For less than £100, the Amazfit offers a multitude of useful features to help both beginners and sporty types take control of their fitness. I tested it when walking, running, swimming and playing netball, but that only showed a fraction of its abilities – this lightweight device can track up to 120 sports. In real-time, it showed my blood oxygen levels, heart rate, step count and a GPS map of the route when I exercised outside. To ensure GPS accuracy, it draws on five different satellite positioning systems, using patented circularly polarized antenna technology, so it’s pretty impossible to get lost wearing this – even if you head down an unfamiliar route. The screen is clear and bright, so everything is easy to read, both in daylight and after dark.

I loved its Alexa voice functionality for making a shopping list while getting my steps in, as well as setting alarms and checking the weather to see if I needed a coat before leaving the house. I was sceptical of what a tracker costing less than £20 could offer, but was blown away by the unbelievable amount of data this wallet-friendly option provides. It automatically tracks distance, calories and active data, so you don’t need to remember to press any buttons to record your workout – it’s all done for you.

For extra motivation, it’s super easy to sync the watch to the brand’s app, which is available for both Android and Apple users. The app provided a snapshot of my activity levels, making me feel proud of what I’d accomplished and spurring me on to do more. As I had the tracker on for 24 hours a day, I was also able to see sleep data in the app, learning about my sleep time, deep sleep, light sleep and overall sleep quality. But what really surprised me was that the band offers call and message notifications – including WhatsApp and Instagram – while I was on the move. This can be disabled if you prefer a bit of peace, but it’s good to have the option to stay connected if you’re sneaking a walk into the middle of a work day.

Lightweight and ultra-comfortable to wear, I barely noticed the vivoactive when it was on my wrist. If it wasn’t for the purple providing a flash of colour from under my sleeve, I would have thought my wrist was bare – the silicone strap is that soft and unobtrusive. It offers a morning report showing an overview of how I slept, my recovery status, a snapshot of my heart rate and what appointments I had on that day.

For sports tracking, the focus is on quality rather than quantity. It’s preloaded with 30 different workouts, which is noticeably less than others that offer almost 100. But when running, you not only get the usual step count, calorie burn and heart rate data but also training plans and insights through the Garmin Connect app. I set a faster 10km time as a goal in the app and got daily sessions sent to the watch so I knew what I had to work on each time I went for a run. It was also cool to see VO2 max levels improve as I did these sessions, motivating me to keep going and boost these numbers even more.

The inspire 3 is Fitbit’s most basic, uncomplicated fitness tracker, and it’s a delight to use if you’re just getting started on your fitness journey. Many beginners make the mistake of thinking that fitness is all about workouts, but by tracking stress levels and sleep, this tracker reminded me that it’s a holistic concept, too. If you purchase the tracker from Amazon, it comes with six months of premium membership to the Fitbit app – something I used to take my stress levels down a notch with a series of 15-minute mindfulness sessions. However, I preferred the bitesize two-minute guided breathing exercises to get me in the zone before meetings and important phone calls.

It can track 20 different sports, as well as step count, heart rate and calories from the wrist. The colour OLED display is easy to read even in direct sunlight or underwater, and as it has a waterproof screen, I enjoyed taking it swimming. My favourite feature is the smart wake technology, which is unique to this fitness tracker. It means the tracker vibrated to wake me up during a light-sleep stage rather than a deep one, up to 30 minutes before my actual alarm was set. Occasionally it didn’t vibrate, but when it did, I woke up feeling super refreshed and alert.

For more recommendations, read our review of the best Fitbits. If you struggle with your eyesight, this display provides the largest font size out of all the trackers I tested. Whether I was looking at the time or how many steps I’d done, the numbers were so large I felt they were virtually yelling the data at me. Think of it as a personal trainer on the wrist, screaming that you’ve done 6,000 steps so you only have a few more to hit your daily 10,000 target.

It tracks steps plus five different sports, and can show heart rate and body temperature. When synced to a phone, it can also display incoming calls and messages, as well as control your music playlist. There are eight different colour options, and I liked how its sleek and streamlined square display looked on my wrist. I even got a few compliments while testing this tracker, with people asking for more information about it. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the £55 price tag, as the design is on par with the Apple Watch, which costs five times as much.