There’s always one thing which is better than the other thing, and the same goes for the world of gadgets. If one of them is launched in the new year by the end of Feb, you can expect its competitor to launch an upgraded version of their product in the market.
In addition to this, gadget wars aren’t a new thing, this is going on for a long time, and many tech enthusiasts always have a close eye on these rivalries. So one of the famous gadget rivalries that have been going on for quite some time now is Fitbit vs Garmin.
Both of these are wearable gadgets that started to pop up around 2014 when the touch screen era was on its full-time boom. Everyone is getting a new phone with a big touch screen and only a couple of buttons to work with.
When you are thinking about buying a smart fitness product, you get to have a clear picture in your mind about what you need from the product.
It might be a little tricky, but that’s what we are here. We are going to show you some of the significant differences between Fitbit and Garmin and let you know which one is the best option for you.
They may look similar to many people, but in truth, there are so many differences that we have to come up with a whole fat article to show you the Fitbit vs Garmin facts.
There are so many things that might interest you, such as how you want your screen and data to look. On the other hand, Garmin comes with several features that you won’t be found in Fitbit, so there’s that.
Moreover, you can buy Garmin at different price points based on the features and its form factor. But that’s not possible in Fitbit. So these are just a few differences which we have told in brief. Hey, don’t go. We are still not finished with Fitbit vs Garmin.
We are just getting started. So stand up, get yourself a coffee and read this article well, as this is the only way you can find out the real core difference between Fitbit and Garmin and why there is so much fuss about the Fitbit vs Garmin rivalry.
Fitbit Vs Garmin: Which brand is Right For You?
The Story Of Fitbit
The name Fitbit sounds so catchy, but what’s the real deal behind it? How did someone come up with the idea of getting a fitness band and a tech overhaul so it can change the perspective of world fitness like never before?
Fitbit was founded in the year 2007 by James Park and Eric Friedman. These two men were the first few people who could discover the usage of small sensors and make something out of them.
These two raised around $400,000, but soon they were met with a roadblock and found out that even $400,000 won’t be enough for their dream project. So they started doing the round of potential investors with a small circuit board in a wooden box.
Yes, you are reading it right, not even in a plastic box, but a wooden box. That’s how it all started, and the Fitbit that you see today is the upgraded version of that small circuit in the wooden box.
But that small circuit board ignited the fire, and their idea was one of the best when it was addressed at TechCrunch 50 conference on September 9, 2008. From there, Park and Friedman had hoped to get Pre-orders.
But Eric had doubts about his product, and he thought they would only be getting around five pre-orders. But now, here’s a thing which you need to know and which showed light to Eric.
On their first day of pre-booking, they could get 2000 orders in a single day for the pre-production product, which is Fitbit. A product that has no competition in the market at that time.
An entirely new product and not a lot of people know about it. They get 2000 orders in a single day. That’s when Eric realized this product is going to be something that will change the way people talk about fitness tech.
Now that the orders are here, our boys were a little relaxed as they know people are interested in their product, and they are likely going to use it to test out their fitness levels. But getting past the orders was just the first hurdle in this 4-year long hurdle race.
Both Eric and Friedman had no problem in any of their manufacturing experience. This thing we know because Park has said it all by himself in an interview with Jeff Clavier.
He said, “Several times were just soo close to being dead. In Fact, we were close to being dead around seven times.” he said there were lots of problems in the board, sometimes the circuit won’t work correctly, or the antenna was not able to catch the right frequency.
He told one funny story where he said he was in a hotel room where the antenna signal was not coming, so he took a foam and put it around and on the circuit board to make it work and solve the problem.
Fitbit launched its first tracker at the end of 2009, and the first lot of trackers were shipped around 5,000 units. While at the same time they need to cover the long road of 20,000 which were already on order.
Fitbit was selling their product directly to the customers, so they were able to make a pretty good customer experience. There’s an old saying. You care about your first child more than the others.
So they were pretty excited to hear the reviews from the people who first tried their latest product. The profit margin now needs to shift to more significant numbers, so both Eric and Friedman know they have to change to big investors to get things done.
Now the big players such as Brad Field teamed up with the best buy to reach four than forty and finally to 650. Know Fitbit is being sold all over the world in quantities of thousands.
Now here’s a question for you. What makes Fitbit so unique is that it is being sold even now after ten years of being released for the first time in the market.
What makes it so unique that people tend to buy it even in 2020? Well, the simple answer is their investment in new models that have improved design and functionality.
