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The BEST smartwatches and fitness trackers of 2021

There’s been no shortage of smartwatches and fitness trackers released in the past year. Here are some of my top picks to suit all budgets and needs, whether you’re looking for activity and health tracking, a square or round design, smart notifications on your wrist, or compatibility with Android and iPhone. You can see the…

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There’s been no shortage of smartwatches and fitness trackers released in the past year. Here are some of my top picks to suit all budgets and needs, whether you’re looking for activity and health tracking, a square or round design, smart notifications on your wrist, or compatibility with Android and iPhone.

You can see the products featured in this video here 👇
Garmin Venu 2:
Fitbit Charge 5:
Apple Watch Series 7:
Galaxy Watch4 Classic:
Galaxy Watch4:
Xiaomi Mi Band 6:
Polar Grit X Pro:
Oura Ring:
Honorable mentions —
Garmin Venu SQ:
Apple Watch SE:
Fitbit Versa 3:
*CNET may get a commission from these offers.

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Full reviews:
Garmin Venu 2 review:
Fitbit Charge 5 review:
Fitbit Premium details:
Apple Watch Series 7 review:
Galaxy Watch 4 review:
Best smartwatches of 2021:
Best fitness trackers of 2021:

0:00 – Best smartwatches and fitness trackers of 2021
0:53 – Garmin Venu 2
2:34 – Fitbit Charge 5
3:58 – Apple Watch Series 7
5:37 – Galaxy Watch4 Classic
7:11 – Xiaomi Mi Band 6
8:16 – Polar Grit X Pro
8:57 – Oura Ring
9:46 – Honorable mentions

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74 Comments

74 Comments

  1. Michael Brown

    December 6, 2021 at 1:28 pm

    If you have an iPhone, it’s an Apple watch. If you have an Android device and want fitness tracking, it’s Fitbit. If you have an Android device and don’t care about fitness tracking, it’s an Galaxy Watch 4. There, saved you some time.

    • GeneAnkleHurtHisFrankel

      December 6, 2021 at 2:27 pm

      You saved us zero time. Nobody is here for watches; everyone is here for Lexy.

    • Michael Brown

      December 6, 2021 at 5:06 pm

      @GeneAnkleHurtHisFrankel Hahaha Okay okay.

  2. Weekend Warrior

    December 6, 2021 at 1:38 pm

    I would have looked at the ring, but $250 for the service and then a $6 sub? Nope 🤣😂😅

  3. Angel Valentin

    December 6, 2021 at 1:46 pm

    I was wondering is there a smartwatch with noninvasive glucose monitoring?

    • Sestrel Bethesda

      December 6, 2021 at 4:30 pm

      To my knowledge, can’t be done (as yet) as it’s biochemistry. Therefore, direct analysis required as we do with our hospital blood glucose monitor. Again, the accuracy of the ‘alleged’ ‘ blood oxygen or atrial fibrillation is going to be about as accurate as a balloon thrown at a wall. We use partial pressure for accuracy (PO2)

  4. Blake Flynn

    December 6, 2021 at 1:59 pm

    Make a best ear pods of 2021 video

  5. Mark B

    December 6, 2021 at 2:11 pm

    G’day mate, what do you think about the Casio G-Shock GSW-H1000? Thats running Watch Android OS as well.

    Edit: I can’t wait till the Outa Ring matures.

  6. The drunken gardener

    December 6, 2021 at 2:12 pm

    Nice video!
    I like the Mi band approach because you can update one every year and not be too concerned if you lose it or damage it.
    I made the mistake of upgrading to a nicer Huawei watch fit and now I’m always conscious of what I’m doing so I don’t damage it.
    Now please tell us which device have you worn the most this year?

  7. Kent C

    December 6, 2021 at 2:17 pm

    Which of these would be good for people with disabilities like in a wheelchair?

    • Madeleine Bollmann

      December 6, 2021 at 3:03 pm

      The Apple Watch because there is an extra modus for people in a wheelchair.

