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The Best Fitness Tracker for You

best fitness tracker for you

Being a Fit Bottomed Girl means trying out all the latest gear including wearables that track your fitness. A common question we get from readers is which tracker is best for their personal needs. Having collected a few of them over the past two years, I decided to find out how each performs individually by wearing them all at once all day, every day for seven days.

In case you are wondering — yes, I got quite few quizzical looks. This was especially true after teaching my classes where my students demanded I show the results from each one.

My rule was to put them on as soon as I got up each morning and take them off at 10 o’clock every evening. I knew I would tire of wearing four trackers on my wrists for hours and being a notoriously wonky sleeper, I decided to not track my sure-to-be-bad sleep cycle each night.

Below I list every tracker I wore and the base level I set for each including 14,000 steps (I’m a New Yorker and we walk everywhere) and measure at least 30 minutes of exercise per day.

Below I list the pros and cons of each tracker.

Fitbit Flex

fitbit flexOne of the first products offered by this brand, the Fitbit Flex at $79.95 is an inexpensive tracker that will count steps, measure the quality of your sleep, give you approximate calorie burn and light up when you hit your goal. The Fitbit app is fun for tracking the progress of your fellow Fitbit-wearing friends, plus you can enter your meal plan each day to make sure you are staying withttps://www.fitbit.com/shop/flexhin the desired calorie count.

Pros: Relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Tracking my weekly progress against (ahem — I mean along with) my friends and family is a fun way to stay accountable.

Cons: The band is not attractive and there isn’t any heart-rate tracking. Some people pop the tracker out of the band, take a rubber band and wear around their ankle in spin class to get more steps, but this never worked for me.

Fitbit Charge 2

The Fitbit Charge takes the tracking up a notch with a heart-rate monitor and measures the number of floors you have climbed along with approximate calorie burn. The newer Charge 2 (that cost $129.95) comes with removable bands and “guided breathing sessions” and also works well with the Fitbit app.

Pros: Accurate step count and heart-rate measurement.

Cons: It’s not very attractive to wear during the day and I didn’t realize it is set up to receive call notifications from my iPhone, which I disabled quickly. It lacks the “cool factor” as well.

TomTom Spark 3 Music

For $169.99 the Tom Tom Spark 3 Music is also a fitness tracker for multiple activities (running, cycling, treadmill, swimming, etc.), will count your steps, measure heart rate and calorie burn. It also has GPS capability, can hold up to 500 songs and includes wireless headphones.

Pros: Sturdy design with tons of cool features including the ability to import playlists. Also, comes with an easy-to-figure-out app for tracking your weekly totals. Best of all, it usually states first that my 14,000 steps were achieved!

Cons: It’s a sporty look so not fun to try to wear with a nice outfit. The exercise tracking doesn’t really work with indoor cycling so you must set it to “gym” mode and hope it is an accurate count. Also, it uses a 24-hour clock as a display, which I sometimes found confusing.

Apple Watch

The Series 2 Apple Watch costs $369 and not only counts your steps, the approximate number of floors you have climbed,  is water resistant up to 50 meters, Bluetooth compatible, has 18 hours of battery life and comes with a plethora of apps to help you track your fitness including calorie burn reminders to breathe and stand up from your chair throughout the day.

Pros: Of all the trackers that claimed to calculate the calorie burn, this one was by far the toughest. (It once gave me credit for only 400 calories after teaching three back-to-back classes!) This is a pro for me because I think it is much more accurate to the actual calorie burn. Plus, it’s an Apple product so it feels cool to own.

Cons: Like most trackers, they are not pretty to wear. (Check out these ideas from Cool Mom Picks for cute tech gear to dress up your tracker.) There are some not useful apps here (I really don’t need Twitter and Facebook notifications when I work out.) It’s also rather expensive compared to what else is on the market.

So, which one will I wear from now on? I am guessing it will mostly be the Apple Watch (just need to buy new bands to dress it up) and the TomTom for my outdoor workouts. Funnily enough, I think I am going miss wearing them all at once. If nothing else it was a fun conversation starter!

Do you own a fitness tracker? What were the deciding factors for your ultimate choice? —Margo

FTC disclosure: We often receive products from companies to review. All thoughts and opinions are always entirely our own. Unless otherwise stated, we have received no compensation for our review and the content is purely editorial. Affiliate links may be included. If you purchase something through one of those links we may receive a small commission. Thanks for your support!

Comments

12 Comments
  1. julia says:

    The TomTom can be set to a 12 hr clock…I just bought one. I’m on day 2 and I think there is a learning curve as to how to use it. I wanted one with larger readouts so I could see without my readers. Not sure this fits the bill. I thought heart rate and steps would read along with the time on the face, but I think it needs to be cycled to a diff screen. Still figuring out. Also it’s waterproof. Still nothing I would consider GREAT as an option out yet.

  2. Jessi says:

    Very interesting post. Have to try Fitbit Flex. I liked the fact that it inexpensive and easy to use. Thanks for sharing!!!

  3. Jodi says:

    Apple Watch all the way! And I don’t mind the bands they have on Apple. I got a rose gold watch with a rose band and it’s still cute when not exercising!

  4. Rebecca says:

    You should have tried a Flex 2 – tiny and waterproof . Will be perfect fro wearing this summer paddleboarding.

  5. I think fitBit by far is my preferred choice. I have been using the FitBit it charge and it’s everything you can ask for. can’t wait to use the Charge 2, when it’s in my budget though.. Thanks for the additional info though.. always handy 🙂

  6. Justin says:

    the apple watch all day long.it’s features are impeccable and on the contrary I actually find the look quite sporty plus the bands are changeable so you can always switch if it’s not to your liking.

  7. Noy says:

    Great reviews!
    There is no doubt that the Fitbit Flex is one of the cheapest (in the good way yea? on the market. It gives away all of the Unnecessary features in order to keep the low price tag, including the screen itself.
    But, for more serious runners or athletes, it will be most certainly not enough.
    But, on the other hand, the Apple watch is way more than just a fitness tracker, so for those who looking for a good fitness tracker, the Apple watch will be overpriced for the features that he really expecting.
    The other 2 (The Fitbit Charge 2 and the TomTom Spark 3) can be both great choices for your first fitness tracker!

    One last thing, It is highly recommended to stick with one watch all the time, in order to measure your progress in the long run.

  8. Jasmine says:

    Although I’m thinking about upgrading to the Charge 2, I absolutely love my Flex. It’s slim and may be more basic, but at this point it’s exactly what I’m looking for. Only considering upgrading for the heart rate feature as I take ADHD medication which increases my HR. Also, I feel like there are many more band color options out there because it is an older/more generic model. Don’t get discouraged by the word basic – I absolutely love it!

  9. amelia says:

    my friend was telling me about TomTom Spark 3 Music she just bought it….thank for info but hard to decide which one should i buy 😀

  10. Robert says:

    I really like the TomTom Spark 3 Music, It can play music, I will buy it

  11. John Smith says:

    I don’t like the Apple Watch , most of its apps run really slowly and it has a short battery life, I think I am going to try TomTom Spark.

  12. Christine Gorlin says:

    I have worn up to five fitness trackers before. I used the MoovNow, Misfit Shine, Runtastic Orbit, Jawbone Move Up and Bellabeat Leaf. I can honestly say that for me the MoovNow is my favorite workout tracker but I like the Misfit Shine in terms of design and sleek look.

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