If you are new to this type of technology or are simply interested in buying a new set, then you are in luck, as the market is as active as ever, with many diverse choices for everyone.

Hearables, or smart earbuds, have recently become popular with Apple’s controversial decision of not including a 3.5mm headphone jack into their latest iPhone model, thus creating a large demand for wireless earphones.

1. Bragi Dash Hearable

Without a doubt, the most versatile and useful hearable is the Bragi Dash. Winner of many awards since its unveiling, this hearable brags to be “truly wireless”, and with an acceptable storage capacity of 4 GB, or enough to load up to 4000 songs, it lives up to its promises.

The wearable has a sleek, comfortable design that puts a large emphasis on fitness usage, preventing them from falling off during activities which require users to move quickly and intensively.

Bragi Dash Smart Wireless Earbuds. Listen. Track. Communicate.

The Bragi Dash offers a useful smartphone app, available on iPhone, Android and Windows 10, on which you can customize your experience, access tutorials, update the hearable and contact official support if need be. The app also features a great and precise fitness tracking app, making the hearable a threatening rival for fitness bracelets.

Of course, the hearable isn’t perfect, as it only features a 3-hour battery time, but with a carrying case that doubles as a charger and frequent updates pushed through by the company, the Bragi Dash is simply the best offer currently on the market. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can find the Dash on the official Bragi shop or on Amazon, starting at 299 euros.

2. Samsung Gear IconX Wireless Earbuds

Perhaps one of the biggest and most threatening rivals for the Bragi Dash is Samsung’s Gear IconX. Following Bragi’s recipe almost perfectly, this hearable comes in second to the Dash, even in spite of Samsung’s huge brand name. The reason for this? Completely skipping iOS users.

That’s right: while the Gear IconX has a lot going for it, such as being able to track fitness workouts and store the data without a phone, they are a complete miss for anyone with an Apple device, as they do not work with iPhones. They only support Android, which is a fairly questionable marketing strategy, but it is not completely foreign for Samsung not to make their devices usable on phones other than their own.

Without the need for a phone, Gear IconX has you covered. Whether you’re walking or running, it’s smart enough to track your activity and give updates on essential data from speed, distance and duration to heart rate and calories burnt via a dedicated voice guide.

In spite of that, the Samsung Gear IconX is cheaper than the Bragi Dash starting at $199, and it offers almost the same capabilities: accurate fitness tracking, 4GB of storage for your songs and great, comfortable design which lets users wear them during intensive activities.

It still isn’t quite the Bragi Dash it quite obviously tries to imitate, as its audio quality leaves a lot of room for improvement, and it does not receive the significant OS updates the Dash does, but you do get a lot for 200 dollars.

3. Sony Xperia Ear

Sony Xperia Ear

The hearable is completely reliant on a mobile phone, as it works via Bluetooth connection, and while this may be a turn-off for many users, the connectivity is almost flawless, and shouldn’t take away from any user’s experience.
Additionally, you have to take into account that while all of these devices are considered hearables, the Xperia Ear is targeted towards a whole other market than the previous two.

The Xperia Ear puts a huge emphasis on its ability to use a virtual assistant. This is why it needs to be constantly connected to a phone, as it gives you the choice between every Android phone’s Google Voice, Sony’s Xperia Agent, or if you own a Samsung device, Samsung S Voice.

With comfort and style Xperia Ear is designed to feel as great as it looks. With a super-comfortable ear-fit and a sleek, stylish look you won’t think twice about wearing it all day.

The virtual assistant function works just as it would on a normal phone, but with the added portability of the small earbud in your ear, alerting you whenever you receive a notification, and listening whenever you are ready to dictate instructions.

For what it’s worth, the audio quality of the Xperia Ear is fantastic, being superior to the previous two devices. However, while you can technically listen to music on it, the fact that it is a single earbud will not provide the best experience for music-listening, especially when compared to the other offerings on the market.

The hearable’s excellent audio quality can still be used to make and answer calls.
This hearable also offers a fairly redundant companion app, 4 hours of battery life (charging while in the case), and a high price for what it’s offering, starting at $199.

If the best offerings on the market are not your style, or if you’d simply rather support the new kids on the block, here are the most promising new or upcoming hearables that are guaranteed to satisfy your needs.

1. Here One Wireless Earbuds

After being delayed and bringing everyone through a rollercoaster of feelings during its development, the Here One hearable was definitely worth the wait and anticipation surrounding it.

HereOne Hearables Model with Smart Wireless Buds in Black

Using the advanced noise filter found in its predecessor in order to create what is now known as “augmented hearing”, the Here One lets you choose which sounds around you are blocked out, and which you get to hear.

The best part is that the sounds you do hear are placed correctly in space, so that if a sound came from your left side, you’d hear it from there, even with the Here One on. Additionally, the Here One uses this amazing noise filtering technology to provide one of the best Bluetooth listening experience, having a great audio quality.

Chances are that if you are listening to your favorite song on the Here One, you will find new details or instruments in the background that you didn’t even know were there before.

As good as the sound quality and the technology behind the Here One may be, its battery life is downright unacceptable for today’s standards, averaging at just under two hours of streaming music from your phone. Also, its Bluetooth connectivity has a few issues and may cause a lot of annoyance, especially if your favorite song is interrupted.

Two wireless Here Buds and a connected app give you control over the way you hear the world.

But this is just the beginning for the Here One. The development team promised upcoming updates which will add a lot of utility to the hearable, such as detecting whether you’re at a football game and hooking you up with a live stream of commentary from the Internet.

Therefore, whether or not you’re currently impressed by the state of this product, if the developers can fulfill their promises, then their future products will serve as true pioneers of hearable technology.

If you want to purchase the Here One, you can do so from their official page, starting at $299.

2. Nuheara IQbuds Hearables

Successfully raising ten times what they asked for on their crowdfunding campaign, the people at Nuheara are still putting the finishing touches on their IQbuds. Expected to ship in the first or second quarter of 2017 (in certain countries), this hearable took CES 2017 by storm, impressing everyone who dared try it out.

The reason for its resounding success, both online and in person, isn’t its weird name. Its success is brought solely by the fact that the people at Nuheara have managed to take what the Here One features and one-up their offer in almost all aspects.

That’s right: the IQbuds use the same principle behind the Here One and its predecessor in order to allow you to effectively filter out unwanted sounds and frequencies so that you can enjoy your music without background distractions. The music playback is also supposedly good, though it is still to be determined whether it can rival Here One’s spotless playback.

The IQbuds feature twice the battery life of the Here One, sitting at 4 hours of music streaming and 7 hours of sound filtering, according to Nuheara. Its case also holds 3 charges but does take 90 minutes to fully charge them.

However, in spite of all of these great features, there is still one area that hasn’t quite been perfected, and that is the very backbone of the IQbuds: the noise cancellation. The noise emitted by these earbuds can be noticed at times and may not always be effective, whereas the Here One did the job without any errors.

The people at Nuheara have definitely done a great job in their first attempt at the hearable market, and even though they may still have some problems to iron out, they have a future just as promising as the team behind Here One. Whoever wins this race, the race of putting out the perfect hearable for the hearing impaired is irrelevant, as the technology itself will be a reward for everyone.

If you are interested in pre-ordering the IQbuds, you can only do so if you are from the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, by accessing their site and paying 299 US dollars. If you are not a resident of those countries but are interested in the IQbuds, you can sign up for a newsletter which will let you know when you can reserve them in your country.

3. LifeBeam Vi Smart Earbuds

Another crowdfunding wonder, LifeBEAM’s Vi is dubbed “the Siri of fitness” by many hearable enthusiasts. This hearable isn’t simply a rival to the other ones on the market – it is a rival to full-fledged fitness gadgets such as FitBit wristbands. In fact, calling it a rivalry may not even be fair, as the Vi combines accurate fitness tracking, multiple precise sensors and a smart artificial intelligence assistant that gradually learns your preferences and body’s rhythm in order to evolve along with you.

The Vi, or rather the assistant it brings, is a magnificent piece of work. During a workout, it can play music that fits your tastes from music-streaming apps, talk to you in order to encourage you to push past your limits and improve yourself. It does these all while accurately tracking your activity and monitoring your heart using the same sensors that modern-day pilots use.

LifeBEAM, the company that created the Vi also promise an all-day battery life, along with all-day usefulness through voice recognition and reading notifications. The Vi is set to release in 2017, and anyone who pre-orders it gets a special price of $259.

. A booming market, and a lot of promise

The post The Best Hearables in 2018 – Smart Wireless Earbuds Review appeared first on ChipIn.

Whatever your stripes may be, you’ve ultimately figured you can aid your performance with some solid gear: a Triathlon watch or what is often called a multisports watch. But here’s the rub. 2017 promises to be saturated with a crush of such watches heavy in features tailored to the Triathlete. Which are the best of the best? And how do you wade through the pond of such watches without getting lost in all the tech? In other words, where’s the Goldilocks of Triathlon watches for you?

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Many a professional Triathlete are forthcoming in saying that they keep their gear simple: an old school stopwatch to set the pace. Some use absolutely no gear. And some are compelled to sing the praises of their respective sponsors. The question is, do any of these methods boost a performance?

Let’s be honest. That’s why you want a Triathlon watch. It’s clearly not for style and sex appeal. Otherwise, you’d be watch hunting through a larger canon of timepieces. You want a watch that is built to withstand the rigors of a Triathlon and that can push you to your maximum performance level.

Can a Triathlon watch really do that? Let’s look at the receipts. Certain features have shown to boost an athlete’s awareness of their progress. That way they know if and when to nuance their training or competition performance in the moment. Pouring it on, as it were, might be a result of your pedometer telling you that you haven’t clocked in your desired distance at the optimal time. So you need to go heavy or go home in the second or third interval of the Triathlon. Or your heart rate monitor may warn you that you are over exerting, maybe even over training. So choosing to pull back and cool down through the remaining pace will add miles to your life as an athlete.

These are the DNA of a Triathlon watch worth its weight in breast strokes and 50-meter dashes. Giving you the details on where your performance is lacking or can use improvement is essential. Anything else is a luxury item that may or may not distract you from your goal of improving your performance. But more on those such features later…

Do you want to run faster? Of course, you do. But will running faster positively or negatively impact your swim and biking? The simplest gear for monitoring and correcting your pace is a stopwatch. You’ll ultimately want a Triathlon watch with some iteration of this feature. Stopwatches range from minimalist digital second, minute, and hour recordings to detailed pace monitors that log everything from how fast you average to the strength of your exertion. The devil’s in the details. Pinpointing how you up your run is entirely up to you. But certainly, check off a stopwatch all the same.

The latest and greatest of Triathlon watches possess a finish feature which calculates the time it takes to complete a certain distance in a number of laps

Positional tracking can help you anticipate the rough parts of the bike route or simply give you a heads up to where you are in the larger context of the race. Imagine you’ve gotten distracted through your ride. But your tracker will tell you where the uphill slog is coming for instance. Or maybe the downhill sprint is moments away. Couple this with a strong GPS mapping system and you can really finesse your performance down to the slightest distance.

There is a cast of characters or usual suspects that we already have become familiar with: Garmin and Timex Ironman, for instance. And then there are the outliers that deserve your undivided attention. Here are the top performers according to price and function.

Best Triathlon Watch 2017

1. Garmin Forerunner 920XT

The Garmin Forerunner 920XT was the belle of the 2016 ball. Here Garmin proves its value by continuing to think ahead of the pack. Among the impressive vocabulary of functions and gear tech, the lightweight watch features swim stroke count, heart monitors that can be tweaked and paired with other devices, and run cadence. This is where things could get murky for the giant brand. Does endowing a seemingly minimal-looking watch with so many options help or hurt? Evidently not. According to most pundits and enthusiasts, the 920XT was hands down one of the most popular Triathlon watches of the year that was 2016.

It clocks in at 45 x 55 x 12.7 mm and weighs a mere 61g. It has a water resistance of 5 ATM. And then there are the spectacular bells and whistles that put the 920XT on a pedestal: smartphone compatibility and connectivity (including emails and texts), Garmin Connect Mobile App, swim metrics, pace and stroke count, all-day activity tracking, stride length, and total steps per minute.

Among the impressive vocabulary of functions and gear tech, the lightweight watch features swim stroke count, and heart monitor

2. Tom Tom Multi-Sport Cardio

Not to be outclassed by arch rival Garmin, Tom Tom has fashioned its own Triathlon watch in the form of the Multi-Sport Cardio. What’s strongest about this GPS watch is its heart rate monitor. Again, we find a simple minimalist design that skimps on visual aesthetics for brass tacks. The monitor is painstakingly accurate. Couple its performance with yours in the pool, on the bike, or on the run and you have a strong combination of detailed activity tracking. And speaking of the pool, bike, or the track, the Multi-Sport Cardio has strong features that with precision monitor your pace, cadence, stroke, and distance.

The Multi-Sport couples its tech features with training zones, five to be exact. Sprint, speed, endure, fat burn, and easy. Then it uses its one button functionality to quickly whip you through its menu items without confusion. For practicality, the Multi-Sport is as accessible as it gets.

