Today we’re going to be taking a look at the best fitness gadgets available in the fitness sector. Technology is one of those areas that are under constant development and improvement. Not only that, but it also moves at an incredibly fast pace. Equipment with new or improved features is always being developed and released.
Most people will already know that technology grows exponentially, meaning that the improvements will only come faster and faster over time. With improvements being so rapid it’s important to always understand what important developments have been happening around fitness technology before you choose a product to help you or your performance. After all, you don’t want to buy something and find it’s outdated or doesn’t serve your purpose. Today we’re going to look at our top recommendations for each use.
Best fitness technology
Best Fitbit for Nurses
Nurses are in a busy, high-stress occupation and therefore have a lot of use for a tracker like a Fitbit. These devices are a great way to track how physically active you are throughout the day. Our top suggestion for nurses is the Fitbit Flex 2. This model is super-thin and easy to keep out of the way, which is important for people in the medical profession. It also doesn’t have any actual edges for stuff to get caught on. This is literally like a wristband. The tracker itself can even be taken out of the band and fitted into a different item of your choosing.
Fitbit even offer pendants that the tracker can be worn inside of, so it’s easy to keep this device hidden and even look fashionable while doing so! The Flex 2 does a reliable, accurate job of tracking your movements and calories burned through the day. It also has sleep tracking features, wireless sync capability and can give you notifications when your phone goes off, using the LED’s to signify whether it was a call, SMS, or other notification. As well as being discreet and slender, Flex 2 is also completely waterproof, making it our absolute best Fitbit for nurses everywhere.
Heart rate monitors are a great piece of kit, especially for rowing. Something like the Garmin Fenix 5 Sapphire Edition, w/ chest strap, gives a huge, versatile amount of data to help your rowing performance and training. Firstly, the Fenix 5is an amazing watch in its own right. It looks great, is reliable and stylish, and has a great reputation in the fitness world already. The Fenix 5 Sapphire edition is water-resistant enough to survive a few seconds in water or heavy splashing and comes with a scratchproof screen to help keep it looking new.
The size is enough to read easily though not overly big and bulky, and this particular Fenix 5 boxset comes with a chest strap heart monitor too. The chest strap uses ECG technology to give accurate readings and syncs with the watch wirelessly. The watch has Bluetooth connectivity too so it can work with any other Bluetooth device, and also gives a vast amount of information about your performance.
Kids’ products have to be a little different from adult products. First, there’s a size difference, then there’s different types of features that are needed and even a different look! Fitbits can make exercise a lot more fun for children because it turns it into a kind of game. Kids love games and they are sure to try and beat their own, and each other, numbers regularly. That means plenty of exercise with very little effort from you! Right now our kids recommendation is the Fitbit Ace.
You can create a kids account on the Fitbit app and send them off with this adjustable watch. It’s adjustable and made to fit ages 8+. The Ace does all of the standard tracking and data gathering, while also being a watch and it even has achievement badges and celebratory rewards for kids to earn while using it – another incentive for them to exercise more!
Now we come to heart rate monitors for the triathlon! Here you want the accuracy of a chest strap with waterproof capability for swimming, AND an easy way to view stats on the move. The solution? Garmins Forerunner 935 with a HRM-Swim Belt. This gives you ECG chest strap accuracy with all the versatile features of the Forerunner 935.
A superb watch with a wide range of features, the Forerunner 935 also has incredible GPS accuracy and is both durable and lightweight.
The Garmin Forerunner 935 picked up another win in our list of the best fitness gadgets, again pipping the alternatives narrowly. It says a lot for this model that it consistently scores at or near the top of most people’s lists. With waterproof capability and a huge number of features available, it’s hard to argue with the 935even though there are alternatives to suit different tastes over on the best Garmin for triathlon.
Now with overall fitness watches, there’s a bigger market to choose from. The idea in this section was to pick a variety of offerings from different brands, with the Garmin entrant being the Forerunner 920XT. In this category the lower price over the 935 helped it in to first place. There are options from Polar and TomTom to check out too in the best fitness watch for triathletes article. The Forerunner 920 XT is an essential mention in our list of the best fitness gadgets.
