[TusharK]

Fitness trackers not only help you monitor your daily physical activity and workouts but have become a comprehensive tool to analyse and manage your fitness regime.

Finding a tracker that suits your requirements can be tricky as there are a variety of options available in the market today. While brands like Fitbit, Huawei and Amazfit have affordable options, more expensive smartwatches from Apple, Samsung, and Garmin offer more advanced sports tracking and fitness capabilities.

Key features to look out for when buying a fitness tracker:

• Amoled screen - A sharp, bright, crisp and responsive touchscreen
• Dual-frequency GPS - For better accuracy
• Heart rate monitor - Keeps track of your BPM during a workout
• Sleep monitor and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) insights

Apple Watch Ultra 2 - Rs 89,900

Features:

• OLED Always-on Retina display
• Heart rate
• Respiratory rate
• wrist temperature
• Blood oxygen
• Sleep tracking
• Cycle tracking with retrospective ovulation
• Emergency SOS
• Water resistant up to 100 m
• Dual-frequency GPS
• Battery life - up to 72 hours

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra - Rs 59,999

Features:

• Heart rate
• Sleep tracking
• Blood pressure
• Blood oxygen levels
• ECG
• Water resistant up to 100 m
• Battery life - up to 100 hours

Garmin Venu 3 - Rs 52,990

Features:

• 1.4-inch Amoled touchscreen
• Energy monitoring
• Sleep tracking
• HRV status
• Stress tracking
• Heart rate monitor
• Built-in sports apps

Whoop 4.0 - Rs 28,990

Whoop is a screenless fitness band that sits snugly on your wrist. It continuously monitors your physiological data – such as heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and movement – which gets analysed by an in-app algorithm in order to calculate daily Sleep, Recovery and Strain scores. While the initial cost of the Whoop 4.0 might seem relatively low, it does come with an annual subscription plan which costs Rs 29,990.

Oura Ring 4 - Rs 23,999

The Oura Ring 4 is a smart ring with a sleek titanium design. It offers in-depth analysis of sleep stages, heart rate variability, and body temperature to help users optimise their rest. It also tracks activity, including automatic workout detection, and provides personalised guidance to enhance recovery.

[GTO]

Read up on them all & the benchmark is still the Apple Watch Ultra 2 . Looks the best, accurate monitoring of health functions, great battery life, great screen, awesome build quality and the best looking IMHO. Because a watch is also a fashion accessory, the looks & design matter to me. I've been an Apple Watch user since 5 years and am currently on the Ultra 2. This is despite me being an Android smartphone lover & user!

Wishlist = Blood pressure monitoring (rumoured to be coming since long) and real-time alerts for BPM low / high thresholds set by you (currently only in workout mode I guess). Longshot (and I know it's impossible) = integration options with Android phones.

[subraiyr]

I have been on 5 devices in the last 9 years.

Fitbit Versa - First one to start with. Way back in 2017/18 this was the top choice for most health enthusiasts. It was a great device and the big point was over 5 days of battery life. Great design, visibility in sun and build quality

Garmin Vivoactive 4 - This one was my next one. Stayed with me for a few months and due to first time travel after a span of 2+ years of zero travel, lost it in transit. But this was the next great one I had. The only challenge was that the UI was not so great and you had to have 2 apps to manage it

Huawei GT2 Pro - Amazing build quality. No scratches till date. Battery life still on 10 to 11 days. Challenge was two fold. Disconnects at times from the phone and GPS inaccuracy. Also, it does not play well with iOS

Apple Watch Series 8 - As of last 3 years, my daily driver. It has been a revelation with the kind of metrics it tracks with accuracy. Battery life lacks punch. I get about 1.5days with most of the sync features stopped. By discontinuing the wireless feature, the battery backup jumps up more. The other challenge is the Watchfaces. While I like the ones that Apple has developed, I would love to customise/create my own Watchface.

[Eddy]

I am looking to replace my 5+ year old Fitbit Inspire HR - a fitness band, not a watch. The form factor allows me to wear both a regular wristwatch and a fitness band on either wrist.


However, there is no fitness band on the market, except for Whoop, which turns out to be quite expensive when you include the subscription cost. Plus, it is an overkill for my use case - professional athletes generally use it to focus on how the body recovers.

I am hoping that the sensors on fitness rings improve and their accuracy pass the tests conducted by Quantified Scientist. I will buy one then.

