Top Fitness Watches of 2023
Sometimes you need a little extra inspiration or motivation for you to work out. Fitness watches are the perfect solution. They are a piece of wearable technology that can take care of these needs and many more. Whether you're a runner, weightlifter, swimmer, or just want an all-encompassing watch, we can recommend one to you.
What is a Fitness Watch?
A fitness watch is basically an enhanced wristwatch that has features built around keeping track of your workouts. They can monitor your basic body statistics like heart rate, activity levels, blood oxygen levels, and sleep patterns. Fitness watches even more specifically track the distance you run, the time you work out, and how many laps you swim.
What to Look for in a Fitness Watch
There are numerous things you need to look for when choosing which fitness watch meets all of your needs.
- GPS — If you are a serious runner, you'll want a watch with its own GPS, so you can run without your phone.
- What it monitors — While most watches monitor basic functions, some track more advanced features such as skin temperature, oxygen levels, and altitude changes.
- Accuracy — Not every tracker is perfect, some use formulas to determine your metrics, while exercise-specific devices excel at particular stats.
- Battery life — Do you want a watch loaded with features that you have to recharge often, or a basic one that you can get by on a monthly charge?
- Water resistance — If you're a swimmer, make sure the device you want is completely waterproof. Some can hold up to a shower, but not go meters underwater.
- Style — Who says a fitness watch has to be boring? Each watch has its own style and you can customize most with different colors, faces, or straps.
The 5 Best Fitness Watches of 2023
Each of these watches has its own unique features, which may be exactly what you're looking for. Check out these top watches of 2023 and find out what matches you perfectly.
1. Apple Watch Ultra
The Apple Watch Ultra is Apple's top-of-the-line fitness watch. They built this watch for outdoor enthusiasts with its titanium body and extreme waterproofing.
The built-in 2-band GPS almost guarantees that you won't lose your tracking abilities, which is troublesome when running in a city. The watch tracks how often and how much you move, and how long you exercise. You can track individual workouts like runs, swims, or bike rides. Also with this tracker, you have access to Apple's built-in fitness and health programs. You can even download third-party fitness apps via the App Store. It gets around 36 hours of battery life on a charge, with up to 60 hours on low power mode.
The watch has a microphone port, making it compatible with Siri for quick commands. One unique feature it has is that you can drop waypoints with the touch of a button. This is perfect for when you're hiking in a new environment and need to mark where your tent or car is, so you can get back safely. With a future update, the tracker may have all of the features of a fully-fledged dive computer.
2. Fitbit Charge 5
A Fitbit Charge 5 is one of the best all-around watches when it comes to features, style, and especially your budget. Google's tracker boasts features like a built-in GPS tracker, advanced heart tracking, an electrocardiogram (ECG), great sleep data, SpO2 level monitoring, and can log your skin temperature at night. It'll track your steps and active minutes on its own, but you can enter different sports modes to track laps swum, distance ran, or miles biked. The battery will last you at least a week if you're just tracking data, but if you turn on the GPS, it'll definitely cut down on its battery life.
One thing Fitbit excels at is a daily health score. It takes all of the data it collects every day and gives you a daily report and summarizes it all with an overall score. Unfortunately, this tracker does not have any internal storage, buttons, microphones, or speakers, but you can view calls, texts, and emails as they arrive. The in-depth tracking comes with a monthly fee as well.
3. Garmin Venu 2
When you think of a Garmin fitness watch, the first thing that comes to mind is running. The Vivoactive 4 is no exception. It combines the advanced GPS tracker of its high-end model with more all-around user-friendly features. For non-runners, it brings its advanced data tracking to bike riding, strength training, walking, and even yoga. High-strength Gorilla Glass makes up the watch face and it survives depths of up to 150 feet. The battery lasts for up to 11 days while it's in smartwatch mode, but only 8 hours when it's in full-GPS mode.
For those who want a watch specifically for doing workouts, the Garmin excels. It has built-in animations showing you how to do specific exercises, and can even tell which muscles you're working.
4. Casio G-Shock Move
The Casio G-Shock is a fitness watch that's built to last and reminds you of that with its retro design. These watches are almost indestructible, with their quartz construction. Tests have even had trucks drive overtop the watch without it breaking. The G-Shock can track your heart rate, altitude, distance, and body temperature. It has a built-in GPS that can map your routes, for even more detailed tracking. Unfortunately, running is the only thing it tracks fitness-wise.
A feature that you won't find on any other watch is its solar charging ability. You can use it for a year in watch-only mode without ever plugging it in. Otherwise, if you're using it to track runs, you'll easily get weeks out of a single charge.
5. Galaxy Watch5 Pro
Fitness watch users looking to sync up perfectly to their Samsung phones will love this watch. It is capable of handling tons of smartphone apps, letting you do most things you'd need your phone for on it. It is able to start tracking your walks, runs, or swims on its own, so you don't have to do a thing. The built-in health suite of Samsung Health keeps a daily log of all your body metrics like heart rate, sleep levels, and temperature. You even can take your own ECG. The watch has a three-day battery, which is impressive for all of the capabilities it has.
If you get easily lost while you're adventuring around, the watch has turn-by-turn voice directions along with backtracking to keep you from getting lost on your next bike ride, hike, or run.
Leave a comment