Tested: The Best Sports Watches for Active Lifestyles

Both casual and die-hard athletes know that the proper information is key to improving your performance in any sport. Hikers, bikers, runners, CrossFit trainers, yogis, boxers, baseball, basketball, and football players, dancers, swimmers, gym rats, and every other kind of sports fanatic – outside of competitive eaters – can find tricks to improve their workout with the right one. However you amp yourself up, the timepieces from this guide will carry you to the finish line. We were able to test out our favorites, presenting you with the following guide to the best sports watches available.

How We Tested

Picking a sports watch is all about what kind of training you do. Triathletes will need different metrics to be tracked than strict mountaineers. Off-road mountain bike riders are going to require things, like a GPS, that won’t help a powerlifter. Runners will want an accurate pedometer and heart-rate monitor to hit their target, while hikers will need elevation tracking so they can find altitude gained. Some will want a strong online community, while others wish to keep their workout secret and safe. For our purposes, we wanted to find watches that could cast a wide net but be specialized if needed.

Our methods began with making a shortlist of candidates for testing, based on criteria such as personal experience and expertise, brand reputation, water resistance, materials, strap options, price, and aesthetic. After we sourced our watches for testing, we got acquainted with them, looking at how easy they were to use, especially in a fitness environment. Taking these timepieces out to the gym or even on hikes over the course of a few week testing period, we were able to see what we liked and didn’t like about each one.

What to Look For

Dedicated Apps: Many of the following sports watches have dedicated apps for certain activities such as running, hiking, swimming, climbing, and even golfing. Of course, these well-equipped watches will carry a heftier price tag than the simpler options.

Health Tracking: While not a requirement for our list, health tracking is definitely a benefit to higher-end sports watch models. Some may see heart rate monitoring and the like as too obsessive, but for others, keeping track of these vitals is very important.

Durability: Of course, a watch can’t be used in an active lifestyle if it isn’t all kinds of rugged. Almost all of the picks below can withstand relatively high drops, water submersion, and the much-too-frequent scratch and scuff.

Case Material: While stainless steel is exceptionally durable, many sports watches opt for titanium, which is almost half the weight. On the other hand, you’ll find plenty of sports watches using resin cases, which are the best of both worlds, balancing strength and weight exceptionally well.

Strap: The strap of choice is up to you but for active lifestyles, we recommend resin, silicone, rubber, or even nylon. Metal bracelets are heavy and don’t expand quite as well while leather doesn’t breathe.

Armitron Chrono Pro

Best Cheap Sports Watch: There isn’t much in the way of exceptional features here, so don’t expect to be monitoring your heart rate or getting it to sync up with your smartphone or bike computer. When you just need the basics – lap time, alarm, chronograph, dual time – then this cheap digital watch shows up to play. Black resin body with a gunmetal face, it’s easy to read and blends into most situations. Strong water resistance up to 330 feet allows for swimming and snorkeling while the frame can take plenty of impacts without cracking.

At 45mm, the Armitron Chrono Pro is still incredibly lightweight on the wrist, which gives it a ghost-like quality when you’re working out. The watch has four basic “modes”: standard time, secondary time (i.e., GMT), stopwatch, and alarm. While setting the time requires a longer hold, the time setting on the dual time zone is very quick, for better or worse. But this can work doubly to let you know which time you’re setting in case you mistook the GMT time mode for the standard time. I really love the unique lume on the Armitron digital watch, which illuminates only the digits on the dial, rather than the entire dial itself or just throwing an LED splash across the watch face.

Perhaps the worst part of the watch is the lack of intuition when it comes to the button layout. “Start” and “Stop” are very straightforward but when activating the “Split Time” function on the stopwatch, it can get confusing and take a while to get the hang of. Likewise, the symbols distinguishing the alarm from the hourly chime aren’t clear enough. Also, the watch’s aesthetic won’t be as assertive as something from, say, Casio. However, this is still a reliable digital watch for an incredibly affordable price. I also need to point out that the polarization on the Chrono Pro screen would blackout the time at certain angles if I wore polarized sunglasses, especially when I held the watch on the steering wheel when driving. This was only an issue if worn on the right arm and didn’t happen on the other side. Many digital watches have some sort of polarization on their screens, which means that they’ll darken at certain angles, but usually not at an angle you’d normally hold it at (e.g., the Timex IRONMAN only darkens when the dial is upside down).

