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Smartwatches for the Space Age

sleep tracker

Top 5 Apps for Tracking Your Sleep with a Smartwatch

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Sleep apps

We all know a good night’s sleep is critical to your health. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re going to feel pretty bad pretty quickly. Smartphones have been offering a decent sleep analysis, but now we have smartwatches and sleep apps, it’s become obvious that a phone simply can’t do the job all that well. It can tell you when you’ve been experiencing restlessness, if and when you woke up during the night. A smartwatch can use its sensors to tell you much more in-depth information and this can help you to maintain your health.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 apps for tracking your sleep with a smartwatch.

Sleep as Android

This isn’t a free app, but you can try it for 14 days for free, then it’s $3.99 a month. It’s for WearOS device, Samsung Galaxy Watch wearers as well as those using Google Fit, Samsung Health. It’s one of the original and best, because it’s had the time to mature. It will track your sleep patterns accurately, based on your movement. This app will also play binaural tones which help you drift off to sleep. It will act as a rather stubborn alarm that requires you to input a captcha before you can turn it off.

The coolest part about this app is that it’ll talk to Phillips Hue smartlights and they’ll turn on when you’re in the lightest stage of sleep for a peaceful waking experience.

Do I Snore or Grind 

Do I Snore or Grind is a wonderful sleep tracking app. It tells you if you grind your teeth as you sleep. There’s a free version of the app that will test the waters over five nights of sleep. Investing in the pro version, of course, gives you unlimited access. The other features include advice on how to stop or reduce grinding your teeth and even snoring. There’s offline support too so if you’re flying, you can use it in airplane mode (when you’re probably likely to be having a snooze). You can use the app in conjunction with sleep remedies to see if they’re working for you. 

The app, on the whole, is simple. It just tells you if you grind your teeth or snore, it doesn’t track your sleep to an accurate degree, but no other apps give you the teeth grinding information, so it really depends on what you find useful if you’re having an issue.

Do I Snore or Grind is available on WearOS devices.

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is a premium sleep tracker app. It does have a free version with a generous set of features. It attempts to wake you when it thinks you’re at your most ready to. This app offers an analysis of your sleep, complete with a nightly graph to illustrate it. Furthermore, it also has various alarms. 

The iOS version has a cool additional feature that talks to your Phillips Hue smartlights, much like Sleep as Android. (See more on best Android watches)

The subscription version is a whopping $29.99 a year (a lot, for an app). Honestly, the choice is totally down to you if you want more in-depth sleep analysis and a couple of additional alarms. Perhaps the free version is too generous because the $29.99 seems quite costly for not too much more.

Sleep++

Sleep++ is a useful free app for Apple Watch wearers. It relies on sensors on the Apple Watch to measure the quality of your sleep as well as the duration. The better your sleep, the better your health will be as a result. It’s really key to use an app that keeps an accurate track of how you sleep and the Sleep++ app gives you accurate knowledge of your body functions during your sleep, including if your heart was at rest or not.

It has automatic and manual modes for monitoring and offers this data not only precisely, but privately, with the option to share with chosen pals. You can add this data to your health data too, which gives a better overall profile of your health.

AutoSleep

Another useful Apple Watch app alternative to Sleep++. It will automatically monitor and track the quality of your sleep as well as how long you were asleep for. It does this using your Apple Watch, but you don’t have to wear it to get the data from it, it’ll still do its job. It’ll give you a notification when you unlock your iPhone when you wake up. AutoSleep offers an intelligent but simple wizard for setting up the app, and you can customise it to suit how you sleep, for example, if you’re a light sleeper.

If you do wear your watch to bed it’ll track your heart rate and tell you if your body battery is charged. It’ll tell you how long it took you to fall asleep and will analyse the quality of your night’s sleep and give you an overall view of your night. It’ll load all this data into the Apple Health app for you.

Summary

Sleep is invaluable, so why not let an app help you out to get more? It can be wildly frustrating to toss and turn at night and not know why. The more you think about it, the less you sleep. Bad cycle. Being able to use your smartwatch with absolutely no effort from yourself can only be a good thing. You’re wearing it anyway, so let it do some analysis overnight and when you wake up, you can look at where you can make improvements the next night.

