According to Live Science they have tested all of the fitness trackers listed here, and ranked each in four categories — Design/Comfort, User-Friendliness, Value of Information and Enjoyment/Inspiration. Have a look at the pros and cons of each device, as well as how it stacks up against the competition.
Choosing the right fitness tracker depends on may factors, including the seriousness with which you approach fitness, exactly what you want to track, how much you want to spend and how discrete or flashy you want the device on your wrist to be. Below is the overall rating for all the devices we've reviewed, along with summaries of our reviews to help you pick the right one for your lifestyle.
Basis Peak
The Peak is the latest fitness tracker from Basis, and the wrist-worn device aims to provide users with a number of insights into their daily activities while motivating them to live healthier lives. This tracker is our "Editors' Choice" among all the fitness trackers we've tested because not only does it track a vast array metrics, such as perspiration levels, but also we found it to be one of the more motivating fitness trackers to use.
Like the previous Basis B1 fitness tracker, the Peak tracks heart rate throughout the day, but the new device features improved sensors that allow it to keep track of your heart rate while you exercise, without a chest strap. In this regard, the device is similar to the Samsung Gear Fit, and the upcoming Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge HR, which will also monitor heart rate during exercise.
I wore the Peak for about a week, to test out its features. Unlike many other fitness trackers, the Peak doesn't need to be put into sleep mode — it automatically detects when you're sleeping. It also automatically detects certain activities, such as running, walking and cycling, and tells you the duration of your activity as well as how many calories you burned. The Peak is also one of the only trackers to measure skin temperature and perspiration. At about $200, the Peak is on the high-end of the price range for fitness trackers.
Jawbone UP
The Jawbone UP Move fitness tracker will track your steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned and hours slept. With the ability to personalize your goals, and get reminders to help you work toward them, our reviewer found that the UP Move provides a lot in the motivation department.
The Live Science testing team picked the Jawbone UP Move as our "Best for the Money" tracker for a few reasons: At $49.95, it's about half the price of the Fitbit One and the Polar Loop. In addition, the although the UP Move's price is comparable to that of the Fitbug Orb, the Orb is a bit bulkier and doesn't have an alarm, nor does it have as many social media capabilities as the UP Move.
Fitbit Charge
Because it boasts a handful of smartphone features, the Fitbit Charge stands apart from ordinary fitness trackers. This device costs about $130, tracks all of your usual metrics and will even display incoming calls to your phone right on your wrist. We found these call alerts to be handy during workouts, limited in usefulness: You'll still need to pull out your phone to actually take a call.The tracker is more comfortable to wear than most, and unlike some of the other options from Fitbit it has a small display screen. But the Charge is not waterproof and does not have a heart rate monitor.
TomTom Runner
The TomTom Runner Cardio is designed for runners — it has both a heart rate monitor and GPS capabilities that let it track data such as your distance, time, pace and speed. The Live Science testing team determined that this device is also the best overall tracker because it not only has the advanced features of a heart rate monitor and GPS, but it is also supremely easy to use. It has a single, large button that makes it easy to scroll through your data, even on the fly. You can also wear it while swimming.The accompanying MySports app will create charts of your data over time, and lets you set your own goals for distance, time or calories burned, sending you text alerts to help you work toward them. However, at about $270, the Runner Cardio is pricier than other fitness trackers, and it doesn't track your sleep.
Moov
The Moov fitness tracker stands out from the competition because it not only tracks the same data as most fitness trackers — steps taken, calories burned and the amount of time spent working out — but it also provides spoken instructions through your headphones on how to improve your form or sustain certain movements while exercising.The device, which costs $79.95, can be worn on your wrist or ankle, and is water-resistant enough that you can take it swimming. The Moov does not track how much time you spend sleeping, and it has no screen, so users must look at a smart phone or tablet to see their stats.
Pulse O2
The Pulse O2 is the latest fitness tracker from Withings, and is marketed as a way to track daily activity and improve health. It tracks steps taken, elevation changes, distance walked, calories burned, heart rate and sleep, and is the first fitness tracker to measure blood oxygen levels.You can wear the device on either a belt clip or a wristband, and a touch screen makes it fun to use. The accompanying app also allows you to set reminders to engage in healthy behaviors. However, the device is not intended to check your heart rate during exercise. And the blood oxygen level measurements seem unnecessary for most people.
