Our favorite fitness trackers: tested and reviewed

Whether you are training for a marathon or working out for the first time in months, a fitness tracker can show you health and exercise data that can help you better understand your efforts. Most have heart rate, GPS and activity tracking built-in, and many can provide insights into your sleep and recovery. I've tested over a dozen fitness trackers and spoke with health and training experts to pick the best ones on the market.
How I picked the best fitness trackers
I spoke with health and fitness experts to better understand how fitness watches, bands and rings can support your exercise and wellness journey. Based on their advice, I kept the following criteria in mind while selecting and testing different models:
Comfort and wearability: A fitness tracker is only useful if you wear it, says Dr. Koyya Lewis-Trammell, associate professor of kinesiology and health promotion at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. It can have the most advanced tools on the market, but those features are meaningless if you don't wear it regularly.
Compatibility: Not every phone is compatible with every fitness tracker — the Apple Watch only works on iPhone, for example. We include options that are compatible with both iOS and Android devices, so you can find a suitable option.
Data tracking: Fitness trackers collect different kinds of biometric data and present it in different ways. We chose products that collect a range of fitness insights. Some show basic metrics like steps and heart rate, while others display more complex analysis of your workouts and efforts.
How I test fitness trackers
I've tested over a dozen fitness trackers and smartwatches for NBC Select. I am a runner and cyclist, and use fitness trackers to monitor my pace, heart rate and distance. I test each one for at least two weeks, using all of the features available, including sleep tracking. I often wear multiple fitness trackers at the same time to compare data like heart rate, average pace, mileage, elevation and sleep score.
To pick the best fitness trackers, I paid close attention to the following factors:
GPS tracking: I noted how quickly each tracker connected to GPS and how consistent the data was, especially compared to other trackers.
Comfort: I wore each tracker day and night to see if they became uncomfortable, disrupted my sleep or irritated my skin.
Features: I tested as many features as possible but focused on fitness and wellness tracking tools and stats.
Battery life: I tried each tracker for at least two weeks and noted how often I needed to charge the device.
Want more from NBC Select? Sign up
The best fitness trackers of 2025
Our top picks come from well-known brands like Fitbit, Apple and Garmin. I have tested each one, and some also come recommended by experts in the health and fitness space.
In an effort to try as many options as possible, we contacted and received products from many brands, including (but not limited to) the ones on this list.
Best for beginners: Fitbit Charge 6
Many NBC Select staffers use Fitbit fitness trackers and love them because they are lightweight and easy to use. The Charge 6 is just that: a small, beginner-friendly fitness tracker that's light on weight and light on price.
Despite having rarely used Fitbit products in the past, the Charge 6 felt comfortable after only a few minutes of swiping through the watch and app. The screen and stats are bright, colorful and easy to understand.
The Charge 6 tracks and showcases your heart rate, daily steps, distance traveled, fitness activities, calories burned and nightly sleep. It does not track more advanced running stats like cadence, stride length, ground contact time and vertical oscillation (our picks from Apple and Garmin do). Some data like detailed sleep stages and a daily readiness score are only available with a Fitbit Premium subscription, which costs $10 per month.
New to the Charge 6 is Google Wallet, Google Maps navigation and YouTube Music controls. It also now has a button on the left side that returns you to the home screen or pause workout screen. You can read more in our Fitbit Charge 6 review.
The Apple Watch is one fitness tracker that almost always stays on my wrist, and this is the brand's lowest-priced model. It costs much less than the Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, but has almost all the same fitness tracking features and metrics.
The Apple Watch SE is easy to use, especially if you have used an iPhone before. The apps are similar or identical, and the square shape of the watch makes it easy to scroll through notifications and texts. It shows detailed workout, health and sleep metrics via the Apple Health and Apple Fitness, no subscription required. You can also use the Siri voice assistant to make requests and send voice texts, which is much easier than typing a text mid-run, in my experience.
The watch has up to 18 hours of battery life, according to the brand — that's less than most competitors. To avoid battery life woes, I typically charge it every morning after waking up. It comes in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm, with many watch band options.
The Pixel Watch 3 is the best Pixel watch yet, and is a recent NBC Select Wellness Awards winner. It has major software and fitness improvements over the previous model that make it a solid option, especially for someone with an Android or Google Pixel phone.
It does everything you would expect of a premium smartwatch: notifications, texting, calls, tap-to-pay, media controls, offline maps and more.
The watch has built-in Fitbit fitness tracking with more than 40 workout types, and it has more in-depth fitness tracking data compared to other Fitbit products like the Fitbit Charge 6. It can also automatically detect walks, runs, bike rides, treadmill, elliptical, rowing and spin exercise after five minutes (15 for walking). As someone who often forgets to log walks, I love how hands-off this feature can be.
