Top 3 easiest-to-use activity trackers

Looking for an activity tracker to measure your heart rate or estimate your VO2 max score? This blog post isn’t for you. But if you want a simple, straightforward way to track steps and a few other activities — and you don't know what a VO2 max score is — you’re in luck. Here are three basic activity trackers worth buying.

Fitbit Zip

With its retro smiley face, easy-to-read screen and affordable price ($60), Zip is Fitbit’s entry-level activity tracker. Plus, its battery lasts for up to six months, Fitbit says.

You don’t get a lot of features other Fitbits offer, such as automatic sleep tracking or exercise detection. And Zip has been on the market since late 2012, an eternity for a tech product. But for a basic, inexpensive tracker, you won’t go wrong with Zip.

Fitbit

Fitbit Flex 2

Fitbit Flex 2 ($100) is so streamlined, it doesn’t even have a screen. Instead, LEDs and vibrations transmit information to you, like how close you are to meeting your fitness goal. Flex 2 is the only Fitbit you can swim with, though the data it collects from a swim workout won't have you doing backflips.

Flex 2 will automatically detect sleep and a variety of exercises. And like Zip, it syncs to the Fitbit app, which is the easiest-to-use app among dedicated activity trackers, in my opinion. You can even pop the tracker into pendants and bangles to up your style game.

Garmin vivomove

Garmin’s vivomove (pronounced “veevo move,” as in “Viva Las Vegas”) looks like an ordinary watch. But it’s also a basic activity tracker. On the watch’s left, there’s a bar that displays the day’s activity progress. On the right, a move bar turns red when you’ve been sitting too long. The vivomove also tracks sleep and connects to Garmin’s Connect app. The watch is $150 to $250, depending upon the face and band styles.