FITBIT Alta HR

Price: £130 What does it do?

Fitbit are the biggest name in the tracker market, and the Alta is their current flagship range. We’ve tested the Alta HR, which as the name suggests, monitors your heart rate (via pulse) on top of the usual services: counting steps, distance and calories, sleep tracking and reminders to move if you’ve sat still for too long. And you can set it to alert you to incoming calls and texts via Bluetooth from your phone, although most people don’t like keeping Bluetooth on all the time as it eats phone battery. The device syncs to the easy, fun and very encouraging (if slightly too peppy and American for some tastes) Fitbit app. The battery can last a week of intensive use without recharge.

Ease of use

Mostly excellent, particularly its interface with the app. But as an energy-saving measure, the face display only comes on when you turn your wrist, and even then there’s a one second delay. Then it turns off again sharpish. This is quite annoying, as is the less-than-slick swiping/ tapping required to toggle from one face to the next. In these respects, Garmin’s vívofits are a lot simpler.

What’s it like to wear?

Light, smooth, and exactly the same weight as a vívofit; the tracker market is definitely consolidating into ‘sleek and slim’. INFO: Weight: 26g Battery life: Up to 1 week Waterproof: Yes Biometrics: Calories, heart rate, sleep monitoring Smartphone app: Fitbit, all platforms Desktop app: Fitbit, all platforms Website: www.fitbit.com