Best smartwatches for fitness in 2023

March 18, 2023 Staff Reporter 940 Views 0 Comments

Whether you’re obsessed with the gym or just interested in getting a little healthier, smartwatches have become an invaluable accessory. Pretty much all of them now come with heart-rate monitors, and plenty include GPS trackers, which is a great start for runners and cyclists.

But while almost all of the best smartwatches nod towards fitness, some take it far more seriously than others. At the other end of the scale, some wearables are loaded with fitness features, but have limited smarts. In this guide, we’ve tried to pick the best of both worlds: genuine smartwatches that are also great for fitness.

If there’s truly a sweet spot between an excellent smartwatch and a quality fitness tracker, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is it. Right out of the box, it will track more than 90 different exercises, ensuring that even the most complicated fitness routine can be easily tracked and measured. And while Samsung Health lacks the in-depth metrics of Garmin Connect because it’s built on Wear OS, you can always introduce plenty of other third-party apps to mix things up.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 doesn’t just track heart rate and location, but also measures blood oxygen, heart rhythm, bioelectrical impedance, and even blood pressure in some regions. A skin temperature sensor is also included — it’s just awaiting FDA approval. All of this adds up to a great all-rounder at a pretty reasonable price. But if you want to save a few bucks, consider the last-generation Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which isn’t all that different.

Specifications

Software: One UI Watch 4.5 atop Wear 3.5
Display: 1.19″ Sapphire Crystal Glass AMOLED 396 x 396px (40mm) or 1.36″ Sapphire Crystal Glass AMOED 450 x 450px (44mm)
CPU: Samsung Exynos W920
RAM: 1.5GB
Storage: 16GB
Connectivity: NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi (2.4Gz & 5Ghz), LTE (optional)
Durability: IP68, Waterproof to 50m (5ATM), MIL-STD-810H
Price: From $280
Strap: 20mm
Dimensions: 40.4 x 39.3 x 9.8 mm (40mm) or 44.4 x 43.3 x 9.8 mm
Display Size : 1.19″
Battery: 284mAh (40mm) or 410 mAh (44mm)
Health sensors: Optical Heart Rate, Electrical Heart Sensor (ECG), Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA), Continuous SpO, Skin Temperature Sensor
Weight: 29 (40mm) or 32.8g (44mm)
Mobile payments: Samsung Pay, Google Wallet
Workout detection: Yes
Exercise modes: 90+
Color options: Silver, Graphite, Pink Gold (40mm only), Sapphire (44mm only)

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Slowly but surely, Garmin has been taking steps towards making a true smartwatch. And the Venu 2 Plus is the biggest step yet, thanks to the built-in speaker and microphone that introduces virtual assistants and calls from the wrist. Admittedly, it’s nowhere near as flexible as dedicated smartwatch rivals, and it only has limited third-party apps in the Garmin IQ store — but what it lacks in smarts, it makes up for in fitness features.

Garmin watches have long been the runner’s choice due to accurate GPS tracking and more stats than you can shake a stick at, but the more passive health features are just as good. For example, Body Battery tells you how much energy you have for a workout; Fitness Age will give you an instant assessment of your improvement, and animated exercises will guide you in everything from strength and cardio training to Pilate and yoga.

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On a tight budget? Look no further than the Amazfit GTS 3 or GTR 3, which share the same MSRP and can be found for cheap now that the (slightly disappointing) Amazfit GTR 4 is here. Now available for under $150, the Amazfit GTS 3 and GTR 3 offer a lot of bang for your buck. Along with the usual GPS, accelerometer, and gyroscope, both watches also come with the BioTracker 3.0 optical sensor, which analyzes heart rate, stress, and blood oxygen levels. Between them, these sensors track 150 exercises (8 automatically) and provide insights like training load, VO2 Max, and recovery time to help you plan your workouts.

Both lack third-party apps and the polish of some rivals, but it’s hard to complain too much, given the low cost of entry.

Specifications

Brand: Amazfit
Battery Life: 450mAh, ~21 days
Operating System: Zepp OS
Water Rating : 5 ATM (50 feet)
Display: 1.39 inches round, 454 x 454 OLED
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1, GPS
Health sensors: heart rate, SpO2
Price: $179.99
Dimensions: 45.8 x 45.8 x 10.8mm, 32 grams

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If you want the excellent fitness features that Garmin wearables provide, but can’t justify the expense of the Venu 2 Plus, then the Garmin Venu Sq 2 is a solid compromise. Yes, it loses the altimeter, gyroscope, and workout animations, but it will still be a valuable workout companion at a fraction of the price.

It offers 11 days of battery life, accurate fitness tracking, and the brilliant Garmin Connect app, which includes all the stats you could ever want. The excellent Body Battery feature will tell you how prepared you are for a workout on any given day, making it extremely handy for those looking to build their fitness.

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As a smartwatch, the Fitbit Sense 2 is only smart-ish, but you must admire Fitbit’s dedication to fitness and wellness. To that end, as well as packing the usual GPS and heart-rate sensors, the Fitbit Sense 2 can measure stress, blood oxygen, body temperature, and an irregular heartbeat via its ECG sensor.

