9 Best Fitness Trackers for Men 2025, Selected By Fitness Experts

If you’re after an adventure-ready smartwatch with excellent fitness smarts, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 blends the superior day-to-day use of an Apple Watch with rugged specs of the most expensive Garmin and Suunto watches.

With its longer battery life (versus the Series 10), more rugged design, boosted durability, and top-performing GPS and heart rate, it’s built to handle everything from regular gym sessions to more adventurous outdoor pursuits like trail running, diving and hiking.

This is the biggest Apple smartwatch. The 49mm case is significantly larger than the Apple Watch Series 9 but despite that bulkier frame, it’s still comfortable to wear 24-7. Helped by the big selection of interchangeable straps. The large frame houses a stunning, bright, super responsive pin-sharp screen that brings all your workout metrics to life and is easy to read in all lights. It’s also waterproof to 100m.

On battery life, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 doesn’t pack the staying power of the top-end dedicated sports watches like the Garmin Fenix or COROS Vertix 2 – those beasts run for days. But in our tests we got 20 hours GPS workout time in the highest accuracy mode, stretching to 45 hours in the lowest power/accuracy mode. That’s the best you’ll find and beats the rival smartwatches.

The GPS accuracy is also excellent and the optical heart rate is solid, feeding good information into a growing range of fitness insights. Apple recently added new Training Load tracking that lets you subjectively assess how hard you’ve worked, plus VO2 Max estimates and handy trends charts for running pace, exercise minutes, standing minutes, and your daily distance covered. Though you’re still not getting Garmin-level workout and fitness features.

Beyond fitness tracking, it’s also a powerful tool for daily life. With calls and messages, offline music and effortless contactless payments, there’s no disputing its practical superiority.

Reviewed by: Kieran Alger

Full Apple Watch Ultra 2 review

Full Apple Watch Series 10 review

The Apple Watch is off limits for Samsung and Android phone users. If that’s you, your best bet for a fitness-focussed smartwatch is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. Samsung’s tracker takes everything from the last-gen Galaxy Watch and boosts it. Better staying power, brighter screen, more features and bigger build. It’s also packed with clever health and fitness features and adventure tools.

There’s a no-nonsense heft to the robust, military-grade design that’s a bit bulky for daintier wrists. The 47mm watch face has a well-built titanium exterior and a punchy, responsive (unless it’s wet) sapphire glass display. It’s also pumped up to 3,000 nits – that’s bright enough to rival the Apple Watch and great for mid-workout metric monitoring.

There’s a few other nods to Apple’s tracker here, most notably a handy action button for quick-starting workout tracking. There’s also automatic workout detection in case you forget and other new smarts include an Energy Score (a bit like Garmin’s Body Battery), body composition estimates and sleep apnea detection.

Samsung also added accuracy-boosting all-systems dual frequency GPS and a new 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor for measuring resting, daily and workout heart rate data, ECG capability (Samsung only) and powering the body composition analysis. In testing, the heart rate accuracy was generally good up against a Polar H10 chest strap. The body fat percentage reads we’ll take with a big pinch of electrolytes.

The battery life is also hit and miss. The GPS workout time was pretty solid. I ran 100 mile ultra using standard power settings and it lasted for 14 hours of the 22 hour run. The Apple Watch Ultra lasted 16 hours and my Garmin Enduro 2 still has 47% left three days later. But the general battery life was not only short but also incredibly unpredictable. Sometimes torching as much as 50% while I slept, often struggling to last more than 24 hours and taking a long time to charge.

Reviewed by: Kieran Alger

If you want an always-on tracker that’s comfortable to wear and simple to use, the Whoop 5.0 is your best wrist-based option. It continuously monitors your physiological data – such as heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and movement – which gets analysed by an in-app algorithm in order to calculate daily Sleep, Recovery and Strain scores. These three metrics get more accurate the longer you wear your Whoop, and over time offer a pretty comprehensive window into how your daily activities impact your sleep, recovery and general health long-term.

In terms of hardware, there are now two options to choose from: Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG (which stands for medical grade). The Whoop 5.0 comes as standard with the Whoop One and Whoop Peak membership plans. The former tracks everything listed above, while latter will also give you Whoop’s new Healthspan metric, Whoop age score, plus stress and general health insights. The Whoop MG does all that, as well as ECG and blood pressure tracking.

Unfortunately, Whoop doesn’t have built-in GPS, meaning it can’t track your pace, splits, cadence, or other sport-specific metrics. It’ll count your steps, but for detailed outdoor activity tracking, you’ll want to pick up a fitness watch with GPS. That aside, Whoop is now pretty well equipped to cover most of your activity tracking needs. This automatic activity tracking kicks in whenever Whoop detects elevated heart rate, particular movement patterns or elevated strain levels. Once you’ve finished a workout, all you have to do is select your activity in the Whoop app and it’ll crunch your stats for you.