Multi-Sport Cardio has strong features that monitor your pace, cadence, stroke, and distance with precision

3. Ironman Rugged 30 Full-Size

Timex essentially pioneered the idea of crafting a robust watch built expressly for Triathlon events. The Ironman, as it were, is not merely an event nor a comic book character. It’s a trademarked iteration of Timex sports watches built to handle the best and worst your workout can throw at it. The Ironman Rugged 30 is a muscular digital watch that will give you 30 lap memory recall, 99 lap memory count, 100-hour chronograph, and a 24-hour countdown timer.

You can whittle the features down to the bare minimum in order to tailor the watch’s functionality to your workout

But given that this is a classic watch, you won’t find smartphone connectivity, Bluetooth, or any of the other perks that come with the modern tech we pair with iPhones and Androids. This is old school at its best. 45 mm diameter, 100-meter water resistance, Indiglo night light and markings, and robust resin material to keep your watch from crumbling under the pressure of a hefty workout. It retails for a winning $55.

4. Suunto Ambit3 Vertical

Suunto has shaken the leaves of its competitors’ trees with its constant evolution of watches that focus both on sports tracking and well-being.The Ambit3 Vertical cuts a svelte silhouette with a stylish yet minimalist presentation. Where the Timex is all about flexing its muscles on the look of the watch, Suunto is rather restrained. Here not only does Suunto tackle your performance in the water or on a bike, it comes equipped with vibration alerts that track your elevation.

Altitude tracking and performance might be a key fit for those biking intervals that scale up through the mountains. On the other hand, how likely are you to use this feature if you already have it on your bike? Suunto is betting the farm that most buyers will use it and won’t avail themselves of any similar gear for their bike. In any event, the watch is extremely lightweight, sleek, and compact.

As for the bells and whistles, the Ambit3 Vertical comes with pace, cadence, and distance trackers. It also boasts a strong 15 hours of battery life, 5-second GPS accuracy, Bluetooth and Smartphone connectivity. You can do everything from monitor your heart rate to check incoming calls and messages while you swim through your paces.

It won the Best New Gear Award in the winter of 2016 from Gear Institute. And that says a lot given Suunto’s ever-evolving software updates. And for the price, it sits comfortably between Garmin’s upmarket listing and Tom Tom’s low to mid range with a retail price of $370.

5. Polar V800 GPS Sport Watch

Polar has long carved a niche in the world of health and fitness with its constellation of heart rate monitors, fitness trackers, and GPS sports watches. Here is no different with the V800 GPS Sports Watch. Polar continues to improve on the 2014 watch with its steady string of upgrades and updates with each passing season. And still, the V800 remains as a strong reference for effective Triathlon watches.

The large display monitors everything from the wrist: run cadence, heart rate monitor up to 30 meters in water, GPS that covers distance and speed, and Bluetooth. It also boasts some singular achievements like the smart coaching platform. Here, the V800 can give you strong analytics about your training load and how it affects your performance and recovery. Also, your smart coaching can accurately track your profile and determine how your running performance has evolved over time.

Other bells and whistles include a barometer, accelerometer, 13 hours of battery life, a resistant gorilla glass window, and USB connectivity and compatibility with MAC and Windows. Notably absent is smartphone connectivity. And while you will most likely be concerned more with your run time than your emails, it is something to take on board for the price. At $500, the V800 prices up there with Garmin’s more fully integrated Triathlon watches but lacks some of Garmin’s forward-thinking tech. Final verdict: great performance, poor pricing.

6. Magellan Switch

The Magellan Switch, like the Timex iteration of Classic Ironman watches, fits into the budget Triathlon watch category. Here’s a very affordable and equally functional multi sport watch that comes with an impressive haul of features and tech. Firstly, it has all the usual suspects: run cadence, distance, speed, elevation, and water resistance. Then it has its own take on the Garmin enabled tracker the Virtual Partner, which it calls the Activity Pacer.

And for a lightweight watch, it is remarkably sturdy and performant. It has 8 hours of battery life and 50 meters of water resistance. It also archives up to 60 hours of activity with 1 second recording. Accuracy hinges on pinpoint precision with the Magellan.

Now here’s some forward-thinking on the part of Magellan. The Switch comes with an extra battery that can be used to switch out the other when it runs down. That doubles your battery life to 16 hours of performance. The Switch lists for $180 but retails on Amazon from an astounding $50.

7. The Moov

The Moov considers itself more of a wearable than simply a GPS multisport watch. Clocking in at a shocking $60, it packs in essential tech for the fitness enthusiast. Here are the simple perks that come with your wearable: Bluetooth and smartphone pairing, water resistance, up to 6 months of battery life, smart coaching that analyzes your workout in real time, and cadence and run tracking.

All of these elements come to the fore when you take this watch out into the field. You can personalize your profile in order to tweak your swim, run, or bike performance. Moov’s coaching will adeptly scrutinize your exertion and progress and give an accurate depiction of your movement and landing. Strokes in the pool don’t limit themselves to mere distance and time. Instead, how you effect those strokes, sprints, and uphill pedals are broken down to improve your ultimate performance.

For price and performance, the Moov is hands down a winner. While it doesn’t boast the future tech that Garmin and the Ambit3 tuck under the lid, it exceeds expectations. And at a mere $60, you probably won’t find a comparable performer on the market.

Best Triathlon Watches July 2017 UPDATE
Garmin and Suunto both make double appearances on this list. Why? Going into 2017 the two brands firmly had their eyes fixed on more than one solid offering for Triathletes. Now that their respective 2nd offerings have been unveiled, we can confirm that they both are worth taking a look at.

8. Garmin Forerunner 935

Garmin returns to form here with a lightweight triathlon watch, the Garmin Forerunner 935, that goes hard in the paint. This one gives an added boost to its swimming component. Where its predecessors were already strong, the 935 leaves no rock unturned. It s certainly a function and gadget heavy sort of device. That being said, this is the kind of merchandise for the elite athlete…or gadget geek.

Here’s what stayed true to form: metrics tracking, heart rate monitor, activity progress. What’s changed? The design is slim for one. Then add to it roughly 49 grams of lightweight dynamic performance that includes 50m water depth, interchangeable straps, and smartwatch notifications.

Where does the 935 falter? Well, for a smartwatch, there is no tactile design. This is all old school buttons rather than touchscreen. For those of us hoping for the most modern design aesthetic possible, we’re likely to be disappointed by Garmin’s choice of old school rendering. Secondly, this is not for everyone’s pocketbook. The 935 prices itself between $500 and $650 depending on if you get the Tri Bundle.

But in terms of picking up where the 920XT and the Fenix left off, the 935 is a worthy investment for an elite athlete who spares no expense for the sake of their sport.

9. Suunto Spartan Series

Suunto for its part has thus far put forward a trinity of triathlon watches in its larger canon of multisport watches. The Spartan series which features the Spartan, the Spartan Ultra, and now the Wrist HR, has been a credible alternative to the premium offerings from Garmin.

Aesthetically, the Spartan series gets better with each new iteration. All three have a firmware app that is compatible with both your smartphone, tracking fitness metrics, recovery, workout optimization and personalization, and even some intuitive features that measure and predict your performance level. Where do they differ? The Spartan, for example, charges with a magnetic strap that affixes to the watch. The Ultra is thick and not as svelte as its rivals.

But then the WHR comes along in hopes of fine-tuning the little details that might otherwise dog its predecessors. It takes on board the idea of customization with flying colors. You can tailor your workout and your metrics tracking to your liking, even building the aesthetic look of your metrics tracking screen. In essence, the WHR is encouraging you to build your own workout and in turn build your own tracking platform on the watch.

The Spartan series is not a small watch. Nor are they thin. But the WHR more than makes up for the size difference with its take on intuitive performance and metrics tracking. As for price the WHR retails for $499. The Suunto Sport retails for $399. And Suunto’s premium multisport watch the Ultra retails for $699.

The post Best Triathlon Watch 2017 | GPS Training Watches for Triathlon Reviews appeared first on ChipIn.

A smartwatch potentially can give you feedback on your heart rate, distance traveled, and calories burned. More advanced models can do things like count swimming laps or provide data about the altitude you traveled while hiking. And because it’s a watch, obviously it’ll keep track of how much time you exercised and your pace.

When you’re just starting an exercise program, it’s easy to tell if you’re making progress through things like weight loss and improved muscle tone. But when you’re already in good shape, the visible benefits of exercise are a little tougher to spot. That’s where an investment in a smartwatch with sports activity tracking can help. The data it gives you can show subtle improvements in your workouts, showing the type of progress you’re making.

We’ve collected some of the best smartwatch options from two of the top manufacturers in this area of the market to help you make a smart investment. (After all, a smartwatch deserves a smart investment decision.) Our Garmin vs. TomTom smartwatch battle will also show you which models work well for people who focus on one sport, such as running or hiking, or for those who bounce from sport to sport. Both companies have many options in different price points, and we’ll help you find the best sports watch for the money.

For the most complete smartwatch options from these two manufacturers at the high end of the price curve, our picks are the Garmin Fenix 5 vs. TomTom Adventurer.

Garmin Fenix 5 vs. TomTom Adventurer

Release Dates

The TomTom Adventurer made its debut in October 2016, while the Garmin Fenix 5 was announced in early 2017. The Fenix 5 is the first of numerous high-end smartwatches to be released by a host of manufacturers in 2017, so Garmin received a jump on the competition.

Garmin Fēnix 5 is the ultra Multisport GPS watch for athletes and adventurers.

Feature set

The Garmin Fenix 5 is the king of smartwatches, hands down when considering its feature set. You can track a multitude of indoor and outdoor sports activities with the Garmin Fenix 5. There’s individual tracking capabilities for cycling, swimming, running, rowing, hiking, and many others. The Fenix 5 has a gyroscope, compass, altimeter, GPS, and heart monitor included.

You can even add WiFi connectivity capability with the Fenix 5 for a slightly higher cost, which is rarely found in a smartwatch. (We called it the king earlier for good reason.)

Now the TomTom Adventurer is no slouch. Its features are aimed primarily at runners and hikers. But it can track several other activities, including lap swimming and indoor activities. Snowboarders and skiers will appreciate the altitude measurements, which determine when you’re riding the ski lift, resetting the watch to begin measuring the next run.

TomTom Adventurer GPS Outdoor Watch – Explore with your heart

The Adventurer is waterproof up to 130 feet of water depth, which is pretty impressive. But the Fenix 5 blows it out of the water (sorry for the bad pun) with a waterproof depth rating of 328 feet.

One interesting aspect of the Adventurer’s feature set is its new battery saving GPS feature, which takes a GPS sample once every two seconds (rather than every second), which allows it to run the GPS unit for a full 24 hours without the watch needing a charge. This is a really nice feature for hikers and runners.

Design

The TomTom Adventurer has a rectangular face with rounded corners. The watch face measures 0.98 inches vertically and 0.87 inches horizontally. The glass on the watch face has a bit of protection from bumps because of the raised edge surrounding the watch face.

The Fenix 5 has an oversized round design, which isn’t common in the smartwatch segment. The Fenix 5 is available in a 47 mm watch face diameter size, which is about 1.85 inches. (Garmin also offers the Fenix 5S in a 42 mm watch face and the 5X in a 51 mm watch face.) And there are nearly a dozen color and watchband combinations, including a metal band design.

We really like the option of selecting a scratch resistant sapphire face on the Fenix 5. When you’re exercising, scratches and bumps are to be expected. Having extra protection in the watch face materials is always appreciated. The LED backlit screen in the Fenix 5 is easy to read in all types of ambient lighting.

Cost

The Fenix 5 is one of the most expensive smartwatches on the market. It starts at nearly $700, and models with even more features are available at higher price points. Not everyone is going to be able to afford this very impressive model. If you like the idea of the Fenix 5 but want to save a bit of money, consider going backward to the previous model, the Garmin Fenix 3, which is available at a discount.

Meanwhile, the Adventurer is at the top of the cost curve for TomTom brand smartwatches, but it has a price point in the mid-$300s for a kit with Bluetooth headphones and 3GB of music storage. You may even be able to find the Adventurer with a lower price point if you want the watch alone, so this model is far less expensive than the top end of the Garmin family of models.

Final verdict

There’s just not much on the market that can stand up to the impressive Garmin Fenix 5. It is close to the perfect smartwatch for tracking sports activity, as it can provide data on a huge number of different activities, all in a sharp looking unit. But the price point is simply overwhelming at $700 and up. You would have to be a serious athlete who spends several hours per week working out to justify this price.

Best High-End Smartwatch Winner: Garmin Fenix 5

So if you’re primarily a hiker/runner, we’d recommend the TomTom Adventurer, which has plenty of great features at a much more acceptable price point. But for the person who participates in a multitude of activities and sports – and who has the budget for it – the Garmin Fenix 5 is the king of the market.

In the middle of the smartwatch cost curve for these two companies, our favorite options are the Garmin Forerunner 35 vs. TomTom Runner 3 Cardio.

Garmin Forerunner 35 vs. TomTom Runner 3 Cardio

Release Dates

Both the TomTom Runner 3 Cardio and the Garmin Forerunner 35 appeared on the market in September 2016.