Pop
The Pop is a fashion-forward fitness tracker that comes in three colors and looks like a regular watch. It tracks your daily steps taken, displays your progress toward you daily goal right on the watch face and automatically goes into sleep mode when you hit sack. The device is waterproof, so you can take it swimming, and it runs on a watch battery, so it does not need to be charged.At $150, the Pop is the more-affordable version of Withings' previous fashion-forward fitness tracker, the Activité, which costs $450. Withings recently redesigned its HealthMate, making it easier to see all of your stats. The Pop does not track heart rate.
Orb
The Orb is a fitness tracker that tracks your steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned and quality of sleep. The main selling point of the Orb is its price: At $49.95, it's about half the price of the Fitbit Flex and the Polar Loop.The main advantages of the Orb are that there are more ways to wear this tracker than with many other trackers on the market, and users receive emails and notifications with tips that provide you with meaning behind the information it tracks, as well as suggestions for improving your health. However, the wristband lacks a screen interface, and requires you to put the battery in yourself. The battery needs replacing every four to six months.
Adidas Fit Smart
The Adidas Fit Smart is a tracker aimed at people who are training for a race, or who want to stay in shape for a sport. The app lets you create your own training schedule, and the device can even coach you during your workouts, alerting you to when you should pick up the pace. It also includes a heart rate monitor, which not all trackers do. However, the Fit Smart does not track your calories or sleep, and is not meant for use during swims.
Fitbit One
The Fitbit One, at $99.95, is in the mid-level price range for fitness trackers. It tracks all the basic metrics, including sleep, steps taken, distance walked and calories burned, and counts the number of floors you climb. We gave the One high scores for its small, the way it lets you connect with friends, the alarm that you can set, the inclusion of a wireless dongle to sync with your computer and a lower price than trackers such as the Garmin Vivofit.It does lack certain features found in higher-priced fitness trackers, such as the ability to track cycling, a capability of the Basis Carbon Steel Edition. Also, the One's sleep graph is somewhat difficult to navigate (and the device tends to count "steps" while you're asleep).
Garmin Vivofit
The Garmin Vivofit is marketed as a device that can help you turn your daily exercise into a healthy, lifelong habit. In addition to logging the standard fitness-tracker data — including steps taken, calories burned, distance walked and hours slept — the Vivofit assigns you a personalized fitness goal, which adjusts itself daily, as the device learns your habits and milestones.We experienced some issues syncing the device to a computer and phone, but the Vivofit's one-year battery life definitely sets it apart from other fitness trackers currently on the market.
Fitbit Flex
The Fitbit Flex wristband ranked highly in comfort and design. The tracker's soft, rubbery band is comfortable and easy on the eyes. We found it among the most inspiring and enjoyable of the fitness devices we've reviewed, in part because the wireless connected app provides a lot of data to allow you to work toward your goals and monitor your progress.Although it can be a little clunky to use, the Flex does a good job motivating you with goals for daily distance and activity time. Note that another well-known fitness tracker from the company, the Fitbit Force, was recalled in February 2014 after users experienced allergic reactions to the nickel in the device.
Fitbit Zip
The Fitbit Zip is an economical fitness tracker, priced at just $59.95. This basic device tracks steps taken, calories burned and distances walked, but does not track sleep time or stairs climbed, nor does its screen light up. Through its app, the Zip provides a fair amount of motivation to getyou moving.
Polar Loop
The Polar Loop is one of few fitness trackers on the market that is truly waterproof, allowing users to track activity while swimming laps. (The other is the Misfit Shine.) We found the Loop to be very comfortable (when you first get it, you cut the band so it fits your wrist), easy to use and simple to sync with the iPhone app and computer software.The biggest drawback we found is the button used to display the time and activity data, which is small and sits low in the band, making it difficult to push. Although the Loop measures the basics of sleep time, steps taken, activity time and levels, and calories burned, it does not give you any details on sleep quality, nor does it let you input calories eaten.
iFit Active
The iFit Active fitness tracker is part of the iFit platform, and syncs wirelessly to update both its mobile app and its website. One standout feature of the iFit is that it lets you track your intake of not only calories, but also individual nutrients, such as sodium and saturated fat. The app is a bit buggy — it may crash when you scan the bar code on a food product to enter your calorie intake — and the device is not waterproof. It does not have a heart rate sensor, but it is priced at $129, which means the iFit is less expensive than other trackers that do have this feature.
