A watch that tracks steps?

February 9, 2022 6:32 AM

I’m looking for a durable, comfortable wrist step tracker. More requirements under the fold.

I was an early Fitbit adopter back in the day and couldn’t make it work. Two of my devices stopped holding charge and the strap of the third broke irreparably. So, I’m a little wary of the Fitbit brand, but acknowledge it’s been a while.

I don’t need any bells and whistles like syncing to the cloud or reminders. I don’t even really need a heart rate monitor or altimeter.

What I want is a watch, which ideally always shows the time or where the time comes on with a quick flick or button press. I also want this watch to show me step counts. And it would be great if it felt watch-like and not plasticky like my old Fitbits.

Am I looking for the Fitbit Luxe? Are there other brands that make what I need?

posted by redlines to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

I know you said you don't need any bells and whistles, but the Apple watch is perfect for this. It displays the time. A button press shows you the local weather as well. It tracks your steps and it also prompts you to stand up if you've been sedentary for a while. You can also easily (with one button press and one tap) track lots of other types of workouts and even though, like you, I don't really *need* a heart rate monitor or altimeter, I found that I love looking at this information as my workout is in progress. The newest ones even let you use cellular to stream music or podcasts to bluetooth headphones without having to carry your phone with you. I didn't think I wanted an Apple watch, but I've used it every day since my husband gave it to me on Christmas, and my activity has increased in part because it's such a pleasure to use.
posted by little mouth at 6:40 AM on February 9, 2022 [7 favorites]

I use the Garmin Vivomove primarily for notifications, step tracking, and heartrate, which does all three perfectly fine. I chose this model as I wanted an actual watch, with mechanical hands, and not something that screams, "I'm wearing a smartwatch!".

It does all of the usual gambits that fitness trackers do these days, including sleep, however, I don't use that functionality.

I get 4-5 days of battery, and I'd imagine you could extend that healthily if you were to shut off the heartrate monitoring.
posted by wile e at 6:48 AM on February 9, 2022

I have a Fitbit Versa (I don't recall if it is the Versa 2 or the original model) and it will do what you want. The main screen with the default watch face shows a clock and step counts. If you wear it to bed it will capture sleep metrics...how accurate those are is left to others to decide).

It holds a charge pretty well. I only need to recharge it once or twice a week. Back when I was going in to the office, I would just charge it while I was showering. Now that I am more likely to be working from home, it charges most of the way during a 30 minute meeting.

I recently replaced the band after 3 to 4 years which seems like a reasonable length of time for a piece of rubber that constantly gets fiddled with and gets sweat on it.
posted by mmascolino at 7:39 AM on February 9, 2022

I switched from Fitbit to Apple Watch, and then spent the first week or two figuring out which of its bells and whistles I wanted to uninstall. I'm left with a device that is really useful. There are lots of band choices, from Apple and others, to make it feel more watchlike and less like a fitness device. It requires more frequent charging than my Fitbit but I'm about a year in and I really enjoy it.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:42 AM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

For simplicity and style, I have a Withings Move watch. It has an analog watch face, a nifty dial that shows the percent of your step goal you've achieved, and the battery life is up to 18 months. The default band is silicone, but you can get more traditional watch bands if you prefer. Syncs to the Withings app, where you can see your full step count, if you want more than the percent.
posted by Jade Horning at 8:13 AM on February 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

Your requirements are the same as mine, and I ended up with a Fitbit Luxe. The look and feel of the interface is attractive, and you have several to pick from. Right now, I just have the rubbery band, but I'm going to get the jewelry-like gold band as well to switch it out when i want something dressier. Some additional features that I wasn't looking for but ended up liking: the reminders to get up and move (I consistently get more steps now); heart rate monitor; and alerts from my cell phone. I get buzzed when my phone rings or get a text message, and i set it up to get alerted when my daycare app gets a notification. You can't answer calls but you can silence them, and you can read texts. I don't have any desire to do anything more than that, so this is perfect for me. I charge it once or twice a week. They usually have a sale around about Mother's Day, so if you end up selecting this one, i'd hold off.
posted by BlueBear at 8:24 AM on February 9, 2022

I have a Garmin Instinct - they are amazing. Multi-day battery life (I charge it once every 8-10 days, I think?) if you’re not actively GPS tracking, step tracking, heart rate etc. It can do notifications if you want, but they’re minimal. The newer solar ones apparently need even less charging.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:30 AM on February 9, 2022

The Mi Band family is inexpensive (if you don't want color, a Mi Band 2 runs about $20 on the secondary market; even the newest model is under $50), and ticks almost all your boxes except for "feeling watchlike".

It has a cloud service and can handle phone notifications, but you don't have to sync it to your phone at all*; if you want activity-tracking there are third-party computer apps and third-party Android software which sync to a local database instead of the cloud service.

*Not entirely true for generations 4 and later. Up through the Mi Band 3, you could operate completely independently of the Xiaomi online services; From the Mi Band 4 onwards, pairing the band required an authentication token which involved signing up with Xiaomi. There are technical procedures for extracting this token after signing up and using your band with a non-cloud-based sync though.
posted by jackbishop at 8:54 AM on February 9, 2022

How accurate do you need it?

Most phones will track your steps... roughly. Android side has Google Fit, and iPhone has Apple Health, I think.

Even the cheap Wyze Watch ($40) have step counting, but obviously something expensive like Garmin would be more accurate.
posted by kschang at 9:10 AM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

you could consider a casio gshock with step counter. It does have some app connectivity bells and whistles, but looks like you can ignore those and just use it as a watch and step counter.

It is a resin watch, so plastic, but I have a non-step-counter gshock watch and it doesn't feel
cheap/plastic-ey at all. They're very nice, rugged, practical daily wear/exercise watches that last forever.
posted by caseyblu at 9:14 AM on February 9, 2022

I use an Android app on my phone called Pedometer which is accurate enough for me. I could also recommend a Fossil smartwatch which uses the Google Wear OS, I had one which was perfectly fine but I found I never wore it, instead preferring the cheap old Casio watch I've worn for years, so I sold it. Nothing wrong with the watch or brand, I just didn't use it.
posted by TimHare at 10:37 AM on February 9, 2022

The Amazfit line of watches are seriously underrated, and might be what you need.
posted by mhoye at 1:06 PM on February 9, 2022

I was also going to suggest a Withings, but the Steel rather than the Move; the Steel is still an analog watch with the step tracking feature, with a bonus of a small inset screen you can click through to see the exact step count without having to open the associated app.
posted by pemberkins at 1:06 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I didn't think I wanted an Apple watch, but I've used it every day since my husband gave it to me on Christmas, and my activity has increased in part because it's such a pleasure to use.

QFT. we got apple watches for christmas and i was worried i would hate it and think it dumb. but I LOVE IT. so much fitness tracking. easy to send myself a reminder if need be or set an alarm. and the watch bands are plentiful if you don't like apple's selections. (sport band does not feel gross and silicone-y like i feared).
posted by misanthropicsarah at 1:12 PM on February 9, 2022