To say there are a variety of fit watches available on the market today would be a huge understatement. Not to mention the all the different features and benefits associated with this amazing technology. So narrowing this selection to come up with a list of the best fit watches for women was not an easy task to say the least. But, we did and we are exited to bring to you the top 5 of the best fit watches for women.
In coming up with this list, we looked for watches that worked best for a variety of functions and activities, but would also provide the look and feel for the active women, while considering the associated cost and benefit ratio.
In coming up with the best list possible, we decided to stick with a price range between $100 to $300. This price range was chosen because we realize fit watches in the price range lower than this, just didn’t offer enough benefit for the active women’s needs and above $300 was simply too expensive to appeal to the average active women’s budget.
Two Categories of Fit Watches
Fit watches typically fit into one of two categories:
- Sport watches
- Fitness trackers
Sport watches typically are more versatile, and have more features and benefits, including GPS, and because of this fact, they are usually larger and more expensive. This type of watch can also be referred to as a smartwatch and is the best way to go if you run competitively and accuracy is very important.
Distance traveled is more accurate because they use GPS technology instead of an accelerometer. These types of watches are not dependent on synching with a smartphone so you can get instant stats while you are running.
Fitness trackers, aka, activity trackers, on the other hand, simply count steps, monitor sleep, and track basic exercise without the GPS that more accurately monitors these activities. They are also usually smaller, less bulky and have a more feminine look and feel to them.
In coming up with our best of list, we considered both of these major categories considering both functionality and looks and feel.
Features and Other Factors To Consider When Choosing the Best Fit Watches For Women
In addition to the discussion mentioned above, we also considered some more important factors that a woman would want to know when choosing the best fit watch. We needed a way to accurately rate the selection to give the most accurate “best of” list as possible. These factors include:
- Looks, weight and overall style
- water resistance levels
- heart rate monitoring
- sleep monitoring
- battery life
- all day activity monitoring
- customer reviews
- Price
So, taking all of these items into consideration plus the communication we have with our followers, we have created the following list of fit watches for women in the order of very best to the least of the best…lol.
Drum roll please……….
1. Fitbit Charge 2
The Fitbit Charge 2 is our overall favorite fit watch for women. Even-though there is a newer version of this product, the Fitbit Charge 3, we felt that, based on customer reviews and comments, that the Fitbit 2 is still our top choice. It seems to be a fairly common complaint that the Fitbit Charge 3 may have been released too early and that there are some “bugs” that need to be worked out.
The Fitbit Charge 2 is, in our opinion, the best for overall value. The look, weight and feel seem to be very appealing to most everyone who has owned one of these devices and the overall satisfaction level is very high. There are over 17,000 customer reviews listed on Amazon and about 64% of those reviews are 5 star ratings. So, basically owners of this product love it.
To see a detailed review of this product go to the Fitbit Charge 2 Review here.
2. Fitbit Alta HR
The Fitbit Alta HR made our list mainly because of the sleek and slim style associated with it. It is an outstanding looking Fit watch, which is very appealing for the women who wants to wear this product all the time. Not only for her fitness activity, but for her night on the town as well.
The features are very similar to that of the Fitbit Charge 2 and the price. The main functional difference between these two is that the Charge 2 has the connected GPS. Which is why the Charge 2 is larger and slightly bulkier. Many women feel it is worth the size difference to have the GPS, however, for those of us who are not serious runners, may wish to sacrifice this feature for the smaller and more elegant feel on our wrist.
There were over 4000 customer reviews on this product and 59% of those reviews were 5 star reviews.
Here is a brief list of the Pros and Cons of this product:
Pros
- Continuous Heart Rate Monitor
- Very comfortable, especially for those with slim wrists (ability to wear it all day long)
- Long battery life (up to 7 full days before recharging)
- Sleep monitoring functionality is highly praised on this one
- The use of the phone app was highly praised
- Price point is a positive
Cons
- No GPS (mentioned by serious runners)
- Few complaints about charging problems
Our overall opinion of this product is that it would be our number one choice if it wasn’t for the fact that more than a few women like the GPS feature and are willing to sacrifice the smaller and more comfortable design that the HR is very well-known for. So, if you are not that excited about using GPS, then by all means check out this fit watch. The price point is good and pretty much the same as the Charge 2.
3. Garmin vívomove HR
It is really hard to igore this particular Sports watch. It has got to be one of the most elegant looking large watch that does have the full GPS feature available. Yes, it is a large watch, but it is indeed a good-looking watch packed with great sport watch style and bundle of features.
I promise to do a full review of this powerhouse of a watch. For now simply appreciate that it is essentially loaded with features every serious runner will appreciate.
Pros
- Analog time giving a more elegant look that larger watches with GPS
- GPS, of course, full sport watch features.
