Whether you're looking to count your daily steps, keep track of your sleep habits or see how many calories you burn in a workout, a slew of new devices aim to offer everyone from athletes to average Joes more insight into the details of their lives. These gadgets, called fitness trackers, have increased in popularity in recent years, and are showing no signs of slowing down. The devices often work together with smartphone apps and websites to help you view your activity, set health goals, share your achievements with friends and sometimes provide extra motivation to get off the couch.
Live Science reporters have tested all of the fitness trackers listed here, and ranked each in four categories — Design/Comfort, User-Friendliness, Value of Information and Enjoyment/Inspiration. We've reviewed them, and can give you a look at the pros and cons of each device, as well as how it stacks up against the competition.
Choosing the right fitness tracker depends on may factors, including the seriousness with which you approach fitness, exactly what you want to track, how much you want to spend and how discreet or flashy you want the device on your wrist to be.
Below is the overall rating for all the devices we've reviewed, along with summaries of our reviews to help you pick the right one for your lifestyle.
Best overall fitness tracker
Fitbit Charge HR
While the Jawbone UP2 actually score higher in its review, the Fitbit Charge HR gets a stay of execution as the leader in our best fitness tracker list because it does a lot more. By using continuous heart rate monitoring the Fitbit Charge HR can offer more accurate feedback on your activity and calorific burn than its rivals, and it comes in three handy sizes for different wrists. The OLED screen will show off your daily stats, as well as caller ID from your smartphone, and the app is brilliant for beginners and communities.
The verdict is in: Fitbit Charge HR review
£119.99
Best for basics
Jawbone UP2
While the Jawbone UP2 falls short of the Charge HR's advanced fitness skills, it's a comfortable, good looking and accurate activity tracker that totally nails the basics. The strong activity tagging, sleep monitoring and smart alarm make a near dream suite of features. In fact, we'd recommend the UP2 over its more advanced bigger brother, the Jawbone UP3, because pound-for-pound it represents much better value.
The full review: Our Jawbone UP2 verdict
£89.99 | Amazon
Best for runners
Fitbit Surge
Again with the continuous heart rate, the Fitbit Surge is built for multi-sports. As well as the usual running and cycling, the Surge is also great for the gym, enabling you to track static cardio workouts that are the foil of most movement-based trackers. Not only that, but the full OLED screen will display calls, texts and notifications in full, making this a true fitness super watch.
Get the low-down: Read our in-depth Fitbit Surge review
£199
Moov
Moov is a small, round element, which you clip into a strap and wear around your leg. More than a simple run tracker, a run tracker, Moov is a trainer and the aim of the game is to turn you into a better runner, with actionable information and personalised coaching. The coaching on offer is superb, and most runners can learn genuinely useful information and use the device to train more efficiently.
$79, moov.cc | Amazon
Best for multisports
Garmin Vivoactive
This every day sports wearable blends fitness and sports features with reliable notifications in a reasonably priced package. It's not exactly a looker but don't let that put you off, the Vivoactive has GPS to accurately track running, cycling and swimming with live pace and distances. It's not perfect - the screen is dull and the sleep tracking is awful - but as an easy to live with sports companion with access to Garmin Connect, this is a brilliant buy.
In-depth: Garmin Vivoactive review
£200, garmin.com | Amazon
Best for heart rate tracking
Basis Peak
Aside from our overall best fitness tracker the Fitbit Charge HR, our alternative pick for continuous heart rate monitoring is the Basis Peak. The Charge HR might be more useful and simple to read but the Peak is more accurate. The watch will auto-detect when you're running and spit out some detailed heart rate information on your sessions into the web app, and enable you to monitor your vitals while you're pounding the pavements. Lack of GPS is an issue, but the Basis Peak is still a strong companion.
£170, mybasis.com | Amazon
Best for swimmers
Garmin Swim
We've had a lot of questions about swimming compatible fitness trackers as not all the most popular devices are waterproof. Our pick is the Garmin Swimwhich offers great monitoring of your pool performance - number of strokes, stroke type, distance covered - with 5 ATM protection. More casual swimmer should check out the cheaper Misfit Shine which is also waterproof to 50m.
If swimming is important to you, then check out our round up of the best waterproof fitness trackers.
£129.99, garmin.com | Amazon
Best for bling
Swarovski Shine
A new addition from CES 2015, the Swarovski Shine could be the ultimate lady's fitness tracker. Hidden behind the Swarovski crystal are all the tracking smarts you could ask for, and there's a range of accessories from bracelets to necklaces. The tracker comes with a sports strap too as standard, to track running, cycling and swimming too. Later in the year will come a solar powered version, offering infinite battery life, and the purple colour you can see above.
