The range of activity trackers and smart watches is growing by the day. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to see the wood for the trees and make the right choice. Depending on what you want to use it for, your budget and taste, there is plenty to choose from.
We are working on a comprehensive comparative review of all lifestyle wearables, which we will post here on our site. Here is a brief introduction to the three different types in advance.
- The activity tracker
- The sports watch
- The smartwatch
An activity tracker is the ideal device when you want to track your daily activities.
Activity trackers or fitness trackers are bracelets aimed at measuring health. For example, an activity tracker often measures: sleep, heart rate, distance covered, steps, speed and any other health statistics. Some activity trackers can relay simple notifications from a phone. They usually have smaller screens and are a lot thinner than sports watches and smartwatches. Reading out the data is most easily done on your phone in the activity tracker's app. There are several providers of activity trackers but the best-known brand is Fitbit.
A sports watch is suitable for tracking sports activities
A sports watch is a smartwatch for athletes with specific sports functions that allow the watch to provide insight into workouts. For example, it records speed, distance, route and heart rate of workouts. A good sports watch also measures values such as VO2 Max, stride length, lactate threshold, pace and stress score, heart rate and gives a race prediction. Sports watches additionally increasingly get functionalities you expect from a smartwatch and vice versa. This blurs the difference between sports watches and smartwatches. Garmin has the widest range of different types of sports watches.
Smartwatch: when you want to read messages, take calls and install apps on your watch.
A smartwatch can be seen as an extension of the smartphone. Most smartwatches feature a touchscreen and it is possible to install apps on them. These watches are the most comprehensive in terms of functionality and in some cases also have ov functionalities of sports watches. Well-known brands include Apple and Samsung
