What fitness tracker / smartwatch?

My partner’s birthday is coming up.  She wants some form of wearable primarily to count steps so she doesn’t have to cart her phone around the house.  Requirements:

Step count which can report back to whatever app she’s got on her phone.

Android-friendly, no iWatches.

Relatively simple, she’s a technophobe.

Suitable for wrists almost as girlie as mine.

I’m guessing the answer here is either Fitbit or Garmin but beyond that I’ve got nothing.  Suggestions appreciated.

Wife has fitbit charge 6 for exactly the same requirements you described. Very happy with it. Hada look at the fitbit website and the luxe looks like an even tidier watch\tracker.

One of the Withings Scanwatches, my other half had similar requirements and has been happy with them.
First watch died in jacuzzi 3 years after being worn everywhere in showers, saunas and pools – second one is now  maybe 2 years old and still going strong.

Fenix 7s.

I have slim wrists and it works really well

Garmin are a good shout.  They have the most appallingly complex product range I’ve seen in a long time, but the Vivoactive, Vivomove, and Venu series are nice looking watches which do the stuff you mention.

I’ve got a Vivoactive 5 and it does the job for me. The step counter seems less accurate than the one in my phone, but that’s probably to be expected for something that’s worn on the wrist.

One thing I’ve read is that with Fitbit, certain stuff is behind a paid subscription. With Garmin it’s all in the app. But apparently Fitbit has better sleep tracking.

this guy  https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuantifiedScientist reviews all the watches.

He finds fitbit better than most(except apple), although ive only had fitbits myself and find them pretty useless for sleep

And Ive had 2or3 with subscriptions, it doesnt make much difference

This subscription thing is news to me.  I don’t think I have much appetite for that, I subscribe to enough crap already.

Cheers all, keep ’em coming.

I bought Mrs TiRed a lovely small stainless steel Fitbit with a really nice feminine stainless bracelet. Sadly the bracelet has a failure mode whereby it comes undone and the device is easily lost! So it went back. Pity as it was just what she needed. Now she has an Apple Watch and it sits by the bedside due to its size really. So I’d say the small Fitbit Luxe with stainless steel band rather than Gorjana bracelet.

Garmin, as FitBit needs a sub for all the features. Garmin does not. Pick the device with the features and ethos/market segment you want.

Mrs K is about to buy a Venu 3s She runs and monitors HR for Thyroid issues, wants notifications and this seems to be the less manly version without being a Forerunner.

Shes feed up with daily charging of her Apple Watch.

Venu 3. Bought my wife one and it’s brilliant, screen is lovely. Tracking etc is as good as the more expensive garmins etc.

Or Vivoactive 5, but the venu looks more stylish and less like a typical garmin sports watch.

For what you described wanting OP I reckon a Vivofit (whatever number they’re on now).

Got my missus a Vivofit2 a few years ago after several lost/never charged Fitbits, she of course proceeded to not use it after about three months so I adopted it for a bit. The coin cell battery lasts about a year (in fact the last time I changed it was over 18 months ago) so failing to charge it isn’t a worry.

it counts daily steps/activity, shows the time if you want and punts the numbers to Garmin connect via Bluetooth without a fuss. It’s thin/small light and you can buy various straps for very little.

About the best ‘passive’ fitness tracker I’ve seen/used, and there’s been a couple of newer versions since.

I did start calling it the “Bangle of shame” though.

I’ve a vivoactive 4 and it’s decent enough.

Fitbits don’t last.  My partners fitbits have all failed when just outside the warranty / guarantee.  Gets expensive when you have to replace them every 18 months or less.

Probably too expensive (and there’s a subscription), but much cheaper ripoff versions are available.

Smart ring?

https://www.johnlewis.com/oura-ring-gen3-horizon-health-fitness-tracker-smart-ring/silver/p112044922

Wife is very pleased with her Withings ScanWatch Light. She wanted something to track steps, activities and sleep, but didn’t want a full-blown watch with a screen, so the hybrid is just the job. We already had a Withings smart scale, so she was already used to the software.

Garmin customer support are excellent to deal with. I’d recommend them for that alone.

I’ve had 2 Garmin instinct watches which have failed about the 2 year old mark (after warranty ran out). Phoned support to ask them if there was anything they could do/offer.

I was offered a new replacement both times, no questions asked.

Friends have had similar experiences

I’ve had a COROS pace for a few weeks now. Looks and feels like a regular watch. Tracks all activities, holds charge well. Simple to use

Going to get the GF a Vivofit.

Does what she needs and is slim.

Heart rate (Garmin is supposedly best at this). Steps.

She doesn’t need maps and elevation and all the crap my Fenix 6 does.

Mrs Noise loves her Venu2. Does all the tracking stuff but doesn’t look overly ‘sporty’.

Venu3 looks pretty similar.

I got my wife the Venu SQ2 (square one) for xmas for the same reason. As above, it does all the tracking stuff, different watch faces, phone connection for email/texts. I got it for £150 ish with the STW discount. They don’t come up on the Venu section of the Garmin page, but if you search the part number 010-02701-12, there’s  a couple of colour choices available

I’ve got a Forerunner 55 and I’d recommend that.  She’ll be charging once a week if she isn’t tracking runs/walks with the gps.

But if I was buying new I’d also be very interested in the Coros Pacer as she’ll be charging about once every 3 weeks, looks good, no obvious stupid defects.  The daddy of testing this sort of stuff on YouTube is DCRainmaker and he rates it very highly.