We’ve been hearing about the benefits of exercise for plenty of years now, decades even. The benefit for seniors is even bigger, and there’s been a huge push to get older people involved in more physical activity. It’s been helped by the marketing of specific fitness trackers for seniors as well. The Withings Go took the award for this area, combining a comfortable and simple to use the tracker with a big, easily readable screen and great battery life.
Some may prefer to check the alternatives and get a few more features, even if it means a slightly more complex device, so go ahead and check our reviews out if that interests you. If not, the Withings Goshould be fine for your needs.
Now hiking is a bit of a difference to triathlon. Firstly it isn’t as important to track things like heart rate, nor is it necessary to be waterproof. The most important feature for hiking is high accuracy GPS! This is exactly what Garmins Fenix 5 gives you in spades within our list of the best fitness gadgets.
Check out some alternative Garmin choices by reading our article on the best Garmin watch for hiking. There’s a good range to choose from depending on your budget, though if you can justify it the Garmin Fenix 5 Sapphire Edition is a really tough pick to beat and likely to stay that way.
Reliability and a wide range of functions make for a good military watch. The Suunto Ambit2has plenty to give in both categories. It’s a popular choice for the military, law enforcement and hunters. It’s known to be simple to use and reliable too. Being able to adjust the color settings, making it easier to see, is a great bonus too. We’ve got more Suunto watches for the military that you can check out too!
There are all kinds of reasons to take GPS hunting with you. In fact, it can be outright dangerous to go without one! Garmin is of course a well-known provider of GPS and watches technology, so they’ve also become a go-to brand for hunters wanting GPS systems and the best fitness gadgets. We wrote an article on the best Garmin GPS for hunting a while back and placed the Garmin Oregon 600t in top spot.
The Oregon 600t might have been around for a while, but it still has a great balance between reliability, performance, and extra features. There’s plenty of storage space and it has a great screen which can be read in bright sunlight and which also gives a good, detailed view of your surrounding area.
Fitness tracking is arguably more important for the elderly than it is for younger people. The elderly might be simply trying to hit their step quota for the day, so basic functions are important. Some may still attempt multiple sports, so flexibility matters too. Being user friendly is also important, as is all-day tracking. These criteria put the Fitbit Blaze at the top of the pile.
The Blaze gives simplified data and all-day tracking along with the option to track many other types of exercise separately as well. A bigger bonus is having FitStar integrated, an app that lets you follow workouts using step-by-step instructions. The Fitbit Blazeis a great choice all around, among the best fitness gadgets, though take a look at our other Fitbits for elderly people to explore some different options!
Kayaking watches are again a little different from general sports watches. These ones need accurate stroke monitoring built-in and good water resistance. True waterproofing probably isn’t essential – unless you’re a novice, in which case immersion could occur, so watch out! So what is the best Garmin watch for kayaking? We are going with the Fenix 5 Sapphire here too.
Having such a high level of durability and toughness makes this a great watch for kayaking. There’s also the long battery life and easily viewable screen which the Fenix 5 Sapphire brings to the table. It’s a great watch all around and one of the top models Garmin currently offers. The list of the best fitness gadgets cannot be completed without the Fenix 5.
I have been involved in sports and fitness since childhood, representing my high school in rugby, athletics and cross-country. In college my focus turned to weights and football (soccer), alongside athletics again.
Through adult-hood I have tried many forms of training including BJJ, MMA and yoga whilst also continuing to develop general fitness at the gym (weights, circuits, cardio).
I've also got a decade of Muay Thai experience including a gold medal at 2016's Unified World Championships, representing my national team at light-welterweight.
Additionally I take part in endurance events and starred on Channel 4's TV show "SAS: Who Dares Wins" which is a condensed version of British special forces selection.
My focus these days is on fitness, mental health and fundraising via extreme physical challenges.
