If you’re shopping for a piece of wearable tech in 2017, you’re facing compromises. Smartwatches and fitness trackers are slowly gaining the features that will make them everyday necessities. If you’re looking for a piece of tech for your wrist, here are four of the best choices on the market right now.
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Fitbit Alta HR
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/products/fitbit-alta-hr/review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 4.0 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: The Alta HR has a slim and stylish design with 7-day battery life, and all-day fitness and heart rate tracking.
The bad: It isn’t water-resistant, and notifications can be difficult to read. You can’t manually start workouts. Automatic exercise tracking and no buttons means no on-band controls.
The cost: $149.00 to $149.99
The bottom line: Long battery life and stylish design combined with improving app software make the Alta HR the best all-around fitness tracker for most people.
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Apple Watch Series 3
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-watch-series-3/review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 4.0 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: Cellular connection works well for phone calls, email, Siri and messages. Music now syncs more easily. Improvements in fitness tracking and added watch faces. Adds barometer to GPS and swimproofing. Same overall size as last year’s watch.
The bad: Battery life takes a major hit when making calls or during GPS workouts. 42mm cellular model is expensive, and that’s before monthly wireless service and Apple Music fees. Still requires an iPhone to set up and pair with.
The cost: $649.00 to $649.99
The bottom line: The Apple Watch Series 3 is the best overall smartwatch you can buy, but battery limitations and add-on fees keep it from being a must-have upgrade.
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Garmin Forerunner 235
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/products/garmin-forerunner-235/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 4.0 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: The Garmin Forerunner 235 has accurate GPS for tracking runs and a 24/7 wrist-based heart-rate monitor. It can track all-day activities like steps and sleep, and can display notifications from iPhone and Android devices. It’s water-resistant and can be worn in the shower or while swimming.
The bad: Heart rate accuracy drops off during interval training, there are occasional connection and syncing problems and Garmin’s Connect app can be confusing to navigate.
The cost: $317.90 to $329.99
The bottom line: The Garmin Forerunner 235 offers the best value for serious and casual runners looking for an all-in-one running watch and fitness tracker.
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Fitbit Ionic
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/products/fitbit-ionic/review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: The Fitbit Ionic offers a comfortable design, with 50-meter water resistance for swimming, GPS and mobile payments. You only need to recharge it once or twice a week.
The bad: While the Ionic supports future apps and watch faces, few are available yet. Included apps feel slow and don’t launch from the watch face. There’s not much on-watch coaching and music storage and playback is often more trouble than it’s worth.
The cost: $299.95 to $299.99
The bottom line: The Fitbit Ionic has all the features we’ve been wanting in a Fitbit for years, but it ultimately feels less than the sum of its parts.
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The following CNET staff contributed to this story: former CNET staff member Dan Graziano, Senior Editor Scott Stein and Senior Editor Laura K. Cucullu. For more reviews of personal technology products, please visit www.cnet.com.