- Long battery life for a sport watch (up to 3 full days before recharging)
- Garmin app is easy to use
Cons
- Hard to read in sunlight
- Few complaints about charging problems
4. Fitbit Versa
The Fitbit Versa has been compared in many reviews to the higher cost Apple watch that has a few more features that many customers feel are not really that necessary to have. In fact some say that it has 80% of the features at about half of the price of the Apple watch. Not to mention, that with the Apple you do not get the great benefits of the fitbit app.
There are over 3400 reviews on Amazon and over half of them are five star ratings. Simply said, customers love this fitness watch. The other thing about this fitness watch is that it is waterproof up to 50 meters. This is a big plus for those who want to track their swimming activity. I think it is a great idea to read a number of Amazon reviews on this watch if you are considering a great fit watch that is also waterproof and you want to monitor your sleep.
Pros
- Waterproof up to 50 meters
- great sleep monitoring functionality
- Long battery life for a sport watch (up to 5 full days before recharging)
- The use of the phone app was highly praised
- Great price value
Cons
- A little big on the wrist compared to other Fitbits
- Few complaints about blue tooth functionality
5. Garmin Forerunner 35
If you are looking for built in GPS and heart rate monitoring, the Garmin Forerunner 35 is one of the best values you will find on the market. This is a runners watch, so if you are a runner, I would highly recommend this one. That being said, we did not rate it higher only because it is a bit larger and this post is about the best fit watches for women, and not about the best fit watches for runners. If it was, it may have made the number one position.
This is precisely why it is critical to know what is important to you regarding the type of fit watch to choose from. If you want a great fit watch that you can wear all day long and are not a serious runner, then you may want to look at our number one and two choices mentioned above.
Pros
- Customizable screens in run mode – see any stat wherever you want.
- GPS and heart GPS style heart rate monitoring
- Long battery life for a sports watch (up to 5 full days before recharging)
- Great price value
Cons
- trouble getting Bluetooth activity sync to work.
- Not as attractive as other models for women
If the GPS feature is important for you and you want a more attractive fit watch, then I would consider the Garmin Vivomove HR over this one.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this article discussing the best fit watches for women, it was a difficult task at best, but keep in mind this list considers the look and feel and functionality.
Us women want the best of both worlds when it comes to wearable technology and rightly so. There is a lot to choose from and only so many of these devices meet all of an active women’s demands. As you can see, it is critical that you know what your parameters are and if you truly need GPS features or not.
So, basically GPS technology requires a larger device, and if that is what you want, then you will want to find the one that is the most attractive while still meeting your technology needs.
The above mentioned list takes into consideration what customers had to say about the products and our own research and reviews. We tried several of these units out for ourselves and ask many for their opinions in coming up with this list.
If you own a fit watch and would like us to review it, or you would like to comment, please do so below. We would love to hear what you have to say and will respond within at least 24 hours. So please comment below.
the Fitbit charge 2 is a great watch I just brought that from My Wife and she loves it everything’s about this watch is true you can do just about anything. I really appreciate this article because you share true and viable information to satisfy every customer that purchased these wonderful watches. Christmas is coming around and looks like I may be getting another Christmas present for my daughter.
Thank you again for this wonderful article I really appreciate it
Thanks for the feedback Quinn, I appreciate that. Yes, the Charge 2 is definitely my favorite. It not only functions great, but it looks great as well.
This is great since it is almost Christmas. Now I have more ideas for my wife, who needs a new watch. And, she is very active so the Fit watches are an excellent idea.
It does appear to me that the Fitbit Charge 2 is probably the best option. So many other women’s watches are just so big. I don’t get that trend of a giant watch on a woman’s wrist. Weird.
Do you know of any android watches that would compare to the Fitbit Charge 2?
Thanks for helping with my Christmas list.
Hi Curtis and thanks for stopping by my site. When you say Android watches, the Fitbit line of watches all come with the ability to use the Fitbit app, which will indeed work on Android devices.
These are great looking watches. From the ones you featured I love the Garmin vívomove HR. It’s a beautiful fashion watch as well as the sport features. My second choice is the Fitbit Charge 2. It’s really sleek and elegant for a sports watch. Even the purple color is appealing to me.
You stated that the Garmin vivomove HR has a bundle of features but you didn’t give any details about what they are. It’s a beautiful looking watch but I’d love to have more information on the features.
Thank you for the review of Fit Watches.
All the best,
V. Pearl
Hi Vanna, thanks so much for the feedback and I welcome the challenge to answer your questions. First of all I do plan on doing a full review on the Garmin Vivomove HR very soon. It truly is a beautiful fashion watch. The main features of this smartwatch is heart rate monitoring, step counts, and awesome sleep tracking functionality. It also has smart functions and notifications and works on Android and IOS. Plus, it has 50 meter water resistance and about a week-long battery life.