Feature set

One of the biggest additions to the Runner 3 Cardio from previous versions of TomTom’s mid-range smartwatches is the inclusion of trail navigation. This addition adds to an already strong set of features for runners and hikers in the Runner 3. It also offers tracking of other sports (such as swimming, treadmill running, cycling, and indoor activities), as well as a heart rate sensor and built-in GPS. It’s waterproof up to 130 feet.

The Forerunner 35 is rated for a water depth of 164 feet, but, strangely, it does not track lap swimming. Beyond that, this Garmin model does offer good sports tracking features for hiking, running (indoor and outdoor), indoor activities, and cycling. It contains a heart rate monitor and GPS tracking. It’s primarily designed as a Garmin running watch, though.

Design

Normally, we’re all about functionality over looks when it comes to smartwatches. We can put up with a poor looking unit if it has great sports tracking features. But we have to make an exception for the Forerunner 35. This design is so ugly that it has to play a role in our recommendation, even though the unit has pretty nice smartwatch features.

It’s a blocky rectangular face with rounded corners that just looks bad. The narrow edges of the Forerunner 35 don’t provide much protection to the face. And the square display doesn’t go to the edges, measuring 0.93 inches on all sides. It also has only a 128×128 resolution on the screen.

TomTom’s Spark 3 has a rectangular face with rounded corners. The edge around the watch face is raised, which gives the glass a bit of protection. The watch face measures 0.98 inches vertically and 0.87 inches horizontally.

Cost

You’ll spend right around $200 for the Forerunner 35. It’s a slightly cheaper smartwatch than the Garmin Forerunner 230 and Garmin Forerunner 630. Meanwhile, the Runner 3 Cardio is available in a few different iterations. It ranges from about $150 to $250. The more expensive versions include heart rate monitoring, Bluetooth headphones, and music storage.

Final verdict

These two smartwatches have a lot of similarities, including price point and feature set. So in this case, it comes down to looks, and there it’s no contest: We’ll give the edge to the Tomtom Runner 3 Cardio + Music.

TomTom Spark 3 Waterproof Cardio+Music

If you’re looking to find a smartwatch from these two companies that’ll give you basic features for a basic price, our top picks in the budget priced category are the Garmin Forerunner 25 vs. TomTom Runner.

Garmin Forerunner 25 vs. TomTom Runner

Release Dates

The TomTom Runner is an older model that still remains popular in today’s market. In terms of its performance against newer models, the Runner is starting to show its age a bit, as it was released in mid-2013. The Garmin Forerunner 25 had a mid-2015 release date.

Feature set

The feature set of the TomTom Runner is pretty basic and is aimed at runners. You can use it outdoors or on a treadmill. The built-in GPS is slow in pulling in the initial signal, which is one area where this unit shows its age.

Garmin’s Forerunner 25 offers a built-in GPS, and it works with running both indoors and outdoors. It’s also primarily a running smartwatch, with limited features for cyclists.

Both the Runner and Forerunner 25 have a waterproof capability up to 164 feet, which are excellent performance levels at this price point. But neither model has the ability to track swimming.

Design

You’ll find two square display sizes with the Forerunner 25, either 0.73 inches on all sides or 0.91 inches on all sides. It’s blocky with an eight-sided part surrounding the square screen. The thick plastic edge will provide good protection for the screen. We’re not huge fans of the look of this unit, but it is better looking than the Forerunner 35.

The TomTom Runner carries a nearly square, oversized display screen that measures 0.85 horizontally by 1 inch vertically. The display doesn’t go to the edges of the screen. The thick edges around the screen are raised to provide some protection to the screen glass. Even though this model is three-plus years old, its design still looks pretty good.

Cost

Because both models are older, you may be able to find some bargains on them if you shop around. On average, the Runner will set you back a little over $100, while the Forerunner 25 costs around $125.

Final Verdict

Both the TomTom Runner and the Garmin Forerunner 25 are very basic smartwatches designed primarily for runners. Even though the Runner was TomTom’s first entry into the smartwatch market more than three years ago, its design still looks pretty good. But the Runner’s slow GPS performance is a significant source of frustration for users, leading us to award this battle to the newer Garmin Forerunner 25.

These smartwatches make use of companion software and apps. They’re designed to help you make the most of the data the smartwatches gather.

GARMIN

The Garmin Connect Mobile app has some basic features, such as tips for improving your health and reminders to stand up and move around during the day. It can give you a snapshot of your activity during the day … which can help you decide whether you need to get on the treadmill for 20 minutes before going to bed.

If you work out or compete with a Forerunner® running watch, Edge® cycling computer or fēnix® outdoor watch, all of the Garmin Connect data you rely on is right in the app.

And for someone looking to ramp up their workouts, this app is great for taking the data the smartwatch collects and turning it into usable information. The Garmin app also has the ability to help you connect with other users for motivation and for competing in weekly challenges.

TOMTOM

The TomTom Sports app has a number of graphical components, making it easy to track the data the TomTom sports watch collects. You’ll be able to view your results from a variety of sports activities, including running, biking, treadmill usage, and others.

Track your progress at a glance. See key fitness information and activity history at-a-glance, on the TomTom Sports App dashboard

The Sports app has a body composition tracking screen, allowing you to track measurements such as weight loss or BMI over time. And the software will keep a history of your exercises, such as tracking all of your runs and your best distances and time splits. The app can allow you to share your exercise data through your social media accounts with one tap on the screen.

Garmin vs. TomTom Smartwatch Questions and Answers

In the Garmin vs. TomTom smartwatch comparison, the two companies’ offerings are relatively similar in terms of feature set … at least until you reach the high end of the market. The Garmin Fenix 5 is simply unmatched in the market in its feature set and design. But it’s very expensive. So unless you’re a workout warrior who likes to track a variety of sports nearly every day, it’s tough to justify its cost. Someone who works out primarily on the weekends probably will be satisfied with the TomTom Adventurer.

If you’re looking to save a bit of money over the models at the top of the market, it’s tough to recommend the smartwatches at the low end of the market, though, unless you’re exclusively a runner. However, both companies have nice offerings in the mid-range price point, and both the Garmin Forerunner 35 and the Runner 3 offer a good value for the person needing to track workouts. Either way, it’s tough to go wrong with the Garmin vs. TomTom smartwatch comparison, as both companies have really nice sports watches!

The post Garmin Vs. TomTom Smart Watch – Battle of the Best Running Watch Contenders appeared first on ChipIn.

The all new Fitbit Charge 2 Line-Up

The past three years has seen the wearable industry undergo a whirlwind of technological amendments and reformations, and the main point for the manufacturers has been to try and encompass as many features and functions as possible in their tiny doodads. Apple has recently fashioned an upgrade of its activity tracking smartwatch, the Apple watch, after little over one year of its being in the market; Microsoft followed suit with their Microsoft Band; and the biggest performers on that front, Fitbit and Jawbone have entertained us with series of their own.

The Jawbone UP3 comes in a variety of colours

Fitbit has more than six fitness trackers to its name to date while Jawbone boasts a total of five generations of the famous Up series. The Fitbit Surge and the Jawbone Up 4 are the companies’ latest and most refined versions of their works, but counter-intuitively, they have not been the most welcome in the voracious market of activity trackers; their respective predecessors, the Fitbit Charge 2 and Jawbone Up 3 actually are (if volume of sales is anything to go by).
So, what sets the Charge 2 and Up3 apart from the precursors and successors in their respective product strings?

In a nutshell, they are both fairly more comprehensive, more accurate and more efficient than their little siblings. Secondly, they are less expensive, less complicated and more specific with their functionalities than their successors. If we were talking about their similarities, then that’s how a superficial delineation would look like.

Enough with the primer now and straight to what brings us here: Jawbone Up 3 vs. Fitbit Charge 2; who merits the bragging rights?

Below is an abreast comparison of the two fitness trackers on every facet that matters. Enjoy.

I’ve always been hypercritical of gizmo companies and how much they tend to focus on features and functionality, completely forgetting to employ any creativity in the device housing, but I must admit that external appeal is by and large a matter of individual conscience. Some of us prefer the less conspicuous trim and sleek fitness trackers that can fit and remain unobtrusive under the tightest of sleeves while most others would go for the smartwatch-size wristbands with touchscreen displays and more sophisticated dials. If you’re for any of the tastes, you have these two to choose from.

The Jawbone Up 3, just like the rest of its siblings, is super-slender and has no display screen (Jawbone’s biggest letdown) and only one control button, to highlight its simplicity. It, however, sports a very friendly fit, which, together with the new hook and eye closure mechanism, make it comfy enough for a day and night long wear.

Fitbit Charge 2, on the other hand, is wider and thicker, and generally takes the shape and size of the outmoded sports watches. It has a plastic strap which is fastened to the arm via a buckle and, similar to the Up 3, has a single control button on the side. Its display screen, a feature Fitbit never forget to include in their devices, is fairly tiny and can only display one notification or stat at a time, but nonetheless, stands as a plus in comparison with the Jawbone Up 3 which exclusively has to be connected to a mobile device to display the stats.

Both the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Jawbone Up 3 are water-resistant, not waterproof; they can withstand splashes, shower, and rain but are not suitable for swimming and bathing. That said, Fitbit, in their manuals contradictorily seem to advise against wearing their trackers into the shower or rain to avoid damage. Well, if that is anything to go by, then the Charge 2 is the last thing I would recommend you fork out more than £20 for. Luckily, though, I’ve done tests of my own, and if I have to say, there have been no signs of water damage in my device for the 8 months I have been showering with it.

Counting steps, estimating the amount of calories burnt, measuring distance traveled and a number of active hours is what most fitness trackers do; the Charge 2 and Up 3 are no exception. Save for a slight difference in the number of steps made per time period, whereby the Fitbit records more than the Jawbone, both can be deemed reliable for step counting. On calories burnt, the slight difference is maintained, and this is basically because the measure is calculated from the steps you make and the general amount of activity recorded in your device.

Track your activity on the Go with the Fitbit Charge 2

Even with the display disadvantage, the Up 3 still has the edge over the Charge 2 with an additional sports detection skill and the ability to sense extensive idleness and nudge the wearer with a slight buzz.
Unlike the Microsoft Band or the Fitbit Surge, both the Charge and the Up 3 have no built-in GPS, which makes them an unlikely pick for serious runners.

Protruding from beneath the strap of the Jawbone Up 3 are three heart rate monitoring sensors which record data in both active and resting periods of the wearer. The resting heart rate has been shown to be a crucial indicator of better cardiovascular fitness, and this partially justifies the company’s description of this product as the „most advanced fitness tracker known to man”. Compared to other reliable heart rate tracking devices, however, the Up 3 offers slightly lower readings per minute, which could add up to provide misleading stats for a longer period, say, a whole day.

The Jawbone UP3 will constantly monitor your heart rate and keep you up to date

The Fitbit Charge, on the other, utilizes the company’s new technology, PurePulse, to offer 24/7 heart rate monitoring. The constant monitoring may come in handy for individuals who get involved in several activities of varying intensities in a day, and also results in a more accurate figure of the number of calories burnt, according to the manufacturer. Regarding accuracy, tests have shown the device to be perfect during light workouts but unreliable as a heart monitoring tool, and misses a step or two during intense gym sessions and outdoor runs.

Both the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Jawbone Up 3 offer heart rate monitoring – a feature barely common in fitness trackers – but neither of them does it accurately. Nonetheless, both of them offer the keynote resting heart rate tracking and thus deserve some credit for the effort.

Sleep tracking is another feature included in both the Charge 2 and the Up 3. Unfortunately, neither of them can outdo the Withings Activite as a sleep tracker, but if your sleep cycles and the amount of time you spend in bed are all you wish to monitor, the two offer perfection. Perhaps the main difference between them is the fact that Jawbone does the tracking automatically (detects sleep) while the Fitbit has to be reminded and set prior to getting to bed.

The Jawbone Up 3, in addition to that, has the ability to tell between deep sleep, REM and light sleep, and, through the UP app, analyses your statistics and recommends positive amendments to your sleep schedule and general lifestyle. During light sleep, the band, through its smart alarm feature, produces a little buzz on your wrist after a window of 30minutes (default) to get you up and active again.
For those reasons, Jawbone Up 3 emerges as the hands-down winner, and sure enough, only a handful of devices out there can match or even surpass the gadget’s sleep tracking prowess.

As I mentioned earlier, one thing that will always count as a downside for Jawbone fitness trackers against other mainstream brands on the market is the lack of a display. Most individuals, especially athletes, who have to engage in intense outdoor exercise, prefer receiving their stats in real time, and direct from the fitness tracker, not a separate gadget. The Jawbone Up 3 wouldn’t offer this. You need an Android or iOS device, installed with Jawbone’s UP app, to receive the stats, have them interpreted and displayed.

Fitbit have invested a lot of money to considerably improve their Health App

If you’re fine up to here, the rest is excellence; the app works like a dream and displays the stats in the friendliest of interfaces. Furthermore, through the Smart Coach feature, it studies your performance, in terms of keeping active and sleeping, and advises you on what to do and what to avoid to lead a healthier lifestyle. This means that the more you use the fitness tracker, the better it learns your activity and sleep cycles.

