A few months ago I wrote a blog article about fitness trackers. This was a fairly comprehensive study that took a few months to complete. I was looking for the perfect activity tracker which would accurately track my daily fitness levels, while at the same time being convenient to wear on a regular basis. This proved harder than I thought.
5.) The Mio Fuse had rave reviews on its ability to track heart rate better than any other wrist worn heart rate monitor. The bad part was the bulkiness, lack of sleep tracking and a horribly boring phone app.
4.) The Garmin Forerunner 225 seemed like the the perfect mix of heart rate, GPS and activity tracking all in one. It ended up being uncomfortably large and a little out of my budget to hold onto.
3.) The Misfit Shine 2 is very slim and the most comfortable out of the bunch. It has a beautiful app which gives you the ability to choose what specific activity you're about to do before you start tracking it. The tracker also allows you to wear it on your belt, in a pocket or even on your ankle. The not so great part is that the tracker fell out of the wristband on more than one occasion and was almost lost. 
2.) Fitbit's Charge HR is great in just about every category. It tracks all activities while constantly monitoring your heart rate. Its app is well designed and allows for easy fitness challenges with friends. However, having to take it off to shower or swim since its not waterproof bothered me.
1.) And the best fitness tracker of 2016 is the Garmin Vivosmart HR! It's waterproof, tracks all activities and has a pretty nice app. The profile is slimmer than the Fitbit Charge HR but sticks out a little bit more on the wrist. To me, it feels more like a rubber bracelet rather than a watch and I liked this. Its harder to find friends on Garmin's network and this was the one downside for me.
Below is a video version of the list you just read. Please use the links above or look below the video to buy these products because each purchase helps support future product reviews!

Buy Fitbit Charge HR - http://amzn.to/1JtdsB0
Buy Garmin Vivosmart HR - http://amzn.to/1Zod8N7
Buy Misfit Shine 2 - http://amzn.to/1JtdIQu
Buy Garmin Forerunner 225 - http://amzn.to/1JtdOaS
​Buy Mio Fuse - http://amzn.to/1JtdUz2

Thanks for reading!!

If you're looking for the best overall fitness tracker, look no further. The Garmin Vivosmart is currently as good as it gets for activity trackers. I've tried the Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge HR, Misfit Shine, Garmin Vivofit 2, Mio Alpha 2, Mio Fuse and now have held onto the Garmin Vivosmart.

The others came close, but possessed certain flaws that turned out to be deal breakers for me. The Misfit Shine came in at second place. It's comfortable, simple and records just about any activity including sleep. The deal breaker: the circular tracker has the ability to fit into a wristband, pendant or shoe fob. Unfortunately, it comes out of the wristband quite easily and can easily be lost.

The Fitbit Charge and Charge HR had great potential. The app was the most fun to use out of the bunch and it tracks extra stats like stairs climbed and constant heart rate (with the HR version). However, the screen scratches easily, the band is rather wide and you're not able to shower or swim with it on.

The Mio Alpha 2 and Fuse are very convenient heart rate monitors but poor fitness trackers. The wrist based heart rate monitor worked very well even at high activity levels and with weight lifting. The Fuse tracks daily activity fairly well but currently misses out on sleep tracking. The app is rather useless and basic. Both are bulky units and thus usually sat on my desk until I was ready to go to the gym. If you're looking for a workout tracker they're great, but if you want a daily activity and sleep tracker I'd look elsewhere.

Now to the Garmin products. I really wanted to love the Vivofit 2. It has a battery life of over a year, is waterproof, has an always on screen and features an innovative clasp which should stay on through any activity. The device, unfortunately, sits rather high on your wrist and isn't quite as streamlined as something like the Shine or Fitbit. While at the gym or working on patients I noticed it would press very hard into my wrist because of that.

The Vivosmart does much more than Vivofit 2 while also shedding the bulk. The Vivosmart is thinner and sits lower on your wrist. I noticed right away that it was much more comfortable than the Vivofit 2. The Vivosmart receives smartphone notifications including texts, email, Facebook and Twitter. The Fitbit Charge only notifies of calls. The Vivosmart has less battery life than the Vivofit 2 and Misfit Shine but I've noticed better life (8 days) than the Fitbit or Mio units. The "move bar" gets you off your butt by vibrating if you're sitting too long. The device also vibrates for notifications and with the alarm clock feature. The touch screen on the Vivosmart works flawlessly even in the shower and blows away the lousy touch screen of the Mio Fuse. The Garmin sleep tracking graph isn't quite as nice as Misfit but I think it's more detailed and useful compared to Fitbit. The Garmin Connect app isn't nearly as pretty as Misfit or as socially connected as Fitbit, but all in all it gives me the information I'd like to know.

Best of the bunch: Garmin Vivosmart

Pros: Waterproof. Smartphone notifications. Comfortable. Good battery life. Sleep tracking. Vibrating alarm clock.

Cons: Lack of strong social network. Screen not always on.

In the month of June, refer the most friends and family to ChiroElite Chiropractic of Altoona WI and win! We've been open just a year and have already changed hundreds of lives in the Chippewa Valley community. You've let us know how much that means by voting us best chiropractor two times in less than a year! To thank our great patients, Dr. Pellatt is giving away a great little activity tracker: the Misfit Shine. It tracks your steps, exercises, sleep, food consumption and so much more! The Shine is completely waterproof and lasts over six months on a single charge. It's one of Dr. Tom's favorites and he's sure you'll love it as well. So refer friends, family and any strangers you meet to ChiroElite to increase your chances of winning this great little activity and sleep tracker.

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ChiroElite Chiropractic and Dr Pellatt have once again been ranked. This time, Best of Wisconsin has listed us as the Winner in the chiropractor category for Eau Claire. This is a great honor being voted number one out of all the Eau Claire WI chiropractors out there. We'll keep doing what we're doing and getting patients better quickly. Hopefully you guys keep voting us best. Thanks to all!!

http://www.votedbestofwisconsin.com/eau-claire.html