Pursuing a healthier lifestyle is a commitment that won’t always feel exciting. Adding a little bit of tech, like a smartwatch, can offer some motivation with some fitness tracker benefits. Modern smartwatches cover metrics that make it easier to track all your workout sessions and keep a closer eye on your vitals. The idea is to stay on track with your health and fitness goals, monitoring your progress on the watch and dedicated mobile app.
Of course, a smartwatch’s effectiveness as a fitness tool is dependent on the watch you choose. Some are better served as an extension of your phone, while others are closer to full-fledged fitness trackers. The smartwatches on this list are among the best models around, offering enhanced workout sessions with perks like GPS trackers, SpO2 sensors, heart-rate monitors, and more to track your fitness progress.
Get fit with these smartwatches
Best overall
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7
Ready for some exercise
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 sports a powerful processor, the latest version of Wear OS, a hearty battery, and a durable build. It’s got plenty to be a dependable fitness tracker.
- Lightweight and comfortable
- Plenty of health and fitness tracking options
- Excellent outdoor screen brightness
- Still looks like the previous generation
- Most new software features are already rolling out to the Watch 6
- No more Wireless Power Share
Like previous iterations, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 finds a sweet spot between an excellent smartwatch and quality fitness tracker. It can track over 90 different exercises, ensuring there’s a way to track and measure even the most complicated fitness routine. While Samsung Health lacks the in-depth metrics of Garmin Connect because it’s built on Wear OS, you can always introduce plenty of other third-party apps to mix things up.
On the Galaxy Watch 7 itself, Samsung tries to improve on that with a BioActive sensor array that takes the health and fitness tracking data to provide a more comprehensive — and accurate — picture of where you stand. Improved GPS only helps the cause when exercising outdoors.
Read our review
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is still the best ecosystem smartwatch on Android
Iterative? Only compared to the last Galaxy Watch
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 doesn’t just track heart rate and location but also measures blood oxygen, heart rhythm, bioelectrical impedance, skin temperature, and even blood pressure in some regions (still not in the U.S.) ECG (electrocardiogram) tests are only getting better. All of this adds up to a great all-rounder at a pretty reasonable price. But if you want to save a few bucks, consider the last-generation Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, which retains many of the same features and functions.
Premium pick
Garmin Venu 3
The sporty alternative
The Garmin Venu 3 takes much of what its predecessors delivered and improves on them by mixing all the excellent activity tracking features with solid phone integration.
- Larger display
- Sleep Coach ramps up sleep tracking
- Plenty of tracking options for sports and fitness
- No dedicated home button
- Only comes in one size
Garmin’s slow roll to making a true smartwatch with broader appeal is coming into greater focus, as evidenced by how the Venu 3 straddles the line between fitness and lifestyle. The built-in speaker and microphone mean you can talk without touching your phone, including to your digital assistants straight from the wrist. Despite that, third-party app support still trails the likes of other Google Wear OS watches, but you could still find something pretty useful in the Garmin IQ store. Truth be told, the first reason you’d want to strap this on your wrist is for the deep fitness tracking features.
Garmin watches have long been the runner’s choice due to accurate GPS tracking and a bevy of options, like training regimens and workout routines, but the passive health features are just as good, like Body Battery and Fitness Age, among others. These features give you real feedback on how well you’re doing and where there might be room for improvement.
Read our review
Garmin Venu 3 smartwatch review: The best Venu yet
Garmin added an onboard speaker and third side button, but the real superstar is the Venu 3’s battery
Improved and deeper sleep tracking will do the same every night, too. New ECG and skin temperature sensors can also look out for atrial fibrillation or skin temperature fluctuations.
Best value
Amazfit GTR 3 Pro
Sticking to the basics
$120 $150 Save $30
The Amazfit GTR 3 Pro bridges the gap between budget-conscious and feature-rich. Even at its considerably lower price, the GTR 3 Pro offers a lot to the fitness-minded user. Though it’s light on apps, it’s heavy on sports modes and health sensors to keep you in tune with your overall health.
- Great battery life
- Built-in Alexa simplifies smart features
- Accurate tracking across multiple sensors and 150 sports modes
- Calorie tracker isn’t entirely reliable
- No ability to stream music
- Slim library of available apps
Don’t be shocked if you haven’t heard of the Amazfit brand before. It doesn’t quite have the brand recognition of Samsung and Apple, but it still holds its own in the smartwatch market. One of its shining features is its price, which is quite a bit lower than popular alternatives. Granted, there are some sacrifices, such as the lack of music streaming and a fairly bare-bones app store.
While the Amazfit stumbles a little as a feature-rich smartwatch, it really excels as a fitness wearable. Along with activity tracking and 150 sports modes, the GTR 3 Pro works with the Zepp PAI Health Assessment System app to provide blood oxygen, heart rate, stress level, and breathing rate readings. The 45-second measurements ping sensors for more accurate and frequent readings, so you can keep better track of your health while working out. While the temperature sensors and calorie tracker may not be 100% accurate, the other sensors align with real-time measurements, so you can be confident in the readouts.
