As we live in a world that grows more and more health conscious with each passing day, it’s no surprise that the technology has grown exponentially along with us to help us keep our own health and wellness in check. It’s certainly not impossible to stay healthy without devices strapped to our wrists or chests or ankles, but they certainly make it easier.
One of the first pedometer monitoring device brands, Fitbit, has been instrumental in deciding the direction of such devices.
Plus, this new-age monitoring goes beyond figuring out how many miles you ran or how fast your heart was beating at maximum speed in spin class.
Now, these devices are able to track your sleep patterns and stages, monitor your number of daily steps, monitor fertility and menstruation cycles, track heart rates, and give reminders for things like guided breathing sessions and reminders to move during periods of inactivity.
Some of these newer devices are even heading in the direction of becoming medically diagnostic; the Fitbit Charge 3 utilizes a new technology to take the monitoring of sleep patterns a bit further by monitoring sleep patterns to find anomalies that might point to certain health conditions, including sleep apnea or asthma.
In general, the devices encourage mindfulness and awareness about how our bodies function and even give recommendations for how we can better take care of ourselves. If you’re looking to see which Fitbit is going to be best for you, you’ll want to start with where your monitoring focus is. We’ve gone ahead and broken them down into three categories, from the small and simple and building up to the all-inclusive everything device.
Small and Simple: The Fitbit Inspire
The Fitbit Inspire is pretty appropriately named, as it doesn’t really give you any sort of overload of information regarding your daily habits and how to fix them, but gives you just enough of the basics to inspire you to be conscious and aware of what you might want to work on. Lightweight and modest in price ($69.95), it tracks activity and movement, calories burned, sleeping patterns (but not stages) and gives subtle reminders to move. Nothing too fancy or intense, but again, a good amount of information to promote more self-monitoring. According to The Verge, it also has basic timer and stopwatch functions and the charge lasts about five days.
Serious, but Not Unnecessary: The Charge 3
The Fitbit Charge 3 is a pretty modest price when you compare it to the functionality of it in comparison to the nearly-doubled-in-price Ionic Fitbit. The Charge 3 comes with a broad range of capabilities and services for you to take advantage of, including the more common ones, like steps taken, calories burned, tracking sleep patterns and stages, activity tracking, heart-rate tracking, and a clock face. It also includes REM tracking, offers different exercise modes and swim tracking, and has plenty of smart features to boot- call notifications, text alerts, calendar alerts, quick text replies, and it has Fitbit Pay. Its light and offers a slightly larger color selection than Inspire. It even offers the guided breathing sessions to help you pause and engage in precise breathing practices. It constantly tracks heart rate and cardio fitness levels, so regardless of what you’re looking for in your fitness, you’ll probably find it with the Charge 3.
The All-In: The Fitbit Ionic
The hefty price tag ($269) on the Ionic comes with a hefty load of features that aren’t seen on some of the other devices. This includes the Smart features that allow a user to scroll through apps and play music, and even have access to adidas (and non-adidas) on-screen workouts, all of which are features exclusive to the Ionic. You don’t even need a trainer to keep you in shape with a watch like this, so you’ll find motivation quickly at the push of a button. Also an excellent feature for runners or walkers- the Ionic has a built-in GPS for distance and pacing, without even connecting to a phone (which the Charge 3 needs for the GPS to work). The Ionic offers a whole lot of bang, but for a whole lot of buck. Other than the technology, it’s also incredibly well-built. Sharp graphics, durable design, the largest of all the screens (which makes it easier to work), and changeable straps are all part of what make the Ionic quite iconic.
Final Consensus: The Charge 3
When you’re looking at the capabilities and the pros and cons of each, the Charge 3 is really the strongest device for the best price. It’s a more than reasonable cost when you look at the multitude of what it provides to users. A great balance of mindfulness and fitness, it tracks what needs to be tracked, monitors what needs to be monitored, and allows you to use certain smart technology features without making it a whole new phone.
We aren’t the only ones: Healthcare Weekly Magazine also notes this is one of the best pedometers in 2019. They even note the accuracy of the tracking as being considered one of the most accurate of all devices and one of the easiest to use. Whether you’re looking for major changes or just minor habits and life adjustments, the flexibility of the Charge 3 is likely to be your best bet for accommodating all users.
This post comes from Codrin Arsene, CEO @ Digital Authority Partners, a Chicago digital agency.