Depending on what app you’re using, and how smart your home is, your smartwatch and sleep app can team up and provide you with a way of drifting off into a peaceful and high-quality night’s sleep and then gently wake you at the most opportune moment to bring you out of it when you’re in the right stage of your sleep cycle. Not bad for something that’s not asking you to physically do anything yourself, eh?

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A Rundown of NuBand Activity and Sleep Trackers

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NuBand Activity and Sleep Trackers

NuBand activity and sleep trackers look after their users. The manufacturer creates affordable devices that aren’t overly complicated – let’s find out more.

NuBand Optim Smartwatch

$119.99 (US), £99.99 (UK)

The Optim is the top of the range offering from NuBand activity and sleep trackers – it’s certainly the best looking and offers the most features.

The Optim offers heart rate monitoring as well as sleep tracking (including sleep rhythms). To help you reach your fitness goals, the Optim will regularly remind you to keep moving and there’s a handy multi-sport function for accurate analysis of your activities and built-in GPS to boot. You can swim with the Optim on your wrist, safe in the knowledge that it’s waterproof and you also have the ability to share your data on social media through an app that’s compatible with both Android and iOS.

It offers the basics like alarms, stopwatch/timer and notifications for calls, messages and social media. You can get all this for roughly seven days between charges.

Physically, the Optim, which has a full-colour touchscreen, is 44mm wide and the band is 20mm by 245mm, quite big on compared to most smartwatches.

Advantages

  • Sleek design
  • Long battery life considering features
  • Well-priced

Disadvantages

  • Low-resolution display
  • There are better-known alternatives for slightly more money

NuBand Flash HR 2 Activity/ Sleep Tracker

$99.98 (US), £39.99

The NuBand Flash HR 2 activity and sleep tracker may have a low price tag, but it’s still pretty stylish.

Sleep Trackers

It has a heart rate monitor and sleep tracking ability including sleep pattern monitoring. It’ll also tell you steps, distance, calories burned and heights climbed via the accelerometer. 

The Flash HR 2 is waterproof to 3m, so you’re able to track your swimming sessions, as well as running, weight lifting and other sports. If you do fancy a run it has a handy weather forecast feature and it will also remind you to keep moving on those less active days.

The display is a full-colour touch screen measuring 24.38mm, resting on an 18mm wide and 45mm tall screen. The strap is slim at 20mm wide and 240mm long – and if you don’t like the colour it comes in, you can buy a replacement. 

Smart features include the usual suspects; text, calls and some app alerts. You can expect a solid seven days’ use between charges if you don’t use it heavily, but probably around five days with average use.

Advantages

  • Great features for the price
  • Accurate GPS
  • Solid battery life

Disadvantages

  • For a specific sleep tracking device, it could be more accurate

NuBand Kids Activity Tracker

$17.99 (US), £19.99 (UK)

This version offers a multitude of interchangeable, brightly coloured bands, all available in extra small sizes for the little ones. Recognising the wear and tear kids watches go through, Nuband includes an additional band for free, and the watch is water, dust and scratch-resistant. 

The screen is touch-enabled with impressive resolution. It’ll show texts and social media alerts. 

Activity-wise, it’ll monitor steps through the in-built pedometer, as well as distance, calories burned and track their sleep. Overall, it gives a good idea of general health and activity levels. You can expect seven days’ use if you don’t play with it too often, but realistically probably a day or two less.

Advantages

  • Good overall data provided about your child’s wellbeing
  • Rugged design
  • Free band

Disadvantages

  • No GPS to keep track of your child’s location
  • Only compatible with iOS

NuBand Pro HR GPS Tracker

$79.99 (US), £59.99

The Pro HR GPS tracker from NuBand features the brand’s most up-to-date tech and offers the best performance. 