Verdict: Unbelievably cheap at just around $20, Armitron’s Chrono Pro isn’t a perfect digital watch but it’s still very good, with a basic stopwatch function, split-time, a dual time zone reader, and alarm function. It won’t read your heart rate or anything like that but it can go underwater with you up to 100m and is incredibly lightweight that it doesn’t ever weigh you down when working out.

Timex IRONMAN 100-Lap

Best Digital Watch: Not every sports watch has to be a smartwatch, as you can see here by Timex’s Ironman digital watch, which has a history that dates back to the mid-’80s and still sports retro styling. A favorite of the likes of outdoorsmen, first responders, and endurance athletes, the digital watch is housed in a lightweight 44mm resin case with a 1.5-inch display and 100m of water resistance. With the brand’s famed push-button Indiglo Night-Light, the digital watch is highly legible for quick reading of time and date, but can also be used as an alarm and timer. It also has a Lap Memory feature of up to 100 laps (originally it was just 30).

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Timex Ironman is the position of its “Start” button, which is located at the very bottom-center of the case. It may seem like an odd placement, but makes sense from an ergonomic standpoint, allowing for a more natural operation no matter which wrist you’re wearing this on. In fact, the entire watch is built for streamlined functionality. The five buttons on the case don’t just rely on the text provided to indicate their function. Within each mode, small mode-specific text or symbols may pop up to let you know what each button can be used for. For instance, in “Timer” mode, you hold down the “Set” button, after which + and – symbols pop up next to the bottom-center and bottom-right buttons, respectively. This is incredibly helpful in shortening the learning curve, even for a basic watch like this one. After all, you may not be using your Timex every day and could possibly forget how it operates between longer gaps in usage.

At this price, there’s not much I don’t like about the Timex Ironman, including its lightweight build, retro appeal, and even its strap comfort. My biggest complaint is still a minor one. Though it’s very large and pronounced, the dial text is a bit jarring at first. I’d prefer something less lean in terms of the numbers and less broken up in terms of the words (i.e., it looks like a calculator). Also, I know the Indiglo lume is somewhat divisive, but I like the uniqueness of the glow, which almost feels iridescent.

Verdict: Oozing with retro appeal, the Timex Ironman is a solid runner’s watch with user-friendly function and even ergonomic button placement. There may not be all the bells and whistles of a smartwatch, but at under $100, no one’s expecting this. Lightweight and comfortable on the wrist, this timepiece is a great option for those wanting to disconnect from the outside world to focus on the challenges in front of them.

Fitbit Versa 4

Best for Gym Rats: Fitbit basically started the whole fitness tracker craze over a decade ago and is still an important brand when it comes to sports-focused smartwatches. More Apple Watch than it ever used to be, Fitbit’s Versa 4 is the latest iteration of its goal-oriented fitness watches and serves as a solid workout buddy at a reasonable price point. Not only does it have a 6-day battery life (with 24 hours of charge in just 12 minutes) but it can supply you with real-time fitness stats and an in-depth analysis of your overall health. It can work in tandem with most smartphones and also features over 40 exercise modes and built-in GPS navigation.

While Fitbit has taken somewhat of a backseat in recent years with the rise of smartwatches from Apple to Garmin, and a plethora of new brands, it’s still a solid, budget-friendly option for gym rats. Utilizing both touchscreen and side-button function, the streamlined menu setup is great for accessing certain apps quickly, such as your Exercise menu, Alarms, or Fitbit Pay. Also, your most recently used apps will show up on top after you press the side button. You can also easily add new exercises on top of the defaults (Walking, Running, Strength Training, etc.). Unlike some other smartwatches that have both touchscreen and button/crown toggling, these functions here don’t crossover. For instance, touchscreen functions are used for selecting and scrolling while the side button is exclusively used to swap back and forth between the menus and the home screen. Likewise, the accompanying phone app features an intuitive layout, with easy goal setting (e.g., steps, calories, water intake, etc.). I also loved the sleep tracking, which felt pretty accurate.

Although it’s not massive, I still love how wide the screen is, as well as its clarity. It’s also easy to get the hang of, which didn’t take me too long. However, I was struggling with using this as an actual watch. Though there’s an “Always-On” setting for the clock face, this drains the battery quickly. The alternative is to set your clock face to turn on when you raise your arm, which prevents you from automatically seeing the time in the middle of driving or typing. Fortunately, this setting is easy to turn on and off through the watch’s Settings menu. I wasn’t sure if I liked the unorthodox strap function at first, which is a bit tricky to buckle on, but it proved to be easier the more I did it. It’s also important to note that the strap, while comfortable and stretchy, seems like it’s a bit too easy to swap out for a second option.