Thank you for this article, very much great information in it.
I was have been wondering about a gift, and this was helping me a much. Not at least number 2, The Fitbit Altra HR.The reason is that the person I have in mind doesn´t need GPS, I so agree with you that when the exercises focus is not on running the GPS is no important at all, and usually, the watches which don´t have GPS are cheaper.And too that the battery life is excellent on it. Using smartwatches myself, I know how important it is.With this two factors in mind and I like the design this watch will be chosen.
But I can add that the Garmin Vívómove HR is excellent. I own it myself, that men design of course which is in another color, and I can give it 5 of 5.
Thanks for helping me to get this idea!
Thanks for your feedback Johann. Yes, you are right, the Fitbit Altra HR is a good fit for your purpose.
I love watches and your review about sport watches are really what I am looking for. Currently I am using Garmin Fenix 5s and I find this watch quite bulky and the GPS doesn’t seems to work that well. However it has the feature of “hiking” which I can’t find in cheaper watch. Can you let me know which of your recommendation has hiking feature?
Hi Florence, thanks for visiting my website. For hiking you really need a “connected GPS” feature. When you use the Fitbit app, in conjunction with the connected GPS feature, it will track your hiking quite nicely. As far as bulkiness, that is why I chose the Fitbit Charge 2 with the connected GPS feature. It allows you to track steps and hiking and the GPS feature is awesome. You can check out my review of the charge 2 here.
This is a great list and truly so helpful. I see so many people with all types of fitness and sports watches. I know it would benefit my life, but which one would the most? That’s what I was stuck on, your break down of pros and cons clears up a lot of confusion. And the pictures of course help in deciding. Thank you!
Hi Alisha, thank you so much for your feedback. To answer your question, I think the best fitness watch for women with in general is the Fitbit Charge 2. It does have the GPS feature and fits real nicely on a woman’s wrist. Plus, it looks real nice. Unless you plan to swim with it, I highly recommend it, and it is the one I chose for myself. You can read my review of the Fitbit Charge 2 here.
Hello Julie,
Thank you very much for showing us a selection of the best fit watches for women.
My wife loves everything that has to do with watches.
She performs different exercises regularly, I think she will be very pleased that I give her a sports watch.
Of all the ones that you show, I like very much the one that has many characteristics that every runner will value.
I will consult with her before making the purchase.
Thank you very much! Claudio
Thank you Claudio for visiting my website. “It’s all about Fitness”. I am glad you find value in this review of the best fit watches for women. I believe the best fit watch for a runner is definitely the Fitbit Charge 2. Please let me know if you have any further comments or questions and I will answer them right away.
Hi Julie, There are a lot of these watches under other brands which have similar abilities but cost a whole lot less. Why should I spend my money on these? is there a special extra I should know about?
I just want to make sure I’m not being ripped offby the brands!
Hi Liz, I do believe this is a fair question and deserves an answer. In reality, yes, you do get what you pay for. For example, many of the less expensive models do not really have a good, if any, GPS capabilities. The less expensive models that do, tend to have problems in this area. Even if you do not need the GPS capabilities, accuracy of counting steps and heart rate are critical when it comes to accurately monitoring your fitness activities. The cheaper models just are not as accurate. Another HUGE benefit of a name brand such as Fitbit is that they have an awesome app that helps you achieve your fitness goals. Many of the less expensive models just cannot compare to the value that the Fitbit app offers.
Julie,
Terrific review! I have the FitBit Versa which I received as a Christmas present to replace a FitBit Blaze that I own. I liked the FitBits because of their continuous heart monitoring which I do because of health issues.
I like the Versa better than the Blaze because it is much more comfortable even if a bit large. I can at least read it!
You are correct that the Versa has 80 percent of the features of the Apple watch at a much lower price. I can even load my Starbucks card to it and pay for my coffee!
The FitBit app is also a plus. It is paired with the My Fitness Pal app so that I can track my diet and calories burned simultaneously. I can also pair the FitBit app with the FitBark app that I just got to track my dogs’ fitness levels.
Thanks, Ellen
Thanks for the awesome feedback Ellen! Yes, the Versa is a great watch and very attractive I might add. Yes, it definitely gives the Apple a run for its money. I am not familiar with the pet app. I will have to check it again. Thanks again!
My Cousin had a fitbit charge 2 (in purple) when she visited us Oregon from Texas.
She needed to laundry when she was here and somehow it got lost in the mix. I asked her if it had a locator and a lightbulb went off in her eyes.
Next thing we knew she was using the sync & bluetooth locator and we found it right away!
What a great feature for such a useful and, reasonably priced fitness tracker!