I’ve also never experienced connection or syncing troubles for the last 8 months I have been using the App. As long as your phone is within range and your Bluetooth connection is on, syncing will take place automatically and the stats will come flying straight to your home screen.

For the Fitbit, it may not be having a better app, but the presence of a display screen is enough to consider it a favorite in this contest (ok, that’s all up to you). The display may not be that big, but still, you can bank on it to give you real-time stats in a way that I personally find convenient. Also, it brings you call alerts and social media notifications, and can really save you the hassle of having to bring your phone with you during outdoor workouts and gym sessions.

The Jawbone UP app is one of the best health apps available

The app comes in handy when you want to make changes in, say, alarm settings, or would like a better view of your long-term progress in the gym. My time with the Charge 2, though short-lived (basically because I couldn’t get on with that design; I’m for sleek and classy) was hardly subject to app snags. I’ve however come across a number of users who have had issues with the app taking ”too long” to detect and pair with the tracker. But that was some time back – four to five months ago. Fitbit must have already taken notice of this and solved it in the latest versions of their iOS, Android, and Windows Phone compatible app. Lastly, the app includes the MobileRun feature which lets you track your runs, pace, distance, time and splits in real time.

A Fitbit Charge 2 goes at around $150 in the US and £110 in the UK, similar to Jawbone’s starting price of $130. The prices may seem too high for a fitness tracker (especially one that has no GPS connection) but if you can make maximum use of either device, its utility can justly validate the insane price tag.

.Verdict

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Best Waterproof Activity Trackers

But does this really need to happen when you can spend a few extra pounds and get yourself a device that you won’t have to alter your exercise schedule to protect? Of course no. I’m going to leave this article here so that when you decide to purchase a waterproof fitness tracker any time in 2017, you can have these ten to choose from.

1. TomTom Spark 3 Cardio + Music GPS Watch

The TomTom Spark 3 Cardio + Music is the ultimate go-to if you’re the type who gets motivated by music as you go about your daily workout. And, yes, you can get into the pool and still listen to music because the waterproof fitness tracker doesn’t need a phone to play. For this reason, you’re going to need to fork out at least £205 to obtain a unit from Amazon.

TomTom Spark 3 Waterproof Cardio+Music

Save for the dull architecture and a strenuous procedure of adding music, the Spark 3 Cardio is a hands down top notch device and has been fashioned to suit the requirements of all sorts of athletes: swimmers, runners, cyclers and… well, sleepers.

It counts steps, estimates distance and offers sleep monitoring. Additionally, it has an accurate heart rate sensor, the smart alarm feature, and built-in music storage, and displays stored and real-time stats on a large screen, in one of the most vivid and easy-to-grasp manners.

As relatively large as it may look, the TomTom Spark3 Cardio is actually one of the lightest gadgets you can have strapped to your wrist. It weighs less than 1.7 ounces and hardly causes irritation even when worn for a long time.

2. Garmin Vivoactive HR

For less than $50, there are a few waterproof fitness trackers you can find that can outperform the Garmin Vivofit. Accuracy in counting steps and measuring distance covered, time spent in slumber land and calories burnt, as well as the use of a coin-cell battery, which can last for over a year before draining, stand as its main upsides, and a flawed design as its core weakness. It cannot count stairs climbed either, tell you about your REM cycles or automatically detect that you’ve drifted off and activated sleep mode, not to mention serve as a heart rate monitor; it’s not that comprehensive, in a nutshell, but guarantees perfection in the little it does.

Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band

What interested me most in the Vivofit is how it takes you through your goals. Its default goal is 7,500 steps per day, but you can adjust that to something more challenging like 10,000 steps, which is the baseline for most fitness trackers. Once you meet your target, the band increases your goal, depending on how long you took to meet the current one. Same for sleep; it uses your past performances to set you new goals.
To view your stats, the Vivofit syncs with your PC through a USB ANT+ stick.

3. Garmin Vivoactive HR

The Vivosmart HR is yet another product from the tech giant, Garmin, which does not only count the number of steps you make, measure the distance you cover and calculate the amount of calories you burn, but also make you do them. It reminds you to get up and do something whenever you are too idle by buzzing gently on your arm.

Rated at 5ATM, the Garmin Vivosmart is safe for use to a depth of 50 meters and is thus suitable for use in pro swimming and diving. It comes with a designated swimming app, keeping your lane workouts in the pool on track.

Compared to its less defined sister, the Garmin Vivofit, the Vivoactive HR has more to offer and is clearly worth the $199.99 it goes for on Amazon. It has a longer battery life, has a better waterproofness rating, has the silent alarm feature and keeps reminding you about your goals. The bodywork is also undeniably better, although it can still not measure up against the Jawbone fitness trackers in sleekness and slimness. The design seems to be Garmin’s hugest setback in its ratings.

4. Misfit Flash Link

The Misfit Flash Link, with its $19.99 price tag, would fit better in a list of the cheapest waterproof fitness trackers of 2017, but thanks to its fair tradeoff, merits a slot in the ”BEST waterproof activity trackers”. Unlike most of its rivals in this list, the Flash Link is not worn around the wrist but rather designed to be clipped on a garment like a bra, belt etc. or just placed in the pocket. Since it rarely comes into direct contact with the skin, the fitness tracker lacks heart rate and body temperature monitors. It nonetheless offers step counting, distance estimation and the rest of the activity tracker basics with first rate accuracy and dexterity.

It uses Bluetooth 4.0 and syncs with Android 4.3 and iOS 6.1.3, but unfortunately, has an app that is only compatible with iOS devices only.

For runners and workout buffs, the tracker has a set of LED lights that detect and light when you’re in ”activity mode”, and also measure the intensity of your drills. For swimmers, it can track how long your sessions last and tell you about the intensity of your workouts.
Cheaper than its predecessor, the Misfit Flash, the Flash Link sports a built-in replaceable coin cell battery which can last for a maximum of six months, eliminating the everyday-charging stress.

5. TomTom Runner 3 GPS Watch

The TomTom Runner 3 GPS Watch doubles as a smartwatch and an activity tracker and belongs to TomTom’s new line of GPS watches that is giving the market’s best a run for their money.

It goes at around $120 on Amazon and can be used by both runners and swimmers to track pace, distance and time both during training and on the field of play. It lacks a built-in heart rate monitor (there’s a chest strap sold separately), but with a set of ergonomic buttons, a sizeable LCD display, and an above average design, the watch offers nothing less than what you’re paying for.

TomTom Runner 3 Waterproof GPS Watch

Besides the basic activity tracker functions of step-counting and estimation of distance covered, the tracker also helps swimmers know the intensity of their swimming (low, average or high)and the number of strokes they make throughout their swimming sessions. That’s something most of the activity trackers can seamlessly accomplish, though, and if we had to pick one outstanding feature about the TomTom Multi-Sport GPS Watch, it would be its large LCD display and awesome controls.

6. Basis Peak

While most fitness trackers will adhere to a command that you directly have to feed it with, the Basis Peak will detect runs, bicycle rides and sleep automatically and record proceeds without you having to remind it. With a few advanced functionalities, it doubles as a smartwatch, and its ability to monitor heart rate and skin temperature make it the most sophisticated activity tracker on this list.

Basis Peak Waterproof Activity Watch

With a touchscreen display, it has no buttons at all, and this could make it pretty much difficult to handle immediately after a sweaty workout or swimming session. Another downside is that it cannot measure distance – which is an issue for runners – basically due to the absence of the GPS tracking feature. That said, I find the Basis Peak one overpriced fitness tracker (goes at $149.70 on Amazon) and can be easily substituted by Runtastic Orbit which comes at around $20 cheaper. I don’t know how much you hate taking out your phone to read social media notifications and text messages, though, because the Runtastic Orbit won’t give you that.

7. The Garmin Forerunner 920XT

Just like the Basis Peak, the Forerunner 920XT – which is the immediate precursor for the Forerunner 910XT – includes automated syncing and text messaging, making it half smartwatch, half fitness tracker. For swimmers, it records the amount of time you spend in the pool, the number of strokes you make, and the intensity of your session. As an activity tracker, it tells the number of steps you make, the distance you’ve traveled and the number of stairs and flights of stairs you’ve climbed, and uses this to calculate the amount of calories you burn over a specific period of time. For either (swimming or working out), you can set time and distance goals, and the wristband will alert you once you reach them with a slight vibration.

As a heart rate monitor, the Garmin Forerunner 920XT has been shown to perform best when placed near the chest, especially during swimming where discreet detection of the pulse is difficult. For that reason, Garmin has an exclusive accessory, the HRM-Swim chest band, to firmly hold your 5 ATM-rated devices to your chest as you cruise through the pool.

At Amazon, the sophisticated fitness tracker is available for $496.99, which makes it the most expensive we have on this list.

8. The Polar V800

Here’s another waterproof activity tracker you should not think about if you’re on a tight budget. The gadget goes at a whopping $349 and is one of the few fitness trackers a pro athlete can completely bank on for accuracy and efficiency. With this, there is no need for a chest band, as it can independently monitor heart rate from your arm even under water, thanks to a built-in dual-mode transmitter. It has an integrated GPS tracker which allows you to accurately measure distance traveled, for runners and bikers, and track previously used routes.

Polar V800 Waterproof Activity Watch

It is rated at 3 ATM, meaning it can remain water resistant to a depth of 30 meters. It perfectly counts the strokes you make in water and gives you a breakdown of the session’s activity and lets you compare the day’s stats with those of a previous session. You can also set goals if you wish, set time limits, and leave the rest to the device. It will tell you by how many steps, strokes or meters you missed the goal by – if you did – or automatically increase the target in case you surpass the current one.

9. Finis Swimsense Performance Monitor

And now to the cheapest…
The Finis Swimsense has been particularly developed for swimming (you can just move on to the next entry if you’re looking for an all-round activity tracker). It has built-in accelerometers and magnetometers to capture every single detail of your swim workout; it tracks strokes rates, stroke counts, distances and calories burnt to help you analyze your performances in the pool as well as your daily progress, all by just pressing the swim button on the left side of the screen.

You can view your stats instantly on the display or choose to sync the data to websites such as the popular SportTrack, TrainingPeaks, and Runkeeper. On these sites, you can easily compare your stats for different periods, evaluate your progress and share with your trainers and friends.

The Swimsense is rated at 3 ATM (30 meters) and can be obtained for $34.95 at Amazon. So, if you know you’re not going to use your fitness tracker anywhere outside the swimming pool, then the Finis Swimsense is the best option you have. No other activity tracker of its class can come for 34 dollars, and very few are so specialized for swimming.

10. Exmetrics Swimming Tracker

Xmetrics swimming tracker is a one of kind swimming activity tracker that you clip on to a goggle band and strap it to the skull to track your aquatic life. It’s not yet really a mainstream product, but that has nothing to do with underperformance or any kind of inferiority. In fact, the waterproof activity tracker has been shown to match the accuracy of some of the most reliable products on the market. It actually edges over them with a fairly more ergonomic design, which is quite a respite to individuals who find this kind of gizmos irritating.

The “state of the art” technology utilized in this device combines biometric data sensors and refined algorithms to breed unmatched precision. This data-driven analysis facilitates maximum utilization of every second you spend in the pool, in the long run, and consequently improves performance.

Data gathered by the Xmetric Swimming Tracker can be shared with friends and fellow swimmers on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Update: January 2017

Garmin have just announced their new Flagship Waterproof GPS Running and Activity Watch – The Garmin Fenix 5.

Garmin Fenix 5 introduced at CES 2017 in Las Vegas

The Fenix 3 was one of the best reviewed Fitness Watches and we expect the Fenix 5 Watch will be the must-have item for any serious runner.

Stay tuned for further updates!

The post The Best Waterproof Activity Trackers 2017 appeared first on ChipIn.

Here are the best Bluetooth wireless headphones for Running on the market in 2017

There is a constellation of headphones that populate the Bluetooth headphones space. Functionality aside, what separates them is their practicality. For a lot of us, we look for headphones that won’t budge or wobble while we run. We want headphones that are fixed and fit the shape of our heads perfectly. While finding the perfect fit can be a bit of a challenge, sometimes it merely comes down to design.

In-ear headphones are typically the form that string behind the head or neck and insert directly into the ear. The structure that connects the two earphones can often be a wire or a plastic bar of some sort. This design does away with any cumbersome wires that may drape along the neck or get tangled in our hair or clothing. However, some variations can seem a bit challenging to navigate when on a tough run. With nothing affixing the headphones to the ears, there’s still the possibility of the earphones falling out of place during a run.

Over the ear headphones have a more rigid structure connecting the two earphones with a bar or wire that runs behind the ears and typically behind the head or neck. Because the headphones is fixed to the cranium and behind the ears by running over the top of the ears, you’re less likely to encounter problems with the earphones falling out. But because it is more rigid, you’ll encounter one size fits all designs that don’t necessarily fit all sizes.

You are less likely to encounter problems with the earphones falling out while working out or running

The drawback can be manifold. Perhaps you lose one of the pieces. Or there still can be those moments when an earpiece falls out. And not all earpiece shapes are perfectly molded to fit the shape of our ears.

