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MyFitnessPal Community

Newbie needs suggestions for fitness trackers

afua45

Hi All - I've finally given into wanting to get a wearable fitness tracker. I want one mainly to track calories burning, heart rate and distance for cycling. I'd like my data to integrate/sync as well with map and other fitness apps.

I'm also don't want to spend too much at this point.

Any suggestions please?

Replies

ABabilonia

You can never go wrong with Garmin. I have had my Forerunner 235 for nearly 5 years and the tracker still going strong. You can also integrate it with Strava.

sijomial

I would have thought a GPS enabled bike computer paired to a HRM would be your first choice rather than a generic fitness tracker but it depends if you want/need it for other exercise types.
Big advantage of bike computers is the larger screen for navigation if that's of interest to you. (It was transformational for me!)

Also depends if you are intending using a device only during exercise or as an all day tracker.

Beware neither trackers or bike computers actually measure calories, they just estimate from different inputs and data, some of those inputs are better / more appropriate than others for different exercise types.

Cat_Witch

I have Garmin Fenix 6 and its amazing. I had a fitbit sense previously but the Garmin is in a totally different league its fantastic. X

dommie06

Apple Watch or a Fitbit watch

omherrera44

I suggest galaxy watch. The interface between the phone app and the Watch sync pretty well and fast. In addition to get the info you are looking for you don’t have to enter to the app, by scrolling down the workout on your watch it gives that info. Good luck with your training

AnnPT77

As (overly) broad generalizations when it comes to 3 of the big names:

* Athletes (including recreational ones) tend to gravitate to Garmin.
* People with mostly steps-based activities often seem to like Fitbit.
* Those who have other Apple products, want their tracker to integrate well with that ecosphere, tend to like Apple watches.
* If comparing/competing with your friends, consider getting the brand they have.
* The calorie estimates from a good brand/model can be reasonably close for most people, but have the potential to be surprisingly far off for some (who are probably non-average in some way, possibly a non-obvious way). Some models "learn" you to a limited extent, may be more accurate for you after a couple of weeks than right out of the box.

That said, all of them tend to do similar things, with differences from model to model within a line, too, of course.

Those aren't the only brands, of course, and some of the less-known ones can be cheaper.

DC Rainmaker (with whom I have zero affiliation, except as a fan) continues to be a good, relatively unbiased source for reviews of athlete-focused products at the more functionally robust end of the scale. https://www.dcrainmaker.com/

He has a search tool where you can put in what you're looking for ("watch"), your main sport ("bike") and price category ("Budget") then see products of that type, select them for comparison.