The best in wearable technology
Fitbit Alta HR
Cnet rating: 4.0 stars out of 5
The good: The Alta has a slim and stylish design with seven-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: $150.
The bottom line: Long battery life and stylish design combined with improving app software make the Alta the best all-around fitness tracker for most people.
Apple Watch Series 3
Cnet rating: 4.0 stars out of 5
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 swim-proofing. Same overall size as last year’s watch.
The bad: Battery life takes a major hit when making calls or during GPS workouts. The 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: $650.
The bottom line: The 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.
Garmin Forerunner 235
Cnet rating: 4.0 stars out of 5
The good: The Garmin has accurate GPS for tracking runs and a 24/7 wrist-based heart-rate monitor. It can track all-day activities such as 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: $318 to $330.
The bottom line: The Garmin offers the best value for serious and casual runners looking for an all-in-one running watch and fitness tracker.
Fitbit Ionic
Cnet rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
The good: The Fitbit offers a comfortable design, with 50-meter water resistance for swimming, GPS and mobile payments. You need to recharge it only once or twice a week.
The bad: While the Ionic supports future apps and watch faces, few are available. 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: $300.
The bottom line: The 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.