Suggestions for updating a fitness tracker?

I have the Garmin instinct solar to and it has been surprisingly awesome for me. I don't necessarily need all the fancy apps in the vivofit has so it's more of a G-Shock style watch with the smart notifications which I really appreciate.
You can't write texts, but you can reply with pre written Responses.
You can see who is calling and answer from your watch but, you ha e to run and find your phone if you wanna talk on it :)
It has the reminders to move and I really like gamins fitness app better than Fitbits. ( I had the Google watch for about a week.
Anyway, this thing is durable, all the tech I need and none that I don't.

Oh and It says it gets like 30 days off a charge but with GPS and using the workout modes, I realistically get a couple weeks before a charge.

I bought a Garmin Venu S2 on a whim second hand from ebay. I use it to track strength training (which is arbitrary anyway since nothing can accurate track strength training), walks indoor and outdoor, sleep, and stress.
It has the ability to show notifications too, but like you I didn't want EVERYTHING showing up, so I block all notifications from each app. I guess for you you could block all apps bar the phone call app, and then you'd still see incoming calls and messages.
I paid £130 for it and they're £330 brand new, and I have no complaints worth mentioning.

ETA: I also only charge it once a week, sometimes longer depending how much I track through it.

My Fitbit charge 5 just died after less than a year and I really did not like the experience at all, even resetting the actual watch is a pain in the butt, would not recommend it.

Personally I'm waiting for the Pixel Watch 2 which hopefully would drop the original price and maybe be a bit better idk.

From an old comment of mine:

My sister had a Fitbit (unsure which model), but after experiencing a bunch problems with it, including battery life issues similar to yours, she also replaced it with an Apple Watch a few years ago, and she couldn't be happier. My father also has an Apple Watch too and absolutely loves it as well... especially since it allows him to answer texts and calls while on the golf course. ;)

I personally couldn't justify the cost of getting one for myself. However, after reading a review of the Amazfit Bip U Pro on Wareable, I bought one of those instead... and I also couldn't be happier with it, especially considering the price! It's basically midway between a base model Fitbit and an Apple Watch in terms of functionality. And almost 2 years later it's still going strong, and I still only have to charge it once every 3-4 days or so. My only complaint with it was that the wristband was absolutely terrible, very cheap feeling, and sweat constantly built up under it since it had no ventilation holes... but thankfully that was easily fixed by replacing it with a leather one with vent holes.

And after almost 2 years of using it, I would still recommend the Bip U Pro, but I'm sure Amazfit has newer models by now that are probably worth looking into as an alternative to Fitbit and Apple.

p.s. Wearable's budget smart watch recommendations for 2023:
https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/best-cheap-smartwatch-7780

And the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro is at the top, which appears to be the latest version of the one I have. They did a full review on it too, if you're interested in reading that.

I have a Garmin Vivomove which I really like. It was about the same as my previous Fitbit, but has similar features plus some extra ones. What I especially like is that it looks like a normal watch, and still functions as one when I inevitably forget to charge it. Luckily the battery lasts several days, so this doesn’t happen often but when it does I’m glad I can still tell the time!

Having said that, I’m more into running than I was when I bought it, and now I’m considering upgrading to a forerunner. It doesn’t function as a watch when I run out of battery, but it has a few run-specific functions and access to the coaching program.

I used to have an Apple Watch but found it not worth the price. I’m not particularly interested in having phone calls and messages come through (I turned all those features off my Garmin) so the price wasn’t worth it for me

While I have opinions, most of them are already expressed by other users here already so I won't repeat them.

I will however recommend checking out dcrainmaker who writes fantastic reviews about pretty much all fitness related trackers. I'm pretty sure it's basically illegal for his site not to be linked in a discussion like this.

I still rock my Xiaomi Band 4, but will probably be switching to the Apple Watch mostly due to the consistency and accuracy of the measurements as reported by The Quantified Scientist.

Seeing a lot of recommendations for lower-end GPS activity watches, like Garmins, that I’m going to echo. I bought a Coros Apex a few years ago with the intention to just use it during runs, but the step and sleep tracking, along with notifications, are SO convenient. It just has simple notifications, only what you let notify you on your phone will show up on the watch, and no responses. It doesn’t quite have an apple-watch style reminder to move or general day to day fitness feature though, more of a purpose made GPS watch that has some of that stuff baked in. I will say, if you do run/hike/bike/ski/etc, its amazing for tracking those things as well.

I purchased a Garmin Fenix 6 after Amazon killed the Halo band I had. Really happy with it, but don't feel like I even know half of what it can do

Different device to everyone else so far, but I went from a Fitbit Versa to a Withings Scanwatch.

I found that I only really wanted 'basic' health tracking and a means of notification screening. Beyond that, I ended up going down the rabbit hole of hybrid style smartwatches that had an analog watch face with the ability to display the extra information that I wanted.
Had it about half a year so far so can't really say how it'll go long term (1-2yrs+) but so far it's done what I've wanted without the need for daily battery charging.

This is probably not exactly what you're looking for, but up until 2015 or so, I used to love walking and the zen/meditative aspect of getting out, seeing and experiencing things, and doing it because I enjoyed it.

Then I got a Fitbit band in 2015, followed by a Jawbone, then my first Apple watch (series 3) and lastly an Apple Watch SE with cellular, to use as my main driver and replace my phone. With the experience of these fitness trackers combined, it changed everything, and not how I wanted...