The first tracker which the Fitbit launched was pretty impressive, and it helped them a lot in finding the minor issues which can be fixed with the software and what are the other things which they can quickly get inside the circuit board for increasing the functionality of their product are.
In 2011, Fitbit improved its tracker by adding an altimeter along with a digital clock and a stopwatch. The company named the product Fitbit ultra. On the other hand, Fitbit launched two more products in that same year, Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip.
They were the first two products that we’re using the technology of Bluetooth 4.0 in wireless fitness tracking systems. The Fitbit zip was able to track your steps, distance, stores climbed, and calories.
Both of these devices were able to make a strong connection with Ios and Android devices, making it easy for newcomers to get hold of its UI and other functionality.
Fitbit Update In 2013
Now in 2013, for the first time, Fitbit was taking steps towards changing its primary product and moving to the wrist side. They introduced Fitbit Flex and Fitbit Force, but it wasn’t entirely successful.
For the first time, some people who were using it had issues such as itchiness on the skin after wearing it for a while. The reason came out to be the allergic reactions to nickel, and the product was recalled from production in 2014.
More than 9,900 customers were affected, and then Force was replaced by the non-irritating Fitbit Charge and Charge HR. Although even now, some users can experience an allergy from Fitbit.
The company has to suffer from these two products’ hygiene issues, which caused the company to face a dip in its reputation in both techs and in the fitness product world.
Getting Too Much Information
You might think creating a product is easy. You need to find out your customer’s requirements, and that’s it. You can put in all the sensors and antennas to give them all the information they need.
Pretty neat, right? Well, what if we tell you there was one problem, people don’t want too much information about themselves.
From the start, Fitbit was famous for its website where you get to upload your information from your Fitbit device to the web so you could analyze your performance and flaunt it to the other people who are in the Fitbit community.
In 2011 this functionality caused a little bit of a problem. It turned out that people recorded their sexual activity in terms of time spent, not on what they spent the time doing. This information was being shared with the world and with Google.
Fitbit realized their “share all my stuff with everyone” is not something they should have added in the first place. So some of the user information will be private by default.
Being the innovator, you have a product that is one of its kind, and that’s when you are standing on the front lines of the issues which can come from your product or from the people who are using it.
The front fire which Fitbit had to go through was Privacy leakage, for which the company even had to go to the courtroom. In December 2014, a personal injury lawyer in Canada used Fitbit data in what we see the first time a Fitbit was used as proof in a court.
Even in 2016, a Fitbit surge was used to prove that a woman had lied for being sexually assaulted in court.
The Technology That Hides Inside The Fitbit
There are many common things you can find on the Fitbit Vs Garmin but what’s inside that is something we need to know as the sensors and the antenna quality decides how much you can get out from your fitness device.
Fitbit has two products, mainly the first one is the fitness devices and the second one is the smartwatches and some accessories. The Fitbit Charge is the most advanced product from their lineup.
Its box has two bands, one is small, and the latter one is large. It comes in a few colors, so you get your band’s option according to your liking. On the other hand, some special editions also provide you with a Fitbit pay option where you can pay directly using the Fitbit product.
The Fitbit Features:-
When taking on such a massive theme of Fitbit vs Garmin, we need to showcase how Fitbit is different from other smartwatches and fitness products. Fitbit is one of the best wearables in the market.
There is no doubt about that. You can buy one today on almost every online shopping platform as it has become a global phenomenon. Given below, we have discussed different Fitbit features that might impress you and make you want one for yourself or your partner.
Accessibility:-
You can receive all the notifications which come to your phone on your Fitbit. You don’t need to take your mobile with you all the time. And in some cases, you can even reply to these notifications some fitness bands don’t even let you do even now.
Contactless Payment:-
With Fitbit, you can make payments on the go. As we have already discussed earlier, you need to put your Fitbit on the machine, and it will work like your card used to work. With Fitbit Pay, you can play on almost every other shop which you see in your neighborhood.
Play Music:-
Who doesn’t like to listen to music when they are running or even walking from one place to the other? Music can bring so much relaxation to the hectic life that one person is dealing with.
So why not add music to your work routines? Well, that’s precisely what Fitbit does. It gives you the power to play music even without your phone. You can store music in it, and it will be played on your connected Bluetooth earphones when you are out in the Park running and need some motivation.
You can play, pause, repeat, and move forward using the Fitbit. In addition to this, you can also up and lower the volume of your wireless earphones using the Fitbit, which you have put on your wrist.
