Samsung Gear Fit2

The Samsung Gear Fit2 has landed to shake up Fitbit and Garmin’s rule over the kingdom of fitness trackers. It’s built for tracking indoor and outdoor activities, and displays your fitness stats, maps, exercises and more on a rather lovely curved Super AMOLED display.

The impressive feature set onboard the Gear Fit 2 is matched by its specs; with a 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage, it has the same amount of power as most Android Wear smartwatches.

Apart from having a built-in GPS, a decent HRM and pretty much every fitness tracking feature, the Samsung Gear Fit2 has a standalone music player, so you can hook up your Bluetooth headphones and leave your smartphone at home. This feature makes the Gear Fit2 stand out from the rest, except the TomTom Spark which offers a music player with 3GB of storage.

Main Features

• Release Date: June 2016

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• 4GB Standalone Music Player

• Display: 1.5-inch 216 x 432 Color Super AMOLED Touchscreen

• Metrics: Steps, Distance, Calories, Speed, Pace, Elevation, Active Minutes, Heart Rate

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality, Sleep Duration

• Smart Notifications: Calls, Text, Email, Social Media, Calendar Alerts

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes.

• Mobile App: Compatible with Android 4.4 + Devices With at Least 1.5GB of RAM

• Battery Life: Up to 4 Days Depending on Usage / Up to 9 Hours GPS Tracking

• Water Resistant: IP68 (Not for Swimming)

Samsung Gear Fit2

    

Garmin Approach X40

The latest addition to the world’s largest wearable tech family is the Approach X40. It packs a GPS, heart rate monitoring and all the essential fitness tracking features, but it’s also geared up for golf.

The Garmin Approach X40 looks and weighs the same as the Vivosmart HR+ (31 grams), but it replaces some of the fitness performance metrics and Move IQ for features to help you around the golf course.

It provides a digital scorecard, round timer, putts per round, average distance, GreenView with manual pin positioning, Hazards/course targets, yardage to layups/doglegs, and comes preloaded with more than 40,000 golf courses around the world.

Th Approach X40 can be used with Garmin TruSwing which brings analysis of your swing speed and tempo, club path, face to target, dynamic loft, shaft angle, and more to help improve your swing.

Main Features

• Release Date: May 2016

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• Display: 1-inch 160 x 168 Monochrome LCD Touchscreen

• Metrics: Steps, Calories, Distance, Floors Climbed, Activity Intensity, Heart Rate, Garmin AutoShot

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality/Duration

• Smart Notifications: Calls, Text, Email, Social Media, Calendar Reminders

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes

• Mobile App: Android 4.3 + / iOS iPhone 4S + / Windows 10 +

• Battery Life: Up to 5 days (Activity Tracking), Up to 10 hours (GPS mode)

• Water Resistant: 5 ATM, Okay for Swimming, No Advanced Swim Mode

Garmin Approach X40

        

Garmin Vivosmart HR+

The Original Vivosmart HR is one of the best wrist-worn heart rate monitors and is still a relatively new device as it was only released 7 months ago.

The Vivosmart HR+ basically adds GPS tracking to the original along with a few more new features, such as Move IQ – automatic exercise detection, and some new running metrics – auto lap/pause, virtual pacer and personal records.

The durable Vivosmart HR+ provides the complete fitness tracking package, it also delivers smart notifications and allows you to control your music player, radio, video player, voice recorder, etc, straight from your wrist.

Main Features

• Release Date: May 2016

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• Display: 1-inch 160 x 168 Monochrome LCD Touchscreen

• Metrics: Steps, Calories, Distance, Speed, Pace, Floors Climbed, Activity Intensity, Heart Rate

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality/Duration

• Smart Notifications: Calls, Text, Email, Social Media, Calendar Reminders

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes

• Mobile App: Android 4.3 + / iOS iPhone 4S + / Windows 10 +

• Battery Life: Up to 5 Days (Activity Tracking), Up to 8 Hours (GPS Mode)

• Water Resistant: 5 ATM, Okay for Swimming, No Advanced Swim Mode

Garmin Vivosmart HR+

        

Garmin Vivoactive HR

As the world’s leading GPS firm, plus their many 2016 wearable tech releases, are you surprised that Garmin are dominating this page? The Vivoactive HR is a multi-purpose fitness tracker/smartwatch hybrid with more features than one of Scooby Doo’s hot dogs..

All the fitness tracking essentials are onboard along with advanced metrics for a ton of sports, including: running, walking, cycling, swimming, paddle boarding, rowing, skiing and snowboarding. It’s also pretty clever around the golf course, with many of same features as the Approach X40.

The Vivoactive HR+ packs Move IQ – automatic exercise detection, smart notifications galore, and remote control for your music, video, radio, etc.

Adding to the versatility is Garmin Connect IQ compatibility which allows you download apps, watch faces, widgets, data fields and more for free.

