Exercise is a necessary evil if you have to stay fit. But, if you have the perfect companion to help you keep a track of your progress the whole process gets a lot easier.
Let’s be honest. Not everybody can afford a fitness coach or a personal trainer to keep a track on how much we are burning calories. It’s 2019 people! It’s the era of fitness bands and apps that can track and calculate all your fitness activities.
But, how do you pick the right one? Which is the perfect fitness tracker for you and does it really fit your budget? Here are some options you can consider.
Honor Band 4
Let’s start with the most affordable option of the lot. The Honor Band 4 has been priced at Rs 2,599 online and is the most basic fitness tracker that you’ll find in the market. It comes with an OLED colour display and that is a big plus about this device.
In terms of its fitness suite, the Honor Band 4 offers most of the features like calories burned, steps, and it even tracks your sleep. Honor is offering water-resistance with the Band 4 and to top it off, it also comes with a heart-rate monitor (in this price segment!).
It’s not the most perfect fitness tracker and might not be a 100 percent accurate, but in this price segment you’d better not complain.
Amazfit Verge
Perhaps the best fitness-tracking smartwatch in budget, the Amazfit Verge comes with all the bell and whistles at just Rs 11,999.
Apart from tracking your regular fitness activities, it is also stocked with multiple sports tracking features. It comes with a 1.3-inch AMOLED display which is vibrant and big enough to help you catch up with all of the notifications.
It gets an in-built mic and speaker so you can attend phone calls and even listen to music! Not that anyone is advising to do it! Sounds gimmicky but it’s still an addition especially for those who find stuff like this “cool”. Might come in handy when you’re driving a car!
Though it is water-resistant, I would recommend you not to go swimming with it. It comes with GPS on-board which mean that most of the activity it tracks is accurate.
Plenty of watch faces to choose from, although you cannot install any third party faces or apps in this one. I feel the strap material could have been more premium but otherwise the Amazfit Verge is a great bargain for its price.
FitBit Charge 3
Fitbit has upgraded its Charge 2 fitness tracker and the new Charge 3 is much more improved thanks to features like a touchscreen OLED display, some enhanced fitness features and even smartwatch capabilities.
The Charge 3 is a good companion to your smartphone in terms of notifications, regular feedback and also offers other information like alarms, on-board timer and weather updates.
It comes with 15 exercise modes like swimming, running, and biking and is also waterproof.
Sadly, it does not come with on-board GPS.
I liked the fact that the Charge 3 comes with multiple strap option which you can easily swap at just the click of a button. Battery life of the fitness tracker is really impressive and can last you almost a week and a half on a single charge.
The Fitbit Charge 2 has been priced at Rs 13,999 which I feel is aggressive pricing (for a Fitbit).
Fitbit Versa
This one’s been around for a while now but Fitbit Versa is fitness tracker which has impressed so many that it deserved to be mentioned in this list.
The Versa sports a very ‘Apple Watchesque’ look to it, thanks to the square shaped dial it sports. It comes with a 1.3-inch colour LCD display which offers crisp output and colours.
The Versa offers various exercise modes that can be customised according to the users’ preference. One also gets coaching tips via a separate app in the watch and it also comes with in-built memory to store music if required.
It’s surprising that a Rs 19,990 does not have GPS and also you have to pay extra for some of the watch faces. The fact that the Versa is very versatile in terms of its usage. It can be used as a daily smartwatch, and also as a pure fitness tracking wearable, which helps it make up for some of its shortcomings.
Fossil Gen 4 Explorist HR
Here we get a glimpse into the luxurious side of fitness tracker where it can take care of the necessary activity and at the same time look gorgeous. The Fossil Explorist HR is not like the conventional fitness tracker and adds a lot of class to an already established genre.
It sports a very premium design and a vibrant display to go with. Extravagant yet subtle. It is water-resistant so it can withstand a few splashes easily. It also comes with GPS and a heart-rate monitor and runs on Google wearable OS which allows payment options via the watch as well using Google Pay and NFC.
It’s not a battery friendly smartphone as you’ll have to charge it everyday. At Rs 22,000, the Explorist is only meant for a very specific kind of audience, mostly from the corporate sector.
Garmin Instinct
The Garmin Instinct isn’t the ideal fitness tracker rather I would call it an adventurer’s smartwatch. Yes, the Instinct does come with its own set of fitness tracking features but it’s not something that you’d take to the gym. It’s more of a smartphone you’d like taking on a trek or a long weekend to the hills.
It’s robust and sports a very sturdy form factor which is built to withstand the toughest conditions. It comes with built-in GPS support with GLONASS and Galileo that sends a direct link to the satellite for ready-to-use connectivity. Even in the remotest areas you’ll be able to navigate with the help of the Instinct. Its design reminds you of the Casio G-Shock.
The Instinct does not sport a touchscreen, instead you’re dependent on old-school button feedback setup which is complicated and will take time to get used to. In terms of activity tracking, it is very accurate especially for 24/7 fitness tracking.
Battery life is good. Gave me a week’s charge easily. At Rs 26,990, make sure you go for this smartwatch only and only if you’re the adventurer type.
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