  8. Shevket Duran

    December 6, 2021 at 2:19 pm

    Which one is the best tracker for people who don’t want their vitals to be sold to advertisers?

  9. Clint Eastwood

    December 6, 2021 at 2:25 pm

    What about Amazfit, Zeblaze, Huawei ???

  10. Patrick Castillo

    December 6, 2021 at 2:33 pm

    Should of included the Wyze watch

  11. Darcy Collins

    December 6, 2021 at 2:42 pm

    polar grit watch is 750$ no watch is worth that much . theres at least 40 great knew watch for this year you picked the most costly .this is 10 minutes of my life lost …..

  12. James Newsome

    December 6, 2021 at 2:53 pm

    I wish the Withings Steel HR would be included on these lists. It has most of the features these others have (step/fitness tracking, heart rate, sleep, push notifications, etc) but with actual mechanical watch arms and a battery capacity of almost a month!

    • Lexy Savvides

      December 6, 2021 at 4:07 pm

      I was only looking at watches released in 2021, the newest Withings is the ScanWatch but I haven’t tested that yet!

  13. CVCCI

    December 6, 2021 at 3:07 pm

    Garmin Instinct Solar. That is all.

  14. RDimensions

    December 6, 2021 at 3:45 pm

    Hi Lexis, Huawei smartwatches are amazing too, amazing battery life and durability, you should include it!

    • Xav

      December 6, 2021 at 4:48 pm

      No nobody use Huawei

    • Xav

      December 6, 2021 at 4:48 pm

      Anymore

    • David Jacobs

      December 6, 2021 at 6:18 pm

      Who????

  15. Daniel Beard

    December 6, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    The Coros Pace 2 is a great watch for $200. Main target audience are runners, but works well as a smart watch and tracking other activities.

  16. Juan Gonzalez

    December 6, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    Good review. I know there are now tons of smart watch options. I’m surprised there were no mention of Amazfit products.

    • Lexy Savvides

      December 6, 2021 at 9:31 pm

      I just got the GTS 3 this morning! Looking forward to testing it

    • Juan Gonzalez

      December 6, 2021 at 9:38 pm

      @Lexy Savvides i appreciate that. I have the older Stratos and just bought my mom the GTS2 for Christmas Because it has a mic and speaker so you can answer the phone with it. Can’t wait to see your review.

  17. Yo RAHeem

    December 6, 2021 at 5:14 pm

    Only bc it’s Lexy! She does great fitness tech reviews.

  18. Lexy Savvides

    December 6, 2021 at 5:21 pm

    Thanks for watching! Let me know what’s on your wrist! ⌚️

    • UNO Sheem

      December 6, 2021 at 5:30 pm

      Apple Watch SE but I’ve decided to get a 7 45 mm and this video helped me with deciding which fitness tracker to get my girlfriend (wish she liked apple I would’ve gotten her an Apple Watch)

    • leocmen

      December 7, 2021 at 1:13 am

      I do have a *Venu 2* and I have to say it was one of the best choices I have made in years… It is an excellent product

    • Khaung Zawng

      December 7, 2021 at 2:14 am

      Hi Lexy, Thanks for your reviews on smart watches 2021. I’m still using my Apple Watch series 4 but saying that I want to get something new.

      You mentioned some of the smart watches are compactible with iOS but can you please have another in-depth review for iOS compatibility such as which data can be accessed from iOS, closing the ‘Rings” from using other smart watches (not Apple Watch) etc.

    • EvilDeathReaper

      December 8, 2021 at 12:38 am

      Lexy do a video on the new Amazfit GTR 3 Pro please

    • smartbug1

      December 8, 2021 at 1:05 pm

      amazfit gts 2 mini. I love it.

