The 20 Best Gym Watches for 2020
If you’re a gym enthusiast and you work out regularly, it’s a good idea to make sure that your wristwatch is up for the challenge. Watches are once again becoming a more popular fashion accessory as well as a convenient way to tell the time wherever you are. Some of the more modern smartwatches are practically like having a mini-computer or phone on your wrist, but not all of them are made to be impact-resistant. Some of the better options for gym activities will have a shatterproof crystal and a special design that makes them resistant to damage from the impacts that the body can endure as a result of exercise workouts. In addition, watches that track your statistics such as heart rate, the number of steps taken, calories burned and so forth are helpful in gauging the success of each workout. Here are the 20 best gym watches you can get for 2020.
20. Apple Watch Series 4
Price: $380-$409
The Apple Watch Series 4 is one of the best selling fitness watches on the market today. It’s loaded with features that make fitness tracking easy and convenient. This smartwatch has an attractive square watch face covered in impact-resistant curved glass with a bright screen beneath, and a digital rotating crown for sorting through applications, notifications, and messages. This is the flagship watch in the series and it is made with WatchOS5 which includes additional fitness functions including calorie counting, step-counting, heart rate monitoring plus an electrocardiogram to measure the electrical activity of your heartbeat. There is also a competition mode when you’re going up against friends. It is waterproof up to 50 meters and it also lets you know when there are changes in elevation through the barometric altimeter. This watch is only compatible with iPhones so we put it at number 20 because of the lack of versatility incompatibility. Highly recommended for iPhone users.
19. Fitbit Versa
Price: $139-170
The Fitbit Versa is one of the most attractive and stylish fitness smartwatches available. Fitbit is a leader in fitness technology and this model is lightweight and comfortable, designed more for women who are looking for an aesthetically pleasing option for the gym. The band is small and it’s more suitable for those with slimmer wrists. This watch is made with an exercise application that lets you select from different options including full-body workout, treadmill, interval training, weights, biking, swimming or running. You can also consult the Fitbit apps, which is an add-on companion for other sports and a variety of other downloadable workouts. This watch tracks distance traveled, heart rate, time, steps and calories including sleep tracking and more. The battery lasts four days or more. It would be higher on the list if it came equipped with GPS, which it doesn’t.
18. Garmin Forerunner 645 Music
Price: $385-450
The Garmin Forerunner 645 Music is a popular choice for music lovers. When you wear this smartwatch you can just leave your phone at home. this amazing watch allows you to store up to 500 songs and you can sync it with a variety of music streaming services. The functions include a real-time compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, thermometer, a barometric altimeter for elevation readings and a wrist-based heart monitor. There is no touchscreen but there are five user-friendly buttons to access stride length, cadence, ground contact time, balance and vertical ratio reading. A challenge tab let you create challenges with workout pals. There is also a built-in GPS. It comes with a seven-day battery life with five days of music and GPS.
17. Garmin Fenix 5X Plus
Price: $580-800
Although one of the most expensive on our list, the Garmin Fenix 5X Plus is one of the most rugged fitness watches out there. it’s made with outdoor enthusiasts in mind with a detailed GPS mapping function and a larger size. It’s high in function and the screen resolution is more readable than most others. You can easily read full-color topographic maps on this watch. Profiles for a huge array of sports are pre-programmed into this watch including golf, rowing, skiing, snowboarding, running, swimming, cycling and more. Sensors include temperature, barometric altimeter and a pulse oximeter for altitude acclimation. It pairs with a smartphone so you can also receive text messages and notifications. It’s a rugged fitness tracker that is built to hold up under challenging circumstances and the 2 weeks battery life makes it excellent for extended adventure trips.
16. Suunto 9 Baro GPS Watch Titanium
Price: $490-699
The Suunto 9 Baro is a smartwatch made with outdoor enthusiasts in mind. The battery life in Ultra mode gives you nearly 120 hours of battery life. It features an intelligent battery mode that monitors battery life so you don’t run out of power during a workout. It features a touchscreen to easily navigate through the variety of indoor and outdoor sports profiles that are pre-loaded into the watch. It tracks pace, distance, cadence, elevation and a lot more. It even has a sleep tracker and syncs all of the data collected to the Suunto app.
15. Coros Pace
Price: $200
The Coros Pace is an affordable smartwatch that offers an array of fitness tracking with a battery life between 7-10 days. The circular watch face displays the basic information you need without a lot of extras. It tracks statistics for running, swimming and biking. It’s a smartwatch that is often used for triathlon training to analyze pace, cadence, heart rate tones and more. It also has a sleep tracker for monitoring training load. It doesn’t come with a navigation feature so it’s considered one of the more basic fitness smartwatches.
14. Fitbit Versa Lite Edition
Price: $160
The Versa Lite is for ladies who prefer a smaller and more lightweight fitness tracking smartwatch. Features include onboard Alexa and an always-on display. It’s one of the best affordably priced fitness trackers on the market today, compatible with Android and Apple phones with an easy to use app for communicating with the Fitbit user community with comprehensive sleep-tracking features and long battery life.
