Deciding what smartwatch to buy can be a confusing task! Technology in this area has accelerated in the past few years, making it more and more affordable to get quality data and fancy features right there on your wrist. With so many different brands, models, and features out on the market, you’re spoilt for choice.
If you aren’t really a techy person, this can all feel a bit overwhelming. So we are here to help clear up some of that confusion and guide you to a successful smartwatch purchase!
Here are our top 3 things to consider when choosing a smartwatch.
1. What is your intended purpose for the watch?
This may sound obvious, but it can be helpful to clarify it before you hit the shops and get swamped with all the different options! Much like buying a house, take a moment to think about your ‘must have’ features, and your ‘would be nice’ features. From calorie counting to guided breathing and beyond, watches these days have a lot to offer!
Some things to consider…
- Do you plan to record your exercise sessions on it?
- Are you interested in investigating your sleep data?
- Are you aiming to reach a certain number of steps per day?
- Would you like to monitor exercise intensity by tracking your heart rate?
- Are you keen to use it for fatigue management by using a daily recovery index or heart rate variability feature?
- Would you like to minimise your inactive (sitting) time with movement reminders?
- Would you like to connect it to your Spotify or Apple Music account to listen to music while you’re out and about?
- Do you want to be able to take calls and receive notifications from your watch?
Once you’ve narrowed it down, you’ll be able to mentally tick off the ‘must have’ boxes when you’re in the shop.
2. Is there a specific type of exercise that you intend to use it for?
Are you a runner, a cyclist, a gym junkie or a golfer? Many watches have sport specific features. For example, some have swimming trackers that can count the number of laps for you. Running and cycling features often report on features such as distance, speed, cadence and elevation. You can even get insight into stepping metrics such as stride length!
Consider whether your sport of choice would benefit from more specific tracking features.
3. Brands, Brands and More Brands. Which to choose?!
Because it is such a competitive market in the sports watch world, brands are forced to compete with one another to bring out better and more accurate data tracking.
We use smartwatches a lot as a company, both for our personal use (being the fitness focussed individuals that we are!) and with our clients (our fatigue management programs in particular lean heavily on smartwatch technology!). Which means that collectively, we have quite a diverse range of tried and tested brands.
Some of the ol’ faithfuls that we stand by are the well-known brands – Garmin, Polar, and FitBit.
Garmin is typically known for its GPS tracking, Polar for its heart rate application and FitBit, for its fun and user-friendly interface.
If you’re a dedicated Apple or Samsung device fan, you may prefer to choose a branded watch that can easily sync with your other devices.
Given the high level of competition in the market, these well-established brands are typically a pretty safe bet.
Good Luck!
You don’t have to spend a lot to get a reliable watch. Prices can vary from about $80 to over $1,000, and it really just depends on what features you are most interested in tracking. If you’re starting out and want something reasonably simple, $200 – $350 should give you everything you need. Those higher-end watches offer newer features and updated technology for those who like the best of the best.
Good Luck! We hope this has been helpful to guide your smartwatch buying journey!
Author: Yolanda van Vugt Clinical Exercise Physiologist and Content Creator at Specialised Health
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