

I recently got the Apple Watch series 3 and am also enjoying it more than I initially thought I would; I do wish I had the version with cellular though, and a little more storage, so I could do more when I don’t have my phone with me. That said, it’s pretty great.
posted by Edna Million at 9:49 AM on January 19, 2020

I really like my Garmin Forerunner 245. It's Garmin's mid-range running watch and is considerably more expensive than most fitness trackers, but many of Garmin's lower watches share the same features. There's a music-enabled version too.

Things I like about it are:

- always on watch face - no swiping, tapping, or swinging your arm around to find out what time it is
- no touchscreen, only buttons - can be used with sweaty or gloved hands while running
- fully custom watch faces - loved this on my Pebble; they range from the absurdly serious to the delightfully silly to the intentionally incomprehensible
- route following - plan a route and upload it on your watch, during a run it will tell you if you're on track or not (but no maps or turn-by-turn)
- easily replaceable, standard watch straps
- Body Battery - it's hard to explain, but using the wrist heart rate monitor, it detects when you're stressed (from work, alcohol, very hard workouts, etc) and tries to quantify it
- move alerts and dynamic step goals - it pokes you if you've been inactive too long to take a short walk, and the step goals can be set to automatically increase/decrease based on your previous behavior

Bad things are:

- cost - Garmin seems dominant in the high-end running watch category and they've had no incentive to lower prices
- bad sleep tracking - mine regularly detects watching tv as sleeping, and it doesn't try to track naps at all - mitigated somewhat by body battery
- bad smart features - it compares badly to a real smartwatch: few models have built-in mobile connections or pay features, and it doesn't connect to smart assistants(Siri, Google Assistant) at all, you can't make calls with it or compose messages
posted by meowzilla at 10:58 AM on January 19, 2020

I got a Garmin Vivoactive 3, after divesting myself of the Fitbits in retaliation for the Google acquisition, and I'm really happy with it. I use the heart rate monitor, associated sleep monitor, and step counts. Works well without cloud synchronization (good on-watch displays of recent activity and heart rate min/max). Watch face is responsive to strokes and taps, and the side of the watch will also sense swipes, with a single pushbutton.

Battery life is pretty good, 4 or 5 days, and the display is readable without backlight (so I could get better battery life, I supposed, if I turned the on-demand backlight off entirely).
posted by the Real Dan at 1:48 PM on January 19, 2020

I have the FitBit Ionic. It does all the things you want although the music functionality isn’t super. It’s a little clunky to load music and I don’t use Spotify. It is definitely a watch made to do fitness related activities. It isn’t as pretty as the iPhone but it does everything I need it to.
posted by teamnap at 1:53 PM on January 19, 2020

I would suggest the Apple Watch Series 3; it's a lot cheaper than the Series 5 and will do pretty much everything you want. Works great for fitness but is also nicely versatile for other stuff, and has lots of bands so you can change up the look easily.
posted by oblique red at 3:07 PM on January 22, 2020

I was on the fence between a fancy FitBit and an Apple Watch as my "lost 20lb reward", and I went with a Series 4 Apple Watch. I've wound up using it a lot more than I thought I would, and as an Apple-centric user (iPhone, iPad, Macs at home and at work), I appreciate the integration, getting Discord, Slack, Twitter, and text notifications, and even answering the occasional call. I love maps on the watch, and how it pulses my wrist when using GPS nav on my phone, to gently alert me to upcoming turns. I was skeptical before I bought the watch, thinking man I'm never going to use all this stuff... but I really did.
posted by xedrik at 10:49 PM on January 22, 2020