Best Fitness Watches With GPS – Top Picks Compared!

For most of us, staying in shape is a tough thing to do, given the fact that it can be such a struggle to find time for activity and healthy eating. While going to the gym can help out, most of the time we fail even to make time for that.

However, what if you could exercise without having to spend time at a gym? What if you could squeeze in some extra steps on the way to work or whenever you have downtime? Well, with a fitness watch, the world becomes your exercise center.

The great thing about fitness watches is that they are perfect for both people who are already active or those who want to start incorporating more movement into their day. Because it becomes so easy to track your exercises and vital information you will be more motivated to work out, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Also, it helps to know how much movement you are already getting in your regular routine so that you can make changes to improve your numbers.

6 Top Fitness Watch Comparisons

Most likely you are familiar with Garmin as a brand of high-quality GPS systems, but the fact is that the company also specializes in other products that come with GPS capabilities.

The Vivoactive is just one of several different fitness watches that Garmin produces, and it’s also one of the better options you can find.

Although this watch can also be used for other things like phone notification and apps, the main purpose is to track your movement and activity across a broad range of sports.

There are five primary exercises from which you can choose, including swimming, golfing, running, walking, and bicycling. Just press the activity you want to do, input some details (i.e., golf course or length of the pool) and start tracking. 

As far as accuracy goes, this watch is almost perfect for every type of exercise. It provides clear and easy-to-read data such as distance, time, laps, and even par when you use the golf app. You can even customize how you see the information, and it even offers fun tidbits related to your workout. For example, if you run or bike at a certain speed it will tell you what animal you are competing against. 

While the Vivoactive model from Garmin above was all about tracking your movements across a wide variety of sports, the Polar M400 is designed with runners in mind. This means that you won’t get the bonus of monitoring your swim laps or golf game, but if you are a runner, then this watch can help you improve your results quickly.

As far as performance goes, this watch is pretty standard. It measures steps, distance, time, and calories burned, and you can also get it with a heart rate monitor so that you can get a more comprehensive view of your vitals. Most runners will love having all of this information at their fingertips with an easy-to-use menu and large font sizes for readability.

Where this watch shines, however, is with the accompanying training program. Unfortunately, you can’t access the system from the watch itself, but instead, you have to log on through a computer or mobile device. Still, with the online program, you can monitor your routes (when GPS is activated), set a training schedule as well as benchmarks that you want to hit.

Then, once you sync with the watch, it will post reminders and give you feedback so that you can know if you are hitting your goals.

We’ve already seen what the Garmin Vivoactive is capable of, but this version is designed to be more of a heart rate monitor than the regular model. So, if you want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of each workout, you may want to choose this unit instead of the standard vivoactive.

One of the great things about the HR model is that it comes in three different sizes. This way you don’t have to worry about whether you can read your stats or if your eyes will have a hard time adjusting to the tiny screen.

The other impressive feature is that it provides comprehensive information regarding your heart rate and how it changes throughout your routine so that you can get a better idea of what is working the most.

When compared to the standard vivoactive, the HR is more of a fitness tracker than anything else, meaning that other apps and widgets are not quite as functional. So, if you want your fitness tracker to also serve as a smartwatch, go with the regular unit instead.

Also Read: The Best Survival Watches – Models with The Highest Quality

Like Garmin, TomTom is another GPS company looking to get into the fitness game with the Spark Cardio Fitness Watch.

However, this particular model has something going for it that you won’t find anywhere else on this list: music syncing. With the spark, you no longer have to bring a separate device to listen to your favorite workout jams. Now you can store up to 500 songs on the same system to keep everything more convenient.

As far as fitness tracking goes, this watch is decent, although it doesn’t come with as comprehensive a system as some of the other units I’ve seen. It does have a heart rate monitor built in and a GPS so that you can track your movements, but you do have to sync it with a third-party fitness app to store all of your data. Overall, the music player is probably the best thing about this watch. 

With its slim design and the ability to change the wrist strap based on your style preferences, the Ronten R2 is one of the most chic fitness watches you can have.

Thankfully, however, it also has plenty of substance given the fact that you can do so much with it when compared to other similar models.

The main thing that I like about this watch is that it comes with 14 different workout options. Whether you walk, run, swim, bike, or do yoga, there is a system built in to monitor your vitals and provide a comprehensive training system.

The corresponding online app also offers plenty of details to help you get the most out of your workout. The only downside is that the screen is rather small, so you may have to squint to see your numbers clearly. 

When it comes to fitness tracking, Fitbit is one of the better-known brands out there. As such, you can depend on this watch to provide you with all of the standard statistics on your workout, such as time, distance, calories, burned, heart rate, and steps taken.

However, this model is a step up from a standard Fitbit in that it also has sports tracking, so if you also love to bike, swim, or play you can still keep track of your movements.

Like the vivoactive from Garmin, this device is designed to be both a fitness tracker and a smartwatch all in one. As such, you can sync it with your phone and get push notifications for emails, texts, and phone calls, and you can download extra apps from the Fitbit app center. Overall, this watch is excellent, although it does have less battery life than other ones that I’ve seen.

Final Verdict

If you want to get the most out of your workouts, I would highly recommend either vivoactive models from Garmin. They provide the best details regarding your activity while also being easy to read and super reliable.

Related Resources 

• Keeping Time at Depth: The Best Waterproof Watches
• Best Survival Radios You Should Check Out
• Best Scuba Gears – Complete List with In-depth Reviews
• Best AGM Battery – High Performance Batteries for The Vehicle
• Best Fish Finders Under $500 – Unbiased Reviews & Buying Guide