The USP of the tracker is the combination of the heart rate monitor and GPS function which boasts accurate distance, speed and calorie monitoring to give a precise overview of your performance. You’re able to look at the route you took, as it’s mapped within the app and you can use this to re-run the route and see areas for for improvement.

Water and dust-resistant, the Pro HR skimps a little on smart features; calls and text notifications are about all you’ll see alongside select social media alerts, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the size of the display (a relatively-tiny 2.44mm touchscreen). It’s 15mm wide and 40mm long. The strap is about average for a fitness tracker, coming in at 230mm in length and 16mm wide. For those wanting to make a unique statement, you can replace the straps to suit your taste or mood.

The Pro HR will go five days on average between charges, or seven if you barely use any notifications (or don’t work out)!

Advantages

  • Excellent GPS service
  • Great analytical data for post-session performance review

Disadvantages

  • Isn’t scratch resistant like other NuBand trackers
  • The app is sometimes difficult and confusing to use

Summary 

NuBand activity and sleep trackers hasn’t yet made waves in the activity tracker world, despite some keen pricing considering the features on offer. Prices vary a lot between US and UK markets, too. Overall, the design and function of NuBand trackers are good enough to rival the much-loved Fitbit, but they’re just not as well-known. They’re a great alternative if the likes of Fitbit or Garmin aren’t in your price range.

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New Smartwatches To Look Out For In 2020

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New smartwatches

Back to the future

With the ball about to drop on the decade everyone is excited to see what the next generation of new smartwatches look like. The wearable tech market is incredibly competitive and consumers are the ones getting the benefits. There are some incredible features packed into some gorgeous devices.

Here’s a look at some of the most eagerly-anticipated smartwatches coming in 2020.

Garmin Fenix 6x Pro Solar

We know and love Garmins for their GPS reliability and accuracy. Garmin is the brand of choice for hardcore athletes, both indoor and outdoor. And the Fenix range hasn’t disappointed with features like topographical maps, music, and oxygen saturation monitors.

The Garmin Fenix 6x Pro Solar was launched in October of this year. So, it’s just about got a head start and fans have received it very well so far. Hardly surprising, as this is Garmin’s first solar-powered offering. 

The design is thinner and better looking than any of the other Fenix models. The sixth-generation is packed with features previously missing. This includes the ability to store 36GB of music, better GPS than ever before, contactless payments and new sensors to pick up on information such as a fall or the weather. It’s a seriously clever piece of kit that has the potential to save your life. It’ll tell you health measurements in painfully accurate detail.

The best thing is the battery life. Thanks to solar power, you’ll get 21 days of performance. If you think that’s impressive, in smartwatch mode you can get 24 days.

The 6x Pro Solar is the most expensive, coming in at $1,150 (£850). The Fenix 6s Pro, however, can be picked up for $700 (£500) and has the same amount of storage onboard for music.

Apple Watch Series 6

Apple fans will have to wait until September for this one. There are predictions on everything from the name to the features though as it’s anticipated that it won’t break the mould with the numbering system, it’s referred to as Series 6.

The advancements expected will be around the fitness features including sleep tracking and more accurate tracking for activities like running. Thanks to a stray tweet, we know there’s been some development on a sleep app. Ideally, there will be some improvements in battery life. The addition of always-on has caused some controversy amongst users as to whether or not this feature saves or drains the battery.

As there was little difference in design between the 4 and 5, there’s hope for some drastic changes for the Series 6. There’s talk of a circular display, which could be a wild rumour, but now Apple’s lead designer has left the building, who knows? There has been a patent approved for a round face, so September might bring a surprise for us all.

Other rumoured features include a camera for FaceID and the ability to use TouchID. Furthermore, blood pressure and blood glucose measurements are also expected.

It’s certainly fun to speculate, and it’s suspected this smartwatch will be the smartest device ever released. 

Google Pixel Watch

Google has been so busy providing WearOS (Android Wear) to other devices that it never stopped to make its own smartwatch – until now, we hope.

Google has teased the market for years with potential release dates for the Pixel watch. Now, it could be any time between March and October 2020.

