If you training in any sport and looking for the best smartwatches for fitness then you are in the right place. Smartwatches are amazing tech gadgets that make your workouts more efficient and fun. Due to different features and integration with certain technology, almost every workout person should have one.
However, there are thousands of different kinds of smartwatches available in the market. With 100s on Amazon alone, it can be really difficult to choose the best fitness smartwatch for yourself. To avoid such a situation we have done deep research for you. During our research, we selected some of the best smartwatches which are amazing for all kinds of workouts.
No matter if you are a jogger, a runner, a cyclist, or even a swimmer these smartwatches will be super useful for you. We have compiled the list based on our own experience and reviews from some of the experts on different platforms. We have also included a small buyer’s guide at the end of this article to make it easy for you. The article will guide you on some important points to look for when buying a smartwatch for fitness.
We present you the top 10 best fitness smartwatches
Here are our top picks which let you find you best smartwatch for your needs!
Apple Watch Series 5 Sport Band (GPS, 44mm)
The Apple Watch Series 5 was launched alongside the iPhone 11 range and soon caught the attention of users. The watch comes with two straps of different sizes allowing you to fit perfectly on your wrist. It can work both on small and thick wrists which is pretty neat. The watch itself is available in two different sizes i.e 44 millimeters and 40 millimeters.
The coolest thing that you are going to love about Apple series 5 is its wristbands. They are super easy to install and do not require any special technique. All you have to do is to slide the straps into the sides of the watch face.
If we talk about the display, The apple series 5 is rich with premium quality OLED retina display. The biggest improvement that the Apple series 5 wristwatch has is always on display. It is something that many people love and look for in a smartwatch.
The watch possesses a huge 32 gigabytes of storage that allows you to store tons of items. The Bluetooth 5.0 is something that makes the watch perfect for fitness and workouts. It is because you can connect it to your smartphone whenever you want.
Other features include a compass, light sensor, GPS, and a heart rate sensor. All these sensors make the watch one of the best fitness watches.
Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch Health Fitness Tracking (46mm, GPS, Bluetooth)
When it comes to the best fitness watches Samsung is not holding back. The Samsung Galaxy Watch is designed with 5 ATM water-resistant technology. That makes it one of the best watches for fitness. It is because the watch allows you to perform your workouts in almost every kind of situation.
Imagine you are out on your jogging routine or hill sprinting and it rains. If you are wearing the Samsung Galaxy wristwatch you will not have to worry. It is also the best smartwatch for swimming. The built-in features of the watch are included to meet all of your requirements.
For instance, the daily rundown feature will track all of your walking or running activities. This way you can keep a track of your daily walk routine and calculate the number of calories you are burning. The weather forecast application will tell you about the weather situations so you can plan your activities much better.
In this new era of technology, IoT has taken over our homes. With the help of your Samsung Galaxy watch, you can also control your home appliances. This makes the watch not only limited to fitness but also quite a useful household tool.
If you are someone who gets bored with watch faces then you should not worry. Samsung heard your inner wishes and they have added the feature to their smartwatch. You can easily customize the watch faces available on your wristwatch. You can put the one that suits your personality and choice.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 – Auto Workout Tracking, and Pace Coaching
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is another great watch on the list of best fitness watches. The smart technology used in the watch can be really helpful for your workout routines. It automatically tracks all of your activities which can be used to calculate calories burned.
You can track almost all of your exercises such as cycling, swimming, or just simply jogging. Another cool feature of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is its Bixby integration. The watch is capable to listen to your voice commands. You can easily make calls, read texts, or crank up Spotify or Deezer music playlists while you are working out.
The Built-in Heart rate monitor and some other cool sensors can be really helpful for the workout. It can track your heart rate and your VO2 max consumption. If you are working out and you are not wearing the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 you are missing a lot. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is no less than a magic stick.
Besides being one of the best fitness watches it can be really handy in daily life. Direct payments due to Samsung Pay can be really useful. You can now freely walk into stores and do shopping without carrying a heavy wallet.
Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle – Stainless Steel, Touchscreen Smartwatch with Speaker, Heart Rate, GPS, NFC
The Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle is another great smartwatch for fitness. It is also one of the best watches for cycling due to its so many useful features. The watch is powered with Wear OS which is greatly compatible with iPhones. The watch features a stainless steel 44-millimeter chassis with only 12 mm thickness.
