The Best Fitness Tracker for Women in 2019. Our Top Picks!
Are you in the market for a fitness tracker that is specifically catered to women? As a woman, or maybe as a man trying to buy a fitness tracker that you can gift to a woman in your life, you are probably looking for something that is both fashionable as well as very functional. That is exactly what we compiled when we put this list together. Below, you will find a quick roundup of what we think are the best gadgets fit to be called the best fitness tracker for women. You will find out more about their looks, their functionality and the many uses you can put them to.
Let’s get right into our picks for the best fitness tracker for women then.
Bellabeat Leaf Nature Health Tracker
Let’s start off by introducing you to what we think is the best fashion fitness tracker for women. While most of the other trackers on this list are femininely sporty, the Bellabeat Leaf tracker is the only one that can be called an outright fashion accessory that looks like a beautiful piece of jewelry.
The gold leaf like design on an ash wood base is simply stunning to look at. You can use it to clip it onto your clothing, much like how you use a brooch. Or, you can use the necklace that comes with the leaf tracker to wear it around your neck, like a chain. You can also use it as a bracelet, with the given bracelet that will fit most female wrist sizes.
This tracker pairs with a custom app that you will get access to, when you purchase this tracker. Once connected with the app, you can view the number of steps you take, the calories you burn and also the distance you have covered with your steps.
And, that is not all. It also monitors the quality of your sleep, telling you how soundly you slept, how many minutes of light sleep and deep sleep you had. It can also wake you up with a silent alarm that you set through the app, with a vibrating alert that won’t wake your partner, for those really early morning wakeups when your partner is not going to wake up with you.
What’s really special about the Bellabeat Leaf Nature fitness tracker and what makes it a very specific activity tracker for women is the fact that it can you can use it to track menstrual cycles, remind you to take your pill, and even give you information on your ovulating periods, should you be trying to get pregnant.
It also has the ability to detect stress, then giving you breathing exercises with guided instructions, to help you relieve that stress. You can also use the app to set daily activity goals for yourself, to then be reminded with vibrating alerts that will help you achieve that goal. This tracker uses a coin sell battery that will last upwards of 4,000 hours, or for about 6 months. When the battery does run out, you just have to swap it out for a new coin battery that will last you another 6 months.
This is an elegant, stylish and very feminine fitness tracker that will do the job if you just need tracking of steps, calories, distance and your sleep, of course enjoying a few additional features that the device offers, as discussed above. The Bellabeat has garnered over 4,000 4+ star reviews at Amazon, in a really short time frame. This speaks volumes about the product’s aesthetics, design and usefulness. Besides the Rose gold finish, it is also available in a more quaint dull steel finish. You might prefer the latter model if you prefer that your accessories maintain a low key, rather than grab the spotlight.
Fitbit Alta HR
Though Fitbit didn’t specifically say that the Alta HR was geared towards women, the design clearly gives it away. With a very slim profile, the Alta is a massive hit with women in America. In fact, it has easily become the bestselling device that Fitbit has ever made.
What you will absolutely love about the Fitbit Alta HR is the enormity of choices when it comes to choosing colorful bands that you can use the Alta with. Since swapping out bands is as simple as nudging the tracker out of a mold and pushing it into another, you can virtually change out your Fitbit Alta HR on a daily basis and make it exactly match your outfit, regardless of what fashion mood you are in.
Of course, it isn’t always about the looks and the Fitbit Alta HR is a strong performer when it comes to the feature list as well.
To begin with, you get very accurate and continuous heart rate monitoring. With your heart rate tracked, the estimation of your calorie burn is so much more accurate than an estimation without heart rate figures.
Heart rate monitoring offers other benefits as well. For example, the Fitbit Alta HR app will analyze your heart rate and your exercises to tell you whether you are in a fat burning mode or if you are in an endurance mode, burning off carbohydrates that you might have consumed, instead of the fat stored in your body. This critical piece of information will allow you to modify your workouts to get better fitness results. For example, when you are trying to lose fat and save your precious lean muscle mass, it is very important that you keep your heart rate lower than what you would experience when you are in endurance mode, where you are really pushing your heart rate.
Heart rate also changes the way the Alta HR tracks your sleep. By correlating your heart rate changes with detected body movements during sleep, you get a much more accurate measure of light and deep sleep.
The battery on the Alta HR lasts 7 days. If you can’t quite afford the Alta HR, you can choose the Alta without the heart rate monitoring. However, we do recommend that you pony up the $30 to $40 for the Alta HR model as there is just so much more that is brought to the table.
