FITNESS TRACKER TEST
Since I’ve been on my “body reset” fitness journey I thought I should start wearing a fitness tracker again. But one question… Which one?! A few years ago, I had the Jawbone UP band which I really enjoyed for several reasons. However, after not wearing it for so long it broke :/ The more I started thinking about the reason I didn’t wear it was because I didn’t love that it was a bracelet. It’s easy to remember to wear a bracelet during the warmer months, but during the cold months I kept forgetting to put it on. And honestly, I hated wearing a bracelet with long sleeves. So I began my search for a new fitness tracker!
I really only wear rings on a day to day basis so I Googled “fitness tracker ring” to see if anything popped up? Low an behold I found the Motiv ring! It was exactly what I was looking for and super cute! I got the ring a few weeks later and started wearing it consistently. But…………….. The technology was not up to par 🙁 After about a month I stopped wearing it. Then about a month ago, I decided to give it another try since I’m working out 5 days a week on average. They made some updates to the technology, but the data was just so basic. That’s when I asked you all what your favorite fitness tracker was? I had an overwhelming response for the Apple Watch and Fitbit. So… I decide why not test them all?!
FITNESS TRACKER TEST RESULTS
I wore each fitness tracker for a week straight to compare all the features on the Motiv Ring, Fitbit, and Apple Watch. The main things I based my decision on were: ease of use, calorie count, extra features, and how much I liked wearing it. Below you will find the PROS and CONS for each fitness tracker.
So the question is…which one WON?!
NONE! Haha 🙂 Honestly, none of them have ALL the features I want! Seriously…why can’t one of these brands get it together? However, the one I did decide to keep was the Apple Watch. The main reason… It’s the only one where you don’t have to log your activity in an app. You choose your workout on the watch before you start working out. Easy peasy!
At first, I hated the constant notifications buzzing on my wrist. I’d look at my text message and then forget to respond because the notification on your phone disappears if you look at it on your Apple Watch (#annoying). I’ve gotten used to it now, and it is helpful in some situations bc I now do text to talk a lot more which saves me time here and there.
APPLE WATCH
PROS:
- Choose your workout on the watch instead of logging it after a workout
- Get notifications from your phone
- Syncs with apps on your phone (love seeing the weather!)
- Reminds you to breathe (meditating feature which I need!)
- Can take calls through the watch instead of carrying around your phone – much better when using speaker phone on your phone
- Reminds you to get up and move
- Gives you achievement stickers – kinda like when you were a kid and got a gold star
- Share with friends – gotta like friendly competition and accountability
- Waterproof
CONS:
- Doesn’t have a built in sleep tracker
- Not the cutest accessories
- A little bulky
MOTIV RING
PROS:
- Easy to wear and not noticeable when wearing (I had some people comment about how cute it was and didn’t know it was a fitness tracker!)
- Probably most accurate calorie count
- Waterproof
- Sleep tracking (hours only)
- At home try on before buy
- Automatically detects activity to log
CONS:
- Very basic technology/basic information
- No sleep alarm or movement reminders
- Must log each workout
- Kind of hurts when lifting weights
- Gets off sync a lot
FITBIT
PROS:
- Slim design and great accessories
- Tracks sleep + sleep alarms (in depth sleep analysis)
- Menstrual cycle tracker (loved this!)
- Fairly accurate calorie count
- Breaks down heart rate zones during workout (cardio, peak, fat burn)
- Movement reminders
- Text message notifications
- Food + water tracking
- Multiple designs + watch
- Least expensive
CONS:
- NOT waterproof
- Must log activity
- No auto detect for activity
- Hard to tap screen and swipe to see information
As you can see it was too hard to decide which one is the ultimate winner! Maybe with the release of the new Apple Watch 4 we can hope it finally has alllllll the features we need for a fitness tracker. Fingers crossed, but I’m not holding my breath.
Below you will see each fitness tracker compared day-by-day. It’s kinda interesting to see the calorie count for each one.
I loved reading this. I have an Apple Watch also, and I wanted to recommend what I do for sleep tracking. It’s super easy once setup! The app is AutoSleep, so download that on your iPhone and setup and make sure you have the app on your watch as well. Once that’s done your phone detects when you’re asleep. There are a lot of great settings to decide if things should be auto detect or not, and every morning I have it setup to get a notification for how long I slept the night before. It’s surprisingly accurate detecting when I go to sleep and my restlessness during the night. For example, my husband stays up late studying for his MBA and without a doubt, my app shows me with motion during the time he says he came to bed. I thought that was crazy when I first noticed it! But, it also shows your heart rate throughout the night and deep sleep. Sorry this is so long, but clearly I love this app and it’s worked so well for me!