Speaker 1: There's been no shortage of smart watches and fitness trackers released this year. So I wanted to cut through the noise and help you decide, which is the best choice for you.
Speaker 1: I've tested a lot of different devices this year, and I've come up with my list of favorite picks to suit a, a range of different criteria, design and comfort, fitness, and health features as well as smart functionality. And of course the all important battery life. There [00:00:30] is something here to fit pretty much every budget. And I have put latest pricing and availability in the links in the description below as well as links to the full reviews. If you wanna find out more. So let's kick things off with one of my favorite picks of the year. This one is an all round fitness focused, smart watch. It's the Garin venue. Two
Speaker 1: Garment is known for its fitness tracking, but it's previous watches. You know, haven't exactly looked that stylish. The venue [00:01:00] two is trying to change a, all that with a round design, it's got a bright Amy display and it comes in two different sizes. The venue two or the two S which is this slightly smaller version that I've been wearing. I also really like this watch because it is compatible with iOS and Android. It's got really indepth fitness tracking metrics. Like you would expect, you can get things like workout animations per to you on the screen to help you target particular muscles. And the post-workout analysis in the garment app is excellent as well. You also get blood oxygen, [00:01:30] sleep tracking and a body battery score that gives you an idea of your energy reserves. The heart rate sensor is accurate too. I always test against a chest strap and I was really impressed with a venue, two results during a run.
Speaker 1: The battery life is really strap. You'll average around seven days from the larger size and five days from the smaller size. Of course, if you use the always on display and all those other bells and whistles, like a lot of outdoor GPS workouts, you're gonna reduce that number probably to around two and a half to three days. You'll also be able to get notifications on your wrist. Send quick replies if you're on Android, as well as use things [00:02:00] like Gar and pay for contactless payments and you'll have new music storage board, thanks to a number of streaming apps that are supported, including Spotify. There aren't as many smart features as other Watchers say like the apple watch or the galaxy watch on this list. So there's no cellular or LTE version that you can get. So you can leave your phone at home. There is also no speaker and microphone on board. So that means no taking some quick calls on your wrist, but if you don't need those features and you just wanna really fully fledged fitness watch, that looks as good as it performs. [00:02:30] The venue too is a great choice.
Speaker 1: Sticking with a theme of being compatible with Android and iOS is my favorite fitness band of the year. It is the Fitbit charge five. It really takes the best parts of Fitbit's more watches like the Fitbit sense, and it packs it into a tracker. You're getting things like a bright display. Again, easy to see in broad daylight, you're getting it built in GPS. There is an electrocardiogram app or ECG app to detect signs of atrial fibrillation, as [00:03:00] well as a stress tracker, which is the same as found on the Fitbit sense. You'll also be able to see notifications on your wrist really in depth, sleep tracking metrics. So you're getting things like skin temperature variation at night breathing rate and so on. And Fitbit sleep tracking is among the best. There's also this thing called the daily readiness score. That gives you an idea. If you should push off to do a workout, or maybe you should just take it easy and have a rest day, the downside is the daily readiness score.
Speaker 1: And some of those 30 day tracking trends for metrics like your skin, temperature variation, [00:03:30] and more of those in depth health metrics that this watch is getting you are only gonna be available. If you have a subscription to Fitbit premium it's $10 a month, however, the years is you don't need Fitbit premium to take advantage of pretty much most of the major features on the charge. Five. I've got a link in the description below that also gives you details on what you do and don't get with that premium subscription. And it's still gonna be a great fitness tracker. Even if you don't want that extra subscription, if you, you have an iPhone, [00:04:00] it's really hard to go past the apple watch. And the series seven is my favorite overall pick for iOS users compared to previous versions. The design is more refined. You have a stronger construction in terms of a crack resistant screen.
Speaker 1: You also get a dust resistant design. The screen real estate itself is larger than earlier versions. So you can actually pack more on the screen. There's two additional font sizes. You get the benefit of a full keyboard for being able to respond to messages and just [00:04:30] overall, it's such a refined, snappy experience. It really does set the bar for all of the other smart watches on this list. You also get an ECG and blood oxygen sensor just like you did a series six and heart rate tracking is the best among all of the smart watches that I've tested, especially during higher intensity workouts. When compared to a chest strap, you can also spend a little bit more to get an LTE or cellular version that helps you take calls, send messages and news apps. When you are away from the range of your phone battery life.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately [00:05:00] hasn't changed from earlier apple ores. So the apple rating is 18 hours, but in reality, you can actually push that a little bit further. You can really stretch this to two days if you try really, really hard, but that's, if you turn off a lot of the flagship features that you might be interested in such as the always on display, as well as raise to wake and sleep, try. So more real world usage with a lot of those features turned on is gonna be a bit more than a day. So really you will be charging this probably [00:05:30] a little bit more often than some of the other watches on this list. It's still my favorite pick for iPhone users.