In detail: Swarovski Shine review
$249, misfit.com
Best for styleMondaine Helvetica No.1 Smart
Mondaine watches are inherently wearable and the MotionX tech packed inside the company's first connected timepiece hasn't altered that fact. It's simply stunning, easily the best looking piece of wrist-based wearable tech that we've come across. It could have fallen flat on its face if the fitness tracking aspects weren't up to scratch but Mondaine avoided that embarrassment by enlisting the Silicon Valley experts and, while it's expensive, you're paying for solid Swiss Made quality.
More info: Our Mondaine smartwatch review
$TBC, mondaine.com
Withings Activité
Now for a double header of Withings tech. The Withings Activité is the jewel in the wearable crown, packing step counting, distance checking and sleep tracking into a Swiss made analogue watch, that looks frankly glorious. It even comes with a sports strap for the pool, making it as adept for workouts as it is in the boardroom.
Essential reading: Withings Activité review
£320, withings.com | Amazon
Withings Activité Pop
If you don't fancy splashing out in excess of three hundred notes for a tracker, the Withings Activité Pop could be the answer to your prayers. Packing the same smarts as its big brother, plastic replaces metal and China replaces Switzerland for this bargain tracker that will turn heads for all the right reasons.
Get the full view: Withings Activité Pop review
£119, withings.com | Amazon
Best for sleep trackingMisfit Shine
The Misfit Shine has some of the best sleep tracking in the business, providing excellent detail on your nightly deep, light and REM cycles. All importantly, the Shine automatically knows when you're asleep so there's no missed data, and the low profile means it's comfortable to wear at night, maximizing its effectiveness.
£79, misfit.com | Amazon
Best for notifications
Garmin Vivosmart
The Garmin Vivosmart, the Vivofit's natural successor, offers users a combo of smartwatch and activity tracking features in one slick device packing a nice, curved OLED display.
It's got all the same fitness features of the Vivofit plus the kind of notifications you'd expect from a smartwatch too. The alerts come by way of vibrations in the wrist and you'll see an overview of what's happening on the OLED screen.
Get the in-depth view: Gamin Vivosmart review
£139.99, buy.garmin.com | Amazon
Sony SmartBand Talk
Placed somewhere between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch is the Sony SmartBand Talk . Its core intended purpose is as an activity device with sensors, like an accelerometer and altimeter, which are used to track your runs, walks and climbs. There's a battery-saving 1.4-inch E Paper display and built-in voice controls which means you can make calls by talking into the band if you really want to. There are lots of nice colour options and you can use the Sony Lifelog app on Android to collate all of your data.
In depth: Sony SmartBand Talk review
£129, sonymobile.com | Amazon
Best for a tight budgetJawbone UP Move
For a $49.99 tracker, the Jawbone UP Move is extremely adept when it comes to sports. A tap of the button will set it into a dedicated tracking mode, which you can later assign to a dizzying list of sports from running to yoga and Zumba. While not hugely insightful, tagging enables fitness fans to keep track of their workouts, and get better representations of their calorific burn in the Jawbone app, which is coincidentally one of the best in the business.
Read more: Jawbone UP Move review
£39.99, jawbone.com | Amazon
Misfit Flash
While the Jawbone UP Move we've already highlighted is a superb budget fitness band, so is its rival the Misfit Flash. Packing the exact same tech as the more expensive Misfit Shine/Swarovski Shine, the plastic Flash tracks steps, sleep and swims extraordinarily well and comes in a vibrant array of colours to suit all tastes.
Read more: Misfit Flash review
£49.99, misfit.com | Amazon
Razer Nabu X
Another CES 2015 debutant, the Razer Nabu X discards the screen to offer sleep and step tracking at a fraction of the price. The really interesting part is the app store, and third party features include being able to trade Steam contacts with other gamers you meet. There are also basic notifications, and you can customise the three LEDs that make up the Nabu X's interface to flash different colours for different types of alert.
Hands-on: Razer Nabu X review
$49.99, razer.com | Amazon
Xiaomi Mi Band
Now available outside of China, the Mi Band is a superbly built and wonderfully capable band, with an astonishing price. At just $13 Xiaomi has shifted over a million of its bands in China alone, possibly making this the ultimate fitness tracker.
Our verdict: Xiaomi Mi Band review
£10, xiaomishop.com | Amazon