1. Jaybird X3

The light weight Jaybird X3 is equipped to meet the challenges any strenuous workout might throw at it!

The Jaybird X3 is a reasonably priced in-ear headphones. The latest generation of Jaybird X series is lightweight and forward-thinking. How so? You can customize the sound to your needs. Having an ability to finesse the nuances of the EQ while you run is something you don’t see too often in this sphere of tech.

But Jaybird does it fluidly and seamlessly. The X3 is compatible with all Bluetooth platforms and runs an accompanying app that uses iOS 9+ and Android 4.4. Don’t worry about skipping unless of course, your Bluetooth source is too far from the actual headphones. Otherwise, this pairs nicely with your devices and takes the road like a champ.

As far as durability and functionality go, the X3 is well-equipped to meet the challenges any strenuous workout might throw at it. It has 8 solid hours of battery life. So after a full charge, this one won’t conk out on you in the middle of a workout. It also is sweat proof and it even has a microphone should you want to take an incoming call while you pour it all out on the track or treadmill.

Cons are few unless you’re a hardcore audiophile. No noise canceling and given that these are in-ear headphones, you may occasionally run into instances where the earpieces slip. But it is a solid piece of sports tech and it only retails for $129.

2. Bose Soundsport Wireless Headphones

The design comes with an added plus of StayHear+ design that helps to secure the ear pieces in the ear.

No list about top tech for audio would be complete without a mention somewhere about Bose. They’ve managed to populate a lookbook of sound systems, accessories and all around tech that never fails to satisfy audiophiles. Here is no different as the brand moves into the sports and fitness sphere with the Soundsport Wireless. It like most of the Bluetooth headphones on the market is a lightweight and compact headphones. The design is in-ear but comes with an added plus of StayHear+ design that helps to secure the earpieces in the ear.

Free app that makes connecting and switching between devices easier than ever

Personalization is the main focus of the Soundsport. The accompanying app allows you to connect with ease, using any given number of Bluetooth platforms. So getting started is quick and painless. They retail for $149.95.

3. Bose Quiet Control 30

Bose balances the levels of your music with your surroundings and helps you control how much of your environment you hear at your fingertips.

Here you still have the three sizes of QC tips to keep your earpieces in your ear. But you also have a neckband that does away with the Soundsport’s cable. This one also boasts longer battery life with up to 10 hours on a full charge.

Bose ergonomic neckband does away with the Soundsport’s cable

As far as connectivity goes, the Bose app makes it easy to pair your devices. But it is also NFC enabled for added perks. The Quiet Control 30 retails for $299.95.

4. Monster iSport Victory

These are robust, sweat and weather resistant earbuds with 8 hours of battery life to take you through a heck of a workout

This wouldn’t be a credible list of top Bluetooth headphones for running without some sports brands wading into the fray. Enter Monster. The brand has taken to crafting a solid piece of tech with flying colors. The iSport Victory sits perfectly in Monster’s solid line of Bluetooth headphones. Here we have an in-ear style with adjustable tips for securing your earpieces.

Why is Monster on this list? These are robust, sweat and weather resistant earbuds that go the distance. You get 8 hours of battery life to take you through a heck of a workout should you decide to do so. And while you’re at it, nothing will get in the way of your progress. A microphone comes with the set for taking incoming calls. No more stopping your run to look at a screen.

The in-ear style with adjustable tips work perfectly with helmets, glasses and goggles

Instead, you can focus on where you are in your workout. The iSport features two sound profiles, warm up and sport. Both will set the tone for your run, your stretch or your cooldown. The iSport retails for an attractive $99.95.

5. LG Tone Active Plus

LG Tone Active Plus resists sweat and inclement weather conditions, rendering your tunes in impeccable sound quality

The LG Tone Active Plus is another take on the neckband in-ear combo. LG has long been a stalwart in the electronics game, only being eclipsed by rival and fellow Korean brand Samsung. Here LG hopes to have no peers. The Active Plus boasts a superior dynamic range in case you want your playlist to play through at its most pristine potential. But these superior audio drivers are only par for the course for a brand of LG’s ilk.

The real question is how does LG stack up in the fitness industry? Admirably. The Active Plus boasts a whopping 13 hours of battery life on a single charge. But that’s only the beginning. These aren’t a delicate pair of headphones. Instead, these durable headphones resists sweat and inclement weather conditions, rendering your tunes in impeccable sound quality without batting a lash.

The only drawback to the neckband design is the rigidity of the neckband itself. If you can overlook that one niggling element, then this one is a winner. It retails for $179.99

6. Mpow Cheetah Bluetooth 4.1

The Cheetah comes with the standard bells and whistles you’d expect for a headphones of this price

The Mpow Cheetah fits in the lower price spectrum of headphones. Here is a gobsmackingly affordable set of in-ear headphones that sit in the $30 range. Why might you be interested in something like this? Well, if your workout is as tough and hard on you as you would hope, chances are it’s tough on your gear as well. And cycling through one pair of pricey headphones after another can rack up a fortune in the long run. So opt for something that gets the job done without causing you worry about how much you’ve invested.

The Cheetah comes with the standard bells and whistles you’d expect for a headphones of this price…and more. Yes, it’s sweat proof. Yes, it has a solid 8 hours of battery life. But get this: it also has a microphone for those moments when you want to take incoming calls during your workout. And it features AptX Bluetooth stereo sound.

Sound dynamics are above average. Unless you want to propel yourself front seat and center in the London Philharmonic or hear the deepest subs from your favorite rap and trap playlist, this will get you through your run effortlessly. These are compact and can be rolled up after you’ve used them. And the design uses a behind the neck grip for better hold. They retail for $31.63.

1. Apple Powerbeats 3 Headphones

Apple Powerbeats 3 is easy to pair to not only your iOS devices but Android as well

Apple makes its first appearance on our list with their behind the ear set the Powerbeats 3. They’ve found a way to elongate the life expectancy of your battery life with a specially designed Bluetooth chip, the W1. The results speak for themselves: 12 hours of uninterrupted listening pleasure. And that listening pleasure is only heightened by the fact that Apple spares no effort in eking out the best in dynamic range at this price.

The question is, does the Powerbeats 3 play fair with the other Bluetooth platforms? Sure, we know that Apple has a penchant for making its tech and gear exclusively compatible with iOS platforms. Not the case here. It’s easy to pair to not only your iOS devices but Android as well. Given that Samsung has made it something as simple as a click to connect its Bluetooth headphones to an iOS device, Apple has gone the same route.

Comfort takes a hit, however with the earpieces. The edges are slightly difficult to finesse and manipulate. But they remain in the ear and won’t slip during your run. These are top sellers for Apple. They retail for $199.95.

2. Plantronics Backbeat Fit

Plantronics features a lightweight structure, over the ear design and a behind the neck grip

The Plantronics Backbeat Fit is a simple yet stellar design. This just goes to show that all of the top of the line future innovations that some brands clamor for don’t necessarily make an exceptional headphones. Instead, Plantronics goes for the jugular with a pared down headphones featuring a lightweight structure, over the ear design and a behind the neck grip. The result is a headphones that stays in place and renders the sound in solid quality.

Its other bells and whistles are respectable as well. The Backbeat takes off where its predecessors stumbled. Firstly, at only .85 ounce, it is one of the lightest designs on the list. But then consider equally that it packs a lot of perks into the design: a built-in microphone for those incoming calls, sweat-resistant design, 8 hours of battery life, 6 hours of talk time, can connect up to 8 devices, and the earpieces are built to allow in ambient noise.

The headphones that stays in place and renders the sound in solid quality

Given that the Plantronics Backbeat is rather minimalist when it comes to incorporating excessive tech, it also pulls its price down into the lower price bracket. So here you find an excellently priced, lightweight piece of gear that won’t bog you down during your run. It retails for $129.99.

3. ADV.Sound Evo X

The Evo X comes in an over the ear design that keeps the gear fixed to the listener’s head

Sound team has thought of creature comfort during your workout. It doesn’t just end with the fit. Built-in controls for listening allow you to run without fiddling with your device. It uses Bluetooth 4.1 and has a battery life of 5 hours for your listening or even talking time for calls.

Built-in controls for listening make it convenient to listen to your favorite playlist

While the battery life could use a boost, the frequency response is a solid 20Hz to 20kHz. This is a very respectable range, given that the vast majority of Bluetooth speakers offer about the same. Unless you are looking for dynamic surround sound, you’ll be happy with the sound here. And generally speaking, you’ll be happy because the Evo X doesn’t force you or your wallet to splurge. It retails for $59.99.

4. Under Armour Sport Wireless Heart Rate

In-Ear Heart Rate is a comfortable in-ear technology developed by experts and tested by athletes

We don’t typically lump Under Armour into a category populated by brand standards for audio gear. But here’s the exception. Under Armour has widened its lookbook from workout clothing and gear to tech. Look no further than Under Armour’s forward-thinking collaboration with JBL. The Heart Rate is a masterful piece of work, combining JBL’s sensibilities about achieving excellent performance with Bluetooth and Under Armour’s singular fingerprint for athletic gear.

These over the ear pieces use a cable that drapes across the nape of the neck, resisting any temptation to get tangled up in your hair. Furthermore, the patented ear tips keep these babies locked in place.

Touch sensors are designed for spoken on-demand heart rate updates and endurance training session

JBL has a winning relationship with Bluetooth sound devices. Here is no different. Excellent dynamic range couples effortlessly with a personalized app that does everything from fitness tracking to tweaking just how you hear your tunes.
And Under Armour for its part is fond of putting the athlete first in order to achieve his best potential. So don’t worry about your headphones running down because it’s succumbed to your sweat or bad weather. It keeps ticking defiantly. The Heart Rate gets your blood pumping through wind or rain. And it retails for $199.95.

1. Here One

Here One features huge sound dynamics that plumb the depths of bass frequencies

Here One hopes to steal the thunder of brand giants Samsung and Apple with its completely wireless earbuds. They’ve endowed these earbuds with as much tech as one can hope to cram into two little ear pieces. In fact, they like to consider all the other competition in the crowded Bluetooth market as simply headphones.

Here One for its part has given the two little ear buds a grocery list of options: six microphones for filtering out ambient noise as you please, huge sound dynamics that plumb the depths of bass frequencies and scale up for your heavenly highs, and sweat resistant design to make sure that you can go as hard in the paint as you like during your workout.

Talking has never seemed so fluid and seamless as with the Here One. Simply tapping the ear buds engages your incoming or outgoing calls. However, this is where Doppler’s Here One encounters some hefty drawbacks. Background noise may filter into your phone conversations. And talking as long as you like isn’t an option. Battery life is a minuscule 2 hours.

Here One offers the most pristine sound quality and performance you will find on the market.

But if you whip through a standard workout under a 2-hour session, the Here One offer the most pristine sound quality and performance you will find on the market. Where they falter in endurance they more than make up for in dynamic explosive performance. Call them the sprinter of Bluetooth earbuds. They retail for $299.

2. Bragi The Dash

The fitness tracker keeps you focused on your workout goals

Bragi’s The Dash is rather braggadocious (pun intended) in claiming they’re the best of their breed on the market. These earbud pairs certainly are no slumps. They pack 4GB of storage in addition to Bluetooth connectivity. So performance is only limited to your playlist’s potential. The low end is tremendous thanks to the Dash’s bass response. Your tunes will get a kick in the pants while you sprint through your workout.

But you won’t be able to get distracted by your music either. The fitness tracker will keep you focused on your workout goals. But here’s the kicker: these earbuds are fully waterproof. Sweat won’t remotely phase this pair. The downside is not all earbuds are created equal. Make sure you have a strong, good fit. They are on the pricier side of the food chain. They retail for $299.

3. Samsung Gear Icon X

Icon X is compatible with both Android and iOS

Samsung’s Icon X also ventures into the wire-free earbud scuffle. The Icon X is formidable, packing 4GB of storage and Samsung’s always forward-thinking connected apps. What’s more, the earbud pair has a built-in heart rate monitor. Your earbuds go above and beyond ordinary fitness trackers in keeping accurate tabs on your resting heart rate and your workout pulse. Couple that with Samsung’s constellation of fitness apps and you can tailor your workout to the conditions of the day.

Tap and hold to hear voice prompts guide you through Gear IconX’s functions

The earbuds are touch-sensitive. Swiping alone is sufficient to navigate through your options and controls. And never fear, the Icon X is not exclusively compatible with Android. It is both Android and iOS ready. You also have an ambient mic feature so as not to completely cancel out all the surrounding noise of your environment. Your workout just got an upgrade. The Icon X retails for $199.99.

The post Best Bluetooth Wireless Headphones For Running 2017 appeared first on ChipIn.

Garmin Forerunner 35 in Black

Distance, speed, cadence, routes, calories, and so on, can be utterly overwhelming—virtually impossible to nail. But, what’s worse than spending around a hundred bucks only to have to spend a bunch more minutes in advance just to figure, set, reset and re-reset that “smart” sports watch? Nothing.

