Best Fitness Tracker under £50/$60 in 2021
The fitness tracker market is pretty saturated right now with a number of tech companies offering devices at pretty competitive prices. You have some that are very expensive like the Apple Watch and some that are questionably cheap. If you are looking to just track basic activity levels like steps and heart rate then you are probably wondering what are the best fitness trackers under £50/$60. I have rounded up some of the best options available today at this price point.
5) Honor Band 5
Image Credit: Honor
Pros
SpO2 Tracking
Clear Screen
Heart Rate Notifications
Cons
App isn’t the best
No Built-in GPS
- Price - £29.99/$40
- Dimensions - 43 × 17.2 × 11.5 mm (L x W x H)
- Weight - 22.7 grams
Key Features
- Up to 14 Day Battery Life
- 0.95″ AMOLED Display
- 282 PPI
- 2.5D Curved Glass
- Touch Display
- Activity Tracking
- Sleep Tracking
- SpO2 Tracking
- Continuous Heart rate
- 5ATM Waterproof Rating
- App Notifications
- Bluetooth 4.2
Honor has used the band design instead of the square watch face shape seen on the likes of the Apple Watch and Amazfit Bip. This is a personal preference as to whether you prefer a band or a watch type aesthetic but there are pros and cons for both. The screen is a 0.95” AMOLED display with some thickish bezels around it but this is fairly standard at this price point.
Heart rate and sleep tracking are available on the Honor Band 5. You can even set heart rate notifications if your heart rate exceeds a threshold, which I can’t even do on my £200/$229 Fitbit Versa 3. It also tracks blood oxygen levels via an SpO2 sensor, which is nice to see at this price point as it is often associated with more expensive devices.
There is no GPS built-in so it relies on your phone’s signal to map your workouts. This will be a problem for people who like to leave their phone behind when exercising and will also mean you won’t be able to see your route overlaid onto a map. Also if your data provider’s signal is poor then this will mean your workout GPS data will be affected as well.
Briefly, on the Huawei Health app, it is not the most refined fitness app around. It will get the job done but some features are missing like; there is no web version available and no connectivity to Strava or Runkeeper which is a bit of a pain if you use these platforms. However, for £30/$40 this is one to consider for the best fitness tracker under £50/$60.
4) Huawei Band 4 Pro
Image Credit: Huawei
Pros
Built-in GPS
Good Screen
- SpO2 Tracking
Cons
App isn’t the best
Top-end of the Budget
- Price - £49.99/$59.99
- Dimensions - 45 × 19 × 11 mm (L x W x H)
- Weight - 25 grams
Key Features
- Up to 12 Day Battery Life
- 0.95″ AMOLED Display
- Touch Display
- Activity Tracking
- Built-in GPS
- Sleep Tracking
- SpO2 Tracking
- Continuous Heart rate
- 5ATM Waterproof Rating
- App Notifications
- Bluetooth 4.2
The Huawei Band 4 Pro and Honor Band 5 are very similar which is unsurprising given that Honor was a sub-brand of Huawei when these devices were released. Built-in GPS is one of the biggest differences between the two devices, with the Huawei Band 4 Pro having it onboard. This is a great additional feature for people who like mapping their workouts or people who don’t like taking their phones with them whilst exercising. However, as a result of this additional feature, the battery life takes a slight dip compared to the Honor Band 5 with up to 12 days of battery life. This is still pretty good in comparison to some fitness trackers and smartwatches that struggle to make a couple of days on a single charge.
Similar to the Honor Band 5 there is heart rate tracking as well as heart rate limit notifications for when you exceed your set heart rate thresholds. TruSleep 2.0 monitors your sleep and you also get SpO2 tracking like on the Honor Band 5. As this is a Huawei product you do have to use the Huawei Health app like with the Honor Band 5 so no Strava or Runkeeper integration and no web dashboard, just the app.
Overall the Huawei Band 4 Pro is another good option for Best Fitness Tracker under £50/$60. It has ranked higher than the Honor Band 5 because of the built-in GPS but if you aren’t interested in that feature I would rank the Honor Band 5 above the Huawei Band 4 Pro because it is cheaper.