Another feature that makes the Fitbit Alta HR not just a contender for the best fitness tracker for women but also as a best fitness watch for women is that it always shows time, besides also showing you call, text and calendar notification alerts.
All tracked metrics by the Alta HR or by any Fitbit band for that matter are phenomenally stored and displayed through the Fitbit app. Using the app gives you great snapshot information on your current fitness and activity levels, giving you motivation to better yourself, on an everyday basis. You also get access to a large and vibrant Fitbit community as well, should you want to get involved with contests, discussion boards or forums.
Fitbit Charge 2 HR
The Charge 2 is another very popular Fitbit product that you can consider as an activity tracker for women. It doesn’t offer the same aesthetically pleasing slim profile that might cater to a women audience, but it has more performance features to offer to a woman wanting to up her fitness game significantly.
If you are into a lot of cardio as a woman, you will love this fitness tracker as it will constantly give you a cardio score. This cardio score is personalized for you, using your heart rate, your activity levels and also the age that you input when you pair the Charge 2 with your Fitbit app.
Like the Bellabeat fitness tracker we introduced to you earlier, this tracker can also give you guided breathing instructions, to help you ease out of periods where your stress levels are building up, as indicated by a rising heart rate that isn’t accompanied by a corresponding level of increasing physical movement.
Like the Alta HR, the Charge 2 can notify you of all phone notifications, track your calories, steps, floors climbed, sleep and also give you access to the Fitbit app.
Garmin Vivosmart HR
The Garmin Vivosmart HR is a newly launched device that gives you the same performance capabilities as the Fitbit Alta, but at a lesser price. Like the Alta, it features a rather slim profile that will look just right on a woman’s wrist.
Though there aren’t as many after-market bands available for the Vivosmart HR as the Alta HR, you can still find colorful bands to switch up the look of your Garmin Vivosmart HR. But, most women who buy the Garmin Vivosmart HR prefer to stick to the model’s default black design, as black is a color that they can pull off with any dress or fashion sense.
The always on display will show you the calories you burn, which is very accurate because it is calculated using continuous heart rate monitoring, the distance you have covered, the steps you have taken and also the time you took to do it. It also tracks your sleep in a lot of detail, letting you know how well you slept, or how poorly you slept.
Like the two Fitbit models we discussed earlier, you will also receive notifications about calls, alerts and calendar notifications, as long as your phone is within Bluetooth range.
What’s very unique to Garmin fitness trackers is that they all feature a Move bar. The Move bar is a simple reminder that you have been too sedentary, for too long. It comes on as a red bar on your screen, after 45 minutes of inactivity or very sedentary activity. The longer you stay idle, more bars get added on, at 15 minute intervals. Garmin users swear by the Move bar, as they always end up feeling guilty on seeing the red bar, to get up and take a quick walk, to shake of those lazy bad habits.
Battery life on the Garmin Vivosmart HR is about 4 days, before you need recharging.
Garmin Forerunner 15
If about $60 is all you want to spend on the best fitness tracker for women, we highly recommend the Garmin Forerunner 15, available in a very feminine teal and violet color. It is also available in a couple of black color combinations, in addition to a sporty red version.
One thing you must know about the Garmin Forerunner 15 is that battery life is only about 8 hours, when put into GPS mode. Without GPS mode, it can last a good 5 days. But, most women who use this tracker use it for their runs with the GPS mode activated, before taking it off for a regular watch or maybe a fitness tracker that also tracks HR.
Then why wear the Garmin Forerunner 15 at all? Because it is a running fitness tracker specifically designed for women. The display on the Forerunner 15 will allow you to see bonus stats like whether or not you have set the fastest mile or your longest run to date, both of which all women and men runners always strive for. You also see your run routes along with all the running metrics on your Garmin Connect app.
You can also pair this with a foot pod or a Garmin heart rate monitor to incorporate additional running statistics like running cadence and heart rate. The compatibility with the foot pod is particularly useful if you do all your running indoors, maybe on a treadmill. What you will absolutely love about the Forerunner 15 is that it is designed to give you a vibrating alert every time you finish a mile, with the backlight screen immediately showing you the time it took to complete your last or just completed mile. This is an incredibly useful feature to have if you are running a half or full marathon and are trying to pace yourself.
If you are specifically looking for the best fitness tracker for women to track your daily runs, this is a phenomenal device that can do exactly that. The Forerunner 15 without heart rate tracking costs about $60 while the model with heart rate tracking costs just over $100.
