While we think this is the best subscription sleep tracker, if you aren’t keen to pay a monthly fee you may prefer the Garmin Venu 3 in this guide, as the Sleep Coach is included as standard. One downside for those looking for a fitness tracker that tracks exercise and sleep is that the Whoop MG doesn’t have GPS. Affordable does not mean a lack of quality — we found the Redmi Watch 5 to offer a wealth of sleep data and even some quirks within the app, such as discovering your “sleep animal.” A less bulky Garmin smartwatch for those who want a premium sleep tracker from an established and reliable brand. It produces easily digestible data and is so comfortable you won’t know you’re wearing it. This is quite simply the best sleep tracker we’ve tested, offering help in establishing your sleep-wake cycle and providing depth and detail when it comes to metrics.
Best sleep tracker on a budget
As Android Authority‘s tenured wearables expert, I’ve tested countless trackers for years now, pushing the limits of sensors, features, batteries, and builds. Below are the top devices I would recommend to anyone looking for the best fitness tracker available. I’ve been testing and assessing sleep products for years alongside CNET’s sleep team. From mattresses to bedding to sleep accessories, I know which products are worth writing home about.
We focused on apps because they’re accessible and relatively inexpensive, which makes them far more appealing to most people. If you participate in multiple forms of fitness, you’ll be thrilled with the activity tracking options on the Venu 3S. The fitness-focused smartwatch has 30 preloaded sports and workouts, which makes it easy to track specific activities. While participating in these modes, the watch offers three screens with varying data, so it’s easy to toggle back and forth in real time to see your heart rate, reps, distance or calories burned. If you want to create your own workout, the Garmin Connect app syncs with the watch, so you can load workouts into the watch that are then cued through the device’s speakers. Outside of activity, the watch also provides overall health tracking, looking at sleep and stress.
Best fitness trackers for sleep in 2024
This tracker helps you take a more holistic view of your overall health, where quality of sleep is seen to play a part. So, if you had a bad night’s sleep, this would mean your readiness score would be lower the next day. This would allow you to adjust your day to help improve your overall health rather than pushing to extremes. With the sleep monitoring available on the Oura Ring 3, it’s possible to start connecting the dots and improve your overall health and well-being. Most importantly, the watch tracks sleep stages, heart rate, and time in bed with very solid accuracy.
But for those who want smartwatch functionality and fitness tracking in one elegant device, the Pixel Watch 4 delivers a premium experience. I’m choosing the Venu 3 (or the 3S, which is the same thing in the smaller size) for a few reasons. It has the newest generation of Garmin’s Elevate heart rate sensor, making it potentially a smidge more accurate than other great watches like the Forerunner or Vivoactive lines. Oura is supposed to be the best wearable for tracking sleep stages, and that may be true, but no wearable is actually tracking your sleep stages accurately.
Top pick: Fitbit Inspire 3
The first column shows how far off each tracker was in measuring the distance (1 mile) we walked https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/water-balance during treadmill workouts. The second column is a tabulation of step count error percentage between readouts from a tested fitness tracker and our pedometer. Justin did enjoy testing the Oura Ring, and reported very interesting findings. He liked having a tracker that keyed him into what was happening with his body, and in many cases, the data the ring recorded confirmed how he was feeling. The larger dataset, compared with other sleep-tracking apps, helped Justin become more cognizant of his sleep and body in general (though it stressed him out at times).
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- Because these devices are meant to be worn all day, every day, we put a lot of emphasis on comfort, wearability, and user friendliness — of both the device and its companion app.
- So if you can’t lift in it, and it’s not great at activity tracking or sleep staging, why wear one?
- As I’ve written before, I don’t think it’s very smart to adjust your long-term training plan based on short-term fluctuations in recovery, but how you use the data is up to you.
- The sleep tracking on this budget device was outstanding when comparing it to more premium brands.
- The Apple Watch Series 9 also has handy safety features, including crash and fall detection.
- We also asked testers to fill out a daily sleep journal with how they were feeling and their sleep and wake times to see if the companion app’s findings seemed accurate.
In our tests of step count accuracy, the Fitbit Inspire 3 was off from our pedometer readout by just 0.32% over a two-day period — the best of all the fitness trackers tested. In a one-mile test of how accurately it recorded distance, the Inspire 3 had one of the better tallies, being over by only 0.03 mile. Most fitness trackers provide an estimated tally of calories burned that’s based in part on an estimate of your basal metabolic rate.