But the new fitness and wellness features are what makes the Google Pixel Watch 3 one of our top picks. There are too many features to list here, but one of my favorites is building custom workouts, including custom runs with warm ups, cool downs, intervals and heart rate targets. As I ran, the watch buzzed and cued me into my next section and indicated if I was on, ahead or behind my target goals. Other favorite features include cardio load and daily readiness scores.
It comes in two sizes, 41 millimeters and 45 millimeters, with screens that are up to twice as bright as the previous version. Battery life is also improved — it lasts up to 24 hours, according to the brand.
Garmin makes some of the best fitness trackers for runners and athletes. The Garmin Forerunner 165 is one of their latest models, and it pairs some of the brand's best features with a competitive price point.
The Forerunner 165 has more fitness and training features than most of the competition, including the options on our list. One feature I like is the morning report: every morning, the watch shows me a series of stats, including a daily exercise recommendation, my sleep score, the weather and more. Another is called body battery, an energy score that changes throughout the day based on exercise, stress, rest and sleep. The morning report and body battery helped me create a better workout routine.
Exercise stats are very specific, especially for running — you have multiple metrics and charts for things like pace, speed, heart rate, cadence, stride, intensity and more. All that data does mean Garmin has a slight learning curve, at least for the first few days. However, I felt comfortable navigating the app after a week of use.
Like most Garmin watches, the Forerunner 165 has excellent battery life — I averaged about 10 days before needing to charge. It also connects to GPS quickly, usually within five seconds. You can read more in my Garmin Forerunner 165 review.
Best for data analysis: Whoop 4.0
For in-depth data analysis, consider Whoop 4.0, says celebrity personal trainer Rhys Athayde. Whoop is not a typical fitness watch. It is a small, screenless tracker built into a stretchy polyester and nylon band. It doesn't track daily steps, stairs climbed or active minutes, nor does it ping you with notifications.
Whoop analyzes your daily health and recovery metrics to give you scores on things like body strain, recovery and sleep in the Whoop app. It showed me how hard my workout sessions are for my body rather than how fast or far I run. Looking at these recovery-focused scores, I found myself thinking more about the quality of my workouts rather than the quantity.
NBC Select editor Jordan Bowman and I found the Whoop very comfortable to wear — Bowman wore it more often than other trackers because it never felt out of place on his wrist.
Whoop requires a subscription to use, which costs $30 per month or $239 per year. You have to pay the first year up front as part of buying the device.
If you want to track health, wellness, sleep and basic fitness stats, but hate wearing watches, consider a smart ring like the Oura Ring 4. I tested it for over two months — it's one of the best smart rings on the market right now, especially for sleep and wellness tracking.
The Oura Ring 4 tracks stats like heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen, sleep stages, stress levels and exercise metrics and stores them on the Oura app. It automatically tracks walks as well, but it's best to manually start and stop other exercises like runs, yoga and strength training. It categorizes and gives you broad scores for three main categories: readiness, sleep, and activity.
Because it doesn't have a screen, it cannot show live stats like pace, distance or heart rate zones, meaning it's not a great fit for avid runners or cyclists
The Oura Ring comes in six colors and a range of sizes. While you can use the Oura Ring without a subscription, you'll be limited to the current day's sleep, readiness and activity scores. An Oura Ring membership costs $6 a month. You can learn more in my Oura Ring 4 review.
How to shop for a fitness tracker
When shopping for any fitness tracker, price and compatibility should be top of mind. But beyond that, our experts recommend prioritizing the following:
Prioritize comfort
Both Lewis-Trammell and Athayde say that comfort and wearability are the most important factors of any fitness tracker.
If you don't ever wear rings, you probably won't find the Oura Ring comfortable. Similarly, if you don't like to wear a watch, a smartwatch like the Apple Watch or Google Pixel Watch might be uncomfortable. 'Ultimately, you're looking for a device you're going to wear long term so that it can provide you with the most accurate data,' says Athayde.
Because trackers come in so many shapes and sizes, I recommend going to a store in-person to try a few different options and see what form-factor makes sense for you. Having tested over a dozen options, I am surprised how different each model feels, even ones with similar wristbands.
Identify your goals and needs
It's not just athletes that benefit from fitness trackers, says Athayde. Everyone can benefit from the data fitness trackers provide, if you understand your wants and needs, in my experience.
Before shopping around, think about what data you care about. If you love outdoor exercise stats like pace and power, a Garmin watch may match your habits best. If you want broad exercise and health data, plus all the latest apps, a smartwatch from Apple or Google is a good fit.
What's best for you depends on your daily habits and larger goals, according to our experts. Take stock of them before you checkout.
Meet our experts
At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
Why trust NBC Select?
I am a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness including recent stories on running shoes, workout earbuds, point-and-shoot cameras and more. For this piece, I interviewed fitness and health experts to get a better understanding of workout data and metrics. I also tested over a dozen top-rated fitness trackers and smartwatches. For a broader perspective, I spoke with other NBC Select staffers about their experience using fitness trackers.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Evening Standard

