In a smartwatch market mainly geared towards men, some brands have recognised that a sports watch for women has to have more than a stylish band. Today, we’ll be discussing the best sports watches for women.
The biggest players in the industry now equip their wearables with feminine health features including menstrual cycle and fertility metrics.
Those features, alongside other sports profiles, are a few of the essentials in a good woman’s sports watch – though the looks matter too. So if you’re looking for a sports watch that performs in the gym and goes well with your little black dress, have a look at the four picks below.
1. Garmin Vivoactive 4S
A stylish yet highly performing sports watch for women
The Garmin Vivoactive 4S is a slimmer, more feminine version of the Vivoactive 4. It’s smartwatch built with women in mind and that impresses with sleek lines and rose gold accents.
Specific feminine health features include menstrual cycle tracking via the Garmin Connect app. You can log in physical and emotional symptoms, set period reminders, and even access training and nutrition advice for each phase of your cycle.
Made for daily wear, it comes with interchangeable bands and is designed to be worn 24/7. It’s water-resistant to 5 ATM and has an always-on, sunlight-readable display.
Over 20 preloaded sports profiles let you track a variety of outdoor and indoor workouts, including running or walking, cycling, golf, and pool swimming, to name just a few. Furthermore, animated workouts on your wrist make it easier to start training if athletic performance has never been your greatest strength.
An array of additional features, such as respiration tracking and body battery energy monitoring, add further value for money. The watch also delivers smart notifications on your wrist and incorporates features such as Garmin Pay and a music player. It’s undoubtedly one of the best sports watches for women you can find. See other Garmin alternatives for women.
Main Advantages
- Customisable watch faces
- Interchangeable bands
- Over 20 preloaded sports profiles
- Long battery life
- Feminine health features
Main Disadvantages
- The software may sometimes hang
2. Fitbit Charge 3 (or Charge 4)
A fashionable choice for slender wrists
Straddling the line between the slimmer Inspire and performance Ionic, the Fitbit Charge 3 and Charge 4 are excellent sports watches for women. It doesn’t have built-in GPS but it can pair with your phone’s GPS to provide accurate outdoor workout tracking.
A 24/7 heart rate and sleep monitoring sensor determines your overall fitness levels. Breathing tips help reduce stress, while a wealth of preloaded workouts allow you to track athletic performance regardless of the sport you practice.
The female health tracking feature is similar to Garmin’s; you can use it to monitor your menstrual cycle as well as ovulation and fertility windows, while the Fitbit App dashboard lets you set goals, find inspiration, and even connect with your friends.
Charge 3 sports a sensitive touch-screen display and easy-to-read high-resolution screen. Smartphone notifications and wireless payments are other highlights.
Designed to fit all wrists, it comes in two size options with swappable bands and up to seven days of battery life – all at a very attractive price.
Main Advantages
- Dedicated female health features
- Slim, feminine design
- Excellent fitness tracking capabilities
- Automatic exercise recognition
Main Disadvantages
- No built-in GPS
- It is not fully compatible with iOS
3. Apple Watch Series 3-5
The trendiest sports watch on the market
The Apple Watch is not the most attractive sports watch out there, but it’s definitely one of the best. If you’re an Apple enthusiast, you’ll fall head over heels for this wearable.
What it lacks in the looks department, the Apple Watch Series 4 makes up for in terms of functionality. It comes in two sizes and with or without LTE. The 40mm variant is undeniably the best choice for women as it looks sleeker on the wrist.
Enhanced heart rate monitoring with alerts and comprehensive reports are a great addition for those concerned about their health, but you won’t get any feminine health tracking features.
All in all, the Apple Watch is an excellent all-rounder – a trendy wearable to add to your smart device arsenal. Have a look at what we anticipate the Series 6 will bring.
Main Advantages
- Large, crisp display
- High and low heart rate detection
- Fall detection with SOS trigger
- Extremely responsive
- Electrocardiogram feature
Main Disadvantages
- Short battery life
- Limited style choices
- Quite expensive
4. Suunto 3 Fitness
A solid fitness watch built for the sports enthusiasts
Casual fitness fans who want a sporty, more masculine-looking watch might like the Suunto 3 Fitness, which has something of the allure of Garmin’s Forerunner 935.
Capable of improving your general fitness, this watch is more than a fitness tracker. You’ll get the usual cycling, running, and walking, but the Suunto 3 Fitness focuses on helping you improve performance based on your personal metrics.
Its best features are the heart-rate powered adaptive training and recovery advice that show you the stress your body is under in real-time. These features help you get the most out of your workout and are often more useful than preloaded sports profile.
In terms of style, it’s sleeker than other Suunto watches. It looks great on most wrists and pairs well with gym and casual attire. There’s no doubt that it’s a great smartwatch if you’re looking for an affordable, goal-oriented device.
Main Advantages
- Slim and lightweight profile
- Adaptive training plans
- Good battery life
- Smart notifications on the wrist
Main Disadvantages
- No GPS
- Sync features may fail sometimes
5. Suunto 7
The Suunto 7 is suitable for wearing daily. It’s also a loyal friend for adventures. If you’re into doing sports every single day, this is the perfect watch for you. It offers over 70 sport modes, a heart rate monitor and GPS mode. It gives the user a unique sports experience. It’ll accurately analyse all your training.
It works on Wear OS and so it’ll deliver your important notifications without being connected to your smartphone.
It’s a great unisex watch with many custom options. There are a lot of handy options for both sports and daily use. You can, of course, also use your favourite apps with it, too. It comes with smartwatch features which are mostly compatible with Android (being a Wear OS device). These include contactless payment.
You can enjoy convenient access to offline outdoor maps that work with Strava and Endomondo.
As for the design, it’s robust. It’s 50mm x 50mm x 15.3mm and made of steel with a silicone strap. It has a high-res touchscreen which is protected by scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass. The battery life lasts up to 48 hours in smartwatch mode or 12 hours in GPS mode. It has a 50ATM water-resistance rating.
Main Advantages
- Robust watch for active women
- Decent water-resistance for surface-level swimming
Main Disadvantages
- More heavy set than other Suunto versions
- Better options for longer battery life
How Do We Test Smartwatches?
Here at Superwatches, we strive to deliver accurate reviews of the devices we recommend, so we can help you make informed buying decisions. That’s why we test each watch before reviewing it by wearing and using its functions both inside and outside of the gym. Besides training and fitness tracking capabilities, we also test the overall functionality and smart features in day-to-day life.
So what are the best sports watches for women?
The smartwatch and fitness trackers market might be geared towards men, but there is also a wealth of capable sports watches for women you can choose from. Whether you want to focus on style, fitness tracking features, or trends, I hope the four choices above inspired you.
So, what do you say? Did you find the right sports watch in the list above? Tell me in a comment below; I’d love to hear from you.
Before you go, share this article with your friends to help them find the right sports watch.
Last Updated on June 2, 2021
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