    • EvilDeathReaper

      December 9, 2021 at 6:14 am

      @smartbug1 regular GTS 2 is better and almost same size, just slightly bigger barely noticeable tbh

    • DrFeelgood1234567

      December 9, 2021 at 8:24 am

      AW S7 steel:)

    • smartbug1

      December 9, 2021 at 9:26 am

      @EvilDeathReaper but weaker battery. And I don’t care for calls and storage so I didn’t want to get gts2.

    • Natacha

      December 9, 2021 at 8:39 pm

      I wear 2 (weirdo). My friends & family wear fitbits, so for tracking for challenges I wear a Luxe. And for me, I wear Garmin Venu 2s.

    • Sivakumar M

      December 10, 2021 at 3:26 pm

      Samsung Galaxy Fit 2

    • EvilDeathReaper

      December 10, 2021 at 7:58 pm

      @smartbug1 The battery is still solid, you get 5 days with heavy use (but no long GPS use) from my experience, eitherway there’s also the new GTS 3 which confusingly doesn’t have calls or storage but it has improvements overall

    • smartbug1

      December 10, 2021 at 9:18 pm

      @EvilDeathReaper and I get 12 days with my gts2 mini

  19. isaacsac5

    December 6, 2021 at 5:59 pm

    Apple Watch for me.

  20. Arthur Fonseca

    December 6, 2021 at 6:49 pm

    What I really want is a small, sleek fitness tracker that integrates with iOS Health app, but has limited notification funcionality, or maybe even no screen. With battery life measured in weeks, not hours. I have a samsung galaxy fit 2, and its a shame that it doesnt integrates very well with iOS. I don’t want a big, heavy smartphone with a big screen that drains battery in a day, and is constantly wanting my atention with notifications

  21. Arthur Fonseca

    December 6, 2021 at 6:49 pm

    What I really want is a small, sleek fitness tracker that integrates with iOS Health app, but has limited notification funcionality, or maybe even no screen. With battery life measured in weeks, not hours. I have a samsung galaxy fit 2, and its a shame that it doesnt integrates very well with iOS. I don’t want a big, heavy smartwatch with a big screen that drains battery in a day, and is constantly wanting my atention with notifications

  22. Darly P

    December 6, 2021 at 7:14 pm

    Galaxy Watch 2 Active. Had the Galaxy 4 and the bezel felt sharp and returned it. Samsung would be my 100% go to EXCEPT their exercise tracking doesn’t base burn on heart rate…disappointing.

  23. Everything Videos

    December 6, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    I have the Apple Watch SE 40mm LTE, and the Series 6 44mm LTE. I’ll be pointless to upgrade to the Series 7

  24. David Jamgochian

    December 6, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    Happy 🎄 Holiday’s

  25. leocmen

    December 7, 2021 at 1:14 am

    *Venu 2* is really a good device.. nice display, good access to Garmin ecosystem and awesome battery…

  26. Bradley Crehan

    December 7, 2021 at 3:08 am

    What about ticwatch pro 3?

  27. Forester P

    December 7, 2021 at 5:45 am

    Apple Watch all the way.

    • shaolin95

      December 8, 2021 at 12:11 am

      All the way to the charging dock you mean, right? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

  28. tufes

    December 7, 2021 at 8:08 am

    just don’t get fitbit, their products life cycle just at 2 years max.. very dissatisfied and disappointed with their fitbit charge 3, the screen turn black, contacted the customer service with no solution at all. and its not just the fitbit charge series, but other series too

  29. Sナツ

    December 7, 2021 at 9:19 am

    enjoying my Samsung watch 4 but bixby has got to go.!

  30. Juan Mm

    December 7, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    We need an Apple Watch with battery 🔋 that can last days, life’s to short to charge a watch everyday

    • Enter The Soundscape

      December 10, 2021 at 11:27 pm

      It’s the reason why I quit wearing a smartwatch after a month. I used it mostly just to tell the time and for notifications, it didn’t justify having to charge it every night.

