Buying Guides
There’s no shortage of fitness gadgets and wearables on the market, but it’s still a nascent area with plenty of directions to go in. Coach visited the Consumer Electronics Show, the annual conference where tech companies gather to display their latest products, earlier this month and discovered fitness trackers aren’t just for wrists anymore – fitness tech companies are annexing other parts of the human anatomy. There's nothing for your member at the moment, but give it time.
Head: Platysens Marlin
The quintessential wearable for swimmers, Marlin attaches to the back of your goggles and has an earpiece built in to let you know your lap times, speed and distance when in the water. For the more adventurous, it provides route tracking and directions in open water so you don’t end up swimming to France by accident.
Available June, $120 (Around £84), platysens.com
Glasses: Oakley Radar Pace
Intel and Oakley previewed the Radar Pace at CES 2016, with the key feature of the smart eyewear being the user’s ability to interact with them by speaking. There are earphones attached to the glasses, which will provide runners and cyclists with on-the-go feedback on progress and performances.
Available late 2016, price TBC, oakley.com
Ear: Lumafit
If you’re not keen on flashy wrist wearables you might fancy tucking your tracker away behind your ear. The Lumafit offers real-time coaching in a variety of cardio and bodyweight exercises, and the app has a series of interactive workouts for all fitness levels.
Available now, $149 (around £104), lumafit.com
Shirt: Hexoskin Smart
You can now dispense with tracking accessories entirely and get all the details from your shirt. The second-generation Hexoskin Smart weaves sensors into its exercise tops that track all manner of in-depth fitness stats, including heart rate, breathing and calories burned. And you can wear it to track your sleep too, although it’ll probably need a wash in between.
Available spring, pre-order for $299 (around £208), hexoskin.com
Back: Upright
A personal posture trainer that sits in the small of your back, gently buzzing each time you slouch away from the perfect position. You can develop a training programme via the app, with UpRight suggesting 15 minutes a day will be enough to teach you how to sit and stand correctly.
Available now, $129.95 (around £91), uprightpose.com
Wrist: Fitbit Blaze
Fitbit has taken steps to ward off the threat of smartwatches with the Blaze, which it’s billing as a “Smart Fitness Watch”. In practice, this means that the Blaze provides some basic smartwatch capabilities, such as notifications for calls, texts and calendar alerts, but remains a fitness tracker at heart. And a mighty fine one it is, with automatic walk, run, sleep and cycle tracking and five days of battery life.
Available March, pre-order for £159.99, fitbit.com
Wrist: Casio WSD-F10
The snappily-titled WSD-F10 has a pretty solid argument for being the best smartwatch on the market (or will be, when launched), especially if you’re keen on outdoor pursuits. Its chunky, rugged design is indicative of its toughness; the Casio will go where other smartwatches fear to tick. Waterproof to 50m, and with a monochrome display option that will extend battery life up to a month, it’s a smartwatch capable of extended excursions into the wild. And it even has a fishing mode.
Available late 2016, $500 (around £349), wsd.casio.com
Wrist: Misfit Ray
Misfit has always prided itself on making minimalist, stylish wearables, and the Ray extends that tradition while swapping the svelte circular shape of the Shine for a tube. The waterproof Ray will last six months before its battery needs changing, can be worn as a wristband or a pendant, and automatically tracks your daily activity and sleep.
Available spring, $99 (around £69), misfit.com
Wrist: Mio Slice
The Slice’s appeal lies in Mio’s condensing of all traditional tracking metrics – like steps, calories and distance – into one number. The PAI (personal activity intelligence) score is based on a 20-year-long Norwegian health study on 20,000 people. Users are given a tailored PAI score every seven days, as well as feedback on individual workouts, with the aim of keeping it above 100. If you do, you might well live forever.
Available autumn, $99 (around £69), mioglobal.com
Read more: 7 Fitness Trackers For All Levels of Athlete
Fists: Corner Athletec
UK start-up Athletec is aiming to create the ideal tracker for boxers, with the Corner’s twin sensors slipping inside your handwraps to provide feedback on every punch thrown. A nifty feature of the sensor is that you can clap to move through the app’s screens, as smartphones are notoriously tricky to use when wearing boxing gloves.
Available summer, £49.99, athletec.io
Ring: OURA Ring
Wearing a bulky tracker is more likely to hinder than help sleep, so the OURA ring’s sleek design is a welcome move towards less disruptive wearables. The ring tracks rest automatically, keeping tabs on heart rate, temperature and motion to ensure your slumber is of the highest quality. It’ll also keep tabs on your activity in the daytime if you’re happy wearing the ring out and about.
Available now, €299 (around £227), ouraring.com
Belt: Belty Good Vibes
The original Belty smartbelt was a huge hit at CES 2015, and in 2016 French start-up Emiota upped the ante with the second-generation Belty Good Vibes. The stylish smart belt will nag at you throughout the day, vibrating to remind you to keep active, and can also guide you through breathing exercises if you’re hankering for a moment of calm.
Available December, €360 (around £274), wearbelty.com
Shorts: Lumo Run
Make sure you’re running with perfect form by wearing Lumo’s impressive shorts, which not only track a slew of valuable metrics like cadence, pelvic rotation and stride length but will also offer on-the-go coaching through your headphones.
Available March, pre-order $99 (around £69), lumobodytech.com
Pocket: Withings Go
The small disk can be worn anywhere – on a keyring, around your wrist, on a belt strap or even tucked away in a pocket – and its low-power E ink display means you won’t have to change the battery for eight months. To make things easy, the Go tracks automatically. Whether you’re running, swimming or sleeping, you don’t have to tee it up by clicking a button.
Available spring, £49.95, withings.com
Socks: Sensoria Socks Walk and Run
If smart shorts alone weren’t enough to sort out your running, smart socks are the logical next step. Sensoria’s are infused with sensors that analyse where your foot lands and cadence, giving voice feedback through the app on what’s right and wrong about your technique with the aim of improving your running and minimising the risk of injuries.
Available now, $199 (around £139), sensoriafitness.com
Shoes: Digitsole Smartshoe 01
The futuristic-looking Digitsole Smartshoe not only tracks distance covered and calories burned, but also heats your feet and tightens at the touch of a button to ensure a perfect fit.
Available autumn, $450 (around £314), digitsole.com
This content is from the experts at Men's Fitness magazine.
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