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To me, fitness trackers provide invaluable insights into your overall lifestyle, health, and wellness, as you can easily see how active you are throughout the day, providing extra motivation and accountability. With that being said, there are many fitness trackers on the market and it may be difficult for some to determine which brand or watch to go with, as features and price point can vary significantly. Therefore, it is important to consider your activity level, intended use, and what features and insights would be valuable and suitable for your lifestyle, and how much you are willing to spend.
I have been using a fitness tracker of some sort for over five years and love the feedback and insights that they provide and cannot imagine not owning one. I originally started with a step pedometer back in 2014/2015 and progressed to using a Garmin watch that I received as a Christmas present from my brother and his fiance. Once my watch died, I transitioned to a Fitbit during a black Friday sale and have since transitioned back to Garmin when my Fitbit died. Needless to say, I have noticed some differences between the two brands, between the look and feel of their watches, to the accuracy of their features, and the look and feel of their apps. Regardless of the brand, I see countless benefits of owning a fitness tracker, especially in holding yourself accountable to your health and fitness.
I have been using the Garmin Vivomove HR watch for the past six months; however, my decision to go back with Garmin had nothing to do with my previous experience with them, but more to do with what I was looking for in a fitness watch. First and foremost, I wanted a fitness tracker that looked like a classic watch that could easily transition between a casual and business environment. Secondly, I was looking for a watch that offered all of the same features that I was used to having: a watch that could track my activity levels, workouts, calories burned, sleep activity, and heart rate. I was not willing to sacrifice on either of these two criteria.
I wanted to share my experience of using a Fitbit and Garmin watch in hopes that you may find it helpful, especially if you are currently on the market for a fitness tracker and are on the fence. I also wanted to share with you my perceived benefits of having a fitness tracker. As mentioned previously: I cannot see myself not owning one.
Garmin
If you like to work out regularly or are someone who lives and breathes sports, Garmin may be the brand for you. Garmin offers a large variety of watches and has upward of 30 different options to choose from, including a wide array of features (most having GPS), sport-specific watches, all being offered at various price points. Therefore, depending on what you are looking for and the type of data you are wanting to retrieve from your fitness tracker, you could be looking at a relatively affordable or more expensive watch.
With that being said, even if you are starting your fitness journey and would like a watch that will grow with you, you may feel more inclined to go with a Garmin watch.
Vivomove HR
Pros
Classic watch look
Wrist band and the shape of the watch head is far more comfortable on my wrist compared to my Fitbit
More geared towards fitness and different sports
You can set your own step goal or have the app do it for you and progressively adjust your goal based on the insights it collects
In-depth data analysis feedback for your workouts
Reminder to move every hour
Calendar overview at a glance which provides a summary of your sleep, activities for the day, your menstrual cycle, water intake, etc.
Insights into your stress levels and resting moments
Breakdown of time spent in different heart rate zones during a workout
You can track the mileage on your shoes so you know when to replace them
Can easily swap out the wrist bands
Good selection of workout options to track your fitness
Cons
Stairs counter is far too sensitive
The weight training workout option doesn’t feel intuitive at all and I refrain from using it
The app doesn’t feel super intuitive to me
Fitbit
If you are wanting a general lifestyle fitness tracker with a great sense of community, Fitbit may be the perfect brand for you. I have found that most people that I know use a Fitbit watch of some sort, as compared to Garmin. So if you are looking for accountability and motivation and community, you may feel more inclined to go with a Fitbit. I should also mention that compared to Garmin, you aren't going to have near as many options in style and perhaps features, as they only offer four different watches to choose from, but the major wins are in the community and the look and feel of the app.
Charge 2
Pros
Large community on Fitbit
The look and feel of the app: I much prefer the layout and colour choices of the app and is more intuitive to navigate
Reminder to move between working hours which can be customized to your work schedule (I.e., 9-5) to ensure that you are moving during throughout the day
Stair counter is far more accurate
Good selection of workout options to track your fitness
Can easily swap out the wrist bands
Cons
Calorie counter seems very high in calculating caloric burn throughout the day and during a workout
Not super comfortable (compared to Garmin Vivomove HR)
Doesn't provide insights into your daily stress levels
When tracking my biking activity using this watch, it was very sensitive and would track a significant amount of steps during my rides
Ultimately
Both Garmin and Fitbit create excellent fitness trackers and most features are pretty accurate and consistent between the two. Dependent on what you are looking for, both companies offer affordable watches with basic functions such as the step counter, calories, and standing hours, as well as more advanced watches with detailed insights.
Both watches are fairy accurate and on-par with one another in terms of basic features with slight variances. The only two differences that stood out to me was that the Fitbit was more accurate in counting the number of stairs climbed in a day, whereas Garmin is more accurate in calculating your caloric burn during a workout and in a day overall. Lastly, one thing that impressed me when I moved back to Garmin was the fact that it provided insights into your daily stress levels and provides an in-depth breakdown into your workout, including time spent in different heart rate zones, your speed (if you're into running), and more. However, this may be a feature that Fitbit now offers since I had my watch.
This brings me to my next point: my review is based on my current watch versus an older Fitbit watch and does not take into consideration if Fitbit has expanded its available features. However, I did notice that most of their watches do not have GPS compatibility, whereas most Garmin watches do.
With that being said, if tracking your fitness and activity levels is incredibly important to you and you want in-depth information, I would recommend Garmin over Fitbit. Garmin, if I am not mistaken, is the leading brand when it comes to sports and fitness trackers and offers several sport-specific watches. Whereas, if you're looking for a general lifestyle fitness tracker that has an amazing sense of community to keep you motivated and accountable, I would recommend Fitbit. Yet, keep in mind that Garmin and Fitbit are only two companies on the market and several more companies sell fitness trackers as well. Therefore, if you are not sold between either of these companies, I do recommend doing some more research into other companies.
Hopefully, you have found this review helpful, especially if you are currently on the market for a new fitness tracker. As mentioned previously, I cannot see myself never owning a fitness tracker as I find the insights to be invaluable. To me, a fitness tracker is another tool in my toolbox that I use daily to help monitor my overall health and fitness and to track the progress that I am making in my fitness, thanks to the in-depth insights that they provide and hope that you see value in them as well.
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