Heck, it is a “Smart” sports watch. It is supposed to help you do what matters the most in these kinds of situations—innovation that inspires. That is, worry less about the technical and instead, focus more energy on the workout, right? And who minds a GPS sports watch that offers a little motivation here, and a little coaching there—or at the very least, packs the essential tools to help you do both yourself?

TomTom Runner 3 in black/green

You probably want to find out when you have hit that KM by having your fitness wrist buddy, ping you with a notification. We could do with a GPS sports watch that can re-track our runs back to the beginning. One that can show us the new route that we just conquered, the high elevation that’s helping us gain more red blood cells, even. Or a cool GPS sports watch that’ll sync wirelessly to its smartphone app while we leave it to take a shower after a run.

In those cases, the Garmin Forerunner 35 and TomTom Runner 3 think they can outrun your particular set of runner needs. So on this piece, we are taking these decent runners on a cross country beside each other. Plus, no one needs to jailbreak their savings account just to buy a nice sports watch. So that is a consideration here, too.

Editor Pick: Garmin vs Tomtom

Garmin Vs. TomTom Smart Watch – Battle of the Best Running Watch Contenders

Posted: October 22, 2017

If you love to exercise – whether you’re a weekend warrior or have a dedicated daily workout routine – you almost certainly have some favorite activities. But no one wants the workout routine to become stale, so you may have two or three other activities that you like to use

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We are thrilled to find out: between the TomTom Runner 3 and Garmin Forerunner 35, which sports watch is the best?

The original TomTom Runner is somewhat the second generation of GPS watch coming out of TomTom. But, because the first was a collaboration effort between them and sports conglomerate, Nike, in the form of the Nike+ SportsWatch, the Runner is, in fact, the first ever TomTom GPS sports watch. That may mean TomTom has mastered the Runner out of experiences gained from studying and creating the Nike Sportswatch. Both watches even share looks.

TomTom’s Runner GPS watch measures decently, calculates and displays runners’ performance stats from both an outdoor run or private one on that treadmill you may be so fond of—this at a mid-range price. You can attach a secondary peripheral to this thing, too—such as a heart rate monitor.

On the other side, Garmin Forerunner 35 is similarly a less costly way to measure accurately, compute and analyze runners’ performance by mapping distance, speed, pace, and even routes.

The Garmin Forerunner 35 – Easy-to-use GPS Running Watch with Wrist-based Heart Rate

It is the predecessor to the now popular Garmin Forerunner 15, and both have astonishingly similar faces—and most features are like, too.

Who says you can’t run in style?

It is 2017, and one of the best things about a sports watch comes up in how it looks, grooves and smoothes onto and on your wrist. It is about durability, fit, skin irritability, what shows up (or misses out) at-a-glance on the display, if you can indeed add a peripheral (pulse rate taker, for example), and if the clasp will make you lose it the first time you take it out on a run. These could coax you to run—or not.

The TomTom Runner GPS Watch design takes a leaf (maybe a branch) off the sleekness of most basic smartwatches—looks like a toned down Sony Smartwatch 3. Most users will like its good looks right off the box. It is lightweight at 50g, and slim too (11.5mm at thickest point), and feels like TomTom designed the Runner for runners.

For a start, the large, 22 by 25 mm display is a real thing. It is ample for stealing a sneak-peek at your running stats in real-time, during day or evening runs (in Night Mode)—so you know whether you are getting around just fine or need to hype up or slow down the pace.

Garmin’s Forerunner 35 is not bad-looking either, but compared to TomTom’s offering, the former offers less novelty on the face. But the FR35 is beautiful on the inside. It keeps it frame slim, lightweight at 42g, and utilitarian—if that is a great thing. Its 2.1 by 2.0 cm (55 x 32 pixels) display may not be particularly pretty, but it gets the job done. It displays the time and day of the week, and you will need to fiddle the innards to get to your run’s stats—doesn’t show real-time run stats right on the home screen like its rival, TomTom Runner GPS sports watch.

The FR35’s clasp fits perfectly, so no worries about losing it while you run, but neither is the TomTom Runner a problem here either. Both sports watch brands thought a rubber clasp could do and we agree too. Both come with perforated straps that ensure the rubber doesn’t get too touchy-feely with your skin and probably wind up causing irritation or uncomfortable sticky situations. Still, the rubbery design of both comes in handy, helping both GPS watches to be waterproof up to 50 meters.

If you aren’t a swimmer as well, this is especially an unnecessary feature since you will most probably want to leave your TomTom Runner 3 GPS watch to sync to your computer via Bluetooth as you shower. Unfortunately, you can’t do so with the Garmin Forerunner GPS sports watch since it lacks Bluetooth connectivity support and you’d have to hard-wire it to your computer via USB connection—or get a Garmin FR 15 if the ability to wirelessly sync data is dear to you.

However, the Garmin FR35 is pretty sturdy when removed compared to the Runner, which fits into its removable clasp rather loosely. The TomTom Runner 3 feels like it would fall off if you decided to carry in your handbag or backpack to your preferred run location.

Maybe that is because TomTom’s Runner watch module and the clasp are two different parts of the same watch. The watch module comes attached together with the GPS module right below it, such that the GPS module is below the display when appended to the strap. Similarly, Garmin Forerunner 35 users can detach the core watch module. So both watches’ rubber straps can be swapped for a Favorite color if you feel it is a greater way to run.

Currently, Garmin FR35 offers bright colors such as orange, violet, lime green and pink. TomTom’s Runner can be exchanged for a limited gray and pink only—a tad un-inspirational if you don’t like either color. But, both watches are not as all-day accessories as the FitBit Flex or Nike FuelBand may be, and neither are both all-out activity trackers, so you probably will be wearing either for a run and clasping it off after you return—maybe.

That detachment also ensures you have unperturbed access to the USB charging ports built into the GPS watches. Look at both runner watches properly and the hardware suggests what you can do with the innards.

Garmin’s Forerunner 35 GPS watch sports is pretty straightforward to set up.

Out of the box, you’ll need to use the supplied USB cable to connect it to your PC or Mac via the charging port. Then download Garmin Express to your computer, which is what you will be using to enable any updates for the FR35. After this, create an account with Garmin and sign in. Your Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS sports watch will automatically detect and pair up to sync with your Garmin account.

The Forerunner 35 houses four buttons on the sides—two on the left and another two on the right. The button on the top-left controls the backlight, the one on the bottom-left is good for going back a screen. Press the button on the top-right and you can access the FR35’s options for starting a run.

The bottom-right button is useful for scrolling through those options. Scroll down and you will find: Race Options, Settings and History. Race Options lets you personalize what you want the F35 to collect, record and present to you. Some other really cool features exist here. For example, you can choose to activate “Auto Pause” to let the Garmin GPS watch sense that you’ve slowed down from a run to a jog and even more gradual to a walk. You can even set it up to ping you with an alert for the opportune time to pick up the pace for a walk, or slow down from a jog or run using the Run/Walk function—a pretty honorable trainer.

The same trainer will beep-beep, flicker a light on the display, and audibly murmur inspiration in your ear after every mile you thrash. And during a run, the device shows both distance ran and time over and done, but with a few tweaks (under Settings) you can set it up to concurrently show speed on the always-on display.

The History menu item enables you to track back those past races up to seven prior days’ data, or seven activities. And true to Garmin’s promise, the FR35 does the recalling in pretty relaxed and spot-on fashion. Be sure to check the internal memory status on the display. If it appears scary and spent, the Garmin Connect app can help.

Unfortunately, and unlike the TomTom Runner 3, the Garmin Forerunner 35 conspicuously lacks Bluetooth connection support. So the device cannot sync wirelessly to the GC app as you prepare that after-run smoothie or take a shower. However, whenever you attach the FR35 to your Mac or PC, and sync collected data, the History function reflects the revamped stats on your Garmin device on the go. If you prefer the unclamped presentation achieved by a PC or Mac display, you can analyze the stats from there via USB connection.

Tracking, analysis, sharing and encouragement on Garmin Connect.

You need to stay around, though, unlike the Runner where you can leave it to sync to its accompanying, free IOS and Android apps (TomTom MySports Apps). Unable to attach extra peripherals, the FR35 also cannot hold a heart rate monitor like the TomTom Runner sports watch can. Garmin, however, more than makes up for this slip up in the Forerunner 15, which includes daily activity monitoring and Bluetooth connectivity for wireless syncing among other sweet offerings.

Garmin did not need to rip out the GPS module to net better, faster signal and pinpointing brilliance. But, they still achieved the necessary: the GPS mapping is pretty on point, though, if course, it will vary with locations where it is activated. One skilled user found that it took about 30 seconds to square them in an open park, while it searched unsuccessfully for a signal for up to 4 minutes before calling it quits entirely, in New York’s built-up district of Manhattan. This is not the power of GPS mapping you will find on a FitBit Flex, and is a much stronger than a Nike FuelBand, or SportsWatch will ever be, and ousts the TomTom Runner GPS sports watch by a tad.

We feel that Garmin were kind enough to label all four, side buttons with icon labels, so you can get to each in snaps, before getting used to it and not even need to glimpse over what push button to press—and risk tipping over. TomTom did not feel the need.

The TomTom Runner GPS module sports the “buttons”, instead of the core watch module bezel as in the Garmin Forerunner 35. That is a four-directional pad similar to those used for scrolling through options on earlier Nokia keypad phone models. Despite the different design, those four buttons work to serve pretty much the same purposes as the Garmin Forerunner 35 knobs. But the TomTom Runner GPS watch takes things to another level here, likely because of its dual run modes capability.

With a press of the left button, you get various stats displayed, including battery level and internal storage status. Push on the right one and the GPS sports watch gives you the options of either “Run” or “Treadmill”. For indoor, treadmill workouts, the TomTom GPS sports watch has a built-in accelerometer and sensors to help detect motions of the arms and collect the data accordingly. Follow up with a right push again on “Run” and that activates the GPS module to pinpoint your exact location. Push right when in action and live stats show up in great charm. Those include data being recorded in the form of stride length, lap time, cadence, speed, and if you have your heart rate monitor attached, real-time heart rate stats.

“Exact” is a strong word especially when talking about GPS watches, and open areas snap up GPS signals much faster than built up areas do, but not when describing the accuracy of the TomTom Runner. It is noticeably better than the satnav ability of the Nike SportsWatch, and more in tandem with that of the Garmin Forerunner 35.

TomTom has a name for its accurate GPS technology; they are calling it QuickGPSFix –pretty smart, although, depending on where you activate yours, the Runner can delay up to a couple of minutes before it locks your position from the Earth’s orbit. If you get a tad more motivated and start moving around, this could take longer too.

The down button is rather exciting and almost gets all the love. First, it is such a nice spot to sport the most functionality as it is the easiest, most intuitive button to press with your other hand while either running or standing still.

Secondly, by pressing the down button you get to launch Graphical Training Partner, a virtual assist tool you might want taking care of all your important workout stats, and course (ahem…motivate) you to push harder or tone it down a bit to get the most out of your sessions. Under GTP, you’ll find four useful modes to boost: Laps, Goal, Race, and Zone.

Laps let you set either manual or automatic laps, of course in consideration of distance and time to cover each lap. Goal, moreover, lets you be the visionary who knows what they want to get out of their runs and treadmill sessions by letting you set up distances to outrun. Choose to run against yourself and against a previous run you’ve conquered, and the Runner displays your current run and selected last run simultaneously.

If you set a certain distance, the GPS sports watch displays your live performance as a percentage of total distance. We like it that the TomTom Runner will vibrate to let you know you have reached (and, ideally, are crossing) your pre-set target or goal distance.

We like Garmin FR35’s audio notifications more, though. Because if you run with headphones on and running music blaring and body shaking, you just might miss the Runner’s stealth vibration—definitely not the same case when you have a Garmin Forerunner speaking straight to your ear drum.

That target could be a kilometer, mile, or whatever distances that suit you. New runners or treadmill trainers, especially, could benefit from this. So they can push a beatable distance and move further with time. Veterans can use the same functionality to pick up pace, tone down, and/or push over new milestones in their wake.

Race Mode, meanwhile, is at your service to compare your current run to previous ones, so you know your overall progress in real-time. Zone utilizes that info to determine if you are pushing too hard and need to slow down a little, or are a tad slow so you can pick up the pace. In either case, the GPS sports watch innards will let you know—first with a pleasant vibration, and then on the display.

We like it that you can use the stats collected by the Runner, connect it to your Mac or PC and sync the data via USB connection to your custom online MySports website portal. Or upload the data directly to MapMyFitness and RunKeeper website portals, as well as upload files (in such formats as FIT) in case you are unable to do so directly.

That is quite similar to what you can do using the Garmin Forerunner 35 Garmin Connect app, but varying where the Garmin does not support third-party apps or web portals to link up with your Forerunner 35 device. You would need to switch to Garmin Forerunner 15 to do the latter.

On a PC or Mac, on the other hand, you will almost likely fall in love with how powerful, detailed, easy-to-grasp, organized and convenient the Garmin Connect dashboard really is. You can even have your data organized in data cards, and then move these reports, route maps, and badges, and challenges however you like, say, to prioritize the most urgent, or best, or worst of them for quick access. We wish the mobile app were this good.

