Health Goals — Four Fitness Trackers that Look and Perform Good - Men's Folio
Time, Editor's Pick

Health Goals — Four Fitness Trackers that Look and Perform Good

  • By Asaph Low

January is often associated with the guilt of year-end festive feasting, extra trips to the gym appear to be mandatory for some so to say. Not to dampen your spirits and hard work, but the Men’s Folio team would like to politely remind Chinese New Year feasting is just about to begin. In any case, we picked out a few fitness tracking watches to aid you in tracking and achieving those fitness goals and new year resolutions

Pictured above: TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Golf Edition 

Fancy a game of golf and a smart caddy to accompany you as you hit the greens and roughs? Look no further than the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Golf Edition, released to great fanfare amongst golf enthusiasts. Based on the TAG Heuer Connected 45, the golf-focused smartwatch pairs with the TAG Heuer Golf app to improve the overall sport experience. A database containing 39,000 different golf courses from all over the world is installed within, highlighting shot distances, course layout, hazards, and more on the screen. Simply log each shot into the watch to see the distance to the remaining hole, swipe right on the screen to move onto the next hole. With a lightweight PVD-coated titanium case, golfers will barely notice the heft of the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Golf Edition on their wrist while putting on the course.

Montblanc Summit 2

The Montblanc Summit 2 looks nothing like a smartwatch, it could be easily mistaken as a mechanical watch if its screen was set to time-only mode. The guys at Montblanc designed the Summit 2 to set itself apart from template looking smartwatches with a beautiful case design that showcases the expertise of a traditional watch manufacturer. The Summit 2 holds itself well in the functional department with interactive apps that enables one to track activities, play music or access email. While the bulky stainless steel case might limit the Summit 2 to a lifestyle smartwatch more than a fitness smartwatch, it excels in tracking fitness goals with its sensors and looks good while doing it. 

Fossil Gen 5 Smartwatch

Fossil’s latest go at the smartwatch pie is the Gen 5 Smartwatch, a watch that looks simple and excels at being uncomplicated. That is not a bad thing as smartwatches are crammed full of apps thanks to endless advancements of hardware and Operating Systems (OS), resulting in poor user-friendliness. Tiles, the latest update to Wear OS by Google that the Fossil Gen 5 runs on, seeks to improve the overall intuitiveness of the smartwatch with a casual swipe on the screen. Quick actions and hidden information are retrieved seamlessly, accessing emails in the middle of a spin class is a breeze without the need to fumble through the watch crown and app screens. Fossil addresses battery life issues with four custom battery modes — Daily, Time-Only, Extended or Custom to fit the needs of the wearer. As with current smartwatches, a set of sensors such as the Cardiogram, GPS and accelerometer are built into the Fossil Gen 5 to track everyday activities.

Garmin Fenix 6

The Garmin Fenix 6 stands out for being one of the best multi-sport smartwatch designed for serious sports enthusiasts. Off the bat, the Fenix 6 is impressive in every department, an extensive performance and adventure tracking suite is supported by intelligent GPS mapping, music selection and pace planning features — running dynamics metrics and body recovery advisor are just the tip of the iceberg for the Fenix 6. The Body Battery Energy Monitor tracks your body’s energy reserves, stress levels and heart rate variances while the Pulse Ox Sensor aids in altitude acclimatisation while you’re out in the Alps. In other words, whatever your body does whether during rest or sports, the Garmin Fenix 6 will provide a comprehensive report of your bodily functions. The 1.3-inch watch display fits eight activity measurements of your choice, providing ample data at quick glance without the need to scroll through pages of trackers.