Fitbit Blaze
Surprised to see another Fitbit device on this list of best fitness tracker for women? Well, don’t be! Fitbit just makes great fitness trackers and the Blaze is no different. What sets the Blaze apart is that it can easily be called the best fitness watch for women. Unlike other models in this list, the Blaze is a full-fledged smartwatch that costs just under $200.
What sets the Blaze apart from the Alta HR or the Charge 2 is that it features multi-sport modes. If you are the type of woman that does a bit of running, walking, biking or even cross training, you can put the Blaze into that specific mode, to more accurately track calorie burn and distance covered than ordinary trackers that just use regular steps to calculate the usual fitness metrics.
What’s also very different about the Fitbit Blaze is that it gives you access to Fitstar workouts, where you receive step by step instructions on how to perform a certain workout right on your fitness watch’s display. This is particularly useful for those who have never received any personal training, and for those women who don’t know how to properly do a lot of exercises. With Fitstar, you have the freedom to choose a workout that will help you lose fat, help you build lean muscle mass or simply target very specific muscle groups like your core, shoulders or your back.
Battery life is pretty impressive at about 5 days, considering this device can do a lot. Besides Fitstar and multi-sport modes, the Blaze is the best fitness watch for women that also tracks your continuous heart rate, provides you with a calorie count, distance count, step count and also gives you all notifications related to incoming calls, texts and also sleep tracking.
We must also tell you that there are many aftermarket wristband options for the Fitbit Blaze, with very lady like designs if you want a watch that you can wear for sports, to work, to the club or at the gym!
Fossil Q Wander Gen 2 Wine Leather Touchscreen Smartwatch
If you are looking for a women specific fitness tracker that also looks like a traditional watch, this Fossil Q model is a very popular choice. Women love the dainty wine colored straps and the rose gold finish of the bezel of the round watch face. It has a classic feel to it, despite being a smartwatch.
Aesthetics and premium feel aside, this is a watch that does a lot as a fitness tracker as well. Using Bluetooth, this smartwatch will show you who is calling, who is texting and will even let you read emails if you really want it to.
It also tracks steps, calories and distance. You even have the ability to control music on your phone, by simply pressing buttons on the display. The watch accepts voice commands as well. Yes, this smartwatch has an in built microphone that will allow you to use Google Now, as long as you run an OS that is later than 4.3.
The one drawback with this smartwatch for women that also doubles up as a fitness tracker is that battery life is just one day. We recommend that you charge it every night, if you don’t want it to die on you, during a hectic day.
This particular Fossil Q watch ships with the signature wine red straps and you also have the option to buy a teal colored strap or a navy blue colored strap, both of which will lend you a very feminine and sophisticated look. Please note that the Fossil Q does not offer sleep tracking, a feature that you will find on almost every other fitness tracker mentioned in this post. Fossil probably thought that it will be pointless to put a sleep tracker on a phone that will most probably be sitting at the charging station at night, with battery life being just 24 hours.
Michael Kors Access Touchscreen Rose Gold Acetate Bradshaw Smartwatch
If you really want an activity tracker for women that looks more like a piece of jewelry and nothing like a fitness tracker, this Michael Kors smartwatch might fit your needs. The rose gold finish on this watch gives it a very premium look and even feel, allowing you to flaunt it even with dressy outfits, where a regular fitness tracker just can’t help you carry off the look you want.
Though this watch is a stunner, it is not the best when it comes to tracking very detailed fitness metrics. There is a one tracking counter that will track level of activity and that is about it when it comes to fitness tracking. But, you will receive all the smartphone notifications that you will otherwise only see on your phone. This watch also allows you to use your voice to speak in commands. But, there is no sleep tracking included in the features.
If this smartwatch wasn’t stunning enough already, you can buy a bunch of premium straps that will make it look all the more sophisticated and fit for every occasion that you can think of.
But, if you are serious about tracking your fitness activities, we highly recommend that you get one of the many great activity tracker for women gadgets that we have recommended earlier in this post, as the activity tracker on this Michael Kors watch is very basic.
So, there you have it. Our list of the best fitness trackers for women. As you can see, we have tried to make suggestions that will give you the best of both worlds when it comes to looks and features. We recommend that you don’t give either of those attributes too much bias when picking out a fitness tracker that will serve you well. After all, you want to look good and also want useful and accurate information about your activity and fitness, so you can better yourself. Pick a tracker that gives you a very nice combination of both. We also highly recommend that you pick a tracker capable of heart rate monitoring as fitness data is simply more accurate and useful when presented along with heart rate reports.