One highly discussed rumour was a feature named ‘Blackghost’ which saw the watch listen out for and respond to voice commands with little drainage of the battery. It’s not something currently available, but expecting to use Google Assist isn’t outrageous. It’s anticipated you’ll be able to ask questions without having to use anything but your voice.

Seeing as WearOS is mostly Android smartphone compatible, there’s a third-party app expectation that the Pixel watch will work seamlessly with things like WhatsApp, Messenger and Uber. Naturally, it’s expected to have Gmail, maps and Google Pay.

Fitness and health tracking should be a feature as well as the smart functions. A heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, GPS, barometer, altimeter and accelerometers are all anticipated for accurate data about your movements.

There have been no concrete links about the design, so we can only look to the existing Pixel range and see what 2020 brings.

Seeing as this is Google’s first attempt at their own smartwatch, it’s hard to guess the price it’ll be marketed at. Looking at competitors Apple and Samsung, it’s likely to fall between $300- $400. 

Microsoft Surface Watch

We’re set to welcome Microsoft into the smartwatch world in 2020. 

We all know and love their laptops and PCs but they’re not performing as well in the smartphone market.

It’s believed the Surface watch will run on Windows OS with its Surface siblings. Odds are on a square design with a durable screen. It’s aimed at business folk in terms of design and function, with selling points such as long battery life and cloud storage. 

Rumours have been going around since before Apple released the Apple Watch. In 2012 a patent application was released that saw a small device held in a frame, mounted on a strap. The device was navigated using the display and had capabilities that allowed it to swap data with another device.

Given that was eight years ago, and considering how well Microsoft keep new products under wraps until release dates, who knows what the Surface Watch could do.

New Smartwatches Summary

Much of these new smartwatches for 2020 releases are speculation, fuelled by expert opinion and a few information leaks here and there. We know for certain we’ll see sales of the Garmin Fenix range continue to soar, given the initial welcome it’s already had. Apple’s new smartwatches will have people camping outside the stores in late August 2020 for the Series 6 and it appears there’s a race between Microsoft and Google for the latest high-tech smartwatch. 

We can only wait and see!

Why Smartwatches are Beneficial

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Why have a smartwatch

Have you got friends who’ve upgraded their watch game recently? Have you noticed people looking (and talking!) at their wrists more often? Do you wonder why that is? More than likely some people around you have invested in a smartwatch. So, why are smartwatches beneficial? Now, digital watches have been available for quite some time. Some of them even quite advanced with features such as calculators. However, it wasn’t until about 2010 that technology companies started to release watches that had smartwatch type features. It was in 2013 that the first smartwatch in the guise of what we understand a smartwatch to be today was introduced to the market by a small company called Pebble. The rest as they say is history.

What is a smartwatch?

In order to answer why smartwatches are beneficial it’s important to understand what it is. A smartwatch is a portable device that is meant to be worn on a wrist. A type of wearable, the smartwatch is also seen by many as an extension to a smartphone. It has similar features such as touchscreen and a range of apps and sensors to monitor health and fitness activity. There are two types of smartwatch that occupies the market; the first being the everyday use type, a device that is designed to replace the traditional watch but relies on a smartphone. The second is the speciality range, designed for specific functions and audiences, for example a smartwatch for elderly where the main element is location tracking and safety. The speciality watches can be a cross between a phone dependent wearable device and an independent fitness tracker.

Uptake of the smartwatch had been slow. With people not quite sure why smartwatches are beneficial, what to do with them or classifying them as not being necessary because it did everything a smartphone can do. However recent statistics show that things may be changing on this front. In 2017 sales of smartwatches and fitness trackers was up 16% on 2016. The Smartwatch market then saw an increase of 23% on 2016. With Apple, Google and Samsung continuing to invest development into the sector the popularity of the smartwatch looks set to carry on.

 If you’re not yet one of the converted, lets us take you through reasons for why wearing a smartwatch is a good idea.