36 minutes ago

• Evening Standard

Best mobile phone deals in the Amazon Prime Day sale

This is a great phone, even if it lacks some of the advanced features of the iPhone 16, which costs £799 and up. But it inherits the iPhone 16's chic design with only minor changes. If you want two cameras on your phone, you need to step up to the iPhone 16, but for many people, the 2-in-1 snapper here will suffice. There's the performance which is fast and mostly on a par with pricier iPhones in the range. Which is why it's compatible with Apple Intelligence, something which is only growing in its capabilities. The new AI feature is called Apple Intelligence. These include tools to rewrite emails or texts and something called Image Playground where you can create pictures from simple text inputs, for example, or even generate original emoji to use in text messages. These features need processing power and are made possible thanks to the latest iPhone processor, the A18. Apple has even included Visual Intellligence, which lets you point the camera at a restaurant, for instance, and it will tell you information such as opening hours or menus. On the iPhone 16, this is enabled through the Camera Control. Here, you can set it up as an option on the Action Button. And then there's the battery life, a factor whose importance is hard to overstate. It goes on and on, and the fact that it outdoes other iPhones in its size is a bonus. The new phone is priced at £599, meaning the price of entry to the Apple ecosystem is higher than it used to be. But there's a lot to like, and the new features and capabilities make the iPhone 16e good value.

Daily Record

4 hours ago

• Daily Record

Tech expert shares important iPhone settings change that stops scammers

The feature that could be the difference between keeping your family safe and falling victim to increasingly sophisticated scam calls We all know the feeling of accepting a call from an unknown number on a random afternoon and finding out we are magically owed thousands of pounds in compensation from an accident we never had. Or that we need to divulge sensitive financial information to people we do not recognise on the other end of the phone. Sadly, scams are a prevalent issue in Scotland, and impact a large number of people across all age groups. ‌ In the financial year spanning April 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, Scottish residents reported around 1,300 fraud and scam complaints to the Financial Ombudsman, up more than a third from 950 complaints from the same period last year. ‌ What's more, a report by Age Scotland found that over 100,000 older Scots are targeted, with 12 per cent of those targeted having responded to a scam call. When scams do succeed, they can be devastating; wiping out savings, damaging credit, and leaving victims feeling violated and vulnerable. However, a solution may be in sight. Tech expert OddsMonkey claim Apple's new Call Screening feature, available now for developers and coming to public beta next month, represents a significant leap forward in protecting users from fraudulent calls. Building on the existing Live Voicemail functionality, it automatically gathers information from unknown callers before you even need to pick up. When an unknown number calls, your iPhone will answer automatically and prompt the caller to state their name and reason for calling. ‌ You'll see this information transcribed in real-time, allowing you to make an informed decision about whether to accept or dismiss the call. All processing happens on-device, ensuring your privacy remains protected. "This technology represents a fundamental shift in how we can protect consumers from increasingly sophisticated phone scams," says a spokesperson from tech software company OddsMonkey. ‌ "The ability to screen calls before they reach the user creates a vital barrier against fraudsters who rely on catching people off-guard." The feature will be particularly valuable for less tech-savvy family members who may be more susceptible to scam tactics. ‌ "We're seeing scammers evolve their tactics constantly, using AI to create more convincing personas," the spokesperson added. "Apple's Call Screening essentially turns the tables, using technology to protect users rather than exploit them." As mentioned, the timing couldn't be more crucial. A January survey commissioned by Hiya of 12,000 consumers across six countries found that a quarter of UK consumers received a deep fake voice call in the past year. Of those who received a deep fake call, two in five had been scammed – a third losing money and another third giving away personal data. Available as a free software update for iPhone 11 and later models, Call Screening should be your first stop in iOS 26's settings. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.

