my name is amy roberts and today i'll be talking to you about our picks for fitness trackers. after testing over a dozen fitness trackers our top pick for
Android tracker, most people is the garmin vivosmart hr+ it's a well-rounded accurate tracker that delivers on most fronts. one reason we made the vivosmart hr+
our topic is that it's fully waterproof. it has a soft and stretchy rubber band which is very comfortable to wear and hugs the risks nicely. we tested all the trackers against a standard pedometer and the garmin was fairly accurate though it did count a little bit on the low side. we found the hr+ to be fairly accurate on heart rate tracking
for steady-state workout, but when it came to intervals, unfortunately we found that it wasn't the best at catching the peaks and then as the heart rate came down it didn't necessarily keep up with the drop. the gps will track your distance and route which is great however it did take some time for the unit to find a signal from the
satellites. another thing we love is the always-on display. some trackers have displays that only turn on when you press a button or when you raise your wrist. the garmin's display never turns off, which makes it easy to glance at. there is one quibble i had with the display: some of the other trackers are beautiful and full color and those full
color displays are simply more pleasing to look at. the other main downside is that with garmin the social component simply isn't as strong as with fitbit. the samsung gear fit2 is our pick for android users. it's beautiful, comfortable, and has robust functionality if you have a smartphone with android 4.4 or above. it also did a great job tracking heart
rate even when doing interval workouts which most of the picks struggled with. like our main pick the fit2 has gps, but it was a little underwhelming and not only takes awhile for the unit to find a signal, but it also begins your work out whether or not that signal is found. i really love the display on this tracker. its full color shows quite a bit of
detail without having to check the smartphone app. the downside is that it contributes to the rather low battery life. the garmin vivoactivehr is our pick for very active people. this tracker should appeal to the more serious athletes because of the sheer number of fitness modes that it has. step counts with this tracker were
fairly accurate but it did count consistently low. heart rate tracking is decent but not perfect, but this is the only unit that will allow you to link to a chest strap for more accurate heart rate training. it also has gps and the performance was excellent. the biggest downside to this tracker is its size. as a petite female it just felt too large and bulky as
something that should be worn all of the time. the fitbit charge 2 is our pick for those who value the social aspect to activity tracking. fitbit has built an enormous community and one of the most compelling reasons to get a fitness tracker is that idea of being able to compete. in terms of accuracy the charge 2 did produce a high step count in our
tests not unlike other fitbit models. the heart rate monitoring was also a downside for fitbit. readings were all over the place even in our steady state runs. while the charge 2 has a run function it lacks gps which means that you won't get an accurate distance measurement. the charge 2 has limited smartphone notifications including text and missed
calls, but you can't receive your email
notifications on it. despite the fair amount of downsides to the charge 2, fitbit is really the choice if you want that social integration.