It tells the time

Yes, it is obvious that the smartwatch tells the time. However, isn’t it easier to glance at your wrist to check if you’re late for your appointment than to think where you’ve left your phone and look around for it? Sales of traditional watches have been on the decline as smartphones have dominated the market, but the smartwatch reminds us what a key item the watch actually is.

Fashion Accessory

The smartwatch can be confused with the digital watches we’ve mentioned above or even the more recent activity trackers and so you could be forgiven for thinking they are a bit boring, clunky and mechanical looking. On the contrary, the modern smartwatch comes complete with a library of colours, materials and watch faces to suit all types of occasions – whether it’s a work day or fun at the weekend.

Are we there yet?

We’ve become accustomed to using the map function on our phones to assist with navigation. But, did you know it is even easier with a smartwatch? There is an increased risk of missing the next turn if you are too busy reviewing the direction on your handset or worse the smartphone is dropped during the constant put away, take out, put away scenario. A smartwatch makes navigation much easier, with the route available at a glance. The Apple Watch goes further, notifying you which direction to turn with distinctly different vibrations for left and right.  When driving, a flick of the wrist will provide reassurance that you’re on the right route. A smartwatch is ideal for navigation purposes on vehicles where it would not be appropriate to use a handset such as a motorcycle.

Entertainment

The smartwatch makes entertainment even easier to access. Granted the screen size is a factor but it’s ideal for public transport journeys where keeping the phone aloft can prove to be a challenge. It’s also ideal to use the smartwatch when you want to quickly share a funny YouTube video with friends and family. Perhaps the better entertainment factor with a smartwatch is its music capabilities. Listening to music on your smartphone is even more enjoyable with a smartwatch. You can skip tracks, change the volume and play around with your playlist all from the device on your wrist. Newer smartwatches even allow music to be stored directly onto the device so no need to have the smartphone with you as well.

Notifications

Perhaps one of the smartwatches most useful features is its ability to alert you to calls, text messages and social media updates. Rather than having to get the handset out each time it vibrates or pings. Not every notification will be important i.e. requiring an action), a smartwatch makes it easier to manage notifications quickly and easily. It may seem trivial but the potential to save time and simplify situations you’re in is huge. For example a quick glance at your watch in a meeting wouldn’t be considered rude as it would if you were to start rummaging for your phone. Also when out and about running or taking part in other physical activity you may decide to not take your smartphone with you. You can decide when alerts come through on the smartphone so as to keep the process efficient.

Making and answering calls

How this activity is undertaken will vary on the type of smartwatch. Some devices allow the wearer to accept or decline calls through the watch. Others will allow this but also give you the option to answer the call through the watch itself. Both options require your handset to be nearby. There are now cellular versions of the smartwatch available on the market, which means you can use the watch independent to a smartphone including being able to make calls. Although the appearance of voice dictation into a smartwatch can look strange, it is a useful feature allowing you to respond to important messages in a timely manner without compromising what you may be doing at the time i.e. out for a run or busy in the kitchen.

Health and Wellbeing

It can be easy to assume that the smartwatch is only good for tracking yours steps. It does of course track daily steps but it does so much more which can really make a difference to a person’s health. Due to the smartwatch being capable of doing more than just tracking steps, it is more likely to be worn on a daily basis rather than taken off and being forgotten about. A smartwatch is not just a pedometer, it has various built in sensors to monitor and record other activity such as heart rate and blood pressure. The latest edition of the Apple Watch even has the capability to perform an ECG. Other useful health related features include sleep monitoring, calorie counting and a range of apps to support stress management.

Safety

Smartwatches are equipped with GPS as standard, most will require you to pair the watch with your handset whereas others have stand alone GPS built in. This is key for a number of reasons. Not only does GPS allow you to track sports activities such as running and hiking, measuring speed and distance accurately but it also helps to track your location for safety purposes, particularly useful if on your own or in an unfamiliar environment. For that reason smartwatches are ideal for offering loved ones peace of mind for when elderly relatives are out and about. Some smartwatches also have the ability to detect falls and take action if needed i.e. contact emergency services if no movement is detected. Many smartwatches, especially the specialty types, have SOS/panic buttons which if activated can contact identified individuals through the phone either via message or by making a call.