Verdict: Lightweight and comfortable on the wrist, the Fitbit Versa 4 is easy to forget about when you don’t need it, which is a good thing. The menu design is very intuitive and well laid out, as is the accompanying phone app, built for easy customization of your goals. We had some issues with the clockface functionality but there are ways around this. Streamlined by nature, this is a great budget-friendly option for those who want a smartwatch mostly for working out.

Garmin Forerunner 255S Music

Best for Runners: Garmin has so many phenomenal smartwatches and such a wide range of them that it becomes difficult, even for us, to keep track of them all. However, one sports watch that’s impossible to forget is the Forerunner 255S Music (there’s a non-Music version available as well), a solar-powered running watch that comes at a mid-level price point. With the capability of downloading as many as 500 songs from an array of popular services such as Spotify, Deezer, and Amazon Music, the smartwatch also sports a ton of training features. These include over 30 sports apps, race prep tips, adaptive training plans, triathlon profiles, recovery optimization, GPS-based pace guidance, and heart rate monitoring from your wrist.

After using enough Garmin smartwatches, I’ve learned two things for certain: The brand is really good at distinguishing each model and they have one of the most intuitive app designs available. While this is similar, function-wise, to the Instinct series, it gives you a much more dynamic display with color and brightness –– although not necessarily as crisp as some higher-end options from Garmin or other brands. As a running or gym watch, this is easily their best option, streamlining the apps to eliminate some superfluous lifestyle features, focusing more on training analysis and adding in a music component, which was easy enough to operate –– that is, once I synced it up to my Garmin Express app, which took a moment. This might not be a crucial extra feature for some but others will find it as a nice middle ground between using a fitness watch and a lifestyle watch. If you’re not familiar with the Garmin Connect phone app, it’s just one of several from the brand, but the one you will find the most useful with the Forerunner, giving you easy profile customization and streamlined readouts on your fitness and health. I honestly love it.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the touchscreen functionality of some of Garmin’s other watches, like the fenix or tactix. However, this lower-end model leaves out the maps options in favor of push-button-only operation. This works perfectly fine for selection and toggling (although I’ve sustained that the “up” and “down” buttons should be on the top and bottom of the case side rather than right next to each other), however, when I’m trying to scroll quickly, I wish there was an option to hold down the button to do so. Instead, holding down the “up” button opens up the settings for the current menu and holding down the “down” button opens up the music controls. Conversely, unlike other watches, the backlight button serves a dual purpose to open up the settings menu, giving it easy and quick access, no matter which screen or menu you’re on.

Verdict: While it’s not a smartwatch for users who want to take calls and notifications, Garmin’s Forerunner 255S Music benefits from Garmin’s health and fitness tracking and wide-ranging sports apps. However, this is a true runner’s watch, with plenty of specific features for race planning and training. Finding the middle ground between sports and lifestyle smartwatches, this model could still use some touchscreen functionality but at least the menu layouts are pretty straightforward and easy to get used to.

Withings Scanwatch 2

Best Everyday Sports Watch: Just because you’re an active person doesn’t mean you want to be relegated to wearing a sporty timepiece. This is where hybrid smartwatches come in. Hitting the market back in 2014, Withings has become the king of the hybrid smartwatch, and their flagship ScanWatch 2 is the best you’ll find, for sports or otherwise. At first glance, it looks like a sleek analog timepiece with a luxurious yet versatile style, but it also boasts some incredible fitness, health, and workout features thanks to the accompanying phone app. Coming in at under $400, the ScanWatch 2 can track your body temp, detect AFib, check your blood oxygen level, and provide a full health readout. If that’s not enough, you can also pay around $10 per month for the Withings+ subscription service.

While it’s exciting to get acquainted with a lot of these new smartwatches, my least favorite part of testing so many is the niceties of merely setting them up. But then there’s Withings’ ScanWatch, which provides the most hassle-free setup of them all. Setting all my personal health goals was more engaging and fun compared to other models, while exploring the apps and menus was a blast, both on the phone app and the watch itself. In terms of functionality, toggling through the watch’s features is incredibly straightforward, employing a single user-friendly button that can scroll and select. Although this won’t be as “connected” as your Apple Watch or Garmin, there’s still the ability to get text and app notifications directly. If you want to be more discreet when wearing this hybrid smartwatch, you can also turn off the “Quicklook” feature, so that the smart screen only turns on when you press the button.

