The Wareable editorial team picks the wearables we actually wear day in day out
There’s wearable tech that’s practical, wearable tech that’s bonkers and everything in between. This is a list of the tech we actually wear.
At Wareable, we have one (or two or three) fitness bands, smart headphones, hidden trackers, smartwatches and pieces of smart jewellery on our persons at any one time. We test them out, compare them to rivals, leave the worst of them in dusty drawers.
Read this: The best fitness trackers to work out with
But there’s certain devices that are sticky. Because they’re useful. Or fun. Or pretty. Or gawp-inducing. Maybe they don’t need charging so much. Or the companion app is brilliant. Whatever the reason, these wearables are here to stay.
Paul Lamkin – Editor in chief
I’m currently going through a Polar phase. I gave up on Adidas’ miCoach platform once the German giant admitted it wasn’t going to make any more GPS running watches any longer and decided to go all-in with Polar. The M600 had already won me over and is obviously a much better device now it’s running Android Wear 2.0.
Trouble is, as good as the M600 is, you can’t really rely on any smartwatch as a regular running watch without being a dedicated charger. So I back up the M600 with an M400, which I always have in my bag in case I fancy a spur-of-the-moment run.
Down the pub both the M400 and M600 are a touch sporty for my ‘look’ so I usually pull out a smart hybrid – either an ageing Mondaine Helvetica No.1 Smart or an (even more) ageing Withings Activité Pop. On the golf course I’m a TomTom guy – but I’m sticking with the original Golfer for now as I wasn’t won over by the sequel.
James Stables – Executive editor
This is the third instalment of ‘what I wear’ over the three years of Wareable, and I still consider myself an Apple Watch wearer. My usual justifications still stand: the easy strap swapping for exercise and different types of dress, Siri on the wrist for quick event, reminders and timings, and just the overall experience of watchOS 3, which I find to be much more pleasing than any other smartwatch I’ve tried.
But the Apple Watch Series 2 has been collecting dust for the last month. After reviewing the Fenix 5, it’s barely been off my wrist. As someone who’s active five days in the week running, hiking, playing golf and, recently cycling, I always want to have it close to hand. And the Fenix 5’s slimmer build just about makes it possible for all-day wear.
It’s not a looker (no-one has ever commented on it, like a prominent facial mole), but it does the job – and I love having the Training Effect, VO2 Max, and resting heart rate close to hand.
Hopefully, I can get my hands on the Fenix 5S sooner rather than later, which slims the body down again. Maybe the Fenix 6 will offer the right about of design to truly make it a winner, but for now, looks are the sacrifice I’m choosing to make.
Michael Sawh – Editor
I’ve been using TomTom running watches since the first Runner and while I know there’s more feature-packed watches out there, this is the one I always go back to. I love going random runs in new places and while I know route exploration is not new for running watches, it just works so well on the Spark 3. As a swim tracker it’s brilliant too and after months of biggin’ up by our executive editor James, I’ve finally become a bit of a Strava convert and started to send my data to the app in the quest to rise up the Wareable Run Club leaderboard rankings.
I basically can’t live without music so I’ve been switching between the Bragi Dash and Jabra Sport Elite smart earbuds for training and commuting. I’ll hold my hands up and admit I don’t really take advantage of the fitness tracking features all that much, but it definitely feels weird reverting back to a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones. I do though still need to keep a reserve pair of wired one because battery life on smart earbuds still suck.
My favourite wearable right now though, once I can retrieve it back from regular Wareable contributor Kieran Alger, is the Lumo Run. This running coach you wear on your shorts represents everything that I feel makes wearables such an exciting place to be right now. It’s a device that has really made a difference in my life, specifically helping me become a better runner. The real-time coaching has had such a unexpected impact on helping me get faster and I’ll never forget that first moment it really felt like it was making a difference. Keep up the good work Lumo.
Sophie Charara – Features editor
When it comes to wristwear, my go-to’s for most of this year have been a couple of different devices: all easy to wear, stylish – or at least inoffensive – and that don’t require charging every night. The Kate Spade Metro Grand, Bellabeat Leaf and my old timey Pebble Time Round. Yes, still!
