There's been no shortage of Smartwatches and fitness trackers released this year, So we wanted to cut through the noise and help you decide which is the best choice for you.
I’ve tested a lot of different devices this year and I've come up with my list of favorite picks to suit a range of different criteria. Design and comfort, Fitness and health features as well as Smart functionality and of course the all-important battery life. There is something here to fit pretty much every budget and I have put latest pricing and availability.
Garmin Venu 2
With one of my favorite picks of the year this one is an all-round fitness focused Smartwatch. It's the Garmin Venu 2. Garmin is known for its fitness tracking, but its previous watches you know haven't exactly looked that stylish. The Venu 2 is trying to change all that. With a round design, it's got a bright AMOLED display and it comes in two different sizes. The Venu 2 or The 2s, which is this slightly smaller version that I've been wearing. I also really like this watch because it is compatible with IOS and Android. It's got really in-depth fitness tracking metrics like you would expect. You can get things like workout animations presented to you on the screen to help you target particular muscles and the post-workout analysis. The Garmin app is excellent as well, you also get blood oxygen, sleep tracking and a body battery score that gives you an idea of your energy reserves.
The heart rate sensor is accurate too. I always test against a chest strap and I was really impressed with the Venue 2's results during a run.
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The battery life is really strong. You'll average around seven days from the larger size and five days from the smaller size. Of course if you use the always on display and all those other bells and whistles like a lot of outdoor GPS workouts, you're gonna reduce that number probably to around two and a half to three days. You'll also be able to get notifications on your wrist, send quick replies if you're on Android as well as use things like Garmin Pay for contactless payments and you'll have music storage on board, thanks to a number of streaming apps that are supported, including Spotify. There aren't as many Smart features as other watches say like the Apple watch or the Galaxy watch on this list. So there's no cellular or LTE version that you can get, so you can leave your phone at home. There is also no speaker and microphone on board so that means no taking some quick calls on your wrist. But if you don't need those features and you just want a really fully fledged fitness watch that looks as good as it performs, the Venue 2 is a great choice.
Fitbit Charge 5
Sticking with the theme of being compatible with Android and IOS, is my favorite fitness band of the year. It is the Fit-Bit Charge 5. It really takes the best parts of Fit-Bit's more expensive watches like the Fit-Bit Sense and it packs it into a tracker. You're getting things like a bright display, again easy to see in broad daylight. You're getting a built-in GPS. There is an Electrocardiogram app or ECG app to detect signs of Arterial Fibrillation as well as a stress tracker which is the same as found on the Fit-Bit Sense. You'll also be able to see notifications on your wrist. Really in-depth sleep tracking metrics so you're getting things like skin temperature variation at night, breathing rate and so on.
Fit-Bit sleep tracking is among the best. There's also this thing called the daily readiness score that gives you an idea if you should push yourself to do a workout or maybe you should just take it easy and have a rest day. The downside is the daily readiness score and some of those 30-day tracking trends for metrics like your skin temperature variation and more of those in-depth help metrics that this watch is getting you are only going to be available if you have a subscription to Fit-Bit Premium it's ten dollars a month.
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However the good news is you don't need Fit-Bit Premium to take advantage of pretty much most of the major features on the Charge 5. It's still going to be a great fitness tracker even if you don't want that extra subscription.
Apple Watch Series 7
If you have an iPhone, it's really hard to go past the Apple watch and the Series 7 is my favorite overall pick for IOS users. Compared to previous versions, the design is more refined. You have a stronger construction in terms of a crack resistant screen. You also get a dust resistant design. The screen real estate itself is larger than earlier versions, so you can actually pack more on the screen. There's two additional font sizes. You get the benefit of a full keyboard for being able to respond to messages and just overall it's such a refined snappy experience. It really does set the bar for all of the other Smartwatches on this list.
You also get an ECG and Blood Oxygen sensor, just like you did on the Series 6 and Heart rate tracking is the best among all of the Smart watches that I've tested especially during higher intensity workouts when compared to a chest strap. You can also spend a little bit more to get an LTE or cellular version that helps you take calls, send messages and use apps when you are away from the range of your phone.