With nearly a two-week battery life, you can keep up with your incoming notifications and track your fitness and health with limited charge interruptions.
Fitbit’s best
Fitbit Sense 2
Make Sense of your health and fitness
The Sense 2 is ideal for casual fitness seekers looking for a bit of guidance from a very intuitive app, along with sensors for temperature, stress, and blood oxygen levels. It tracks activity, offers breathing exercises, and has a week-long battery life. But Fitbit OS is a lot more limited than Wear OS, and Fitbit has also cut off other key features.
- Full-featured health tracking
- Google Maps and Wallet support
- Battery life is solid
- Made of aluminum, not stainless steel
- No third-party app support anymore
- More a fitness tracker than smartwatch
As a smartwatch, the Fitbit Sense 2 is only smart-ish, but you must admire Fitbit’s dedication to fitness and wellness. To that end, as well as packing the usual GPS and heart-rate sensors, the Fitbit Sense 2 can measure stress, blood oxygen, body temperature, and an irregular heartbeat via its ECG sensor.
Read our review
Fitbit Sense 2 review: Just buy a smartwatch
This fitness tracker has no business costing $300 in 2022
It’s able to track up to 40 exercises and has one of the most user-friendly apps around, clearly showing progress to beginners while encouraging friendly competition between friends and colleagues. Yes, some of the better features are pay-walled, but the watch comes with six months of Fitbit Premium, which isn’t bad at all. However, what is bad is the lost features from the previous generation: third-party apps have gone, there’s no music storage, and playback controls have also inexplicably vanished. There are signs it’s getting better — Google Wallet and Maps were recently added — but if you want a truly smart experience, you may want to look elsewhere.
Google’s best
Google Pixel Watch 2
Put all things Google on your wrist
Google revamped the Pixel Watch with its second iteration, the Pixel Watch 2. Fixing many of the original’s pitfalls, the Watch 2 enhances fitness and activity tracking to cater to the more health-conscious user. The sleek design is still a premium smartwatch, with all the bells and whistles expected of Google’s Pixel brand, like a long battery life and improved performance.
- 24-hour battery limits interruption during fitness tracking
- Sleep tracking gets an upgrade and helps drive data sets
- New processor improves response speed and performance
- Screen feels small for bezel size
- Relies heavily on Fitbit subscription for fitness tracking
- Calorie counter is a little off compared to other trackers
Physical redesigns, improved chipsets, and the latest wearable OS elevated the Pixel Watch series to impressive heights. Even with its bounty of improvements, though, the Google Pixel Watch 2 still relies on FitBit’s ecosystem for health and fitness management. Not that that’s a bad thing.
The multi-path heart rate sensor plays an integral role in the watch’s Stress Management score, which also pulls data from the quality of your sleep and activity. An improved workout UI also puts the most important information right up front, from distance traveled to updated heart rate. You’ll also have access to other measurements, like a calorie counter that serves as a fairly good estimate and guide more than a steadfast figure you should trust outright.
Read our review
Google Pixel Watch 2 review: The watch we wanted last year
Reliable battery life and improved fitness tracking, wrapped up in a near-identical package
None of this would really matter all that much if the Pixel Watch 2 had an awful battery, but quite the opposite is true. Google improved the original Pixel Watch’s battery life to a battery that will last for at least 24 hours, even with the always-on display active. That will dip a bit the more you use its fitness features, but you likely won’t wake up to a dead watch, even after a night of sleep tracking.
Ready for action
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra
Built tough for your wrist
Samsung tries something a little different with the Galaxy Watch Ultra by taking a rugged approach in lieu of its Classic line. Built for athletic types who demand more from a smartwatch, this one blends in Wear OS with a slew of health and fitness tracking features.
- More customizable than other Galaxy Watches
- Durable build that’s made to last
- Solid fitness and health tracking features
- Only one size option
- Not truly built for waterborne exercise
- Expensive
The closest Samsung previously came to a rugged smartwatch was the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. The Galaxy Watch Ultra isn’t so much a sequel as it is a newer take on the same idea. Simply put, it’s built as a ruggedized wearable, and also Samsung’s largest smartwatch at 47mm — the only size you’ll find this watch in. A titanium body and a sapphire crystal glass screen make for a very durable combination you can trust to handle some punishment along the way.
Unfortunately, that won’t include water sports like jet skiing and scuba diving based on Samsung’s disclosures in the fine print. You can still swim with the watch, though you can’t dive with it because the 10 ATM rating doesn’t protect it deep enough. Despite that, the Galaxy Watch Ultra can track over 90 exercises, including plenty of outdoor activities, like hiking, mountain biking, running, and much more. With a brighter screen (3,000 nits) compared to the Galaxy Watch 7 (2,000 nits), it’s easier to see the screen in brighter conditions.