On the subject of safety, smartwatches are expensive as are smartphones. However you’re more likely to draw attention to yourself using a smartphone than you are your smartwatch, offering the wearer a degree of reassurance.

Losing your smartphone can be disastrous, but with a smartwatch the risk is significantly minimised. Most smartwatches are programmed with the ‘Find Phone’ feature, especially useful if you have a habit of misplacing your phone!

Many modern smartwatches are also waterproof, providing connectivity in all types of weather and activity.

Battery life

Keeping your smartphone charged can prove challenging. Having a smartwatch reduces that urgency – more use of smartwatch equals less use of smartphone, saving valuable phone battery life. Evidence shows that battery life on smartwatches is of a good standard lasting between 18-24 hours for devices such as the Apple Watch and up to a few days and even a week for some of the speciality watches.

So yes, it is true that a smartwatch can do everything a smartphone can, but as we’ve described above it can do that and more. The smartwatch shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for the smartphone – it doesn’t have to be a choice between the two – but as a must-have accessory for today’s tech savvy individual.

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Nokia Smartwatch Review: A Classy Yet Feature-Packed Timepiece

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Nokia Smartwatch

Smartwatches are rarely praised for their appearance. While brands try their best to create sleeker models, most of them still have chunky designs but the Nokia Smartwatch makes a difference.

Formerly known as Nokia Steel HR and now called Withings Steel HR, the Nokia smartwatch impresses with a gorgeous design that looks like a stylish, classy timepiece rather than a massive fitness tracker.

But don’t be fooled by its looks. The Steel HR certainly packs a punch and comes with all smart functions you’d expect from a modern smartwatch.

Background

The Nokia Steel HR is a timepiece that focuses on smarts and functionality without compromising the design. Developed by the Nokia Health division, the wearable was rebranded in 2018, when Nokia Health was acquired by Withings.

What strikes you right from first glance is the classic timepiece look with physical hands encased in glass rather than a digital display. In its slim casing, the wearable looks just like a regular watch and pairs perfectly with either casual, business, or formal wear.

A tiny OLED screen in the middle of the watch displays notifications and cycles through the wearable’s menu.

Furthermore, it’s made to stay on your wrist 24/7, and tracks your sleep and heart rate plus is waterproof to 5 ATM. It doesn’t have all the functions offered by peers such as Garmin or Fitbit, but provides a different approach.

Features

Nokia Steel HR offers nothing special at first glance, but a closer look reveals a wealth of smart features. Like all modern smartwatches, it delivers text notifications on the wrist, alerts you of incoming phone calls, and buzzes when you receive any calendar notifications.

The small OLED screen shows the type of notification as an icon. A short line of text also reveals more information about the alert, such as a contact name or phone number.

While you can’t answer calls or read texts from your wrist, at least the Steel HR delivers sufficient information to help you decide if it’s worth pulling your phone out.

Perhaps the biggest drawback is that you don’t get any social media notifications, and this is where Nokia is stuck in the past. In a world revolving around social media, you’ll have to check your phone for any email, Facebook, Twitter, or WhatsApp notifications.

You can download third-party apps to solve the issue, but that may paying out more on top of the watch’s already expensive price tag. Hopefully, Withings will decide to rectify this lack of functionality in future with some native solutions.

But if you don’t mind living without email and social media notifications on the wrist, the Steel HR offers good value for money. Not only will you get all the basic functions, but you’ll also get amazing battery life measured in weeks rather than days.

Design

Nokia have gone with a minimalist wristwatch look for its Steel HR. Two sizes – either 36 or 40 mm – make it easy to choose the model that best fits your wrist, while the stainless steel case and curved glass add elegance to the package.

A button on the left-hand side of the dial looks like a crown, but it actually lets you access the menu and cycle through  the various metrics. To save the battery life, the small OLED screen turns itself off when there is nothing to display, disappearing on the black dial and contrasting with the white one.