LifeTrak Brite R450
The LifeTrak Brite R450 aims to provide a comprehensive view of health and fitness. Not only does it track daily steps, distance, calories burned, heart rate and workouts, it also automatically detects when you fall asleep and wake up. And unlike many fitness trackers on the market, the Brite R450 also monitors light exposure, including exposure to blue light. The device will notify you when you've been inside too long and need to get more natural light.And the Brite R450 can send you alerts when you get an incoming call, text or email, and is waterproof up to 90 feet, so you can wear it swimming. The device's app can show you more information about your daily activity, but syncing with the app proved frustrating - it took several minutes to transfer data from the device to the app. And although the Brite R450 tracks light exposure, it provides very little information about what to take away from this data, leaving us wishing that the device made better use of this feature.
Runtastic Orbit
The Runtastic Orbit is a fitness tracker that monitors both daily activity (steps, calories and distance) as well as your sleep habits. At about $120, the Orbit is in the mid-level price range for fitness trackers. The Orbit has a few advantages compared to many other fitness trackers, including that you can set the device to vibrate to alert you if you've been sitting still for too long, and it’s waterproof, so you can wear it swimming. However, in our experience, the Orbit came up short in several areas.The device and accompanying app provide little information about what your statistics mean. (For example, there is no information about how much activity you need in a day to be healthy.) And although the device claims to track happiness and ambient lighting, these features appear to be in a primitive form, and there was no information on how to use these features. But if you are a user of other Runtastic products, you may find the device useful, because it can pair with the general Runtastic app, which tracks workouts.
Microsoft Band
The Microsoft Band is a fitness tracker that includes some smartphone features, such as the ability to read email, texts and other reminders on your wrist. The device is also one of the few fitness trackers that has GPS capabilities. The band tracks your heart rate, steps taken, calories burned and the quality of your sleep, and also offers a guided workout feature.But despite its whistles and bells, in our review, the Band seemed to come up short on comfort. It pairs with the Microsoft Health app, which works on iPhones as well as on Android or Windows phones. At $269, the Microsoft Band is at the higher end of the price range for fitness trackers.
Samsung Gear Fit
The Samsung Gear Fit is not just a fitness tracker or a smartwatch — it's both. The device stands out for its sleek design and interactive display, and the ability to receive notifications on the device itself. However, its user-friendliness could use some improvement. You'll need three apps to manage the device, including a separate app just to look at a lot of your sleep data.The Gear Fit also shares some features with Samsung's latest smartphone, the Galaxy S5. Both devices have a heart rate monitor and a pedometer, which can lead to some confusion. For example, you have to change your settings if you want the phone to use pedometer information from the Gear Fit, rather than from the phone itself.
Soleus Go
The Go is a fitness tracker from Soleus that tracks daily steps, calories burned, distance traveled and sleep quality in addition to workout time and pace. The tracker also includes a few smartwatch features, such as alerts when you get a call or text. Two appealing features of the Go are that the device vibrates to remind you to move, and users have the option to set the device to automatically enter sleep mode at a certain time.However, Soleus provides little information about what your stats mean, and the charging device is cumbersome. In addition, users need to press buttons on the device multiple times to find certain information, such as daily steps.
Misfit Flash
The Misfit Flash is a basic, budget fitness tracker that usually retails for between $34 and $50. The device is waterproof, and may appeal to people who want to try out the whole activity and sleep-tracking thing without spending a lot of money. You can wear the flash several ways — on your wrist, clipped onto your belt or dangling from your key chain — and the device will tracker your distance traveled, calories burned and hours spent sleeping.The Misfit app features a point system that brings in all the data on your running, swimming, cycling and other sports into a single number that lets you see how active you are everyday. In our testing, the Flash lost points because its wristband seems to break rather easily, and because in lieu of a watch face or liquid crystal display, the tracker has only a circle of tiny lights, making it difficult to interpret your data.