Overall, the Whoop 5.0 is powerful tool for accessing detailed daily reports on your health, sleep and workouts, as well as now a long-term insight into your body’s longevity – all, without the discomfort or distraction of wearing a smartwatch 24/7.

Reviewed by: Luke Chamberlain

Full Whoop 4.0 review

Oura was the pioneer of the smart ring and, despite the competition, it remains, in my opinion, the most comprehensive pick for both iOS and Android users. If I owned a Samsung phone, there’s a strong case for opting for the Galaxy Ring instead on account of not having to pay a monthly membership fee and the exclusive perks unlocked by using the Samsung Galaxy Health app. But for everyone else, Oura is your best option.

Like Whoop, the Oura Ring 4 is, of course, screenless. It works in much the same way, tracking your body’s physiological data via a suite of titanium sensors on the interior of the ring. Unlike wrist-worn wearables, smart rings can interfere with your grip, so bear that in mind when you’re lifting weights or playing sports. You can now buy ring protectors on Amazon that claim to shield your smart ring from damage, but they’re still not idea when negotiating, say, a barbell.

In terms of data points, Oura leans into health and wellbeing, tracking metrics like your body temperature, calories burned, sleep, blood oxygen, resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), breathing rate, respiratory rate, steps and daily movement, to give you a holistic insight into your wellbeing. Inside the Oura companion app, an AI-powered algorithm crunches the data into five stats which sit under the app’s Vitals tab: Readiness, Sleep, Activity Goal, Daytime Heart Rate, and Daytime Stress.

Activity tracking is now automatic, albeit still fairly basic, on the Ring 4. It can tack 40 activities, but users have raised concerns about its inaccuracies during high-intensity workouts. Oura recently released an update which should fix some of these problems, including new fitness metrics like running splits that leverage GPS data from your smartphone.

Reviewed by: Luke Chamberlain

Oura Ring 4: Here’s What’s New

Featuring Fitbit’s top-quality health-tracking tech, the improved third-gen Google Pixel Watch 3 offers all the fitness and recovery insights you need to train smarter and stay healthy. That includes activity tracking, continuous heart rate monitoring, stress-level insights, sedentary alerts and ECGs. Plus, a decent range of workout modes, spanning everything from circuits to swimming.

Its sleeker, more compact, more subtle and much less sporty than the rugged Ultra smartwatches. The lightweight, recycled aluminium body didn’t get in the way when lifting weights, stayed firmly fixed during bouncy HIIT sessions, and didn’t chafe when things got sweaty. It felt comfy to sleep with and looked good whether in the gym or at the office.

The always-on AMOLED display is also bright and snappy – easy to read mid-workout and the touchscreen-crown-button combined controls make it easy to roll through your vitals even when things get sweaty.

Other health insights include new recovery insights –including daily readiness and cardio load scores – ECG readings, irregular heart rate alerts, sleep tracking and blood-oxygen measurements. It also has a continuous electrodermal activity (CEDA) sensor that aims to detect signs of stress when you’re awake. On the training front, there’s also a new workout builder feature that comes as part of a new suite of enhanced running features.

Workout heart rate accuracy was good and despite the lack of dual frequency GPS, in tests we found the Pixel Watch 3 fast to get a satellite fix and nicely reliable for running, cycling and hiking compared to rival watches.

The 24-hour battery life is limited compared to regular fitness watches from Garmin, COROS and Suunto and Co. You’ll find yourself charging the Pixel 2 daily. Though the rapid charge – 12 hours of usage from 30 minutes on the plug – helps reduce the battery anxiety.

Speaking of anxiety, if your fitness pursuits get you pushing limits in extreme conditions far off grid, the new Safety Check is ace. It lets you set a timer and if you haven’t responded when it runs out, the watch automatically shares your real-time location with a chosen emergency contact. Though it’s only free for Fitbit Premium customers.

Fitness tracking aside, the Pixel is also a fully-fledged smartwatch, with all the features you’d expect from a Google design – Gmail integration, Google Calendar, Google Wallet, Google Maps for step-by-step directions and Google Assistant for sending messages and voice queries.

Reviewed by: Kieran Alger

Featured in our 2025 Tech Awards, we described the Fēnix 8 as ‘Garmin’s smartest ever multisports watch’, on account of it having everything you need to ‘train for, track and boss any sporting challenge’. It tracks over 100 different types of workouts and can last up to 29 days on one charge. If you opt for the solar-powered version, that jumps up to a whopping 48 days (albeit in lieu of the that superbly bright AMOLED screen and touchscreen functionality).