  31. Stewart walker

    December 7, 2021 at 4:29 pm

    I am not going to buy products with pay walls, shame on corperate greed

  32. Brain Dead

    December 7, 2021 at 4:43 pm

    XD the apple watch battery is 🗑️

    • shaolin95

      December 8, 2021 at 12:11 am

      Yes but she tried suspiciously hard to make the battery life look “no so bad”….

  33. Elio Karim

    December 7, 2021 at 11:46 pm

    I am surprised that mobvoi smartwatches weren’t mentioned

    • Sam C

      December 8, 2021 at 4:06 am

      Same. I scored a TicWatch E3 over Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales for $132 and it has been great with a 2-day battery life. Reviews complain that the body is plastic but the build quality is actually very solid and has a matte finish metal look.

  34. Ras

    December 8, 2021 at 1:01 am

    Why are you ignoring Huawei smart watches and bands?

  35. thumbtak

    December 8, 2021 at 1:25 am

    I like my fossil smartwatch. Shocked it wasn’t talked about.

  36. Peter Mavrenski

    December 8, 2021 at 4:03 am

    Samsung key features also not allowed in some countries.

  37. aksha y

    December 8, 2021 at 4:50 am

    You really forgot the huawei band 6 which actually a heck of a band

  38. Mohamad Tawash

    December 8, 2021 at 10:21 am

    Apply watch is a benchmark!! Really not sure about that

  39. Ross Wales

    December 8, 2021 at 11:58 am

    Had the Apple Watch series 6 for a year and came to hate it. The app display is terrible. It’s shocking you can remove all the apps you don’t use. The battery life sucks. I had to charge it every night. Also, if I did a significantly long activity, I would run out of battery before the end of the day. There are many other reasons I came to dislike. But I’ve gone back to Garmin with the Fenix 6 Pro and it’s so much better.

    • Per P

      December 8, 2021 at 4:27 pm

      Exactly the same here 👍

  40. HarryVlogs

    December 8, 2021 at 4:36 pm

    Unfortunately Garmin watch doesn’t have wear OS so no music

  41. HarryVlogs

    December 8, 2021 at 4:38 pm

    Garmin doesn’t have ECG, blood pressure monitor or that other thing on the Samsung

  42. Gene Rynkewicz

    December 9, 2021 at 1:44 am

    Had a Galaxy S2, pretty junk. Died in less than 2 years. Gps and hr were garbage. Tried a Fitbit but couldn’t get past the horrible, onerous software. Worst software activation ever and the device cannot be used without the phone app. I’ve been using a polar for years and just got a polar unite 2. Much, much better than the Galaxy.

  43. Arman Ahmadian

    December 9, 2021 at 8:08 pm

    Why is every damn company is moving towards a subscription? If we buy a device we should be able to use all of its features, otherwise we don’t own it. After the right to repair, should we start another campaign called the right to own?

  44. Tony Nguyen

    December 10, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    I have a bad experience with Garmin for sleep tracking.

  45. Naing Aung Lu Lu

    December 11, 2021 at 12:34 am

    No Tic Watch 3 Pro & Fossil Gen 6???

  46. Lisa Newton

    December 11, 2021 at 5:18 am

    Hellllllllllep ….can you pleeeeeease give me some advice …i hv omg fitbit charge 2 …yessss im one of those who doesnt buy a new till itsdied ..🤣 and this now is not working as well strap broken blah blah but i need a new one …i only do ballet as my workouts and of course just the general racing around doing all of lifes chore … which tracker would you recommend ….i dont want pricy but obviously want a good alrounder …so confused as so many reviews differ …either way im up for a new one …plus hv android phone ….fingers crossed you can suggest something …😉😉😉😉😉😊😊🩰🩰🩰

  47. Brian O

    December 11, 2021 at 6:01 pm

    Let’s get real. Nobody and I mean nobody needs to be connected 24/7. All in for fitness metrics but it’s not healthy to feel like you can’t be offline for a 1 hour workout. Especially if it’s in your own free time. Company time maybe. Even so. Jeeeeez

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