When it came to working out while wearing the watch, the silicone strap I was wearing was stretchy and comfortable against my skin. Sweat didn’t accumulate underneath either. There aren’t a lot of flaws when it comes to the ScanWatch 2, since those who desire a hybrid smartwatch won’t be expecting it to do much more than it does. Yet we still get thorough fitness readouts and in-depth analysis for our health, whether we’re highly active or just moderately. My biggest gripe with the watch is the reflectivity of the sapphire glass over the dial. Every time I looked at the watch, my entire face was seen in the reflection. At an angle, it picks up other images too easily as well.

Verdict: It might not have as much wrist presence as your standard dress watch but Withings’ ScanWatch 2 is the best hybrid smartwatch around, whether or not you’re an active person. Its in-depth health and fitness tracking is fun to play around with but insightful when it counts. Great for people who don’t love wearing a screen on their wrist at all times, this timepiece seamlessly turns into a stylish analog watch when you’re ready to go out.

Coros Apex Pro 2

Best for Hiking: Not all physical activity takes place in the gym or on the pavement. For many hiking is very much a sport in and of itself. It requires agility, strength, and the ability to push and challenge yourself. For the task, you’ll need something durable and lightweight, yet functional as a sports watch. In comes the Coros Apex Pro 2, a versatile smartwatch weighing around 2oz, built from grade 5 titanium, and with the option of a nylon or silicone strap. Water resistant to 50m, the smartwatch has plenty of sports apps to choose from, even if you do opt to stay indoors. Taken to the ends of the Earth and back, the Coros wearable also boasts incredible battery life –– 30 days of regular use or 75 hours in GPS mode –– and high visibility on its 1.3-inch touchscreen for its landscape, topo, and hybrid map functions, communicating with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and Beidou satellites.

Like few other smartwatches, the Coros Apex Pro is very easy to set up right out of the box. You simply download the accompanying phone app and then build out your profile in minutes. As opposed to other options, which give you all of its sports apps upfront before you’re ready to explore them all, the Apex Pro lets you quickly select and deselect which sports modes you want to show up on your watch’s menus. On the other hand, if you do participate in all the sports (though I’ve yet to meet someone who does both windsurfing AND cross-country skiing), you’ll love this watch too. If you’re into keeping track of your personal records, the Coros website lets you download workouts and training routines. However, the phone app alone is fantastic, with an incredibly straightforward, helpful layout for newcomers and in-depth options for seasoned vets. In terms of navigation, downloading maps is incredibly easy as well. You simply pre-select a region on the phone, which then renders itself on the watch to prevent any lagging.

The downsides of the Coros Apex Pro 2 are few and far between. As a right-armed watch wearer, I didn’t love the absence of left-sided buttons or knobs, which forced me to reach over for every function. And although it contributes to the lighter weight that’s so good for hiking and outdoor activity, I’m not a huge fan of the Velcro-style nylon strap, which made it difficult to fine-tune the fit on my wrist, even though the strap itself is really comfortable and soft. When I thought I had it fit correctly, it would be too loose or too tight. Also, the text on the strap, reading #EXPLOREPERFECTION is a bit tacky.

Verdict: User-friendly and streamlined when it comes to setting up your sports apps, the Coros Apex Pro 2 is a comfortable, lightweight, and durable smartwatch that’s at its most useful outdoors. Tapping into all 5 satellite systems, navigation is effortless as well. And if you want to use this watch indoors, you’ll have plenty of fun with the downloadable workout routines and fitness tracking. We didn’t love the strap or the fact that there weren’t any buttons on the left side of the case, but this smartwatch is a great option for people who don’t want to spend hundreds more for an Apple or Garmin watch.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Best for All Sports: Apple recently updated their flagship everything-ready watch with the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which already made a statement the year earlier by finally appealing to the adventurers of the world. Aside from the three rugged band options, this 2nd-gen version has a much wider display screen, titanium construction, and the new S9 chip. We’ll get into all of the features that make this watch so special very soon, but first off, we need to talk about the new S9 SiP, Apple’s latest silicon chip for the Apple Watch series that builds off of the A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro series. Seriously, this chip makes the Apple Watch an absolute beast, bolstered by the brightest display seen in an Apple Watch yet (I had no problem using it during a bright sunny day here in Los Angeles during testing, even while swimming). Building off the Series 8 (and all the Apple Watches before it), you’re still getting all those fitness and health features along with the seamless integration with the rest of Apple’s ecosystem (especially your iPhone) that makes the watch so great.

