Best fitness trackers and bands for under £100: Fitbit, Garmin, Misfit, Jawbone and more
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
If you want to get fit, lose weight or keep track of your daily steps, a wearable activity tracker may be what you're looking for – and there are plenty of cheap Fitbit alternatives out there.
Track how far you've walked, calories burned and even heart rate to help motivate you to take the stairs over the lift.
The latest batch of affordable trackers offer options to help parents track their kids' health, head-worn gear that measures heart rate, and advanced sleep trackers that even help resting.
These are the best budget activity trackers for 2017.
Track activity including swimming and running automatically as the Flex 2 recognises varying movements – that includes going to sleep too.
Get steps, calories burned, distance, active minutes and more all sent to your phone automatically. The Flex 2 will even remind you to move when you're inactive for too long.
Your connected smartphone notifications appear on the wearable thanks to vibration and LED light alerts which vary for calls and texts. All that should keep going for a full five days before needing a charge.
While the Misfit Ray is designed to look good, its aircraft grade annodised aluminium body is tough too. This wrist-worn tracker will measure swimming as well as the usual steps, calories and distance of daily activity.
The Ray connects to your phone to offer vibrating and light-up LED alerts plus its removable battery will last up to six months. There's also a button that can be set to control connected devices.
The child-friendly activity tracker uses a tough rubberised design with swim friendly build and one-year battery life.
All that means the Garmin Vivofit Jr. lets parents strap this to their little ones without worry. Monitor steps, sleep and even set goals using the connected smartphone app.
Thanks to a shared app, parents can give virtual rewards that the children receive in their version of the app – there's even an adventure trail game to be unlocked. Parents can also assign tasks from the app so children are reminded of their job for that day.
When it comes to sleep tracking, Jawbone offers more than most. Not only will the UP3 track light, deep and REM sleep but it'll measure heart health too.
All that is then used to offer relevant scientific research that will help you use tips shown on the app to sleep even better in the future.
The UP3 also tracks steps, distance and calories plus it'll auto track exercise, let you log food and uses a smart alarm that wakes you naturally when you're at the height of a sleep cycle.
(Photo: Withings)
For the more affordable trackers this offers a treat – a screen. That lets you quickly see your activity progress thanks to tracking of steps, distance, calories and more displayed on the low power E Ink display. As a result you get a hefty eight months before needing to swap out the cheap battery.
The Go can be worn on the wrist or clipped onto clothes or even thrown into a bag. Clip it to you at night for comfortable sleep tracking then view it all in the Health Mate app the next day.
(Photo: Moov)
The Moov HR offers a novel way to measure heart rate more accurately by sitting under a headband. This, the company claims, is the most accurate way to track heart rate, and when worn under a swim hat or sweat band offers a great discreet tracker.
The Moov HR also tracks steps, distance and calories burned. The free app offers smart coaching exercises you can follow as if you have your own robotic personal trainer who keeps you in the perfect heart rate zone for progress.
The MZ-3 is a chest-worn heart rate strap which can connect to multiple devices. That means you can train anywhere using your phone but go into a gym and it'll connect to machines too.
You can even join in with group classes where everyone's heart rate in shown on screen – keeping competition fair based on fitness ability.
This clip-on wearable takes running tracking to the next level. Track metrics like cadence, bounce, braking, pelvic drop and rotation for a detailed analysis of runs to help make improvements. It'll even offer pre and post-run exercise recommendations personalised to performance.
The Lumo Run can be used without a smartphone but if you want running data like location and pace you'll need that too. The waterproof wearable lasts for 20-hours of run tracking or seven days on stand-by.
(Photo: Mi)
Despite the lower and low price the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 features step tracking, a super clear low-power OLED display, dedicated button control and even heart rate tracking.
The wearable automatically knows when activity has started and will vibrate to get the wearer moving if too stagnant.
The vivofit 3 features a backlit screen for clear feedback on steps, distance, calories burned, intensity minutes, time of day and more.
Vibration alerts keep the wearer active while automatic sensors record activities for a detailed view in the app later – all synced wirelessly and automatically.
The one-year battery life and waterproofing to five metres should mean this tracker rarely needs to be taken off.