A second dial of the same size as the OLED screen tracks your steps. The traditional, physical hands indicate the hour, but you’ll have to estimate the exact time due to the lack of marks and numbers.

A standard 18mm or 20mm watch strap – depending on the case size – makes it easy to replace the factory rubber strap and customise the watch’s look to your liking.

Fitness Tracking

Nokia Steel HR doesn’t come with multi-sport profiles or advanced fitness tracking features. It monitors your heart rate and sleep cycles and has a step counter that’s easy to customise with a distance tracker and calories burned counter.

We particularly like the percentage counter that slowly fills as you reach your daily goals rather than showing an abstract number – we find this more motivating.

Waterproof construction and resistance up to 5 ATM also make it possible to wear the Steel HR when swimming. However, the watch doesn’t come with a swim tracker.

Main Advantages

  • Sleek, stylish design inspired by classic watches
  • Outstanding battery life
  • Accurate heart rate monitoring
  • Easily customisable features

Main Disadvantages

  • Expensive considering its limitations
  • Poor app support

Competition

  Nokia/Withings Steel HR Diesel On Axial Puma Smartwatch Kate Spade Scallop 2
Display OLED AMOLED AMOLED AMOLED
Resolution – 328 x 328 pixels 328 x 328 pixels –
Size 36 x 36 mm 44 x 44 x 12 mm 44 x 44 x 11 mm 41 x 41 x 16 mm
Weight – – 28 g –
Band material Rubber Leather / Fabric / Metal Silicone Silicone / Leather / Metal
Water resistance 5 ATM 3 ATM 3 ATM 3 ATM
Connectivity Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Bluetooth
GPS No Yes Yes Yes
Heart rate monitoring Yes Yes Yes Yes
Smart notifications Yes. Texts, calls, and calendar only Yes Yes Yes
Sleep tracking Yes No No No
NFC Payments No Yes Yes Yes
Calorie count Yes No No No
Multi-sport profiles No Yes Yes No
Battery life Up to 25 days Up to 24 hours Up to 24 hours Up to 48 hours

Summary

Nokia Steel HR is not your standard smartwatch, but it is a noteworthy wearable. It’s perfect for ladies and gents aiming for a classy look with some smart and fitness tracking functionality.

You won’t get the whole range of smart notifications nor the ultimate in fitness tracking profiles, but what you do get is accurate metrics and outstanding battery life.

If you want an elegant hybrid watch and don’t mind a slightly higher price point, the Nokia smartwatch undoubtedly offers amazing value for money.

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Multisport Watches

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Multisport watches

Multisport watches are specifically designed for use in more than one sport. They offer the user accurate analytical data for sports like running, swimming, cycling (and many others). They usually have a GPS system to tell you about your distance, speed, pace and, of course, map your activity in a location.

Here are four recommendations for certainly some of the best multisport watches as of December 2019.

1. Garmin Fenix® 5 Multisport GPS Watch 

$365 to $445 / £279 to £339

The Garmin Fenix® 5 Multisport GPS watch is great for using every day during intense workouts as well as being reliable for navigating the wilderness. If you’re able to, it can dive with you up to 100m, which is seriously impressive.

The Fenix 5 certainly offers everything – GPS tracking for pace, time-keeping and distance. It has smartwatch capabilities like heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, step count and advanced navigation. Furthermore, the addition of an optical heart rate tracker, a thermometer and a barometric altimeter, there’s really nothing it can’t tell you.

Finally, it offers a remarkable battery life considering all its functions – up to seven days between charges, including daily 1-3 hour training sessions. Of course the more you use some features, like GPS, the quicker you’ll use it up. The Fenix 5 has shown some serious GPS accuracy in comparison to its Garmin siblings like the Forerunner 935 or 945.

Advantages
  • A full-featured GPS multi-fitness watch
  • Good battery life
  • Intuitive experience – easy to set up
Disadvantages 
  • Bulky design, heavy on the wrist

2. Garmin Forerunner 945 

$680 / £520

Garmin is the certainly the undisputed king of multisport watches and the Fenix 5 and Forerunner 945 both have a right to appear on the same list. The Forerunner 925 deserves an honourable mention, but the 945 offers a little more. 

