For a number of years now, Fitbit has been the leader when it comes to fitness trackers, not just for the hardware, but for the software and apps that support its devices.
Nowhere is this more true than with the Fitbit Charge 4, which is not only the best fitness tracker overall, but now has the honor of being named the Tom's Guide Award winner in the fitness category.
- Check out all of the Tom’s Guide Awards 2020 winners
The first three generations of the Fitbit Charge had what's called assisted GPS, which means it relied on your phone's GPS. So if you wanted to know where you ran or biked, you had to bring your phone with you. In an age where most smartphones are mammoth phablets, this isn't always convenient. But with GPS built into the Charge 4, you can leave your phone at home.
To be sure, a handful of competitors have released similarly designed fitness bands with GPS built in—remember the Microsoft Band 2?—but Fitbit has proved the best at designing not just a wearable that's comfortable to wear, but it's also created a great app, fitness metrics, and a community to support that product.
For instance, using its heart rate monitor, the Charge 4 now tracks Active Zone minutes (the amount of time your heart is pumping at an elevated rate during a workout) to let you know if you're getting enough exercise each week.
The Fitbit Charge 4 can also track your sleep, be used as a mobile payment device, control Spotify, and show you notifications from your smartphone.
More than that, though, is that Fitbit has cultivated a community of users, who encourage and challenge others to beat their fitness and exercise goals. All of this in a device that's $150.
To be sure, the Fitbit Charge 4 is seeing increased competition from similarly priced smartwatches such as the Apple Watch 3 and Garmin vivosmart 4, but the Charge 4 has the best combination of features and functionality in a slim tracker. The only thing missing from this fitness tracker is music storage.
This is why the Fitbit Charge 4 gets the best fitness tracker in the inaugural Tom's Guide Awards.