The watch features a microphone and a speaker just in case you want to handle phone calls with it. The watch comes with a cool-looking magnetic charger that provides fast charging. It is capable of charging the watch from fully 0 to 80% in just an hour. There are smart battery moods that can help you extend your battery life.
The 3 ATM water-resistant design makes it one of the best fitness watches for swimming too. The thing that makes it the best smartwatch for fitness is its cool sensors. The Heart rate monitor will help you monitor your heart rate and your VO2 max consumption. Just in case you are planning for High-intensity interval training. The watch also possesses a GPS receiver that can help you track your distance.
Google Fit integration makes the device able to monitor your health effectively. It also has a Google Assistant feature that enables you to talk to your watch while cycling.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active – Fitness Smartwatch (40mm, GPS, Bluetooth)
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is another great option if you are looking for the best fitness watch. The watch allows you to track your daily activities with the help of its cool sensors. It can be your best companion whether you are jogging, cycling, or at the gym.
The thin and lightweight design will give you the freedom to perform different exercises without extra weight. The straps come in a variety of colors that gives you the freedom to choose your favorite. It is also super easy to install which makes it much more user-friendly.
It is also able to analyze your sleep pattern with the help of its sleep sensor. The sleep sensor makes it one of the best fitness smartwatches as it allows you to read your sleep pattern. The watch can easily detect different phases of sleep such as light sleep, REM, and deep sleep.
The heart rate sensor will monitor your heart rate as long as you are wearing it. It will send you real-time heart rate performance. The detection of low and high heart rates makes the watch a lifesaver.
You can sync it with your smartphone to get maximum performance. You can also play music and read notifications with the help of this watch.
Apple Watch Series 3 Sport Band
The Apple watch series 3 is another best option available when it comes to smartwatches for fitness. The Watch possesses a stunning design that is available in 38 mm and 42 mm watch faces. The Straps are also available in two different colors that give you the freedom to choose your favorite one.
The thing that makes the watch best for fitness and workout is its GPS. You can easily track your running, jogging, or sprinting activities with the help of its GPS. If we talk about the further specifications, then the watch is perfect. It is compatible with GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and GPS. The compatibility with multiple GNSS constellations makes it much more accurate.
Due to this the watch also proves to be one of the best smartwatches for cycling. The Barometric sensor will help you sense the pressure level of the surrounding without any issues. It also has an optical heart sensor that will monitor your heart rate.
You can simply use the heart monitor to calculate your VO2 max consumption during your HIIT workout. Besides that, you can also keep track of your heart health. The Gyroscope and Accelerometer sensor will help you count your steps and help you in your workouts.
Garmin Forerunner 935 Running GPS Unit (Black)
If you are looking for the best smartwatch for fitness Garmin is one of the best options. They are well known for making GPS and navigational products. It simply means that The watch will provide you with maximum performance in swimming, cycling, and fitness.
The Heart sensor of the smartwatch makes it much more effective. It will help you read your heart rate daily and keep you aware of your health. The Straps of the wristwatch will make you love them. It is because of the quality that makes it stands out from the crowd. It is made of silicon, which is lightweight and feels comfortable on wrists.
It is not too heavy to wear and weighs only 49 grams. Due to its lightweight nature, the watch is perfect for running. It also provides elevation information with the help of its altimeter. If you want to know about the pressure level of your surroundings make sure you use the built-in barometer.
Garmin Vivoactive 3 Smartwatch – Auto Activity Tracking, Fitness, Heart Rate, Different Sports
The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is another great fitness watch with included GPS. One of the coolest features of the watch is its contactless payments. It makes payments and shopping super easy. With the help of its supported cards and participating banks, the watch can be a great replacement for your wallet.
It is also customizable which means you can keep the watch face you want. There are thousands of free watch faces available in the store. Besides, the cool watch faces thousands of free widgets and apps that can be downloaded to get the most out of your watch.
The manufacturer has done a great job by adding 15 different preloaded GPS and indoor apps. These apps will help you in performing different exercises to keep you fit all the time. The apps are related to yoga, running, and swimming. It can monitor your VO2 max and fitness much more effectively.
The smart notifications make the watch one of the best smartwatches for iPhones. You can now read notifications from your phones, read messages and make calls. All these operations are possible right from your wrist.
Fitbit Versa 2 Health and Fitness Smartwatch
Fitbit is one of the leading manufacturers for producing wearable gadgets. They are specialized in producing different smartwatches that are helpful for workouts. Fitbit Versa 2 is one of their amazing products. The watch features Amazon Alexa which can be used to read news and weather info. You can also check different information just by talking to Alexa.