How important is battery life in a GPS running watch? Imperative.

After all is said and done, a poor battery life spoils an otherwise great device. TomTom keeps its Runner GPS watch packed with a decent 10-hour battery life. This is all good, although, it slips lower to an 8-hour one if you have to keep that back light on to run in the evening under the watchful guide of Night Mode.

Garmin Forerunner 35 maxes out battery use and empties its jar in just over 5 hours, three hours less than the TomTom Runner and two hours less than its successor, the Forerunner 15.

Both best mid-range GPS sports watches come wrapping other innards such as the alarm function, just in case you need a little friendly beep to wake up and run early in the morning, or at other specific times. We also already mentioned the variety of straps both makers offer, which you can choose to suit your favorite running mode, mood, or motivation.

At this time, both the TomTom Runner and Garmin Forerunner 35 have successors. Garmin has the Forerunner 15, and TomTom the Multi-Sport GPS Sports Watch.

The one reason why that is the best thing that could happen is because prices of both predecessors deep. TomTom’s Runner GPS Sports Watch currently sells for as low as $89 (down from $199) on Amazon and $84.20 from $129.99 for Garmin’s Forerunner 35.

.Verdict

The post Garmin Forerunner 35 vs Tom Tom Runner 3 – and the Best MidRange GPS Sports Watch Is appeared first on ChipIn.

The watch only weighs 49 grams, which means that it won’t slow any athlete down during their activities, but will still attract the curious looks of other people if the user chooses one of the brightly colored, interchangeable silicone straps. The bezel is made of fiber-reinforced polymer, while the display, which is transflective memory-in-pixel and sunlight visible, is sadly not protected by any special material, like sapphire, as you’d find in other smartwatches designed for the outdoors and intense activities, the lens being made of glass. The watch itself has a definite sporty look to it, and it may not blend all that well with certain outfits, but then again, this watch is designed for physical activities, not showing off.

Despite not being extremely good-looking, the watch excels at everything it promises to do, and that’s being perhaps one of the most impressive sports smartwatches on the market. This is because the watch is packed with so many features that it’s hard to think of something missing from a device that is supposed to be tracking your activity.

For the regular features expected from a modern smartwatch, the Garmin Forerunner 935 is an okay choice, as it has a calendar, weather app, Find My Phone and Find My Watch functionality, connectivity via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to iOS, Android and even Windows Phone via the Garmin Connect app, and is highly customizable due to its downloadable watch faces, widgets and apps. Additionally, users can create their own watch faces via the Face It application.

However, if you do pick this device up, it’ll most likely be for its sports and leisure activities applications. In order to truly shine in these aspects, the watch contains every practical sensor you can think of: GPS, GLONASS, heart rate sensors, compass, barometric altimeter, gyroscope, accelerometer and even a thermometer. The battery life is fairly good for a watch that’s supposed to be mostly used while training or engaging in physical activity, as with GPS on, it should last up to 24 hours, while on power saving mode, it should last up to 60 hours.

Garmin Forerunner 935 is available in Black and Yellow from Q2 2017

The activity tracking features, in general, are aplenty, as the watch is able to accurately track your steps, your sleep patterns, calories burned, distance traveled, intensity minutes and even floors climbed, and has TrueUp and Move IQ functionality, which are Garmin-specific features.

In order to be the ultimate training device, the Garmin Forerunner 935 also has training-specific features. That being said, users will be able to get data for their lap times, finish times, speed and distance based on GPS, audio prompts, advanced workouts and a lot more customization options in order to allow athletes to create their perfect training sessions.

One thing that the team behind the Forerunner 935 has nailed is the fact that whether you’re a swimmer, runner or even a golfer, there are specific features for every sport that allow users to track and store their stats, and in many cases improve their abilities, because the watch provides a weekly “opinion” regarding their data, telling them whether they are training in the right zone, if they made any progress recently, and whether they’re going too easy or too hard on themselves during activity.

For professional runners who would like to know every single detail about their runs, the Garmin Forerunner 935 does a fairly good job by itself. However, in order to get additional details, a separate purchase of Garmin’s new “Running Dynamics Pod”, a small device users clip to their waistbands, is necessary. Therefore, with a Running Dynamics Pod, the user will be able to check out their vertical oscillation and ratio, their stride length, the time their feet touched the ground during the run, and a thorough analysis of their pace and heart rate.

Preinstalled on the Forerunner 935, the TrainingPeaks app will also be a nice addition to the many features available. The app allows users to download and view various workouts, as well as upload their data from the workout online for evaluation.

While it may not be the most versatile watch when it comes to daily activities, the Garmin Forerunner 935 is the ultimate smartwatch for just about any sport or physical activity you can think of, providing accurate data that allows athletes to improve their skills. The Garmin Forerunner 935 is available starting at $499, while the Running Dynamics Pod will be available in the second quarter of 2017.

The post Garmin Forerunner 935: A Smartwatch to Run For appeared first on ChipIn.

You see, during my stay there, I always wondered why almost all athletes on the track – even the legendary Usain Bolt – had wrist watches, yet there was a mega display in the stadium that showed each athlete’s running times to split-seconds accuracy. I simply didn’t get the concept of personalized data gathering and tracking. Well, fast forward and a few years down the line, these watches are available almost anywhere in the world.

Further advancements have overseen the transition of normal watches into fitness watches while retaining the time and date features. You can wear it with your suit to work, and it still looks fashionable and elegant, but it does more than tell the time. Sports watch manufacturers are making watches that cater to all types of sporting activities. Water resistant watches for swimmers have additional features such as measuring oxygen levels whereas hikers, bikers, and long distance runners prefer the ones with high tech navigation features.

Below are a few of the best sports watches for men.

1. Mio Alpha 2

Gone are the days when athletes used to use bulky chest straps to measure their heart rate. It proved uncomfortable to wear the chest-strap and still run, swim or train effectively. However, watches like the Mio Alpha 2 have tackled this problem. The Mio Alpha 2 reads your blood flow volume through an electro-optical cell and LED technology at the back of the watch to detect your heart rate. Its display shows your heart rate continuously and in real time for proper assessment of your training.

Additionally, it has Bluetooth capabilities that let you connect to selected apps such as Stava and MapMyRun for a thorough report on your workout. This watch the perfect for everyday exercise, those morning and evening jogs will never be the same again. The watch goes for $199.99 and can be pre-ordered via the manufacturer’s website mioglobal.com.

2. Suunto Ambit3

The Mio Alpha is ideal and only works for runners. Now imagine a watch that can encompass skiers, hikers, runners and mountain climbers. That is a broad range of detail to cover but the Suunto Ambit3 does it with ease. This watch gives you your heart rate, altitude, weather conditions, speed and navigation all at your wrist. The Suunto Gambit has an enhanced battery life, advanced heart rate tracking, vertical speed, waypoint GPS an online planning and analysis tool and a barometric altimeter.

Suunto Ambit3 GPS Sports Watch

The barometric altimeter is what helps you navigate through the hills, mountains and the backcountry providing current heading and elevation, amazing isn’t it? Also, a change in barometric pressure is detected by your watch and then it warns you of incoming stern temperature or weather changes aiding your choice to move on or return to your camp or home.

I mean, this watch will keep a sports diary for you for years. Most sports watches for men have are built to cater for particular sports or perform countable functions, but the Suunto outdoes the norm. The watch goes for $500 and can be bought online at Suunto.com, the official company website. It is also ideal for mountain biking especially because of its waypoint GPS that enables cyclists to navigate through rocky terrain to find paths where there are limited.

There are also more than a thousand apps you can download to your watch such as the Suunto Ambit2 to customize for any athletic pursuit you desire such as incline, maximum speed, calories used and unbelievably, beers burned. These are things you will only find in men’s sports watches.

3. Garmin Swim

What can you talk about concerning sports watches for men, women, and children without mentioning Garmin? This company makes half of the best sports watches there are. It has a vast array of fitness trackers each specially designed for a different type of sports with the best for swimming being the Garmin Swim. If you have not tried this watch by now, you are late for the revolution my friend. Nonetheless, you can get it now for $149.99 at your local; fitness store or on Amazon and the Garmin website.

Specially designed for swimmers, the Garmin Swim can accurately calculate your stroke count, pool length, and pace. Moreover, the watch is also ideal for drill logs and timed sets. It has a slim body that enables it to cut through the water with less resistance thereby not altering your swimming efficiency. The watch provides all statistics needed by a swimmer I any level from novice to professional and it is very easy to read and use.

Men’s sports watches for swimming have gone through a major transformation with the earlier ones not being able to solve completely the water resistance issue. However, the Garmin Swim is as waterproof as they come making it the ideal men’s sports watch for swimming.

4. Magellan

At $250, the Magellan is among the best sports watches for men in the market for the triathlon, running, swimming and biking. Imagine a watch that can seamlessly transition from a wrist watch to a bike handlebar. What’s even better, for triathletes, the Magellan can track multiple sports training as one exercise using its GPS-enabled Switch Up. As a mountain biker, ascents and descents make up almost 60 percent of the training, the same applies to runners. The Magellan sports watch delivers accurate elevation data with its state of the art barometric altimeter.

Its high-resolution display shows distance covered, time and pace making it easy to set goals and calculate your improvement. This watch happens to be the first one that I have encountered that can change its display concerning varying light conditions. Its screen changes color for easy readability. Now you do not have to worry about readability whether you are running very early in the morning when it is dark or when you are in an ultra-bright situation, whatever the case, the Magellan has got your back.

Men have strict adherence to time used during workouts; this is because proper timing is what enables the desired result from an exercise. So what would be better for men’s sports watches than one that allows you to set your desired distance and exercise time and provide updates on whether you’re hitting your goal or not? The Magellan does this with the help of an additional feature called the activity pacer. Now you don’t need to focus on the time you use to work out but can dictate your exercise concerning your desired goal.

5. Adizero

If you are looking for a simple running watch specially designed for running only, then the Adidas Adizero is the watch for you. The easy to use running trainer has an interval timer, a 100 lap memory; get this, a chronograph and two alarms. This men’s sports watch is similar to the running watches of old that only tracked the time spent from start to finish except it has a larger memory. The price is also very low with a piece going for $95; did I mention it is very easy to use too? You can get one at your local fitness store or on the Adidas website adidas.com.

6. The Vertech 2

Trail running is a sport most people avoid because it seems like you are just running in circles with no adventure to it. It also seems like a less efficient form of running to some runners, but it is exquisite exercise, made even better by Avocets’ Vertech 2. The watch is also ideal for skiers and hikers, especially hikers. The Vertech 2 is among the few men’s sports watches with a thermometer. Alongside it, a barometric trend display warns you for incoming severe weather.

This altimeter watch also has split memory and a stopwatch which makes it valuable to not only runners but alpinists, cyclists, and skiers altogether. Now most watches measure a skiers’ descent at feet per hour, the Vertech 2 is more comprehensive measuring your descent at feet per minute. Moreover, it can store up to 199 runs in ski mode; this means it will be a while before you reset the watch. The downside to this sports watch is it cannot connect to your smart device to save the data. However, that should not be an issue because of its storage capacity, if you do not have time to record the first say 20 runs you made, you can still access them and record them when you get the time.

The watch is available at Avocets website, Avoet.com for $160 and other fitness shops around the world.

7. Nixon Supertide

This watch comes as good news to every surfer in the world. Google will probably be disappointed to learn that there is a watch with details of over 230 beaches all across the world. You do not even need to look it up online, as long as it is on the watch, you know all there is to know. This watch provides data for sunrise, sunset and tides for all these beaches on its high-resolution digital display. Again, what would you need the internet for? If you are looking for a break on the beach and enjoy surfing, this is the watch for you.

The Nixon Supertide also provides real-time data on the motion of the waves by synching you to them. This feature enables you to not only know when the wave is coming by a glimpse of the watch but prepare you for it so you can know when to catch the best ride. Pretty amazing; the watch comes in green, red, white blue or black. It is available for $200 at surf shops or on Nixon.com. Thank me later surfers.

8. Tom Tom Spark

For a watch from a company that is not among the top athletic watches manufacturers, the Tom Tom Spark has undoubtedly surprised many. This watch is arguably the best GPS-enabled sports watch for men. Yes, it does cover the usual speed, pace but it is also among the few that have a built-in optical heart rate monitor. If you are one of those runners who love running with music in their ears, then this is the ideal watch for you. The Tom Tom Spark has built-in storage for listening to mp3s via the pair of wireless headphones that come with it. Additionally, it plugs into nearly every running app there is making it the ideal watch to have for your running exercise.

As noted earlier, it is quite impossible to talk about sports watches for men without mentioning Garmin. Even Casio, the company that is known to be among the first companies to make not only sports but other watches as well would support this claim. However, the company still faces competition for men’s sports watches from the likes of Nike, Adidas, and Fitbit. Garmin running watches are among the best in the market with their Forerunner series of watches for runners leading the way. Below are some of the best Garmin running watches.

