Are you looking for something to make your daily activities and your health transparent? Then an activity tracker is the ultimate gadget for you. But how do you find the activity tracker that suits you best? And what about a pedometer and sports watch to accompany you in your activities? On this page, you find exactly what activity tracker is best for you.
1. When are you going to use the above activity tracker?
Choosing an activity tracker is dependent on the frequency of use, situation, and the goal you have in mind. In some cases, a sports watch or pedometer is a better choice. The key question, therefore, is, how active are you and what do you want to measure?
Activity trackers
An activity tracker tracks the whole day how active you are. Besides your activity, it keeps track of your heart rate and rhythm sleep during the day. Sync everything with the app, set goals and keep a healthy lifestyle.
- Suitable for daily activities and during sleep (+)
- Measuring steps, distance and / or heart rate and sleeping patterns (+)
- Not suitable for intensive sports training (-)
Pedometers
- Suitable for hiking
- Measuring steps, distance, and time
- Not suitable for everyday use
- Does not measure heart rate and sleeping patterns
Would you like to add more structure to your workouts and sports? We still recommend a sports watch. With a sports watch, you can check out all of your activity during different workouts. After exercise view all your data and you analyze your performance on your convenience.
Advice on Sports Watches
2. What do you want to measure?
Steps
With an active lifestyle, it is important that you get enough daily exercise. The number of steps that you on one day is a good indicator to find out how active you really are. Set yourself a number of steps as a goal or take an activity tracker that determines not only your goals but also automatically adjusts them up or down.
Shop for activity trackers to measure your steps
Heartbeat
Measure your heart rate throughout the day or only during exercise to get a better idea of your body. There are activity trackers with an included heart rate monitor that you wear on your chest, and there are activity trackers with a built-in heart rate sensors that measure your wrist pulse.
Shop for activity trackers to measure your heartbeat
Sleep Quality
A healthy lifestyle also includes a good night’s sleep. By measuring the quality of your sleep you get to know yourself better. An activity tracker measures the extent to which you move while you sleep. The more you move, the more restless you sleep is.
Shop for activity trackers to measure your sleep quality
Stairs
A popular and easy way to stay active is to take the stairs. Increasingly more activity trackers measure the number of stairs you daily go up and down. Forget about the lift in the office for a week and see how many extra stairs you’ve put.
Shop for activity trackers to measure your walking steps
3. How to make the most of your activity tracker?
The extension of each activity tracker is the running app on your smartphone or tablet. By syncing your activity tracker via Bluetooth with the application, all your information is being displayed on your device. It is also possible to connect your activity tracker with the computer.
Proprietary apps
Each brand has its own dedicated running app that lets you connect your activity tracker. For example, Fitbit has the Fitbit-app, Garmin has Garmin Connect and you use the UP app to view the information on your Jawbone activity trackers.
- Seamless data synchronization. (+)
- There are fewer unnecessary features because the app is developed for a specific activity tracker. (+)
- Limited compatibility: does not displays data from other brands activity trackers. (-)
Independent apps
Independent applications are not tied to a specific activity tracker. Thanks to the sensors in your smartphone, these apps can also perform measurements and view your run route. The popular running apps are Runkeeper, Run with Map My Run, Runtastic and Strava.
- Compatible with various activity trackers. (+)
- Can carry out measurements. (+)
- There are more unnecessary features that the app takes into account multiple activity trackers. (-)
4. Use your activity tracker as an extension of your smartphone?
An activity tracker, in some cases, is used for more than just measuring your health and activity levels. There are models that can display incoming calls and notifications. Compatibility is very important. Explore before the purchase also good with what operating system the activity tracker is compatible.
Incoming calls
There are two types of activity trackers with Caller ID capabilities. There are activity trackers showing incoming calls and show you who or what number is calling. Some trackers go even a step further by making it possible to answer or reject calls.
Phone Notifications
Receiving notifications is a luxury that not all activity trackers does offer. When receiving an SMS, WhatsApp, e-mail, or social media message, the activity tracker tells you that you should look at your smartphone. Reduce the need to look at your smartphone even further with an activity tracker that lets you access your messages.