Health & Fitness

12 Of The Best Fitness Trackers To Help You Keep Tabs On Your Progress

By Lauren Murdoch-Smith and Humaa Hussain

19 January 2022

Mario Testino

We may earn a commission if you buy something from any affiliate links on our site.

Tracking your fitness levels and what’s happening to your body during your workouts is easier than ever with fitness tracker technology. From how sleep impacts your body’s readiness for your next HIIT class, to keeping tabs on your resting heart rate, these are just some of the key reasons why investing in a great fitness tracker will ultimately help you on your fitness journey.

Are fitness trackers worth it?

There are so many ways to track your fitness routine – pen to paper, smartphones, a photographic memory – it all really comes down to preference. But the one thing that a fitness tracker is great for, is portraying the accuracy of results exactly when they are needed. Having a wearable device while you kickstart your fitness regime is also known to be a great motivational factor in making sure you achieve your goals.

How do fitness trackers work?

Fitness trackers work by continuously sensing the movements of your body, tracking every and any physical activity, sleep pattern and heart rate, with built in motion sensors. Most trackers are built with a 3-axis accelerometer to track movement in every direction. GPS trackers are also built into the interface so that it knows to track the distance you walked, sprinted or jogged. Some higher priced trackers also come with a designated app, which lets you input other factors such as meals and nutritional information – all of which ultimately help keep your fitness tracker accurate.

Which fitness tracker is the most accurate?

Fitness has always been at the forefront of people's health journeys, made even more important this past year. Which means there is an abundance of fitness trackers to choose from. You can start off at the lower end of the spectrum with basic activity tracking implemented – seen in the Honor Band 5 – or if you decide this is the time to go all in to help kickstart your new lifestyle, the all-inclusive Apple Watch Series 6 is your winner.

But before you make your decision, take a look at British Vogue’s pick of the best fitness trackers below, to make sure you have all your facts covered.

Read more: 9 Best Electric Toothbrushes For Perfect At-Home Teeth Cleaning

1/12
Best Fitness Tracker For Beginners: Tangram Factory Smart Rope
If you use skipping as part of your conditioning training, or you just want to improve your jump rope skills, it might be worth investing in this smart skipping rope. The LED rope projects your skipping data mid-jump (calories, time and jump), so that you can concentrate on your technique rather than having to count or time yourself. So long, multi-tasking.
£79.95, available at Harrods.com.
2/12
Best Fitness Tracker With Oxygen Monitor: Apple Watch Series 6
You can now keep an eye on your heart rate – or even take an ECG – all with a watch. Apple’s latest watch is enhanced with potentially life-saving new features, and still offers the same health and fitness tracking capabilities as before, so will log your workouts and remind you to keep moving. Apple’s Health app has also had a revamp, and now includes a menstrual cycle tracker.
£319, available at Johnlewis.com.
3/12
Best Fitness Tracker For Runners: Stryd Running Gadget
This running gadget is designed to be worn on your trainers, and measures the movement of your foot to give you accurate recordings of your distance, time and pace, so that you can keep tabs on the running metrics you want to improve. It weighs just 7g, and because it doesn’t use GPS it claims to track your true distance more accurately than other gadgets. It links to your watch and gives you a “power number”, meaning you can monitor the intensity of your run and adjust your pace if you need to, as it takes into account things like fatigue, wind speed, and hills. Stryd will also help you improve using all the data it captures over time on the post-analysis feedback on its app.
£199, available at Sigmasports.com.
4/12
Best Fitness Tracker On A Budget: Honor Band 5
One of the most affordable fitness trackers on the market, the Honor Band 5 has both activity and heart rate tracking – so you can keep track of your heart rate and blood oxygen levels whilst you work out – as well as a sleep monitoring, taking it up a notch from its predecessor. The 0.95 Inch pixel AMOLED full-colour display shows notifications from your smartphone as well as the time, and is also built with a waterproof wristband that is water resistant for up to 50m, making it even easier to track your workout no matter where you are.
£29.99, available at Amazon.co.uk.

5/12
Best Fitness Tracker For Swimming: Swimovate PoolMate 2
If you’re a keen pool or open water swimmer, you might want to think about buying a wearable tracker to monitor your swim-specific data. The Poolmate 2 tracks strokes, distance, speed laps and more, and stores up to 50 training sessions so that you can look back, check your data and progress.
£49.53, available at Amazon.co.uk.
6/12
Best Fitness Tracker With GPS: Garmin Vivosmart 4
If you want an activity tracker that’s small but still gives you a lot of fitness and wellness data, the Vivosmart is a compact wrist wearable that estimates your body’s blood oxygen saturation levels. You can also use it to monitor the same as you sleep – perfect if you need to keep tabs and report any changes to your doctor. It’ll connect to your smartphone’s GPS to track runs, you can swim with it on, and the battery lasts up to seven days.
£79.99, available at Amazon.co.uk.
7/12
Best Fitness Tracker For Sleep: Oura Ring
Worn as a ring, the Oura connects to your smartphone to give you feedback on sleep patterns, heart rate and recovery, so that you have all the data you need to improve your fitness. It taps into your lifestyle and health habits, so that you can better understand what works for you. Prince Harry is a fan.
From £215, available at Ouraring.com.
8/12
Best Subscription Fitness Tracker: WHOOP Strap 4.0
This understated waterproof strap houses a sensor that can track you continuously (it has a battery-life of up to five days), from recovery to sleep, with the aim of helping you to reach your optimum fitness level. The sensor connects back to an app, so you can keep track of your data on your phone, and it allows you to join the Whoop community (there’s a monthly membership fee), and measure your progress against other Whoop users if you want a little bit of competition.
From £30 a month, available from Whoop.com.