There has been an obvious healthy uplift in the lifestyles of people over the past few years. People are becoming more aware and working out, hitting the gym to lead a healthy life. New fitness gadgets are launched every day to track fitness and ensure better results in your journey to becoming healthier. These devices include the activity tracker or the fitness bands which incorporate advanced technologies to let you keep track of steps, sleep hours, heart rate etc.
You can get a wide range of wearable activity trackers in the market with prices ranging from 15 rupees to $300. But while buying an activity tracker, people often get confused with a large number of choices available in the market. So to make life a bit easier for you, we’ll be discussing on how to buy a budget activity tracker that perfectly suits your needs.
How much should You Spend?
This depends solely on your lifestyle and daily habits. If you are not much into heavy workouts, you can opt for simple activity and sleep trackers like Xiaomi Fitness bands which costs you around $12. In the lower price range, this is the best exercise tracker you can get.
For fitness freaks who indulge in heavy workouts, running and weightlifting, the most accurate fitness tracker with advanced features like heart rate monitors is advisable. You should go for high-end activity trackers like those of Fitbit and Jawbone only if you are an endurance athlete.
Choosing Fitness bands over Smartphone Fitness Apps:
There are also a lot of applications you can find in the Google play store or iOS store which serve as excellent alternatives to wearable fitness bands. Google fit, the Google activity tracker app is equipped with powerful features to keep track of your daily activities. If you always carry your smartphone everywhere you go, you can choose these apps over an expensive band. Otherwise get a fitness band that you can use solely for fitness tracking.
What to look for when buying the best tracker?
The newer activity trackers are equipped with many high-end and useful features. So while choosing the best activity tracker for you, these below things you should be looking out for.
1. Display:
Fitness bands with a display let you have a quick glance at your activity data anywhere at any time. You do not have to wait till you synchronize the data with your smartphone at the end of the day. If you don’t feel the need of checking the data frequently throughout the day, go for a band without display. Even if the display feature will cost you little more, it is worth going for.
2. Comfort:
If you like to always wear your activity tracker, you must consider the material from which it is made to ensure good comfort. Refrain from buying hard metal bands that may leave rashes on your skin. Go for soft and synthetic materials that you feel comfortable with. Avoid bands with materials that you’re allergic to or you feel skin irritation with. Most of the trackers track your sleep cycle and hence you may like to wear it to bed, so it is very important that they should be wearables comfortably.
3. Heart Rate Monitor:
While you burn calories on your treadmill or sweating it out on a cross trainer, keeping an eye on the Heart rate is necessary. If you are regular into the Gym, then it is preferable to get a band with Heart rate monitor. This feature is now available with many basic range activity trackers also.
4. Sensor:
Most of the activity trackers come with elementary step counter and a manual sleep tracker. But it often becomes difficult for people to turn on/off the manual sleep tracker every day. This leads to irregularities in the process and hence comes in the way of full utilization of the tracker. So it is always advisable to give these manual trackers a break and go for automatic trackers with sensors.
5. GPS:
This feature is not needed for normal workout and sleep tracking. Many of the high-end brands are GPS enabled and they make a good choice for endurance athletes. GPS enabled trackers help you keep track of the route and locations effectively.
6. Battery:
Currently almost all the activity trackers in the market are battery efficient. Most of them run for days with one time charging. Brighter displays and GPS drain a major part of the battery. So if you are going to get a GPS enabled band, you must check out its battery specifications. Otherwise, you are good to go with necessary activity trackers which can run long on a single battery charge.
If you are a swimmer or diver, then you may look for waterproof activity trackers that you can wear underwater also. The waterproof models do not cost much and make a good choice for the mid-range fitness bands. We suggest you start with a basic band if you’re just beginning your journey towards a healthy lifestyle. Later you can upgrade to latest models depending upon your requirements.
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