[ValarMorghulis]

I started by fitness tracker journey through Fitbit.
1. First product was Fitbit Charge HR in 2015. Decent stuff, the app was good. Battery was OK.
2. Moved to Fitbit Charge 3. Again decent.
3. Then Fitbit Blaze. Big screen, clear displays. Battery was average at best.
4. Moved to Apple Watch. Excellent integration with iPhone, nice app, terrible battery. Could not go with the Apple Watch beyond a few months.

5. Moved to Garmin Venu 2. Excellent stats, app and love the 7 day battery.

Now, I am sticking to Garmin and recommend it to all my friends.
However, next one would be a fitness band, a la, Hoop or another one once this Garmin conks off.

[Hayek]

Have used a Garmin Forerunner as my daily watch for the past 6 years. Had a TomTom GPS watch before that, but used that only while running.

The great thing about the Garmin is that it offers a fantastic suite of features -
tracking activities such as Running, Hikes, Swimming, Workouts, Stair Climbing and Cycling as well as sleep patterns and overall step counts and heart rates, while giving great battery life. Even today, I need to charge it just once a week despite tracking about 7 hours a week of activities and it also monitoring my heart rate at all times.

My wife however thinks it looks ugly - and we are planning to get an Ultrahuman Ring for her - any reviews will be appreciated.

[100Kmphormore]

I started off with the MI Band 4, then a Fitbit Versa 2, and now a Boat Xtend , both of which I alternate between, the Versa being the more accurate in terms of heartbeat while the Boat tracks steps correctly. A Boult Crown rounds up my collection for my motorcycle rides so I can take my calls on the go with its speaker function without repeatedly taking my phone out, but a horrible device in all other aspects. I own an iPhone 13 since the Ultra 2 launch, thought of getting it but was not worth due to not much changes over the Ultra.

Originally Posted by GTO

a watch is also a fashion accessory, the looks & design matter to me. I've been an Apple Watch user since 5 years and am currently on the Ultra 2. This is despite me being an Android smartphone lover & user!

Wishlist = Blood pressure monitoring (rumoured to be coming since long) and real-time alerts for BPM low / high thresholds set by you (currently only in workout mode I guess). Longshot (and I know it's impossible) = integration options with Android phones.

Absolutely my expectations for the Ultra 3 before I hop on the bandwagon + blood sugar level integration.

P.S - I read that your daily driver is a Samsung Flip, how do you sync your data then? Its only possible on iphones. I am thinking of getting one for my dad too and he hates Apple devices.

[itisravi]

In my opinion, a Garmin (or Coros or Polar or Suunto) is a good purchase if one is mainly interested in tracking outdoor sports activities and their associated metrics. They are not smart watches in the typical sense of the word. i.e., they are not a cohesive companion to your smartphone, but more of a sports watch that also packs a few smart watch/ fitness tracking features.

So even their mid-end models might not have Bluetooth calling or LTE connectivity or a dial pad or other typical smart watch features, but they will have superior sports related features like built in ABC sensors, ANT+ and BLE sensors for both reception (eg. capturing data from cycling speed & cadence sensors, power meters, chest heart-rate monitors) and transmission (broadcasting heart-rate to platforms like ZWIFT, ability to control cycling smart trainers), ability to create and do structured workouts for multiple sports activities, 24 X 7 heart rate measurement, basic course navigation, etc. Conventional smart watches from Apple, Samsung or Huawei can't do some of these things, at least not natively and sometimes not as accurately.

The battery life on Garmin's AMOLED screen models is good like others have mentioned, but their MIP screen models have a far superior battery life. I have one of Garmin's Instinct series models with an MIP display and it can easily track 35+ hours of GPS activity and the display is 'always on' like a regular Casio watch. In normal smart watch mode with constant HR tracking, it can last a whooping 40 days.

The main issue with Garmin in India is the lack of good after sales support. AMIT international (AMIT GPS & NAVIGATION LLP) is their sole distributor in India based out of Delhi, and I believe you will need to send the watch to them for warranty claims. And after the warranty period expires, all bets are off. This is in stark contrast with their support in the US where they offer generous replacements/refurbished watches on discount for problematic units long (even 5 years) after the warranty has expired.

[ashishpotdar]

Have always been on Mi Band. Started with Mi Band 1, Then Mi Band 2 and now Mi Band 5. My display is dimmed out and battery life is just 4 to 5 days (from earlier week plus). Would have liked to upgrade to Mi Band 9. However Mi Band is now stopped (banned ?) in India.