Speaker 1: The galaxy watch four and watch four classic are the first smart Watchers to around the new wear OS, which was co-designed between Samsung and Google. And it gets a lot of things right for its first version. It is my favorite Android smartwatch right now. It's got a really great screen. It's super bright, very responsive on the galaxy watchful classic. I love this rotating [00:06:00] bezel. It is so addictive. You interact with a lot of things through either the bezel, the buttons, or the touchscreen itself. The watch four doesn't have that bezel, but it is a little bit slimmer and might be more comfortable for some people, depending on the size of your wrist. There's also a lot of really fun watch faces. You can go to town, customizing these with lots of different widgets and also complications like you can too, on the apple watch you also get access to the play store for lots of different apps.
Speaker 1: There's an ECG or electrocardiogram app on board, [00:06:30] as well as blood oxygen, but there's also the flagship feature on the watch for, in terms of the health tracking that none of the other Watchers have, it's called an impedance based sensor. It's basically giving you an idea of your overall body composition. The downside so far is that some of those key features like the ECG are tied only to Samsung phones. So even if you have another Android like say OnePlus or a pixel, you won't be able to use those features just yet. There's also no Google assistant on board at the time of recording [00:07:00] this video. I really hope that Chan changes soon because I BPE is fine. I just, if I'm running where OS, I really want the Google assistant.
Speaker 1: Now let's get into my favorite budget pick for the year. It's the me band six. Now this is $50. Sometimes you can get this for even less when you find it discounted, cuz it does get discounted frequently and it is such a good performing band for that price. It is the best value for money on this [00:07:30] list. You get a bright display, you get notifications from your phone, you get a range of different fitness tracking options. You get blood oxygen tracking. You are also get sleep tracking. Like the list goes on of how much stuff this little fitness band actually does. It's kind of wild. I would recommend this if you're not too worried about things like heart rate accuracy during intense workouts, it does tend to get a little bit wonky and sleep tracking is been a little bit hit and miss for me. But overall, [00:08:00] if you are looking for something that's just a basic fitness tracker with options of other bells and whistles that you can play around with. I highly recommend this little fitness tracker. It does so much for the money and it's compatible with Android and iOS.
Speaker 1: Now let's look at two more devices have come out towards the end of the year that I haven't fully finished reviewing, but I do think they're worth mentioning. The first is the polar grit X pro. This is an incredibly rugged watch [00:08:30] it's designed for people that do a lot of endurance running marathons and triathletes. It's got turn by turn navigation. So many different sports modes and workout suggest on board as well. So far, the touch screen has been a little bit laggy and it definitely does not look as good as the other options on this list. And it is quite bulky, especially if you have smaller wrists, but if you are looking for the ultimate adventure, watch this potentially could be it, but maybe you don't [00:09:00] wanna screen at all. You want something you can kind of set and forget. That's where something like the aura ring third generation comes in.
Speaker 1: It's gathering a lot of different data from your finger, including heart rate, it's doing sleep tracking. It's also gonna be doing skin temperature tracking. And so on. Some features are yet to roll out, including blood oxygen tracking. And unfortunately you will need a $6 a month subscription to get pretty much all of the data out of this ring, which is a change from the earlier generation [00:09:30] or a ring. You can still use it without the subscription, but you're really only just gonna get at that daily readiness score. Still. It's an option for you. If you're looking for something that is discreet and something that you don't necessarily need to charge every single day.
Speaker 1: So there you have it. My favorite fitness trackers and smart Watchers from 2021, there are of course, lots of other options out there. And some of my favorites weren't released this year. They're still really good options though. And [00:10:00] I highly recommend them. Things like the Garin venue. Sq is a great budget option for a fitness smart watch. I really like the apple watch se which is a cheaper alternative to the series seven. And there's also the Fitbit verse three, which is a really nice little smart watch that is with Android and iOS. And it has a lot of the same features that we've been talking about from the charge five I've put full links to everything you'll need to know in the description below. Thanks so much for watching and I'll catch you next time.