It went from walking because it was nice weather or I was in the mood, or just craved getting out and clearing my head, to feeling the need to make my fitness device's rings full. Then it became a chore. I know this is NOT how most people experience it, but it was just very strange how I went from a regular, long distance walker, to almost not walking at all. I ended up giving my Apple Watch to my wife and now just use a Casio and I'm training myself to just walk for walk's sake, because I want to and for the healthy joy of doing so.

Just curious, but has anybody else experienced this?

I have a Fitbit Charge 5 which I purchased for £80. Well worth it at that price, I think. Perhaps like you, the more advanced features on other trackers aren't suited to my use case, so I don't feel motivated to upgrade. The sleep tracking and excellent (~1 week) battery life are fab too. YMMV though - I've heard from others (and on this thread too) that the quality control on the Fitbit Charge 5 can sometimes be a miss.

Everyone's comments on their devices have been so interesting that I thought I'd add mine, even if it looks like @DefinitelyNotAFae has already got their answer.

I've been using the Whoop strap for about three months now. I chose it over smart watches and rings because I can wear it higher up on my arm. I wanted something that I can wear 24/7, but I don't really like to wear things on my wrists or fingers, I don't want notifications, and as I understand it, heart rate reading are also somewhat more accurate from the bicep.

My Whoop agrees with my Polar H10 chest strap pretty well, so the heart rate readings seem quite accurate. Its sleep tracking also feels pretty accurate, although I haven't been able to compare it with any other devices. In addition to tracking my vitals and activities, its fitness coach features tell me each day what level of exercise strain I should aim for, and what time to go to bed to recover optimally. Battery life is about 4-5 days, and you don't need to take the device off while charging (you basically charge a modular charger and then attach that to your Whoop). Most of the time I forget that I'm wearing it, which is nice. They have also recently added a strength trainer feature that tries to calculate your muscular strain based on the reps that you do, in addition to tracking your cardiovascular strain as with other exercise types. It also integrates quite nicely with Apple Health (I think also Android's equivalent), pushing and pulling data that I have given it access to.

It's not perfect, though. It's not cheap (monthly subscription, and the add-ons like the bicep strap are ridiculously expensive), it requires a phone, has no GPS of its own, and while its data seems pretty accurate to me, I'm not always sure that its interpretations of that data are spot on. As it's a device designed for athletes (which I am not), it also pretends to be above such mundane distractions as step counting. Although, based on recent customer surveys, they seem to be considering adding the feature soon. I also hear that there are sync issues with some Android devices.

Still, I've been pretty happy with the device and would probably still get it, since I really like the form factor. I'm still considering getting a sports watch to supplement it during exercise, as I would like to track things like laps and pace while swimming, have more data from jogging, and maybe a map while hiking or playing golf. And unless Whoop innovates in some unexpected way, I think in 12 months' time when my subscription ends, I will have learnt everything it can teach me, and won't be renewing.

I went from a Fitbit Charge 3 to Garmin Vivosmart 5. Overall the transition was very smooth, and the new fitness tracker for me has all it needs. No it does not have GPS independent of cell phone but my understanding is that that tends to use up battery. I turned off the Pulse Ox feature because I do not need it and it also is known to drain battery faster. That said I cannot tell you how long my battery lasts because I always top off the charge while I am under the shower and that is enough charging for it. The sleep tracking people claim is more accurate with Fitbit but I find that while it is harder to get a good sleep score with garmin but when I do get a good garmin sleep score I actually feel better whereas I thought Fitbit sometimes gave me a good sleep score when I did not feel like I had gotten good enough sleep. Step counting and calorie counting and HR are similar enough. I absolutely love the Body Battery feature in the garmin that estimates how many percent of energy I have left today, whether I can spend more energy or need to rest to recharge myself. The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a thin band much like the Fitbit Charge, and I interact with it mostly via the app on my phone.

As the price point is missing, I just go ahead and suggest my Fossil Hybrid Machine Gen6. (200€ - mine is brown) There are multiple variants with different colors and designs available.

It doesn't have all the most shiny features of a new smart watch, but it supports the common stuff - like step counter, heart rate, o2 in blood, notifications, accepting calls and so on. Battery life is at around two weeks. It does not support sleep tracking by itself, but the official app supports it with fancy software algorithms. It also supports fitness functions and timers/stopwatch.

I don't like the designs of the common smart watches, so I really dig the hybrid approach of a normal watch with smart features.

As you're on Android, you can use it with Gadgetbridge and keep your privacy, if you're a bit tech savvy.

I like The Quantified Scientist's videos for fitness tracker reviews. He does thorough testing to see how accurate their data collected is. He put out a comprehensive video a few days ago detailing which device works best for you depending on your use case: health, GPS, sleep, heart rate, etc.

I personally have a Sense 2 that I got for cheap thanks to an Amazon price mistake. I don't recommend it. I wrote a review about it on /r/fitbit.

I had a Garmin Vivosmart 5 for a while but had some issues with it, so i contacted Garmin and traded up for a Garmin Instinct 2 (non- solar), and I absolutely love it. It's got a relatively high resolution e-reader style display that gives enough detail and base info without tipping into I'm-wearing-a-watch-on-my-wrist territory. The battery life is great, and having GPS available when I want it has been an option I've really come to enjoy when I want to do an activity while traveling "light." It's also durable and has relatively low-key styling. The additional health details and training options it comes with are solid, too, and have gotten me moving a lot more.

Not sure if it's in your price range or if it's your style, but it's got my backing for sure.

I have a pixel watch, runs Fitbit software, works great.