Samsung Galaxy Watch Active ($199 and up)
Finally, a non-Apple smartwatch that doesn’t suck. This Galaxy is focused on fitness, tracking dozens of activities and metrics—everything from open-water swimming to biceps curls. It also displays notifications from your phone when synced via Bluetooth. There’s built-in GPS and 45 hours of battery life. Android users bemoaning incompatibility with the Apple Watch, look here.
Suunto 5 ($329)
Suunto’s slim midrange watch packs prodigious features into a moderately priced unit. It offers 24/7 tracking of stress and VO2 max and includes GPS navigation, adaptive training routines, and more than 80 sport modes, among them triathlon and hiking. Juice-saving intelligent battery modes ensure that you don’t run out of power right before logging a personal best.
Scosche Rhythm24 ($100)
The most impressive heart-rate monitor we’ve worn in a while, the Rhythm24 uses Valencell technology—the gold standard in optical pulse tracking. The elastic band is comfortable, low profile, and waterproof, so it can monitor your heart rate while you swim, storing the data in onboard memory and then syncing it to your phone or watch later. It also measures heart-rate variability, a feat most devices in this class can’t perform.
Garmin Venu ($400)
The Venu is an ultra-sporty smartwatch. It tracks everything from running and swimming to Pilates and yoga. The Amoled screen displays workouts, illustrating each move with an animation. There’s also music storage and even incident detection, which directs a paired phone to dial an emergency contact in the event of a crash.
Omron Healthcare HeartGuide ($499)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in three American adults have hypertension. Enter the HeartGuide, the first FDA-cleared watch that accurately monitors blood pressure. Underneath the standard watchband is an inflatable cuff like the one your doctor uses. Test yourself anytime, anywhere.