Main Features

• Release Date: May 2016

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• Display: 0.8 x 1.13-inch 205 x 148 Color Touchscreen

• Metrics: Steps, Calories, Distance, Speed, Pace, Floors Climbed, Intensity Minutes, Heart Rate

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality/Duration

• Smart Notifications: Calls, Text, Email, Social Media, Calendar Alerts

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes

• Mobile App: Android 4.3 + / iOS iPhone 4S + / Windows Phone 10 +

• Battery Life: Up to 8 days (Activity Tracking) / Up to 13 Hours (GPS Mode)

• Water Resistant: 5 ATM , Advanced Swim Mode

Garmin Vivoactive HR

        

Microsoft Band 2

Microsoft’s second-generation fitness tracker has more features than Meatloaf’s picnic basket.. There’s a total of 11 sensors, including galvanic skin response and a UV sensor, and some advanced metrics that you’d find on high-end sports watches, such as VO2 Max measurements.

The MS Band 2 offers some decent sleep tracking metrics, notifications from social media apps, remote control for music apps such as Spotify, a built-in microphone and Microsoft’s virtual voice assistant Cortana, so you can use voice controls to interact with notifications, get guided audio workouts and more. Cortana now works for Android users thanks to an update to the Microsoft Health Android app (U.S only for now).

Main Features

• Release Date: October 2015

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• Display: Color AMOLED Touchscreen

• Metrics: Steps, Calories, Distance, Speed, Pace, Elevation, UV, GSR, Skin Temperature, VO2 Max, Heart Rate

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality/Duration, Heart Rate

• Smart Notifications: Calls, Text, Email, Social Media, Calendar Reminders

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes

• Mobile App: Android 4.3 + / iOS 7 + / Windows Phone 8.1 +

• Battery Life: 1 – 2 Days Depending on Usage

• Water Resistant: Splash Proof Only

Microsoft Band 2

       

TomTom Spark Cardio + Music

The TomTom Spark is a versatile wearable geared up for both outdoor and indoor activities with its mulit-sport modes which include running, cycling, swimming, treadmill, training bike and gym workouts.

Like the Samsung Gear Fit2, the TomTom Spark has a standalone music player, although its storage capacity is 3GB rather than 4GB. This means you can load over 500 tracks onto your wrist, connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones and head out for a run or to the gym without your smartphone.

TomTom’s partnership with heart rate tech specialists LifeQ has made the Spark one of the most accurate wrist-worn HRMs available – on par, or even better than Fitbit and Garmin. The TomTom Spark monitors your BPM 24/7 and enables you to train with heart rate zones with voice prompts to keep you in the right zones.

The Spark has a full set of activity tracking features and some more, but a little bit of a deal breaker is the lack of smartphone notifications. There’s also no music control for your smartphone’s playlist, but with the 3GB music player onboard the watch I suppose that’s not a big deal.

Main Features

• Release Date: October 2015

• 3GB Standalone Music Player

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• Display: 22 x 25mm Monochrome LCD (Not Touchscreen)

• Metrics: Steps, Calories, Distance, Speed, Pace, Elevation, Active Minutes, Heart Rate

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality/Duration

• Smart Notifications: No (Maybe Coming in the Future)

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes

• Mobile App: Android 4.3 + /  iOS 7.1 +

• Battery Life: Up to 3 weeks (Activity Tracking), Up to 11 hours (GPS Mode), Up to 5 Hours (Activity Tracking + GPS + Music Playback)

• Water Resistant: 5 ATM, Advanced Swim Mode

TomTom Spark Cardio + Music

       

Note: There are different versions of the TomTom Spark. If you want the music player and heart rate monitor, make sure you go for the TomTom Spark Cardio + Music.

Fitbit Surge

Although Fitbit have released two new fitness trackers in 2016, the Blaze and Alta, it’s the 2015 Surge that remains their only wearable with a built-in GPS.

Outdoor modes for running, cycling, hiking, tennis and golf, along with The GPS tracking makes the Fitbit Surge a capable outdoor companion. It’s also clever indoors, with modes for circuit training, martial arts, yoga, pilates, weight training, and more. There’s a total of 15 activity modes.

For notifications, the Fitbit Surge isn’t the smartest of the bunch as it only works for incoming calls and texts. However, it can control your music playlist (as long as your music app is AVRCP compatible), and it works with IFTTT so you can cook up recipes to control a load more devices, such as lights and stuff around your smart home.

Main Features

• Release Date: January 2015

• GPS Tracking: Yes

• Heart Rate Monitor: Yes

• Display: 1.2-inch Monochrome LCD Touchscreen

• Metrics: Steps, Calories, Distance, Pace, Floors Climbed, Active Minutes, Heart Rate

• Sleep Monitoring: Automatic, Sleep Quality/Duration

• Smart Notifications: Calls, Text

• Vibrating Alarm: Yes

• Mobile App: Android / iOS / Windows Phone

• Battery Life: 5 – 7 Days (Without GPS) / 10 Hours (With GPS)

• Water Resistant: 5 ATM (Not For Swimming)

Fitbit Surge

        

So which one is the best? Apart for a few added sensors on the Microsoft Band 2, and the standalone music player on the Samsung Gear Fit2 and TomTom Spark; it is the Garmin Vivoactive HR that ticks the most boxes for me..

 

 

 

 

 

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