Geeky Gadgets

8 hours ago

• Geeky Gadgets

Complete Guide to watchOS 26: 55 New Features Detailed

Apple's watchOS 26 delivers a comprehensive update to the Apple Watch, focusing on usability, personalization, and seamless integration with other Apple devices and smart home systems. With the introduction of innovative gestures, a redesigned interface, and enhanced app functionalities, this update refines the way you interact with your device. In the video below from HotshotTek delves into the most notable features and changes that make watchOS 26 a significant evolution. Watch this video on YouTube. New Gestures for Simplified Navigation One of the standout additions in watchOS 26 is the flip gesture, an intuitive movement designed to streamline interactions. With a simple flick of your wrist, you can now dismiss notifications, calls, and alarms. This feature is particularly useful during workouts or multitasking, allowing for quick and efficient control without interrupting your activities. By reducing the need for manual input, the flip gesture enhances accessibility and convenience. Revamped Glass UI and Smoother Animations The user interface has been reimagined with the introduction of the Glass UI, offering a cleaner and more cohesive design across all aspects of the Apple Watch. Notifications, apps, and the Control Center now feature a modernized aesthetic, ensuring a visually polished experience. Enhanced animations further contribute to this update, delivering smoother transitions that make navigation feel more fluid and responsive. This redesign not only improves usability but also aligns the interface with Apple's broader design philosophy. Customizable Control Center and Smart Home Integration The Control Center has been significantly upgraded, now supporting third-party apps and smart home controls. This enhancement allows you to manage appliances, vehicles, and other connected devices directly from your wrist. Customization options let you rearrange icons and layouts to suit your preferences, making sure quick access to frequently used features. Additionally, a reset option provides flexibility, allowing you to revert to the default setup if needed. These changes make the Control Center a more powerful and adaptable tool for everyday use. Smarter SmartStack Widgets SmartStack widgets have been improved to offer smarter suggestions and greater customization. These widgets now prioritize tools and information based on your usage patterns, providing quicker access to essential features such as camera controls and navigation backtracking. You can also manually adjust the widget stack to highlight the functionalities that matter most to you, ensuring a more personalized and efficient experience. Enhanced App Features and Functionalities Several core apps have been updated to introduce new capabilities and improve usability. These enhancements make the Apple Watch more versatile and user-friendly: Notes App: Now fully integrated with native synchronization, dictation, and complications, allowing you to manage notes directly from your watch. Now fully integrated with native synchronization, dictation, and complications, allowing you to manage notes directly from your watch. Workout App: Features a redesigned interface with AI-driven workout suggestions and customizable metrics, helping you tailor your fitness routine to your goals. Features a redesigned interface with AI-driven workout suggestions and customizable metrics, helping you tailor your fitness routine to your goals. Messages App: Includes group chat wallpaper customization, live translations, and poll voting, enhancing communication and personalization. Includes group chat wallpaper customization, live translations, and poll voting, enhancing communication and personalization. Phone App: Highlights top contacts, introduces call screening, and adds hold assistant notifications for a more streamlined calling experience. Audio and Notification Improvements To adapt to various environments, watchOS 26 introduces automatic volume adjustments based on ambient noise levels. This ensures that notifications and Siri responses are always audible, regardless of your surroundings. Siri's response volume has also been fine-tuned for greater clarity, making interactions more seamless and effective. These updates enhance the watch's usability in both quiet and noisy settings. Streamlined Watch Faces and Categorization The watch face library has been reorganized into categories, making it easier to browse and select your preferred style. While older faces like Fire and Water and Toy Story have been retired, existing faces have been updated with improved functionality. For instance, older models now feature better second-hand visibility, making sure that even legacy devices benefit from this update. This reorganization simplifies the process of finding a watch face that suits your needs and preferences. Everyday Features for Added Convenience watchOS 26 introduces several smaller yet impactful features designed to enhance daily use. These updates focus on improving accessibility, personalization, and functionality: Live Listen Transcriptions: Audio transcriptions can now be sent directly to your Apple Watch, providing greater accessibility for users with hearing impairments. Audio transcriptions can now be sent directly to your Apple Watch, providing greater accessibility for users with hearing impairments. Music Suggestions: Workout-based music recommendations adapt to your listening habits, keeping you motivated during exercise sessions. Workout-based music recommendations adapt to your listening habits, keeping you motivated during exercise sessions. Workout Customization: Alerts and metrics can be tailored to align with your specific fitness goals, offering a more personalized experience. Developer Beta and Public Release Timeline Currently available in developer beta, watchOS 26 offers early access to these features, though users should anticipate potential bugs and stability issues. The public beta is expected to launch in July, providing a broader audience with the opportunity to explore the update. The full release is scheduled for the fall, bringing these enhancements to all compatible Apple Watch models. Refining the Apple Watch Experience watchOS 26 represents a significant evolution in the Apple Watch's functionality and design. By introducing smarter integrations, a refreshed interface, and enhanced app capabilities, this update improves the overall user experience. Whether you're focused on fitness, productivity, or convenience, watchOS 26 offers meaningful improvements that cater to a wide range of needs. While some trade-offs, such as the removal of older watch faces, may require adjustment, the update ultimately delivers a more intuitive and versatile device for everyday use. Explore further guides and articles from our vast library that you may find relevant to your interests in watchOS 26 features. Source & Image Credit: HotshotTek Filed Under: Apple, Gadgets News, Top News Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.