The accurate heart rate sensor makes it super useful when monitoring the heart rate. It also has a great sleep sensor that can track the quality of your sleep. It will successfully read your sleep phases such as light sleep, deep sleep, and REM. Now you can check the quality of your sleeping right from your wrist.
The smartwatch also makes you able to play music. This is all possible due to its integration with Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer. You can now browse thousands of music playlists without any issues. The larger display makes it super easy to read the watch in almost all lighting conditions.
It can be the best smartwatch for cycling too because of its accurate GPS and other sensors.
Amazfit GTS Smartwatch – Slim Metal Body, Water Resistance, 24/7 Heart Rate & Activity Tracking
The Amazfit GTS Smartwatch is a killer when it comes to the best fitness smartwatch under 100. It has got a 14-day working battery life which is one of its biggest plus points. You can take it out on your wrist without any worry. It will track your workouts and cycling sessions with the help of its built-in GPS.
The 5 ATM water-resistant design also makes it a great smartwatch for swimming. If we talk about the display, Amazfit GTS Smartwatch has a 1.65-inch AMOLED display. The display is super bright and visible in all lighting conditions. You can also track your heart rate much more accurately with the help of its heart rate sensor.
It is also slim and lightweight which will be extremely helpful for runners. Being a parkour and free running practitioner this one is my favorite. The smart sports tracking feature makes the watch suitable for 12 different sports. It is not only limited to hill sprinting or jogging but several other activities.
Best smartwatches for fitness – Buying Guide
In order to avoid ambiguity when buying a fitness smartwatch here is a quick buying guide for you. The buying guide includes some of the most important points to consider before investing in the best smartwatch fitness trackers. After reading it you should be able to learn about the different kinds of smartwatches available. What makes a smartwatch fitness-friendly and why you should prefer it over the other?
The main point that you should look for before investing in a smartwatch for fitness is as follow:
- User-interface
- Battery Life
- Accurate Navigation
- Integrated Sensors
User Interface
Before you buy a smartwatch for yourself take a quick look at it. Make sure that the watch has a user-friendly interface. It should not be too hard or tricky to operate. There are touchscreen smartwatches as well as hybrid touch smartwatches available for fitness.
The touch screen smartwatches have minimum physical buttons for operations. They use a clean and easy-to-use touch screen interface. Smartwatches with touch screens can be very easy to use. However, there is a weakness in the touch screen. Since the system works on piezoelectricity they might stop working in some conditions.
You may also face phantom or ghost touches if your wristwatch screen is exposed to pressure. The problem may become permanent and the only solution will be to replace the touch screen digitizer.
The other kinds of watches are hybrid touch. These kinds of watches possess a nice proportion of touch screens as well as physical buttons. Most of these watches include side crowns or physically rotating bezels for navigation of the menu. It is not true that these kinds of smartwatches are the best as almost every single tech item has its pros and cons. However, they are free from phantom touches and other kinds of problems.
Battery Life
The battery life is another important aspect that makes a watch stand out of the crowd. Since you are looking for a fitness smartwatch your priority should be high battery life. People who work out like sprinters go out running every morning. You will never want your watch battery to die in the middle of your jogging session. Even if you have to sacrifice some features but make sure you put the battery life at the top of the list.
If you are a cyclist, swimmer, or jogger you will need a watch that can perform accurate navigation. Global Navigation Satellite systems have made navigation much easier in today’s modern world. Ideally, if your device is compatible with a higher number of GNSS the more it will be more accurate when performing the navigational computation.
You should look for a smartwatch that has access to multiple GNSS signals. This will make the wristwatch much more accurate and fit for cycling. You will be able to track your routes, timing, and the number of steps taken much more accurately.
Integrated Sensors
Most smartwatches contain a lot of sensors that can perform different useful functions. If you are buying a smartwatch for fitness always take a look at its heart rate monitoring sensor. Most of the smartwatches available in the market claim to have accurate heart rate sensors. But in reality, it is not even near too accurate. Besides an accurate heart rate sensor, a good smartwatch for fitness will also have many other useful sensors. A Gyro sensor and accelerometer can also be useful when calculating the number of steps taken. It can also be useful when performing sleep tracking activities. This way you can see how effectively you are working out and what are the impacts of your exercise routine on your health