Battery life unfortunately hasn't changed from earlier Apple watches. So the Apple rating is 18 hours but in reality you can actually push that a little bit further. You can really stretch this to two days if you try really really hard but that's if you turn off a lot of the flagship features that you might be interested in such as the always on display as well as raise to wake and sleep tracking. More real world usage with a lot of those features turned on it's going to be a bit more than a day. So really you will be charging this probably a little bit more often than some of the other watches on this list. It's still my favorite pick for iphone users.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic
The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic are the first Smartwatches to run the new Wear OS which was co-designed between Samsung and Google and it gets a lot of things right for its first version. It is my favorite Android Smartwatch right now. It's got a really great screen. It's super bright, very responsive. On the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, I love the rotating bezel. It is so addictive, you interact with a lot of things through either the bezel, the buttons or the touchscreen itself.
The Watch 4 doesn't have that bezel but it is a little bit slimmer and might be more comfortable for some people depending on the size of your wrist. There's also a lot of really fun watch faces you can go to town customizing these with lots of different widgets and also complications like you can too on the Apple Watch. You also get access to the play store for lots of different apps.
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There's an ECG or Electrocardiogram app on board as well as Blood Oxygen but there's also the flagship feature on the Watch 4 in terms of the health tracking that none of the other watches have. It's called an impedance based sensor. It's basically giving you an idea of your overall body composition. The downside so far is that some of those key features like the ECG are tied only to Samsung phones, so even if you have another Android like say Oneplus or a Pixel, you won't be able to use those features just yet. There's also no Google Assistant on board at the time of writing this post. I really hope that changes soon because, Bixby is fine but just if I'm running Wear OS I really want the Google Assistant
MI Band 6
Now let's get into my favorite budget pick for the year, it's the MI Band 6. Now this is fifty dollars, sometimes you can get this for even less when you find it discounted because it does get discounted frequently and it is such a good performing Band for that price. It is the best value for money on this list. You get a bright display, you get notifications from your phone, you get a range of different fitness tracking options. You get blood oxygen tracking, you also get sleep tracking. Like the list goes on of how much stuff this little fitness band actually does, it's kind of wild.
I would recommend this if you're not too worried about things like Heart rate accuracy during intense workouts. It does tend to get a little bit wonky and sleep tracking has been a little bit hit-and-miss for me but overall if you're looking for something that's just a basic fitness tracker with options of other bells and whistles that you can play around with; I highly recommend this little fitness tracker. It does so much for the money and it's compatible with Android and IOS
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Let’s look at two more devices that have come out towards the end of the year that I haven't fully finished reviewing but I do think they're worth mentioning. The first is,
The Polar Grit X Pro
This is an incredibly rugged watch. It's designed for people that do a lot of Endurance, Running Marathons and Triathletes. It's got turn by turn navigation, so many different sports modes and workout suggestions on board. As well so far the touchscreen has been a little bit laggy and it definitely does not look as good as the other options on this list and it is quite bulky especially if you have smaller wrists. But if you are looking for the ultimate adventure watch this potentially could be it.
Aura Ring 3rd Gen
If maybe you don't want to screen at all, you want something you can kind of set and forget; that's where something like the Aura Ring third generation comes in. It's gathering a lot of different data from your finger including Heart rate. It's doing sleep tracking, it's also going to be doing skin temperature tracking and so on. Some features are yet to roll out including Blood Oxygen tracking and unfortunately you will need a $6 a month Subscription to get pretty much all of the data out of this Ring which is a change from the earlier generation Aura Ring. You can still use it without the subscription but you're really only just gonna get that daily readiness score. Still it's an option for you if you're looking for something that is discreet and something that you don't necessarily need to charge every single day.
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Conclusion
So there you have it, our favorite fitness trackers and Smart watches so far in 2022. There are of course lots of other options out there and some of my favorites aren’t released this year yet. They're still really good options though and I highly recommend them. Things like the Garmin Venue S is a great budget option for a fitness Smartwatch. I really like the Apple Watch SE which is a cheaper alternative to the Series 7 and there's also the Fit-Bit Versa 3 which is a really nice little Smartwatch that is compatible with Android and IOS and it has a lot of the same features that we've been talking about from the Charge 5. Thank you so much for reading and if you liked this post, do share it with those friends and family who are thinking of buying a Smartwatch.
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