It’s able to track up to 40 exercises and has one of the most user-friendly apps around, clearly showing progress to beginners while encouraging friendly competition between friends and colleagues. Yes, some of the better features are pay-walled, but the watch comes with six months of Fitbit Premium, which isn’t bad at all. However, what is bad is the lost features from the previous generation: third-party apps have gone, there’s no music storage, and playback controls have also inexplicably vanished. There are signs it’s getting better — Google Wallet and Maps were recently added — but if you want a truly smart experience, you may want to look elsewhere.

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As well as owning Fitbit, Google has a smartwatch of its own: the Pixel Watch. Indeed, the company promised “help from Google” and “health from Fitbit” which sounds like the best of both worlds when you’re looking for a fitness-focused smartwatch.

In truth, it’s not quite there. It’s missing out on a few things that make the bundled Fitbit Premium valuable for the Sense 2, including a number of sensors (EDA, ECG, temperature) and automatic workout detection. Its one-day battery also runs down the built-in GPS quickly, which isn’t ideal for aspiring athletes. But as a smartwatch, it’s hard to fault, which is unsurprising given it’s essentially a device designed to show off what Wear OS can do.

Specifications

Display: 1.6″ 384×384 AMOLED, up to 1000 nits brightness boost, Ambient light sensor, Always-on display
CPU: Exynos 9110 SoC, Cortex M33 co-processor
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 32GB
Battery: 294mAh, “up to 24 hours”
Connectivity: 4G LTE, UMTS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
Durability: 5ATM
Software: Wear OS 3.5
Health sensors: Optical heart rate sensor, Multipurpose electrical sensor, Blood oxygen sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Altimeter, Compass
Price: $350 (BT/Wi-Fi), $400 (LTE)
Strap: Active band included: Small (130 – 175 mm) and Large (165 – 210 mm)
Dimensions: 41 x 41 x 12.3 mm
Weight: 36g (without band)
Audio: Built-in speaker
Mobile payments: Google Wallet
Workout detection: Yes
Color options: Matte Black with Obsidian Active band, Polished Silver with Charcoal Active band, Polished Silver with Chalk Active band, Champagne Gold with Hazel Active band

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Despite being objectively a better product than the basic Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, the Pro version is still hard to unequivocally recommend as a fitness smartwatch thanks to the high entry price. That said, on top of its cheaper sibling’s various fitness functions, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro offers a couple of extra things that fitness fans will appreciate. For a start, there are maps for hiking and cycling with a trackback to help you retrace your route, which is handy if that’s your main form of exercise.

Also, the chunky 590mAh battery will last up to three days on a single charge. While GPS will eat into that quickly, it’ll still manage 20 hours — enough for all but the most dedicated ultra marathoners.

Specifications

Case Material: Titanium
Display: 1.36″ Sapphire Crystal Glass AMOLED 450 x 450px
CPU: Samsung Exynos W920
RAM: 1.5GB
Storage: 16GB
Battery: 590mAh
Connectivity: NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi (2.4Gz & 5Ghz), LTE (optional)
Durability: IP68, Waterproof to 50m (5ATM), MIL-STD-810H
Software: One UI Watch 4.5, Wear OS 3.5
Health sensors: Optical Heart Rate, Electrical Heart Sensor (ECG), Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA), Continuous SpO, Skin Temperature Sensor
Price: $450 (GPS), $500 (LTE)
Strap: 20mm
Dimensions: 45.4 x 45.4 x 10.5 mm
Weight: 46.5g
Mobile payments: Samsung Pay, Google Wallet
Workout detection: Yes
Exercise modes: 90+
Color options: Black, gray

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Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

If you want a long battery life without the high price tag, the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 is worth a look. The 577mAh battery will give you three days of use, which is unusual for Wear OS devices, but very welcome.

That use of Wear OS means it’s an excellent and flexible smartwatch, but how is it for fitness tracking? Not bad at all, with 13 workouts tracked from within the TicExercise app via the included heart rate and GPS trackers. It’ll measure blood oxygen levels via the built-in SpO2 sensor, too.

It doesn’t feel as polished as other Wear OS wearables, and it’s undeniably bulky on smaller wrists, but the TicWatch Pro 3 packs a lot in at a pretty reasonable price.

Specifications

Operating System: Wear OS 2.33
Onboard GPS: GPS+Beidou+Glonass+Galileo+QZSS
Case Material: Stainless steel
Water Rating : IP68 certified, MIL-STD-810G compliant
Display: 1.4“ 454*454 326ppi Full Color Always On Display AMOLED + FSTN
CPU: Snapdragon Wear 4100+
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 8GB
Battery: 577mAh

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What are your priorities?

As is often the case with wearables, you have to decide whether you’re looking for the best fitness tracking experience or the best smartwatch experience. There are plenty of ‘jack of all trade’ devices, but ultimately you need to decide whether you’re prioritizing fitness or smarts, and purchase accordingly. Overall, we picked the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 as the best choice here. It’s keenly priced, feature-packed, and offers plenty of health options, even if it’s still more of a smartwatch that dabbles in fitness than a dedicated fitness watch.

Our Premium Pick — the Garmin Venu 2 Plus — is very much the other way around. It offers as good a fitness tracking experience as you’ll find in any dedicated fitness tracker, but there’s not much in the way of customization, and its smartwatch experience is considerably more limited.

Our value pick — Amazfit’s GTR 3 and GTS 3 smartwatches — are more focused on fitness than smarts, but offer an incredible amount of value for their low cost of entry. If you’re on a tight budget, you won’t be disappointed.

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