13. Xiami Mi Band 3
Price: $28
By far the most affordable fitness tracker on the market. This tracker does not distinguish between the various types of exercises , but it does the job and the battery lasts for more than a week on a single charge. It counts steps and it’s also waterproof. Just swipe up and down to record exercise or take a heart rate measurement. It’s basic, highly affordable and reliable.
12. Apple Watch Series 5
Price: $399
The Apple Watch Series 5 is the next generation of one of the more popular fitness trackers on the market today. It offers many of the features of the Apple Watch Series 4 including a gyroscope, accelerometer, and it also includes an always-on display and a new digital compass. There is also a “fitness rings” game loaded on the watch. It also has a feature that can detect irregularities in cardiac activity. It’s one of the best smartwatches on the market but only if you have an iPhone to go along with it.
11. Apple Watch Series 3
Price: $199
The Apple Watch Series 3 is still one of the most popular versions, and this is likely because it is offered at a lower price. Although it cannot detect falls or take ECGs, it’s a great workout app that is waterproof and can be worn in the pool. It’s a highly capable fitness tracker that will track your stats reliably at a decent price.
10. Garmin Fenix 6S Pro
Price: $700
The new Fenix 6S Pro is one of the best fitness smartwatches for multi-sport activities and outdoor use. It’s a little smaller than the 6X edition so it’s more comfortable and it doesn’t offer the solar charging feature, but it does come with an impressive satellite navigation system and a vast array of different sport modes. The battery life is also a lot longer and it offers a sunlight-visible display with comprehensive onboard topographic maps.
9. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active
Price: $199
This watch is the perfect companion for Samsung Galaxy S10 Smartphone users. It’s a lightweight watch that is highly attractive and it sells for about half of what the Apple watch goes for. This is a rugged watch that is both water and dust-resistant. It comes with a continuous heart rate tracker, built-in GPS, notifications and a range of fitness goals you can customize. It also has a power share feature for your Samsung phone.
8. Fossil Sport Smartwatch (Gen 4)
Price: $255
The Fossil Sport Smartwatch Gen 4 is compatible with Android. This watch is powered with a spinoff of Wear OS, which is considered to be one of the best sources of power. The watch is built solid and it’s attractive with a Qualcomm 3100 processor. About the only thing that it doesn’t track is swimming, but there are a lot of other functions that Google Fit does track including heart rate, and a plethora of activities including steps, calories burned, distance, and so forth.
7. Garmin Instinct
Price: $300
The Garmin Instinct comes with an LCD Screen and tracks a lot of activities including snowboarding, mountain biking, paddleboarding, running, walking and more. It is light and comfortable for users with smaller wrists. There are also three satellite systems in use on this watch including GLONASS, GPS, and Galileo so you shouldn’t get lost when you’re hiking in rugged terrain. The battery life lasts up to 14 days in smartwatch mode.
6. Suunto 3 Fitness
Price: $160
This watch is for people who are into general exercise and want to track their workouts. The 3 fitness is an affordable and no-frills basic tracker that can track dozens of activities while offering guided training plans. It has a newly redesigned Suunto smartphone app for detailed feedback on your workouts and features a color screen, heart rate tracking, connected GPS, adaptive training guidance and water-resistant.
5. Matrix Power Watch 2
Price: $499
The Matrix Power Watch 2 is a thermoelectric smartwatch that operates by using your body heat. It’s a second generation of the model that is every bit a premium smartwatch that offers GPS, smart notifications, heart rate monitoring and a plethora of workouts available for you to choose from. You don’t need to carry a charging cord with you. It also features sleep tracking with third-party app integration capability and it’s water-resistant up to 200 meters.
4. G-Shock GBA800 Training Timer
Price: $104
The G-Shock Training Timer is a simple and chunky sized analog watch that even comes with a digital clock. It has a large face for presenting the time and the ability to set timers and measure your step count. It comes with a connected smartphone app that offers more features, but it’s a very basic training timer, popular for shock-resistance and water resistance up to 200 meters. It also comes equipped with a 3-ais accelerometer and a countdown timer.
3. Polar M430
Price: $199.95
The Polar M430 is best known for its personalized coaching specialty. It syncs with Power Flow which is the free app that the company offers for running program features. You can choose different training modes for a variety of runs from 5K up to a marathon. The watch provides a customized training plan that is tailored to suit your level and your goal. Other functions include a heart rate monitor, Built-in GPS, sleep tracker, and metrics analysis. This watch is water-resistant and comes with all-day tracking features.
2. Garmin Forerunner 35
Price: $169.99
The Garmin Forerunner 35 is a basic fitness tracking watch that is offered at an affordable price. It’s GPS-capable and made especially for runners. It also offers standard smartwatch features including a connected app and smart notifications. It tracks workouts without the need to have a phone with you on your adventure. it uses Garmin connect and gives wearers the chance to socialize and compete with others in the community. It has a 9-day battery life, built-in heart rate monitor and all-day tracking features.
1. Timex Ironman GPS
Price: $99.95
Timex Ironman GPS is one of the most popular fitness tracking gym watches because of its affordable price and fitness tracking features. The key features of this smartwatch include touch screen enabled, interval training timer, along with hydration alerts. You can check your lap or split times during the mid-run. It also offers hydration and nutrition alerts.
