A Guide to Fitness Trackers for Older Adults

Consumer Reports (CR) offers guidance on fitness trackers for older adults. Tested products include step-counting wearables, along with smartwatches and trackers that monitor pace and heart rate and alert users to texts and e-mails. Columnist Charles Davidman suggests interested consumers consider the product's comfort and ease of use. Although most products received a "Very Good" or "Excellent" rating in this regard, CR advises consumers to go to a store with demo models and check out their features in person before buying. Accuracy was found to vary widely in step-counting tests, with only four watches and one tracker — the Garmin Forerunner 35 — earning an "Excellent" rating for step count. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Series 3 Aluminum case global-positioning system earned a "Very Good" rating for heart rate monitoring. In terms of sleep-tracking ability, CR cites a 2019 study in Sensors , which found several devices performed well at monitoring time in bed — but not as well with total time asleep.