Fitness Wearables

If you’re not after the full smartwatch experience, but do want something that will keep you motivated to hit your fitness goals, there’s two main brands to consider.

Fitbit is the brand perhaps most associated with fitness trackers. They’ve been at the top of their game for a while, and have a wide range to suit everyone, from folks who just want to be motivated to get up and walk around the room every so often, to those training for a half marathon.

The other brand to look out for is Garmin. They’re the experts in GPS, so their fitness wearables are perfect for those who love hiking and tracking long runs. Their range starts with beginner step counters, and goes all the way up to smartwatches designed to help serious athletes.

Medical Wearables

Both the main watches from Apple and Samsung have plenty of on-board health sensors to give you data and insights into your health that you can take to your doctor. There are even testimonials from Apple users whose watches alerted them to heart attacks in time to save their lives. So, both of those are fantastic options.

But if you’re wanting to go more in-depth with your health, it’s hard to go past the detail offered by Withings’ whole range of health devices. In itself, the ScanWatch is an impressive piece of health tech. It’s an analogue watch with a small screen that gives basic information, and syncs to an app on your phone to give you a lot more detailed data into your sleep, heart health and blood oxygen. Because it doesn’t rely on having a big, bright screen, the battery lasts a whopping 30 days.

Withings doesn’t just stop at the watch, though, they also have a full range of intelligent medical devices that can give you useful data and insights. They have a smart thermometer that just needs to scan a forehead to tell you if you’ve got a high temperature, and a blood pressure cuff that allows you to monitor and keep a record of your blood pressure at home. They also have scales that tell you your fat, bone and muscle content, which helps you do a quick check of your health to make sure you’re in tip-top shape. Those extra devices don’t rely on the watch to work, however, just the app, so you can use them with a different smartwatch, or no smartwatch at all if you’re wanting to just dip your toe into the smart health world. All of it can be done at your own pace.

What Is Wearable Technology?

There are many different types of wearable technology, from heart rate monitors that go around your chest, to rings that monitor how you sleep. This guide is mostly going to focus on the devices you wear around your wrist, like smartwatches, smart bands and fitness trackers. Because these devices are so personal, everyone is going to have their own key features they want to use. Someone who travels a lot for work is going to be after different features to a new, stay-at-home parent, for example.

How Does Wearable Technology Work?

This is a hard question to answer, because there’s so much variety. But, generally speaking, a wearable will connect to your phone via Bluetooth to give you notifications and track your fitness. Some also have a built-in SIM card so they can share your mobile phone plan, allowing you to make and receive calls and texts, and use data, while away from your phone (say, if you’re out running). They can also do things like read your heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen and other health information by bouncing particular light frequencies off your veins, which is both extremely safe and cool.

The Hottest Wearable Tech In 2021

This year, the big thing to look out for is ECG. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has only recently allowed smartwatches to use their ECG sensors to give you readings and warnings for things like irregular rhythms and atrial fibrillation, or Afib, which is particularly a concern for people over 60. Several of the watches and wearables below feature ECG sensors, so if that’s something that’s important to you, be sure to check them out.