3) Samsung Galaxy Fit 2
Image Credit: Samsung
Pros
Automatic Exercise Tracking
Easy to Use Apps
- Good Screen
Cons
2 Apps
Top-end of the Budget
- Price - £49/$59
- Dimensions - 46.6 × 18.6 × 11.1 mm (L x W x H)
- Weight - 21 grams
Key Features
- Up to 15 Day Battery Life
- 1.1″ AMOLED Display
- Touch Display
- Activity Tracking
- Sleep Tracking
- Stress Tracking
- Continuous Heart rate
- 5ATM Waterproof Rating
- App Notifications
- Bluetooth 5.1
The Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 is another band design, fitness tracker. Samsung has targeted this device at people who aren’t wanting to spend a lot of money to monitor their health and is in direct competition with the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 (spoiler, we ranked the Mi Band 5 higher).
The device itself is housed inside the silicone strap and can be pushed out making it easy to clean the device or to change the strap to a different colour. You get a nice, crisp display that has good colours and is plenty bright but you would expect nothing less from Samsung really. There are no physical buttons to click, just the touchscreen which features a capacitive touch button at the bottom of the display to wake the device. An always-on display does not feature on the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, which at the top end of the £50/$60 budget is a bit disappointing really.
You get the usual fitness tracking abilities built-in like steps, workouts, continuous heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking but there is no SpO2 tracking and no onboard GPS. Exercises can be automatically recognised on the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 which is a good feature to have just in case you forget to start your workout on the watch it will still record it for you. On the whole, the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 delivers all the features you expect on an activity tracker in this price category but it would have been nice for Samsung to include some extra features especially considering it costs more than the other devices.
When it comes to battery life the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 has a 120mAh battery. This is stated to deliver up to 15 days of battery life with typical usage. However, Samsung defines typical usage as not having sleep tracking or heart rate tracking enabled and automatic exercise detection turned off so you will probably get around 7 days if you want these features turned on.
There are 2 apps to download for the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, yep 2! Galaxy Wearable is used to adjust the settings of the device like notifications and watch faces etc. Samsung Health is where you will see all your data like your steps count and sleep data etc. Why Samsung split these into 2 apps I’m not sure but the apps themselves are quite straightforward to use and get the job done.
On the whole, the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 is a good fitness tracker. However, I would wait to read the review of the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 which comes next at no.2. This offers similar features at a much better price point. If you are heavily invested in the Samsung eco-system though, like their phones and headphones, then maybe this could be a better option for you.
2) Xiaomi Mi Band 5
Image Credit: Xiaomi
Pros
Great Price
Good Screen
- Good Battery Life
Cons
Clunky App
No Built-in GPS
- Price - £28/$38
- Dimensions - 46.95 × 18.15 × 12.45 mm (L x W x H)
- Weight - 11.9 grams
Key Features
- Up to 14 Day Battery Life
- 1.1″ AMOLED Display
- 2.5D reinforced glass
- Touch Display
- Activity Tracking
- Sleep Tracking
- Stress Monitoring
- Continuous Heart rate
- 5ATM Waterproof Rating
- App Notifications
- Bluetooth 5.0
If you are on a tight budget, the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 provides a lot of good features at a pretty great price. At £28/$38 there really isn’t too much to dislike. The tracker itself is a small pebble-shaped unit that you just pop out of the silicone band to remove so no catches to pinch to remove straps. This makes it super easy to switch bands. Xiaomi has incorporated a screen that reaches 450 nits brightness, however, it does not feature an always-on display which would have been nice but with that price tag of £28/$38 you can’t complain.
The Mi Band 5 delivers solid fitness tracking features. You won’t have any issues using it to track your steps and workouts. It is worth noting that the heart rate data on these types of devices won’t be as accurate as data from a heart rate chest strap so if you are looking to get pinpoint accurate heart rate data I’d look at getting a chest heart rate monitor to accompany these fitness trackers. It doesn’t feature the likes of SpO2 sensors or built-in GPS but again for the price you can’t complain. For GPS you can connect to your phone’s GPS but this is reliant on a good signal from your data provider.