9. Garmin Forerunner 15

As mentioned above, it is very hard running with a phone-based app. This is the reason why Garmin created the Garmin Forerunner 15 specially designed for runners making the transition from those apps to a decent watch. This is the cheapest of the Garmin running watches series of Forerunner watches going for $119.99. If your running range is around five kilometers or less, this is the perfect watch for you. However, even for a beginner, it is not just a simple watch; it has activity trackers and processes more information than an activity tracker.

That is not all, for a beginners’ running watch, the Forerunner 15 is quite the accessory. The watch covers calories, distance, time, splits, pace and heart rate. Even better, unlike other watches that have sensors to determine your pulse at your wrist, the Forerunner 15 has a strap accessory. So if you were actually more comfortable running with the chest straps recording your heart rate, you could have that and more in one watch. Garmin also added GPS distance as part of the watches features because, despite being the simplest of the Forerunner series, the watch needed to be up to date with recent technological advancements. The Forerunner 15 is available on Amazon, garmin.com and fitness shops worldwide.

10. Garmin Forerunner 220

After familiarizing yourself with recreational running, you may want to take the next step and run your first marathon or double the distance to 10km and more. Ideally, most people would rather repeat the routine they are used to but then again, how do you get better by doing the same thing and not challenging yourself past what you think is your best performance? This watch is designed for those who are starting to get serious about running; it is the next step after the Forerunner 15.

Some Garmin running watches have the ability to access Garmin Connect and with this one you have full access to Garmin Connect training tools. These are professional guidelines for effective running such as off the shelf half and full marathon training plans to help take your running to the next level. Of course, you still get to see distance covered, heart rate tracking with a chest strap and monitor your pace through the watches’ high-resolution color display. What if you can control your training plans? Well, you can customize training schedules, interval sessions, and single workouts and sync them wirelessly to your phone.

Additionally, the Forerunner 220 has live tracking, auto sharing with Strava, wireless data synching and automated social sharing. Live tracking shows your runs on a web-based map in real time so if you are a casual runner you can know where you have been. If you wish to run indoors supposedly on a treadmill, the watch can cover that too thanks to its inbuilt accelerometer. The Garmin Forerunner 220 goes for $199.99 and is available on Amazon, garmin.com and fitness shops worldwide.

11. Garmin Forerunner 630

This watch gives me the chills; it is among the best in Garmin’s Forerunner watches series. It has color display, auto pause, auto lap, virtual pacer and heart rate-based calories computation. You will fall in love with this Garmin running watch after finding out that it has race predictor, running dynamics and a recovery advisor. That equates to having your trainer on your wrist constantly notifying you of when to pick pace or drop it. You can also customize its screen to your preference and use its advanced running dynamics to shift from a novice to a pro.

People used to run with their smartphones, but this embedding of Smartphone technology to a watch has seen Garmin produce the best running watches.

Alongside the other Forerunner running watches from Garmin, the Forerunner 630 is water resistant, has a longer battery and amazing GPS accuracy. What’s better, it is a hands-free device, so you do not need to worry about a cracked or shattered Smartphone screen.

You may be one of those runners who prefer running with a crowd, literally as opposed to running alone. Well, if you cannot get people to run with you, you can access Garmin Connect through your Forerunner. Here, you can join online challenges, compete, connect and compare your progress to that of friends, family or fellow runners. Additionally, you get to earn virtual badges, which serve as motivation to you. The watch goes for $399.99 and can be found on Amazon, garmin.com, and other fitness shops.

Regular watches have taken the spotlight for many years, yet they only show the time and for some, the date. However, athletic watches have redefined this status by integrating essential features into the simple idea of a watch. One of the most unusual things about athletic watches is they have different designs that suit your preference. By this I mean, you can have a watch that looks like a simple plain watch but in the real sense, it does more than just tell the time. From advanced GPS features to ultimate water resistance, athletic watches have it all.

This begs the question, why would any active man settle for an ordinary watch when you can have better? For some, you will get to know the number of calories you burn even when walking or sleeping. Well, sleeping may not be the intended function of an athletic watch, but it sure does come in handy as an added feature. All watches discussed above pass for athletic watches as does the hundreds of others out there in the market. Soon, athletic watches will redefine sports by having a voice command feature that will serve as an aid to you while training.

Their availability is a non-issue as companies compete to avail their products even in the most remote of areas as they either set up shop there or offer delivery services. Prices for athletic watches have also gone down with regard to the many watches bombarding the market. As more companies come up with new watches with new features, it is evident athletic watches will soon take over the old stereotype of watches.

Imagine you are mountain climbing and reach a point where there is no network coverage for your mobile device or fitness tracker. While you are there, something happens and you cannot go back to your camp or car. This unprecedented event is the main reason most athletic watches are coming with GPS enabled features. Locating you will be easy for others, and this makes mountain climbing among other sports that will see you move further from civilization fun.

The best sports watches for men and women as well have to be GPS enabled. This technology does not only help you or others to track your location but gives you data on the places you have run through as well. GPS is also what enables most watches to detect your pace and provide detailed observations concerning your running style. There are a few sports watches for men that have GPS, and fewer have a full mapping feature.

. Conclusion

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Well, it is my second year using the FitBit range, and, my previous device, the FitBit One, was one of the best trackers I ever had. It had features that suited me perfectly until I lost it. How it got lost is a story for another day. As I went online to find another one to replace it, I stumbled upon the entire range of the FitBit devices. To say the least, all of them were as attractive, but, I saw the FitBit Flex 2 and thought of buying it instead of the old One. They cost almost the same and had almost similar features. I have never regretted my decision, nine months after buying it.

As you would expect, the two devices, though from the same manufacturer, have more differences beyond their names. Now, because I have some experience with both models, I will conduct a FitBit One vs. FitBit Flex 2 comparison and highlight the key similarities and differences that make them.

Here we go.

Fibit One vs Fitbit Flex 2

Assuming that you have both devices delivered in their boxes, here is what you should find inside.In the Flex’s box, you will find a USB charger, a wristband and a removable module in case you want to change bands. In the One’s, you will find a wireless syncing Dongle, a USB charger, clip and a sleeping band.
Once assembled, you get to see the form factor (design) of each.

The Flex 2 is a wristband device while the One is the clip-on type

The Flex 2 comes with removable straps in two sizes (big and small). Therefore, depending on the wrist size, the user chooses the gadget. Flex 2 has an all round upgrade in terms of comfort, looks, and function. The straps are secured in place by a belt clip. In yet another unique feature, it has a variety of colors for the user to choose. Concisely, you can have the same display but up to 10 color choices. The One is less flashy. It is a simple device made of hard plastic and is always black in color.

The design, therefore, affects the user in some ways. First, the One comes in handy for people who need to keep their hands free or those that do not want to show their gadgets. The Flex 2, on its part, is best suited for people who do not mind having a band on their wrists. Again, it suits busy people who can only afford a glance at their wrist as opposed to searching their pockets or belts for their device. Finally, its extensive color offering makes it a favorite of fashion-conscious people.

The display plays a critical role in determining the design feature as discussed above. If you look at the Flex 2, you hardly see any screen at all. On the other hand, the One has a clear screen with some characters showing. It seems like FitBit omitted the display (screen) feature so as to come up with a sleek device, which is the Flex 2. Instead of having a screen like most other fitness trackers, it has a series of five dots on what should be the screen. This is the part where the belt straps lock into.

Flex 2 has five different indicator lights which flash patterns for various activities. The five dots in the Flex 2 each represents a workout level. The user sets a target and the Flex monitors how well they stay on schedule. When the one dot is flashing, it represents 20 percent achievement of the set goals. When two lights flash, it represents 40 percent achievement. Nothing else is shown on the minimal screen.

The FitBit one is quite different. It has an OLED screen (display) as a watch’s and displays statistics about the fitness activity as well as the current time. It gives real-time stats about the calories burned, the distance covered and the number of steps taken.This difference, just like the design, determines the user. In my case, I think the One is advantageous as it simplified my physical and mental burden. Physical because I did not have to wear a watch or link my smartphone to see the actual data of my stats. Mental because when I look at the dots in the Flex 2, I have to assume many things as the calories burned, the distance I had covered and so on. With the FitBit one, all you have to do is glance at it, and you have everything laid out bare.

Still, on the advantages of the One, it is important to mention that it has a flower that grows on the screen. Yes! A flower. The flower looks like a vertical branch with leaves on either side plus flower at the tip. This flower acts like the Flex’s five dots. When you start working out, it starts growing from the bottom. As your intensity increases, it grows taller and more leaves appear. When at the peak of your activity, it grows fully and “blossoms.” I found this feature quite interesting, not to mention inspiring as it makes the fitness sessions enjoyable (less serious).

You should make no mistake of thinking that just because the FitBit One is more fun that it is any cheaper. That is not the case. In fact, if you look at both from your computer, you might think the One is costlier because of its bigger, more detailed display and chunkier design. Again, the Flex 2 looks like a simple bracelet. At the time of this writing, FitBit One retails at $99 and Flex 2 retails at $59.95 on company’s website. The Flex 2 might be smaller and less detailed, but it probably evens itself out by having a choice of wristbands and being water resistant.

Let’s talk about water resistance, now that we mentioned it above. In this case, the Flex 2 dominates the One in that it is fully water resistant. It, however, resists water to a depth of 10 meters. The One is only sweat proof, meaning that if it ever falls into water, you might consider acquiring a new one. However, Fitbit has made it clear in the accompanying manual that although the Flex 2 resists water, you should avoid swimming or taking a bath when wearing it. However, in Flex 2, duration and swim laps are auto-tracked.

From this revelation, it is clear that the One should not be used near water environments such as swimming. If you are wary about sweat destroying your gadget, worry not because both models resist sweat perfectly. All in all, the Flex 2 takes the day because you do not have to worry about taking it off several times a day.

If the charge worries you like waterproofing, you need to learn about the FitBit Flex 2 vs. One battery comparison. The similarity in the batteries is that both are rechargeable via USB cable. However, the One is better than the Flex 2 because it lasts for about two weeks after an hour of charging. The Flex 2 takes about two hours to charge and lasts for at least seven days. I doubt the seven days because mine starts giving notifications on the fifth or sixth day. I, don’t complain, though, because I find the Flex 2 more comfortable to wear.

Talking of comfort, I have heard several users of the FitBit one complaining of discomfort before they adjust to using it. According to its design, the manufacturer never intended to have it worn on the wrist. Rather, it was made to be clipped into some secure place as the belt or sneaker. However, as you saw in the box, it comes with a sleeping band, meaning you can convert it and sleep in it. One of the complaints I heard was about the chunky form of the One, that interrupts sleep if it ever gets to the wrong place. For example, if you rest your head on the wrist holding it, you might end up waking up after the pressure becomes unbearable.

Apart from discomfort, other users said that with time, the clip loses its grip on the sleeping band. When this happens, you would only expect one thing; waking up to a missing FitBit One, only to find it on the floor or resting beside you.No complaints about discomfort have been reported with the Flex 2.

Now, with all the mechanical and design aspects clear, let us compare the FitBit One vs. Flex’s features (functionality). Some of the most critical measurements captured by any fitness tracker include the distance covered, the calories burned, the number of stairs climbed, the number of steps taken and the quality of sleep. Other gadgets come with additional functions such as a clock, alarm and active minutes, to mention but a few.

Talking of the number of steps taken, both the Flex 2 and One will calculate them for you. The only variation is that the FitBit one will count and display each step as you make it. With the Flex 2, you need to sync it to your PC or smartphone to get the details. The same happens with calculating the calories burned and the distance you have covered.

Another similarity shared by the two is measuring sleep quality. This measure counts and monitors the number of hours that you sleep. It also shows you the time of the night when you moved a lot or seemed restless. The Flex 2 automatically goes into sleep mode as you go to bed. With the One, you have to have to press a button on its side to activate sleep tracking. This poses one big risk: you might accidentally push the night mode button, and the device will start tracking your “sleep” regardless of whether you are walking or running! This is likely to happen when it is placed in the pocket.

Sleep tracking ends with an alarm going off after your scheduled hours run out. The One and Flex 2 are alike in that both have advanced silent alarm technology. This alarm wakes you up by vibrating. The smart thing about the silent alarm is that you do not have to wake everyone up when your noisy alarm goes off.

The alarm on the Flex 2 can only be set from the PC or smartphone. The FitBit one has a clock on its display, allowing you to see the time as well as set the alarm. Therefore, if you sleep with the Flex 2 and want to check the time during the night, you might have to consult your traditional clock.

Apart from the clock, the One beats the Flex 2 in that it records the number of stairs you take (floors climbed). Climbing stairs is recognized as an integral part of fitness tracking. Many people overlook the Flex 2 because it lacks this feature.

The stairs and clock differences are far as the variations go between the two devices. This is because when it comes to syncing and compatibility with different Operating Systems (OS), they match. First, they both sync to smartphones using Bluetooth 4.0 (smart). They can use the same to link to Bluetooth-enabled computers, but, they use the USB cables to sync automatically. Regarding compatibility, they work perfectly with all the known OS: Windows, OS X, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. They are also compatible with popular fitness tracking applications like Spark People, Run Keeper, My Fitness Pal, MapMyFitness, Edmondo and Lose It!

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