TRACKERS, WATCHES & APPS

From counting miles to safe navigation: meet the gadgets that want to be your best walking buddy.

TRACKING TECHNOLOGY has become part of everyday life. Where once a Country Walking review of GPS units was a specialised exercise for digital devotees, today you’re almost certainly wearing something right now – or have something in your pocket – that can pinpoint your location, track your walks, record your miles, count your steps, monitor your health stats and shout encouraging things to keep you moving and motivated. It can probably answer calls, read messages, play music and do a trillion other things too.

But in the quest to do more, sometimes the risk with today’s trackers, apps and smartwatches is that they want to do too much, or more than walkers need at any rate. More connectivity, more functions, more data, all whirling around in a spiral of baffling menus.

On top of that, a lot of devices and platforms can’t resist the temptation to chase the sporting dollar. They’ll bombard you with diagnostics on performance and fitness as if you’re Eliud Kipchoge training for his next marathon, and use words like ‘insufficient’ and ‘minimal’ to describe what we thought was a brilliant day’s walk. At brass tacks, all we’re looking for is a simple, accurate way to check location, track our walks and/or store steps or mileage figures handily. Everything else is negotiable.

So in this special report, we’ve tried out the most widely available trackers, watches, handhelds and apps on the UK market, and essentially asked each one the same two questions: what do you actually do for walkers, and how good are you at it?

The answers are all in here. So welcome to tracking tech, Country Walking style. Tap here to start activity.