I’ve been checking out different smartwatches for a while now and the reviews are all over the place. I’m using an Apple Watch Series 6 but the battery life is driving me crazy. I charge it every night, so no sleep tracking for me. If I charge it before bed to wear overnight, it’s dead by afternoon.
I’m looking for a watch that has a long battery life, tracks heart health, and works for my workouts (mostly weightlifting with some cardio).
I read that Fitbit has pretty accurate sleep tracking, but the more I looked into it, the more I saw complaints about glitches.
I also like how the Garmin Vivoactive 5 looks and its features, but I heard the sleep tracking isn’t great.
I know every watch has mixed reviews, but I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions. Got any other smartwatches I should check out?
If you’re using an iPhone, Fitbit’s Pixel 3 isn’t even an option since it’s locked to Android. You’d be stuck with the Sense, Versa, Charge, or their other trackers. Battery life won’t be much better than your Apple Watch, though.
Fitbit’s sleep tracking can work well for some people, but it’s hit-or-miss. None of these watches handle REM or light sleep accurately. Fitbit does well with sleep duration and offers detailed info if you subscribe to their premium plan. Without premium, you miss out on stress tracking and full sleep scores. Keep in mind, the subscription adds up over time, so you might end up spending close to what a Garmin Vivoactive 5 costs. Over two years, the Garmin might even save you money.
Garmin focuses more on recovery. The Vivoactive 5 has some recovery features, but it’s limited compared to their more advanced watches. Garmin’s sleep tracking has its quirks—sometimes it thinks you’re sleeping if you’re just lying still with a low heart rate. You can fix that by setting your sleep time manually or moving around every now and then. The key data is deep sleep and stress levels, which tie into their Body Battery and recovery features.
Garmin also provides a lot of info about your sleep and tips to improve it. I had a medication issue once, and my sleep scores tanked. The stress data helped me figure out the timing and fix it, which brought my sleep back to normal.
Remy said:
Fitbit might have better sleep tracking, but I’d stick with Garmin. Fitbit’s future seems a bit uncertain, and Garmin watches just look better too!