Health-wise, it can track pretty much any metric you could want, from heart rate variability (HRV), sleep quality, recovery time and body battery to stress alerts and jet lag advise. It’s not the most comfortable watch to wear 24/7 on account of its rugged, durable build, so if you primarily want a fitness tracker for monitoring your sleep, it’s worth bearing that in mind.

Aside from tracking, the Fēnix 8 also boasts plenty of daily life features, with tools such as offline music streaming, contactless payments and smart notifications centre. Essentially, everything Garmin offers, this watch can do.

All this, of course, comes at a cost. The Fēnix 8 is pricier than the Fēnix 7, maxing out at £1,119.99 for the larger 51mm AMOLED version.

Reviewed by: Luke Chamberlain

Most fitness trackers carry a hefty price tag, so if you’re in the market but not looking to sell out on this particular accessory, the Suunto Race S is the best value you’ll find. With a high definition AMOLED touchscreen, over 95 sport modes, and a water rating up to 50m, the specs here are just as good as you’ll find on many high-end fitness trackers. The AMOLED display on this watch is fantastic for its compact design. And personally, I think the Suunto Race S is superior to the larger model.

A lot of fitness trackers in this price range offer only more basic tracking, like steps and calories burned. That’s not the case here. There is more to this fitness watch than just a run tracker —there are workouts and other great fitness insights, like HRV, sleep monitoring, activity tracking and race pacing. Sure, it’s not as powerful as a top-of-the-line Garmin, but it gets the job done and brings great value.

Let’s chat about some of those features. Sleep tracking is having a moment and the Suunto Race S can track your sleep duration, timing, deep sleep, light sleep, heart rate, REM and HRV from sleep. One downside here? Wearing a watch to bed isn’t for everyone. Another cool feature worth digging into is race pacing. If you’re training for an upcoming marathon (or just life), the Race Pacer can help keep you on track when the mid-long run rut strikes. Overall, this is a great budget-friendly find — just note that if you opt for the titanium version over the stainless steel version, that will hike the price up.

Reviewed by: Charles Thorpe

If you wince at the idea of paying £800 for a premium running watch, but you still want a training tool that does more than just the basics, the Garmin Forerunner 265 delivers. It’s a Goldilocks, sweet-spot fitness tool pairing a comprehensive suite of tracking and features with a beautiful AMOLED display, an ok battery life and a relatively compact build. And though it’s got runner in the name, it’s capabilities extend far beyond the plod.

The best part about the Forerunner 265: its library of features. There’s a wide range of workout modes – everything for open water swimming to HIIT. You can download and follow animated workouts for HIIT and strength. Strength training mode attempts to automatically count reps and sets. It’s not perfect but with a little input, makes logging gym sessions easier.

Beyond that there are very detailed performance and health insights. You get everything from mid-run performance condition estimates, to post-workout training effect, training readiness and VO2 Max fitness estimates. It’s easy to keep tabs on the impact of your sessions and the daily grind, too with heart rate variability (HRV), recovery and stress, Body Battery energy levels and sleep tracking.

GPS accuracy is excellent – about as reliable as it gets – while the optical heart rate accuracy was solid, too. Not infallible, sometimes it seemed a bit slower to adjust in real time versus a chest strap, but show us an optical sensor that doesn’t.

Throw in some smartwatch features like music and contactless payments and you’ve got a really good all-rounder with enough to suit most.

Reviewed by: Kieran Alger

With five predecessors, Fitbit certainly knows a thing or two about activity trackers – and with a load of new features, the Charge 6 is a step up from the 5.

Aesthetics-wise, it looks pretty much the same; however, the Charge 6 boasts a haptic button on the side, meaning you don’t need to rely solely on touchscreen for navigation – useful after those extra sweaty sessions. The waterproof feature also comes into play here, as well as in the pool. Did we mention it tracks up to 40 different sport modes, compared to the six on the previous model?

It claims to have the most accurate heart rate monitor yet, which you can connect to treadmills, rowers and bikes via Bluetooth for extra visibility. As well as heart rate, it can flag any irregular heart rhythms with an ECG monitor, and there are electoral dermal activity (EDA) sensors that measure stress levels, plus personalised sleep data to help with stress management.

No pockets for your phone? Worry not, thanks to another new software feature – simply link up your Google account to use Google Pay and Maps on the go. This is great if you already have a Google account but will take some extra setting up if not. It’s also compatible with YouTube music to keep your tunes pumping day-to-day (well, across a seven-day battery life period, at least).

Reviewed by: Priyankaa Joshi