Smartwatches or Fitness Bands: What to Buy?

The wearables segment has moved leaps and bounds in the last year or so with a handful of hundred devices to cater to the various needs and wants. Between these two best-selling ranges of wearable devices, smartwatches and fitness bands have ruled the roost. Though both product ranges can track your medical parameters and your health and fitness, the two are lightyears apart from one another in performance, features, and price.

Here, in this article, we are going to tell you about the pros and cons of smartwatches and fitness bands and about their features, pros, and cons. We are going to tell you how you can choose the best device according to your requirement and your budget.

What are Smartwatches?

Smartwatches are wrist wearables with the benefit of a smartphone. They must include a touchscreen screen on which you can touch and mess around with the watch, get alerts, and have different apps.

The most prevalent features of smartwatches are:

Touchscreen screen
Notification notification alert (e.g., messages, emails, social media)
Application app support (e.g., music, fitness, productivity)
GPS tracking
Heart rate monitoring
Mobile payments fitness tracking (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay)

What are Fitness Bands?

Fitness bands or fitness trackers are wearables with a single trick and do nothing except track fitness and health data. They are even worse than fashion-smartwatches which may or may not function.

Some of the popular features of fitness bands are:

Step counter
Distance meter
Calorie burn counter
Sleep tracker
Heart rate monitor
GPS tracker (in a few models)

Key Differences Between Fitness Bands and Smartwatches

While deciding between a fitness band and a smartwatch, some of the major differences to consider are:

Fashion and Design: Smartwatches are design-oriented and design-focused compared to the simple functional design of fitness bands.
Features and Functionality: Smartwatches are extremely feature-focused with notification support, apps, and mobile payment support. Fitness bands are minimal with greater focus on the fitness tracking feature.
Price: Smartwatches are costly compared to fitness bands, but the latter is priced at $50. Smartwatches are about $200 and over $1,000.
Battery Life: There is more battery life within the fitness band since it still lasts 5-7 days after charging. A smartwatch needs to be charged daily.

Smartwatch Benefits

Advantages of smartwatches are:

Convenience: You are reminded, listen to music, and have other apps based on your convenience on your wrist with a smartwatch.
Style and Personalization: Different smartwatches are available in different styles and designs for you to pick one that is best suited to your personal style so that you can make your device match your own personal style.
High-End Health Features: There are high-end health features available in some smartwatches such as electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring and fall detection.

Advantages of Fitness Bands

There are some advantages of a fitness band such as:

Cost-Effectiveness: Fitness band is more affordable compared to smartwatches, and hence it is suitable for price-conscious consumers.
Easy Design: Fitness bands are easy to design, and hence easy to use and operate.
Longer Battery Life: Fitness bands possess longer battery life, hence they are suitable for users who do not necessarily need to recharge their device daily.

Who Can Purchase a Smartwatch?

Smartwatches are most suitable for:

Geeks: Individuals who like staying current with the latest technology.
Fitness Fanatics: Individuals who need to keep themselves outfitted with advanced exercise features such as GPS and heart monitoring.
Working Professionals: Individuals who need to stay connected and get notified on the move.

Who Can Purchase a Fitness Band?

A fitness band would be ideal for:

Recreational Fitness Users: They are the users who need to track their core fitness metrics such as steps and distance.
Price-Sensitive Buyers: They are the buyers who will want to purchase an inexpensive wearables device.
Simple Users: They are the buyers who require a basic, one-touch device.

Conclusion

You will be required to balance your individual needs and demands while choosing between a fitness band and a smartwatch. Smartwatches come with superior features, designs, and customization but

high-end prices and minute batteries. Fitness bands lack a premium feature but provide money value, simplicity, and bigger batteries.

Finally, choosing favorably for the use of a smartwatch or a fitness band is health and life goal-oriented.

Price and guideline. Keeping these facts and comparative advantages and disadvantages of both the devices, you can pick and choose the best wearable device for yourself.

FAQs

What is the difference between a smartwatch and a fitness band?
The biggest distinction between a fitness band and a smartwatch is the capability and functionality they have. Smartwatches have more advanced functionality, including notification support, app ecosystem support, and mobile payment support, whereas fitness bands have mostly fitness tracking capability.
Of these two, which one is less expensive?
Fitness bands are less expensive than smartwatches, and they are priced at about $50.
Of these two, which one has longer battery life?
Fitness bands also preserve their battery power longer, lasting around 5-7 days before they can be charged again.
Do I get reminders from a fitness band?
There really are no reminder alerts on some fitness bands, but this information is not as sophisticated as information that is furnished by a smartwatch supplies.
Do I get fitness data from a smartwatch?
Yes, both smartwatches also have more advanced features to provide for fitness tracking, including GPS tracking, heart rate tracking, etc.