Read our review
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra is great, but it’s not for everyone
A great watch, but you might prefer the Galaxy Watch 7
It also still functions as a smartwatch in other ways. You can use the Health Monitor and ECG apps to look for potential signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib). Body Composition gives you a more holistic look at where you stand. Solid sleep tracking includes coaching (via subscription) to help you enjoy your slumber more every night. Plus, Wear OS gives you plenty of apps to utilize, including the likes of Google Maps, Samsung Wallet, and more.
Battery bliss
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5
No need to charge all the time
$262 $350 Save $88
The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is a versatile smartwatch with a solid mix of features and software that helps it stand out from others. Its unique dual-layer display is a battery-saving measure that proves useful in everyday use as well.
- Incredible battery life
- Rotating crown adds navigation convenience
- Dual-layer display proves super useful
- Mobvoi Health app needs streamlining
- Iffy sleep tracking
- Google Assistant still remains silent
If you want a long battery life without the high price tag, the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 is worth a look. The 628mAh battery should easily give you three or four days of use, which isn’t all that common on Wear OS devices, but very welcome. That use of Wear OS means it’s an excellent and flexible smartwatch, but how is it for fitness tracking?
Read our review
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 review: Battery bliss
The TicWatch Pro 5 offers great performance and battery life, but it’s not without its flaws
Not bad at all, with roughly a dozen workouts tracked from within the TicExercise app via the included heart rate and GPS trackers. It’ll measure blood oxygen levels via the built-in SpO2 sensor, too. It doesn’t feel as polished as other Wear OS wearables, and it’s undeniably bulky on smaller wrists, but the TicWatch Pro 5 packs a lot in for what it costs.
Fitness focused
Suunto Race
Made for the outdoors
The Suunto Race features a redesigned software experience, which helps make it a more well rounded smartwatch for runners and athletes of all stripes.
- Nice design with 10 ATM water resistance
- Plenty of activity tracking options
- Excellent battery life
- No cellular version
- Haptics could be better
- No calling support via Bluetooth
This activity-focused watch is designed to go with you on your grandest adventures, with a rugged loop silicone band that will stand up to the elements. The case is a mix of tough plastic for the body and steel or titanium for the bezel, along with sapphire crystal glass for the screen. Another difference is the steel version comes with 16GB of onboard storage whereas the titanium one has 32GB. However, the watch’s bezel haptics are nowhere near as good as Samsung’s.
Its name implies that it’s purely a running watch but that’s not necessarily the case given it can track over 95 different sports and activities. That includes running, hiking, climbing, swimming, sailing, and even sports like cricket and triathlon to go with so many others. Solid GPS tracking and the ability to sync with certain third-party apps add to a pretty extensive feature set designed to stay with you as you move. You will need to subscribe to gain full access to all third-party integrations, though.
Read our review
Suunto Race review: Purpose-built to perfection
A true fitness tracker in a smartwatch world
The Race has a very steady battery that can last for more than two weeks before you need to charge it again. Part of the reason for that is it doesn’t integrate as much with your phone, so while third-party fitness apps are available, standard ones generally aren’t. You’ll see notifications come through, albeit not with the ability to act upon them. You can’t do Bluetooth phone calls through the watch, nor is there a cellular variant, meaning you’ll need your phone with you when you want reception.
The best balance of smartwatch and fitness tracker
It’s great to have good choices when you have to drop hundreds of dollars on a new wearable. You don’t want a low-quality option just because it’s all that’s available, so with the best smartwatches, there are plenty of top-rated options that serve as wonderful alternatives to limiting fitness wearables. The question is, which serves your needs and budget best?
Do you want something that practically checks off all the necessary boxes? Then the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 should be on your radar. The Galaxy Watch 7, a feature-rich option that won’t disappoint, blends the brilliance of Samsung’s Galaxy brand with the convenience of a stocked wearable. Whether you need to keep up with daily text, phone, and email notifications; turn to Google Assistant to make your tasks more manageable; or achieve specific fitness goals, the Galaxy Watch 7 is a fantastic companion.
The Garmin Venu 3 sits at the higher end of the price spectrum and is the premium pick for several reasons. A large display puts all the necessary readings front and center, whether you’re tracking your latest run or checking your sleep stats from the night before. The Venu 3 includes a built-in speaker and microphone to give that smartwatch experience and an ECG sensor that really ups the value of this fitness-focused smartwatch, making it difficult to pass up.
And yet, you don’t have to spend a lot to get a good fitness smartwatch, and that’s where the Amazfit GTR 3 Pro stands out as the value pick. Despite being affordable, Amazfit’s upgrade to its GTR 3, which previously held the same spot on this list, can stand up to some of the bigger names. Its app store may be lacking, but the GTR 3 Pro still offers many of the same features, from an extensive library of activities to track to standard smartphone notifications.
Whether you’re loyal to Samsung, Garmin, or Fitbit, or are just looking for the best value, there’s a smartwatch that should suit your fitness-minded needs.
Best overall
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 sports a powerful processor, the latest version of Wear OS, a hearty battery, and a durable build. It’s got plenty to be a dependable fitness tracker.
