If part of your new year’s resolution is staying healthy and fit in 2015 and you’re actually committed to keeping it, then you should pick up a fitness wearable to keep track of your progress. Fitness trackers became all the rage last year, and now that they have been around for a while, the kinks have been worked out and there are quite a few great options on the market. They range in price, from the super-affordable Pivotal Living Tracker ($12) to the solid gold Apple iWatch, which will cost you a pretty penny coming in over $1000. All have various functions, tracking everything on your body like steps taken, your heart rate, and your sleep quality. Here are a few of my favorites that you can get in shape with this year:
Fitbit has fallen on hard times lately, with the major recall of the Fitbit Force due to skin allergy reactions last year and their recent oust from Apple stores. However, they are still one of the best fitness trackers on the market and deserve a look. Their product line ranges from inexpensive to fully featured. Plus, they have a WiFi scale for measuring weight loss over time, and also a sweet collaboration with Tory Burch to fancy up their wristbands. Keep an eye out for their new performance tracker out later this year, the Fitbit Surge.
Jawbone is known mostly for their great Bluetooth speakers, but they also have an awesome line of fitness trackers that are the best looking on the market. If you are looking for a tracker that doesn’t look like a nerdy smartwatch, this is the one for you. It can track your activity, sleep, and heart rate, and also has a fitness coach built into the app. Their newest model the UP3 is out later this year.
The Basis Peak is more of a fully featured smartwatch than just a fitness tracker. It is probably one of the more advanced heart rate trackers, and offers many friendly reminders to stay active and healthy. Plus, it will connect to your smartphone to send and receive text messages from your wrist. A big bonus is that it can track walking, running, and biking.
Microsoft has also gotten into the fitness wearables game by offering their simply named Microsoft Band. It works really well with a Windows phone, obviously, but also pairs with iOS and Android. In addition to tracking steps and sleeping, it will also offer guided workouts and save maps of your runs and hikes for future reference. It is a lot of technology packed into a very small package.
This device takes a different approach to most wearables in that it can be worn anywhere on your body. Instead of a wristband, this comes as a small disc that can be attached to your wrist or anywhere you can clip it on your clothes. It also can track the most activities of any tracker, be it biking, swimming, running, or even tennis. Plus, it comes in a ton of fun colors and has a super long battery life.
Pivotal Living is trying to turn the fitness market on its head by basically giving the tracker away for free and taking payments for the use of its app. You can get a tracker and a year subscription to the service for just $12. While the tracker is fairly simple and only tracks steps and sleep, it is the perfect entry level model to see if using a fitness tracker is right for you.
The Apple iWatch will be able to do much more than track your health, but it must be included here as one of the most anticipated wearables of the year. Basically everyone’s dream of having Dick Tracy’s wristwatch will be coming true, but with the addition of Apple’s new Healthkit app everyone will be getting healthier while they talk and text from their wrist. We won’t know how much of a game changer this watch will be, but if the iPod, iPhone, and iPad are any indication, we will all be wearing one by year’s end.
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