A good combination of consistent motivation and good habits can come a long way, and it doesn’t have to cost much.
Here and there, we see high-end fitness trackers that tickle us with their shiny new features. They dominate the market, double as smart watches, and demand a high price. There are Apple Watches and Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, but do you really need these if your only main objective is to stay fit while having some minor smart tools right at your wrist? Probably not. Those features are a luxury, and many can go about with simple fitness trackers which do the job.
It’s easy to digress from your fitness and lifestyle goals if it’s hard to visualize the outcome, or if motivation and good habits just seem out of reach. Thankfully, there are fitness trackers that do a good job at hacking our brains to stay motivated and consistent with our good habits. Think of these little things as self-automated journals that collect data. When you’re able to recall your motivations, your goals, and your weaknesses, it’s easier to be encouraged. You can stay lazy all you want and let the realization pass, but if you’ve got a device right at your wrist reminding you how lazy you’ve been, boy will you be motivated to take action.
Fitness trackers need not be expensive. Most, if not all, already offer the classic pedometer feature; other features are just bonuses. And one good thing to rejoice about is that many of these powerful fitness trackers do include simple push notifications, heart monitoring, and sleep analysis on top of the usual tools that measure your steps, distance, and calories. Here we take a look at three budget fitness trackers that you can take full advantage of.
Huawei Band 3 Pro
The Huawei Band 3 Pro is a surprise in all sorts. Many fitness trackers, especially those in the budget tier, rely on the phones GPS to track workouts. What’s unique about the Huawei Band 3 Pro is that it comes with its own GPS so you can leave your phone at your home, if you wish, and still have your outdoor workout tracked and mapped.
There are many more features you’d find in this tracker, and considering its competitive price, it’s a steal. Unlike other budget trackers, it also features a colored AMOLED display, a waterproof design, and continuous heart rate tracking. This translates to a much more pleasing visual experience, even under the sun, and an array of fitness tracking modes that include swimming.
You’ll get about 12-14 days of battery life with this fitness tracker, so tracking your sleep and taking advantage of the continuous heart rate monitor shouldn’t be an issue.
Many confuse this tracker for the Fitbit Charge 3 because it looks nearly identical, but one big difference is the price. If you’re looking for an all in one budget fitness tracker, this is one to consider.
Mi Band 4
Tech behemoth Xiaomi has always been popular due to its cheap pricing and quality products. Its fitness tracker offerings do not fall far from the tree. Oftentimes, when you buy a cheap fitness tracker, you’ll soon realize that you get what you pay for. The battery, UI, and overall performance eventually act up until you need a replacement. Well, investing in the Mi Band 4 saves you from that predicament. Despite being one of the cheapest trackers in the market, it offers a lot, and delivers without missing much.
The Mi Band 4 comes with a beautiful AMOLED display. Unlike its previous iteration, it’s much more vibrant and clear. Adding to this is interactive music controls — perfect for quick song changes during workouts.
Although absent of a GPS feature, it’s still able to latch onto your phone’s GPS for location mapping. Fitness-wise, it features Xiaomi’s new six-axis sensor for much more accurate running pace tracking and swimming workouts. Yes, you read that right, you can take this tracker with you into the pool or at the beach and it can have it track specific swimming exercises such as the crawl, butterfly, backstroke, among others.
The Mi Band 4 just gets all the essentials right. It features 20-day battery life, a slim yet stylish design, and all the important fitness and sleep tracking features you’d need. It’s far from a basic fitness tracker, and this is definitely the one to get if you’d want to maximize your every cent.
Garmin Vívofit 4
Sometimes the most basic of trackers simply get the work done. There are no distractions, no notifications, and no gimmicks with the Garmin Vívofit 4, which is a good and bad thing in itself. It allows you to focus on just the essentials. If there’s one thing the Vívofit 4 is, it’s minimalist.
There’s a simple screen on the tracker, and a single button that lets you cycle towards the different pages. It displays common data such as steps, calories, distance, and standing hours, with the weather and temperature being the only special page.
Because it is stripped from GPS and heart tracking features, and only focuses on the basics, it’s able to offer a year long battery life. So if you’re into causally tracking your everyday activities and even your sleep, and want to worry less about battery charge, then the Garmin Vívofit 4 may be the one for you.
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE December 2019-January 2020 Issue
Words by Gerry Gaviola