I’ve had a Fitbit, that was a long time ago but I like the Garmin a lot more

Venu square for a small wrist

They don’t come up on the Venu section of the Garmin page, but if you search the part number 010-02701-12, there’s  a couple of colour choices available

“Ready to ship in 8-12 weeks” unfortunately.

Ah, in stock at Currys.

Gotta say, that’s more than I was wanting to pay.  But I like the look of it.

Any reason to choose that over a Pixel Watch 2 at the same price point?

Any reason to choose that over a Pixel Watch 2 at the same price point?

Battery life?

A day or two (Pixel Watch) vs two weeks (Garmin, though that will drop if you use the GPS to track an activity)

Edit: Might be worth looking for a discount code to use on the Garmin site, to get Currys to price match – they won’t price match for subscription based discounts

I’ve had a few  Fitbits in the early days. At least 2 back under warranty.  But we’re simple and relatively cheap.

Polar- excellent.  Daughter still uses it after I bequeathed it when I got a new Garmin 955 on  real steal deal.    Though Polar has dropped their UK customer support about a year ago so I hear the CS is now hopeless if you have a problem.

Garmin.  Step count on my 955 is pretty good.  HR about the best optical HR I’ve had.  Connect app is  naff compared to Polar Flow, but usable just about.  Garmin software updates frustrating as so often they add new faults whe  fixing faults.  Customer Service in the UK hit and miss. Once you get hold of them then OK. But at times are utterly shite to get hold of in the 1st place (I’ve had a few replacement watches due to faults in the past on 910 and 920 watches).

So pick which you think is the least worst of a bunch.

Personally I think Garmin has a more “just works” compared to a pixel but that’s based on a hunch not actual experience.  It’s what Garmin has to do to survive whilst the Pixel has been (until recently) a bit of a side show for Google.

And I say that typing on a pixel phone with a Gmail account, google photos etc, etc.

Garmin Vivismart 4. Small, simple, long battery life, just works.

Coros Pace 2 or 3

It’s what Garmin has to do to survive

Well, not really.  A lot of their income is from ‘professional’ navigation, like aviation and boats.

I bought a Garmin Instinct Solar from the classifieds on here, it’s been excellent. Battery life is very good and the solar charge function really works. It’s easy to use (good for me!) but has lots of advanced options. The heartrate function is very accurate and it links seamlessly with my phone. Perhaps a bit bulky but nice and clear to see and very tough.

So I was curious enough that I had a quick google to see if my previous assertion actually held up. According to this Fitness + Outdoor which I think is everything from watches to edge to Inreach counted for ~ 870million whilst marine, aviation and auto was 640 million.

So a little over half… Not vital to survival but fairly important.  Of course no discussion of margin or what exactly a “net sale” is.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1008102/quarterly-net-sales-of-garmin-by-segment/

My reluctance to go with with Fitbit would be a combination of poor reliability reports coupled with Google’s unparalleled ability to kill off a product line stone dead without much warning.

https://killedbygoogle.com/

Had a couple of fitbits’  in the past.

Okay most of the time, then connectivity to the app became an issue.  This was pre-Google

Garmin customer support are excellent to deal with

Up to a couple of weeks ago, I would’ve joined in and said Garmin, but honestly, I don’t think they’re worth it. My Fenix 5 has now started not to want to charge, Garmin ‘support’ have offered me 30% off a new watch. To get what I have now, that’s £500. I don’t think that after 5 years, that’s good enough frankly. I’ve told them that and they’ve so far resolved the issue by ignoring me.

Garmin Instinct if she want’s something slightly chunky like a G-shock. Does the simple smart stuff you need, but nothing clever that makes you go ‘oooohhhhhh’.

Garmin Forerunner (the entry level one) does slightly more in a slightly less bulky case with a nicer color screen.

OH has a fitbit, I’ve got an instinct.  A few years on I still wear by instinct but her fitibits in a drawer somewhere as it fundamentally failed as a watch by being un-readable in anything other than a dark room.

Garmin Instinct if she want’s something slightly chunky like a G-shock.

It definitely has a rugged look, probably a bit marmite for girls, but I think they do some girly colours. I went from an Instinct to Fenix and the difference is night and day. Looks and feels much nicer. Costs a fair bit more but you can get some good prices on older models. Just the ability to choose your own watch faces is a big plus, the Instinct is very basic in that regard.

The Instinct does a decent job at being what it is, but imo it’s probably more the kind of practical and robust (not very exciting) utility device the average STW male would gravitate to than the average woman would.

I bought the other half a cheaper Vivoactive thing as she really didn’t need any of the extra features. As a watch it’s much smaller and more feminine, and does everything she needs, which is mainly steps and recording activities.

The connect app is OK. Does what you need. But moreover, the amount of people using it and studying the stats makes it very easy to find any information around how to get the best out of it.

I bought my wife a Garmin Lily – the next version is out.  Aimed to look nice, simple functions, integrates with Garmin Connect.  She is very happy with it.

My reluctance to go with with Fitbit would be a combination of poor reliability reports coupled with Google’s unparalleled ability to kill off a product line stone dead without much warning.

https://killedbygoogle.com/

Google are currently denying that they are discontinuing Fitbits

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/google-denies-report-that-its-discontinuing-fitbit-products/

My reluctance to go with with Fitbit would be a combination of poor reliability reports coupled with Google’s unparalleled ability to kill off a product line stone dead without much warning.

https://killedbygoogle.com/