Our Favorite Fitness Trackers for Yoga and Everything Else

The marketplace for activity and fitness trackers can be quite overwhelming. There are so many colors, styles, capabilities and accessories that you probably don’t know where to begin. You can begin by asking yourself:
 
• Do I want to clip it or wear it on my wrist?
• Do I want sleep tracking?
• What about heart monitor?
• Is color important?
• Do accessories matter?
 
We have performance-tested a sampling of activity trackers so that you don’t have to. We wore each of the trackers individually to test the performance, feel and functionality. We also wore them all at once – and looked a little ridiculous doing it – while practicing yoga, exercising on an elliptical machine, performing chores and errands, and while sleeping to compare the readings. All of the trackers are Bluetooth-enabled and connect your daily statistics to free apps.

Yoo 2 Bluetooth Smart Activity Tracker

YOO 2, by YOO® Fitness, is a tracker that feels more like a really fun game that allows your active self (new YOO) to compete with your inactive self (old YOO) in an ongoing race to earn points and rewards for being active. When you are active, your new YOO earns challenge points and new game characters, but when you are inactive or less active, your old YOO earns revenge points. For instance, if your daily goal is 10,000 steps, but you walk just 6,000 steps, you will earn 6,000 challenge points and 4,000 revenge points. This tracker makes tracking your steps and activity fun. You can purchase your own YOO 2 by entering the code ROUTE66 to save 50% off on their website.
 
• What I liked most: It is fun to compete with myself in the never-ending race. The points system is a real motivational tool.
 
• Who this is best for: This tracker is the most simple (and least expensive) of all of the trackers tested, and it great for people who need motivation to get off the couch. If you aren’t looking to monitor your sleep, and do not mind only having the option of using a clip, save yourself some money and get the Yoo2.

UP MOVE by Jawbone

UP MOVE by Jawbone is a highly customizable activity and sleep tracker that allows you to choose the color of your tracker, a different color for your clip, and a separate color for your super comfortable wrist strap, if you so choose. Your tracker connects to the large Jawbone UP platform, which features a food library for food and calorie tracking, a barcode scanner, and a big list of chain restaurant menus and nutrition information. I found the food scanner to have a great database and accurately found many foods that I scanned. I really enjoyed adding images of my food in the food tracker, so that I can track portion sizes and review them later.
 
While you can wear your tracker during your yoga practice, you can also go into the app and add your yoga practice to your day, including your effort level and duration of time. There are also a lot more activities that you can add to your day including Zumba, Pilates and elliptical.
 
• What I liked most: This device provides the most detailed and usable readouts of activity statistics. For steps, it tells me the total amount of time I’m active throughout the day, the longest period I was active, the longest idle time, as well as total calories burned for the day (based on my height, weight and activity tracked). My night’s sleep summary told me the amount of time I slept soundly or lightly, as well as how long it took me to fall asleep and how many times I woke and how long I was awake throughout the night.
 
• Who this is best for: This tracker is great for people who are very serious about their health and fitness and want to track their results by monitoring their food and activities very closely. The tracker is a little bulky and not easily disguised, but if you don’t mind showing the world that you care about your fitness and track your activity, this is a great tracker at an excellent price point.

MisFit Shine

Misfit Shine is a personal activity and sleep monitor in an all-metal case that you can wear anywhere and to any occasion. The tracker links to the Misfit App, where you can see your daily statistics and history, and also challenge your friends, family or the leaderboard to beat your score. This app connects directly to your favorite wellness apps, including RunKeeper, Lose it!, MyFitnessPal, and more, so you do not have to track or duplicate entries across multiple app platforms. The Shine model fits into a variety of available accessories (magnetic clasp, leather band, sport band and necklace), and it is so sleek and stylized that it can be worn virtually anywhere without looking like you are wearing a fitness tracker. You can manually enter activities in the app, including cycling and tennis, but not yoga at this time.
 
• What I liked most: The app tells you how many more minutes of walking you need to do to reach your goal. Also, this is the smallest and most discreet of all the trackers tested. It barely made an indent beneath my clothing, and best of all, I could not feel it at all!
 
• Who this is best for: This tracker is ideal for the busy professional who wants to monitor their activity, but doesn’t want to have a bulky wrist or belt tracker. The magnetic closure makes me feel secure that it will not fall off. The tracker is best for my yoga practice. It’s so sleek and discreet that I can clip it anywhere (including bra straps) without leaving an indent or distracting me during my practice.

Withings Pulse 02

The Withings Pulse 02 is an activity tracker that also measures your sleep, heart rate and blood oxygen levels. The tracker is available in black or blue, but you can add color and personality with clips and wrist straps for an additional cost. Your tracker connects to the Health Mate app, which tracks your progress and allows you to unlock activity badges, and enables you to challenge yourself or your friends and family members. You can also track your food by logging your meals in the MyFitnessPal app and linking the app to your Health Mate app. When I measure my heart rate before and after exercise, I am able to understand the intensity of my workout, which is a more accurate indicator of calories burned. The app also sends you daily reminders (don’t forget to track your meals and calories consumed) and tips (get up and walk while making a call). However, the app does not keep track of meals or calories consumed.
 
• What I liked most: I enjoyed tracking my heart rate before and after my practice. It was a great feeling to see my heart rate increase, as a confirmation that I just had a great workout.
 
• Who this is best for: Due to its heart rate monitoring capabilities, this tracker is great for those who are into interval, circuit training or cross training that want to stay within a certain target heart rate range. Also, if you are a swimmer or into water sports, this tracker can accurately record your underwater activity down to 50 meters.