Fitness trackers are becoming more and more popular in everyday life. Especially with large fitness companies such as Fitbit, they promote getting a healthy dose of exercise, even at work. So, before you go out and purchase your fitness tracker, view our guide below on the top five mistakes you can make buying one, avoiding any buyer’s remorse.
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1. Not Knowing Your Goals
Before purchasing your own fitness tracker, it’s important to consider what activities you expect to do with it and decide which goals to plan for. For example, you may want to set a standard goal of 10,000 steps per day, or burn off a specific number of calories per week. Generally speaking, fitness trackers are designed to help people get more motivated about their personal fitness. If you enjoy certain activities, such as bicycling, make sure your fitness tracker is designed to track it.
It’s important that you buy a tracker that is capable of tracking your favorite workouts, even less common ones, such as jumping rope. However, if you’re new to exercising, you may just want to purchase a standard one that lets you know how many steps you’re taking and how many calories you’ve burned. People who actively workout may want to invest in a “smarter” fitness tracker that has more advanced features, such as automated activity recognition, heart rate monitoring, and waterproofing.
However, if you’re an athlete training for your next big event, you may want to get a more serious fitness tracker that can track your GPS. Fitness tracker companies Garmin and TomTom make durable GPS-enabled devices that can track your heart rate, exercise intervals, elevation, and more. Apple even has their own smartwatch and fitness tracker combo that can store music, place and answer calls, as well as come fully equipped with Apple Pay.
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2. Picking the Wrong Design
Although there are plenty of smartbands for fitness tracking that can strap onto your wrist, there are others that can clip onto your clothing that may be more comfy to wear while working out. For example, the Misfit Shine 2 and Nokia Go can clip onto your pocket. Plus, the Misfit Ray comes with a variety of accessories, one that even lets you wear it as a necklace.
Depending on the manufacturing company, the model and many other factors, each individual type of fitness tracker out there can offer you different things, both aesthetically and in terms of settings. Therefore, you need to choose the make and model you feel most satisfied with on all terms so that you don’t regret your choice later on. For example, if you feel most comfortable with a fitness tracker that wraps around your wrist, you need to go into making the purchase with that in mind. A great way to figure out which style fits you best is to borrow a couple of different trackers from your friends and try them for a bit.
3. Not Going Waterproof
Fortunately, there are even fitness trackers that are waterproof and can be used directly in the pool if you’re in a swimming session. The Nokia Go can record calorie burn and duration underwater and the Misfit Shine 2 can even record the number of lengths you swim in the pool. However, the Fitbit Flex 2 is also a waterproof fitness tracker that can record your swimming metrics. The Moov Now can identify what strokes you do and offer advice on your technique, which is especially helpful for professional swimmers.
Just keep in mind that neither of these devices can detect your heart rate in water, which may be a deal breaker. And seeing as how some types of fitness trackers face inaccuracies in term of calorie count, you will need to research extensively and find the best device for you if this is what you’re interested in when swimming. However, even if you’re not a swimmer, a waterproof fitness tracker is a good choice nevertheless because it’s all the more resistant and sturdy.
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4. Underestimating Your Battery Needs
Another important consideration you need to make when choosing a fitness tracker is the battery life is possessing. The last thing you want to do is be constantly charging it throughout the day, which can affect the very use you bought it for. Generally, fitness trackers call into two battery categories: those that can last up to five days and are charged via USB and those that use a cell battery that can last upwards of six months.
Fitness trackers that Garmin offers, as well as the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse and Fitbit Altra HR all require USB recharging. However, trackers such as the Misfit, Nokia Go, and Moov Now only require recharging every six months. The best type of fitness tracker battery for you will depend on your individual.
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5. Forgetting to Leave a Margin for Errors
A fitness tracker is a great device to own if you’re passionate about your exercise routine, but at the end of the day, you need to remember that even the most technologically advanced devices can sometimes be inaccurate. According to a recent study conducted on sixty participants, it seems that while most fitness trackers are efficient and accurate in measuring heart rate, these reliable little devices can sometimes be off when measuring the calories burned during some parts of your routine.
This by no means implies that the devices in themselves are bad, it just presupposes that you need to be aware of this minor flaw and leave some sort of margin for the inaccuracies that might occur. So, if you eat one too many slices of that delicious pizza you love, don’t rely too heavily on your fitness tracker to tell you everything. A good idea, in this case, is for you to also manually monitor your daily calorie intake and compare the data.
Nonetheless, let’s not forget that less than five percent of fitness trackers have trouble with registering accurate heart rate data. What is more, owning a fitness tracker can actually help you improve your heart’s health according to a cardiologist at the renowned Johns Hopkins medical institute. So keeping track of your own calorie intake might just be a small price to pay for heart health.
Conclusion
Fitness trackers are becoming a crucial part of life, especially for those of us out here that are passionate about fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Whether you’re casually looking to track your steps or shed some weight, a fitness tracker can be a vital step in reaching your goals.
Hopefully, with the help of this guide, you could get a better understanding of what to avoid when purchasing your own tracker, and thus ensure that you buy the best device to suit your needs and specific workout preferences. Each and every one of us is different when it comes to these things, which means that an informed choice is the best choice you can make.