Mi Band 5 - Step tracking is decent, sleep tracking is erratic but also tracks naps. Heart rate tracking is adequate. The Zepp app interface is simple.

Most fitness bands in India have dissappeared. Only options remaining are Huawei Band 9, Amazfit Band and Samsung Fit3. All of which are bigger and heavier than Mi Band 9. And hence heavy on the wrist and maybe a pain for wearing overnight for sleep monitoring.

Below are the weights -
Mi Band 5 - 11.9 g
Mi Band 9 - 15.9g
Huawei Band 10 - 15g
Samsung Fit3 - 18.5g
Amazfit Band 7 - 28g (!)

Also dont want to get out of the MiFit /Zepp app ecosystem into something new and more complex. Just lazy to learn a new ecosystem I guess.

Also have
1. Samsung Watch 4 (horrible battery life, heating issues) and hence never used
2. Amazfit Trex (Chunky watch like Casio Gshocks, outstanding battery life, use sometimes)

Basically have realized that I am a fitness band person not a smart watch person. Smart watches are too much information and one more screen to distract. Rather have a small band with basic steps, calories, heart rate tracking , sleep monitoring.

Sadly bands are disappearing from the market. So mostly will go for imported Mi Band 9 or Huawei Band 10 once Mi Band 5 becomes unusable.

[RohanDheman]

Had been using the Apple Watch SE since 2020 before upgrading to the Ultra in 2022. Finally gave up on the watch in January of 2025 primarily because on very inaccurate tracking of workouts and more particularly walks. During a trip we realized that there was a significant variation in what my watch was tracking (something as basic as steps) and my wife's watch- the difference being as high as 4000 for steps and 2km for distance for the exact same activities we did. The battery life of the Ultra was around 36 hours at best and that just pushed me to wear my regular watch again.

After my track experience on the bike, i knew i had to get fitter and leaner so i was on the lookout for a good tracking device. After speaking to a few friends, I have now started using the Whoop 5 about 10 days ago. While it is too soon to comment on the device overall, i have been wearing it non stop and it is very comfortable. The band is easy to clean and dries quickly and the battery will last 2-3 days more. The sleep tracking is accurate and so is the recovery metric - i am hoping that i am able to understand it better and work harder on my fitness.

[asingh1977]

Anyone tried StyleOxx fitness bands. 6K on Amazon, but less reviews. Even I am looking for a discrete fitness band for my right hand, since I always wear a mechanical watch on my left wrist.

[G20Rider]

If you are looking for a budget option, I’d recommend to checkout the offerings from Amazfit (likes of bip6 or active2). I had been dismissive of the brand as cheap knockoffs till recently, but my recent experience completely changed that. While not as fitness focused as Garmin or polished as Apple Watch, for the asking price it’s an absolute bargain with very good build quality and almost a week of battery life (!).

[Siddarth_Ramani]

I have been on the fence for a fitness tracker for a while now. If anyone is on a budget, I suggest these for their pure VFM and accuracy.

1. Huawei band 10 : 4k has a very good heart rate sensor, Quantified scientist test showed a correlation of 98% with Chest strap heart rate monitors. Good build, features and battery.

2. Amazfit bip 6 : 8K This one surprised me, It has the same Biotracker PPG 6 as the Amazfit T Rex 3, which is 3-4X price. Quantified scientist test showed a perfect 100% correlation. I don't see any other watch beating this in terms of VFM. You don't need anything more than this, Has a big battery, around 6 days, all the necessary features.

[shabih]

What a well-timed discussion post. I have recently picked up swimming regularly and now I am wondering what would be the best way to track my stats.

I have been a long-time Fitbit user, dating back to 2016. Always used the 'Charge' version and have been extremely satisfied. Currently, I use the Charge 5, and although it is splashproof, possibly waterproof, I have heard of them not withstanding swimming. So I was wondering if there is something under 15000 that can help me track my swim and other activities.

[Utsav_199]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Absolutely my expectations for the Ultra 3 before I hop on the bandwagon + blood sugar level integration.

Blood pressure can be done but it will require a very thick arm band which is not really for everyone, maybe an add-on Apple accessory. Refer for thickness- https://consumer.huawei.com/en/wearables/watch-d2/

Glucose will not come. It is highly proprietary controlled by a handful of giants and requires physical patches like the ones Ultrahuman (Abbot made) sells.