The Forerunner 945 is an incredible piece of kit. It can track every sport you can imagine such as running, HIIT, strength training, swimming (including open water and diving up to 50m) and even skiing. However, if you do a sport that isn’t in the 30-strong indoor and outdoor sports list, you can create a custom one with your chosen metrics.

It has an optical heart rate monitor, pulse oximeter, thermometer, compass, accelerometer and gyroscope packed into a 13.7mm case. The design is certainly functional, not pretty.

Garmin Forerunner Multisport Watch

It will track both health and fitness in minute detail, including intense sleep tracking to analyse your cycles as well as oxygen levels during the night. It will monitor your training sessions and Garmin’s unique ‘body battery’ will tell you about your energy levels. 

There’s an accurate GPS system and, depending on the level of use, the battery can last an astonishing two weeks between charges.

Consequently, it’s aimed at serious triathletes who need painfully accurate data from a rugged watch.

Advantages
  • Incredible number of features
  • Accurate GPS mapping
  • Round the clock heart and stress monitoring
  • Use with Spotify or Deezer
Disadvantages
  • Lacks smartwatch features; notifications are hard to reply to
  • Strap is tricky to take off
  • Expensive

3. Suunto 9 Baro

$515 / £394

The 9 Baro from Sunnto is one of the ultimate multisport watches for adventurers. It has a robust design that can withstand extreme conditions including depths of up to 100m underwater, freezing weather, impact from a height and intense heat and humidity.

As with all multisport watches the battery life is dependent on use, but you can expect around two-to-five days between charges. The handy thing is that it’ll tell you how much use you can expect before it dies (providing you stay in the mode you’re using at the time).

Tracking-wise, the 9 Baro will monitor sleep and activities with no less than 80 sport modes which cover running (including trail running and obstacle racing), cycling (including mountain biking), swimming (including open water) and triathlons. It offers barometric and GPS altitude data as well as optical heart rate monitoring.

Furthermore, it has smartwatch features like notifications for calls, texts, messages, emails and other social media.

Advantages
  • Incredible battery life
  • Hard-wearing design
  • Powerful analytical data
  • Can be used with Android and iOS
Disadvantages
  • The app could use some work
  • The on-screen menu can be tricky to read

4. Polar Vantage M 

$260 / £199

Without a doubt, the best-looking watch on the list. This watch dedicates itself to being a multisport tracker, not a smartwatch. There is a distinct lack of smart functions. However, at this price point, it’s a steal for a triathlete. 

Polar Vantage Multisport Watch

It offers 24 hour heart rate and activity monitoring sleep tracking and boasts bespoke running programs to improve your training from 5k to a full marathon. It can record up to a whopping 130 sports. If you sync it with the Polar Flow app, you can look at in-depth data from the session, be it running, CrossFit, hiking or swimming (up to 30m). It’ll keep going for up to 30 hours of training time, or two weeks between charges.

The Polar Sleep Plus function analyses your sleep patterns and offers advice on how to improve your sleep quality.

On the belly of the watch, you’ll see 9 sensors that allow the Vantage M to sense blood flow, leading to accurate heart rate measurements. The wristband itself comes in two sizes, either small to medium or medium to large. Both come in either black or white, and the latter comes in a red option too.

The entire experience is largely co-dependent on the use of the Polar Flow app, where you log and analyse your information.

Overall, this is a lot of bang for your buck so long as your primary concern is monitoring your performance, and you’re less worried about your WhatsApp messages.

Advantages
  • Cost-effective multisport watch option
  • Accurate heart rate, sleep and GPS
  • Great battery life
Disadvantages
  • Lack of customisation
  • Has zero smart features or functions

Summary

Garmin has long been the leader of the multisport watch market, but if your budget doesn’t stretch to their price tags, there are some worthy contenders. Make sure you prioritise what you want from your multisport watch before you start searching; the more expensive devices don’t necessarily mean they’re the best for what you want.

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