Women’s health tracking
Our recommendations are based on in-depth research and medical expertise. We compared devices across multiple categories, from lightweight bands to advanced multisport watches and rings, and paid special attention to how accurately they tracked heart rate, sleep, and activity. The only downsides are unimeal review that the Coros Pace 3 offers fewer apps, a simpler display, and less lifestyle integration than competitors like Garmin or Apple. But for serious runners, cyclists, or triathletes who value light weight, long battery life, and accurate tracking, the Pace 3 is one of the best mid-range options available. Oura’s app then uses those metrics, and other data it’s collected about you, to give you sleep scores, readiness scores, and gentle recommendations for supporting your health. The readiness score is highest when you’re under the least stress (low RHR, high HRV).
It slides under your mattress to collect a wealth of data that is documented in a daily sleep report and sleep score. Offered in multiple styles and finishes, Oura Ring 4 has a stylish look that complements its in-depth tracking of sleep and daily activity. One charge gets you up to eight days of battery life, and the titanium build is lightweight and gentle on your skin. Sleep trackers vary based on a number of different factors, from the technology they use to the sensors that monitor your sleep.
The best sleep tracker for comfort
The device has a small touchscreen, but our reviewer found that the Charge 6’s side button was easier to navigate as the touchscreen was more unreliable, especially with gloves on. And, while it’s stacked with nearly every feature imaginable, the Venu 3S is a chic and stylish watch that complements outfits, unlike other, clunkier sports-focused watches. I tracked my sleep with Garmin, Oura Ring and Eight Sleep for a month.
selectOur editors spent months testing fitness apps — these are the 8 best
The best sleep trackers offer detailed sleep data and present this information in an easy-to-digest format. They also need to be small, discreet and comfortable so as not to wake you up or disturb your sleep. It also doubles as a powerful training tool with advanced fitness metrics, accurate GPS, and even on-wrist calls and voice assistant support.
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While it doesn’t necessarily apply to sleep tracking, it should be mentioned that the Whoop has the most ingenious charging design of any fitness tracker I’ve tested. The charger slides on the device so you can wear it while charging, not missing a beat of your daily activity. The Garmin Epix Pro Sapphire is built for serious athletes and endurance competitors who demand the best in durability, accuracy, and advanced training tools. The display is bright and easy to read outdoors, and the advanced GPS provides precision tracking for long-distance runs, hikes, and cycling. With up to a month of battery life in smartwatch mode and over 80 hours in GPS mode, it’s made to go the distance. The Google Pixel Watch 4 combines the best of Google’s smartwatch ecosystem with Fitbit’s trusted health-tracking features.
I Tested Three Sleep Trackers for 30 Days. Here’s the One I’d Actually Use
The free version provides general sleep advice and a record of your sleep for seven days at a time. For $50 a year (or $6 per month), SleepScore tracks and records your sleep reasonably accurately for the long term and helps you create a path toward improvement. SleepScore’s main flaw is that it only works with iPhone 6 and higher and a limited number of Android phones. As far as fitness tracking, the Apple Watch offers similar features to many of the other monitors we tested.
It runs on the brand’s proprietary GarminOS, and the Garmin Connect IQ store features iOS and Android apps that can sync with your Garmin device. Instead of plugging it in to charge, there is a little detachable battery that you plug in. Then, for an hour or so every couple of days, you slide this battery onto your Whoop band like a tiny backpack.
Best fitness watch for casual users
Think about ongoing costs before committing—the last thing you want is to buy a great tool you don’t want to pay to renew. However, that does not mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a good shuteye. Most people can experience a substantial improvement in their sleep quality by focusing on a handful of key metrics, namely sleep duration, sleep timings, and time spent awake during the night, Cann said. Your sleep data is also used to calculate something called your recovery score. The tracker uses the quantity and quality of your sleep, among other things, to work out how ready you are to take on exercise.
We also prioritized trackers that adapted guidance to the wearer’s actual habits. It can work as a fitness tracker, and thanks to its unobtrusive design, you can keep it on before and after workouts, too. There is no screen, either, so if you want to keep tech out of the bedroom, it’s great for that. The Oura Ring Gen 3 is the most discreet fitness tracker you can buy right now. It’s one of the most expensive trackers in this collection, but it also supports a long list of features for the price. Sleep trackers are increasingly popular and can offer useful insights into your sleep habits, routines and general patterns.