We’ve seen a lot of do-it-all devices so far this year but I’m still waiting for something that gets that combination of size, style, tech and battery right for women. More recently, I’ve been wearing the Fitbit Alta HR, with a nice peachy coloured strap, pretty much everyday. I don’t tend to track my sleep so I take it off each night and I’ve only left it at home once. Anyone who wears wearables will know that’s one of the ultimate tests.
Hugh Langley – US Editor
These days, when I’m not testing something new, you’ll usually find me with a hybrid smartwatch strapped around my wrist. Battery life is a key reason here, but so too is the fact that we’ve seen some beautiful watches in this category over the past year. Right now I’m wearing Skagen’s new Jorn Connected with the tan leather strap, and I love it. However, my biggest bugbear with hybrids is notifications; despite the fact most of them (including the Skagen) offer different buzzes and hand placements to signify different types of notifications – texts, WhatsApps, Facebook messages – I can never remember which is which. Usually I’ve pulled out my phone before I even know what I’m being notified about, though occasionally the system does work.
But there are other connected features that I find more consistently useful – music controls, dual-time functionality – and the big bonus is that it’s all concealed in a really nice watch. I’ve had a lot compliments on various hybrids I’ve worn, and people are often surprised to discover these watches have a bag of tricks inside too. The other benefit of a hybrid is that I can wear a fitness tracker with it and not feel like I’m wearing too much tech. Recently, like Sophie, I’ve been wearing the Fitbit Alta HR a lot, more for monitoring my sleep than anything else, but the daily activity and heart rate tracking offers something more meaty than the basic step tracking of most hybrids.
Conor Alison – Reporter
Since it dropped late last year, the Apple Watch Series 2 has been my loyal wrist companion for all occasions. As an iPhone user, workouts and general activity sync without effort, notification support is as good as it gets and the battery is just strong enough to get me through two relatively heavy days of use. It’s also managed to handily replace my wallet thanks to the NFC support.
But while it’s got some strong aspects, I’ve been tampering with sworn enemy Samsung in recent times, too. Its Gear S3 brings much of the same to the fore, but getting around the device is a nicer experience. I’ve also been testing out its predecessor, the Gear S2 as well, which offers the same positive user interface in a smaller body. Whether either will take over full time remains to be seen.
And if I need a second opinion on what’s going down with my heart, the Polar H7 chest strap and Jabra Sport Pulse headphones work nicely and offer pairing with some of these smartwatches.
Husain Sumra – US Reporter
I reach for my Apple Watch every single morning. I’m at the point where I have a hard time not wearing it on my wrist, filling those judgment-fuelled activity rings. Those darned rings are just too addicting, and leaning that I’ve hit my goals for the day is more rewarding than I wish to admit. More recently, I’ve found its notification system to be incredibly satisfying, and not due to the nearly perfect haptic feedback. I feel like mentally noting things I can get to later and responding to other things quicker is barely a decision anymore.
Also, I’m obsessed with buying bands for it. I’ve been planning to buy a new one from the recent Spring Collection. Send help (or actually please don’t). I just can’t help myself from thinking about which bands I could use for which situations.
However, sometimes I do have to take the Watch off my wrist. In those moments, I’ve been using the Fitbit Blaze, which I admire mostly for its automatic exercise detection and sleep tracking, both of which I can’t get on the Apple Watch. However, while I appreciate that stuff, every time I wear the Blaze I miss my Apple Watch that much more. I miss that it doesn’t look like a blocky prop from an 80s sci-fi movie, and that I have actionable notifications and that it feels higher end in both hardware and software.
Other than my wrist, I’ve been experimenting with things on my face, like Snap Spectacles, which I’ve come to really enjoy for big events. It really lets me disconnect from capturing things with my phone, focusing on actually experiencing things. I legitimately felt its loss when I went to Silicon Valley Comic Con a couple weeks ago. Capturing an Imperial march through a phone just isn’t as much fun as letting my glasses do it for me.
What wearables do you wear every day? Let us know using the comments below…