A built-in 125mAh battery promises 14 days of battery life and you should expect this with normal usage. Obviously, if you have all the settings cranked up to continuous tracking and do a lot of workouts you will reduce this dramatically.
The Mi Fit app is okay but still could do with some improving. The menus can be a bit confusing and require a lot of sub-menu interactions to get to the data you want to see. Also, there appears to be a lot on the main dashboard but not a lot of what is shown is actually valuable and feels a bit pointless. You cannot customise it either which again would have been nice and made it a bit more personal.
Xiaomi has delivered a fantastic fitness tracker for an amazing price in the Mi Band 5. If you are looking for an entry-level device or aren’t that serious about fitness tracking this is the perfect option for you. The Mi Band 5 even features on our Best Fitness Tracker under £100/$100 list. Check that list out if you have a little bit more of a bigger budget to play with.
1) Huami Amazfit Bip S: The Best Fitness Tracker under £50/$60
Image Credit: Photo by Davide Boscolo on Unsplash
Pros
Good Outdoor Screen Visibility
Fantastic Battery Life
- Built-in GPS
Cons
Clunky App
Screen Resolution
- Price - £50/$59
- Dimensions - 42 x 35.3 x 11.4mm (L x W x H)
- Weight - 19 grams without strap, 31 grams with strap
Key Features
- Up to 40 Day Battery Life
- 1.28″ Transflective Color TFT Display
- 2.5D Corning Gorilla glass
- Touch Display
- Activity Tracking
- Sleep Tracking
- Continuous Heart rate
- 5ATM Waterproof Rating
- App Notifications
- Bluetooth 5.0
The best fitness tracker under £50/$60 belongs to Huami, a sub-company of Xiaomi. Huami has the Amazfit range which covers all their smartwatches and activity trackers. They offer some good devices at great prices so definitely check them out. Their Amazfit GTS 2 Mini features on our Best Fitness Tracker under £100/$100 list. The Amazfit Bip S is our number 1 pick for best fitness tracker under £50/$60.
Firstly, the battery life. It gives you up to 40 days! Yes, you read that correct, 40 days. Battery life this long is practically unheard of in the wearables market. This means no more worrying that your watch will run out of charge mid-workout. You can easily take the Bip S away on a long weekend or holiday with no charger and not have to worry about the battery dying. Now to achieve this awesome battery life Huami had to make some sacrifices. The screen probably bears the brunt of this. Resolution wise it isn’t the sharpest screen out there. It’s a transflective display which means it becomes more visible when light shines on it. This does mean that outdoor visibility is excellent but in lower light conditions that low resolution begins to show and it’s not the cleanest on the eye. However, if you are willing to make that sacrifice you get that amazing battery life.
You will notice some pretty chunky bezels around the display as well. Again this is another sacrifice that is made as there is less screen to drain charge from the battery but if you choose a watch face with a black background colour it blends into the bezels and you don’t notice them really.
The Bip S has the usual fitness tracking features but also has onboard GPS to track your workouts. This can take some time to connect on occasions but it works and is pretty accurate from tests I’ve done. The same can be said for step counting. On the whole, accuracy is pretty good and wasn’t too far off the data in the Apple Health app or compared to my Fitbit Versa 3. You don’t get any fancy sensors like SpO2 tracking but it does the basic fitness tracking well.
The Bip S uses the Mi Fit app like the runner up Xiaomi Mi Band 5. As mentioned this app is just a bit clunky to use. On the Amazfit website, it does say the Bip S can be used with the new Zepp App which Huami has rebranded and updated the UI for. I didn’t have a chance to test this but maybe something to look into to improve the app experience.
Overall the Amazfit Bip S is a deserved winner for best fitness tracker under £50/$60. If you are looking for a basic fitness tracking device it does that really well. Coupled with the amazing battery life it is a great entry-level device at a really compelling price.
Let me know in the comments if you think of any fitness trackers I have missed off the list that are worth a mention.
I hope you found this comparison review helpful.
Until next time 