You’re getting a 49mm case made of aerospace-grade titanium that’s super durable and noticeably rugged (housing the sapphire crystal), and since it’s made with 95% recycled titanium, the watch itself is carbon neutral if you go with the trail loop strap (which we’ve featured here, and it’s super comfortable). Exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (and technically the iPhone 15 Pro lineup as well), there’s a customizable action button on the side that lets you start workouts, open apps, or even just turn on your flashlight (I went with the flashlight because I found it to be the most convenient, but you could program to do stuff like starting your car which is super cool). Battery life here is also incredible thanks to the effectiveness of the new S9 chip, easily giving you enough charge to last a few days with regular use (with 36 hours total, or 72 hours in low power mode), and the watch overall is noticeably much quicker than even the most recent generation. The new double-tap gesture is also a big feature for the Series 9 and Ultra 2, allowing you to simply tap your fingers (twice) to scroll through your Smart Stack, answer calls and messages, and control music. I actually found this feature to be a lot more convenient than I thought it would be, especially if you’re on the move and holding other things, or using it to control music while working without disrupting your concentration.

Seeing as this is a sports watch guide (and the Ultra 2 is a sports watch itself), I had the chance to do some sporty activities and put it to the test over the last week. I kicked things off with a run, using the action button to quickly start activity mode and selecting the outdoor run mode. You’re getting the same tracking capabilities from the previous gen, but the updated GPS tracking is really accurate here, especially when running/hiking on the trails (and more accurate than most other sports watches). Although it’s not new, I also really liked using the race route feature, allowing me to compete against my former times on the route near my place. I do have to say that the extra weight of this new watch takes a bit of getting used to (especially while running), but it wasn’t long before it felt comfortable. Next up was a swim (unfortunately, we weren’t able to dive, but I got a solid idea of the water resistance and made good use of the water lock feature, which felt a lot more secure here). Although the pool in my apartment isn’t a lap pool, the watch’s ability to track distance, the type of stroke I was doing, and the calories burned made it super convenient to use.

Verdict: Although it’s much more expensive than other watches we tested, everything about the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is designed for adventure, from the durable titanium/ceramic case to the myriad of activity features like diving, cycling, and running. On top of that, you’re getting the best battery and brightest screen in an Apple Watch yet, making this a great pick even if you’re not a daredevil.

Sports Watch Comparison Chart

What Makes It a Sports Watch?

A sports watch can mean different things to different people. For the sake of our guide, these will be essentially any timepiece that can aid you in an active lifestyle. These can be smartwatches, digital watches, or some hybrid of the two. They will boast some level of significant durability and water resistance. Some of these will have a selection of sports apps and/or health tracking, while others will simply give you the time, date, and perhaps some sort of Bluetooth connectivity with your phone.

Honorable Mentions

If you’re intrigued by Coros and want to check out another great running smartwatch, the brand’s Pace 3 is similar but less outdoor-focused than the Apex Pro. However, the Garmin Forerunner is still the one to beat.

For a lower budget, Fitbit’s Inspire 3 is a solid bare-bones option serving as just a fitness tracker. And it’s even more affordable than the Versa at around $100.

Definitely better on paper, the retro-inspired G-SHOCK DWH5600 has four sports modes and is nice for fans of the original digital watch from the Casio sub-brand. However, it’s a bit of a case of form over function than it is a solid sports watch. Not as capable as some other options at a similar price, but there’s no denying the aesthetic appeal.

Last year, Suunto introduced its Vertical Adventure Watch, combining its best features into a rugged package. However, after testing the smartwatch, we didn’t love its poor menu organization and non-hiking features. But if you’re a fan of the brand’s products, you won’t have as steep of a learning curve.

Garmin leads the way in terms of GPS-equipped adventure smartwatches, and their Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar Edition is their most top-shelf and versatile multisport model. However, for our money, we prefer the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which is at basically the same price point.

The Best GPS Watches for Hiking

If you want to explore more outdoor-friendly smartwatches, then head over to our guide to the best GPS watches for hiking, where we tested our favorites.