Out of the box, the Apple Watch is an all day activity tracker that measures three separate aspects of movement with the goal of helping you sit less, move more, and exercise at least 30 minutes per day. Also pre-installed on the watch is a dedicated workout app that provides more detailed measurement of activities such as running, biking, yoga, weight-lifting and more.
With the accelerometer, heart rate monitor and useage of the wifi and GPS in your paired-up iPhone, the watch can take a fairly complete snapshot of your activity level.
For the casual athlete, the Apple Watch will be a great way to measure activity, set goals, and move more often, but more serious athletes might not get what they’re looking for. The Apple Watch is a smartwatch first and a sports watch second.
Apple Watch – Starts at $349
The Apple Watch is a smartwatch designed to be a companion to Apple’s iPhone. Along with smartphone notifications, the watch includes a variety of fitness tracking such as running, biking and steps taken. Since the watch does not include built-in GPS, you will need to carry your paired-up iPhone to get driving directions, record your running routes and more.
The Apple Watch features:
- a 18 hour battery life
- Color touchscreen
- Step counter
- Built-in heart rate monitor
- Water resistant
- 8 GB internal storage
- Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi (integrated)
If you fall into the category of people that are looking for a sports watch with smartwatch capability, here are a few alternatives to the Apple Watch to consider.
Garmin Vivoactive – $249.99
The Garmin Vivoactive watch is an ultra-thin, lightweight device with built-in GPS, making carrying a smartphone unnecessary. Along with the normal built-in running app, the watch tracks laps in the pool, your bike performance and your golf game. The Vivoactive also has a color touch screen and receives smartphone notifications.
The Vivoactive features:
- 3 week battery life (10 hrs with GPS)
- GPS enabled
- Waterproof
- Color touchscreen
- Smartphone notifications
- Sleep monitoring
- Step Counter
- App compatible
Ironman Timex ONE GPS+ – $399.95
Just like the Garmin Vivoactive, the Ironman Timex ONE GPS+ is a GPS enabled watch so that you can leave your phone at home. Additionally, the Ironman Timex has 4GB of storage, which means your songs can travel everywhere you work out. Not only does the watch receive smartphone notifications, but because it connects through cellular towers, you can respond to texts messages if you wish. Another awesome features is the ability to let friends track you during a race.
The Timex features:
- 72 hour battery life (8 hrs with GPS)
- GPS enabled
- Water resistant (50 meters)
- Color touchscreen
- Smartphone notifications
- App compatible
Suunto Ambit3 Peak – $500
The Suunto Ambit3 Peak is a multisport GPS watch. While the device does not have a color touchscreen, it does have top-notch sensors to record swimming, cycling, running, hiking and navigation. There is also a multisport function so triathletes can track swimming, biking and running all at once. If you’re big into swimming, this is one of the few watches that has the ability to record your heartrate while underwater. The watch also allows for smartphone notifications so you’re able to keep alert of any new emails, calls, Tweets or Facebook messages you may receive.
The Ambit3 features:
- 30 hour battery life
- GPS enabled
- Waterproof
- Smartphone notifications
- App compatible
- Multisport capability
- Weather information
- Compass
FitBit surge – $249.99
FitBit’s major entry into the smartwatch arena is the surge, which they advertise as the “ultimate fitness super watch”. The surge is GPS enabled and has continuous, wrist-based heart monitoring to maximize training and help you maintain your intensity while doing so. Just like the regular FitBits, the surge tracks real-time stats such as steps, distance, active minutes, calories burned and more. Another carry over from some of the earliest models of the FitBit is the ability to automatically monitor sleep stats.
The Fitbit Surge features:
- 7 day battery life
- GPS enabled
- Water resistant
- Touchscreen
- Smartphone notifications
- Sleep monitoring
- Step Counter
- Built-in heart rate monitor
Whether you’re looking for a smartwatch with sport watch capability like Apple’s newest product, or a sport watch with smartwatch functionality like the items mentioned above, there is a device for you. One of the best ways to help narrow down the field is to decide what function is the most important to you and go from there. Regardless of your choice, if the watch helps you stick to your fitness goals, it will be a success.