Tracks 30 Different Exercises:-
You might not know about all the exercises you are doing, but your fitness band knows it all. From running to cycling to pushups, Fitbit can track 30 different activities to the precise.
It can also be connected to your smartphone’s specific exercise apps, such as Strava for cycling. It will provide all the necessary information that it needs to create a database of your performance.
This can help you track your exercise in a much better way, and you can even increase your performance by taking good care of your stats.
Voice Command:-
Hey Siri!! We have heard this a lot of times, and not only this, and even Google has its assistant.
But what about having a personal trainer, a trainer who can help you achieve your goals and which you can take with you everywhere? Well, that’s what Fitbit fitness bands are.
They are the personal trainers of individuals. You can give them a voice command, and the work will be done.
Want to reply to someone’s message but don’t want to use your phone? Just ask the Fitbit to type in the message and send it to the person without even opening your phone.
That’s what we love about connected technology. Fitbit gives you all the functionality of touch and buttons with voice commands, so you don’t need to take off your hands while cycling.
Heart Rate Monitor:-
There’s one heart in each human, and that’s one part of the body that needs to be taken good care of. A heart can have many problems, and all of them affect the heart rate, or you can say it’s a heartbeat.
So the best way to keep track of your heart is by making sure its heart rate is stable, and Fitbit provides you with your heart rate every single second. It keeps track of your heart rate like no other smartwatch or smart band in the world. Even Apple doesn’t show you the actual heart rate of a person.
But with Fitbit, you can trust that it’s pretty accurate. When your heart rate gets below a certain point or it goes above it, you will receive a notification that will tell you what you need to do to get it back to normal. This way, your heart will remain in good shape, and you will be feeling healthy.
Guided Breathing Sessions:-
Breathing is one thing that we don’t take seriously as we do it all the time, but guided breathing, also known as mindful breathing, helps achieve calmness, which people need from the extra work or from the anxiety which they are facing in their lives.
Guided breathing can bring you both physical and emotional health benefits. You can do all types of guided breathing, such as mindful breathing, mantra breathing, and square breathing.
When you are doing breathing sessions, you are reducing stress levels in your body. Also, it helps in lowering your heart rate, allowing you to sleep easily at night.
Menstrual Health Tracking:-
Menstrual health is one of the most important things a woman needs to take care of. It happens every month, and there is no way one can skip it.
So Fitbit came with the solution to provide their female customers a tracker that can help them determine their next date to plan things accordingly.
Reminders To Move:-
Okay, this is something which you might think you don’t need. People working in tech know how difficult it is to move from your place when you start doing your work. Most of the programmers that you see have become obese as they do not move.
Not moving your body for a longer duration can lead to a number of issues such as strain in your spine, pain in your back, etc., so Fitbit gives you a notification to move every once in a while in case it doesn’t see any movement.
You can set the moving reminder according to your preference, so the functionality doesn’t actually ask you to move quite often.
Swimproof:-
If you can’t take it in the water, then what’s the use of it? A fitness band needs to be waterproof no matter what, and with Fitbit, you can trust the water resistance and waterproofing with a blindfold on.
It can be kept in the water for long periods without getting malfunctioned. This way, you can track how much distance you have covered in your swimming sessions and what was your heart rate during that time and how many calories you were able to burn in the session.
Design And Styling:-
You can choose how you want your Fitbit to look, do you want it to look cool and eye-catching, get a yellow band or a light blue one. Or if you want to go subtle, you can do that too by purchasing a leather band.
The main module, which holds the circuit board and the touchscreen, is made from stainless steel has a polished finish—giving the whole product a premium look, which most of the time everyone wants.
These are a few of the main features which you can find in Fitbit that make it stand tall above its competition. But we are only halfway through the article, and there is one contender who can beat this behemoth on its own.
Now we will be talking about Garmin and what are its superior features, along with a brief history of its journey of being such a massive product that its taking competition to the founder of the industry. So let’s start the other side Fitbit vs Garmin comparison.
Garmin A Luxury Fitness:-
Garmin is one of the most successful multinational technology companies in the world. The brand is recognized for putting some significant innovations in the market.
Garmin is involved in the aviation industry as well, along with marine, automotive fitness, and outdoor industries. The brand is the leader of customer satisfaction as it is their top priority.
Also, it provides the most acceptable GPS tracking system that you will ever want. Garmin is the brand that you can trust in delivering products that stand the test of time, and their performance won’t go down as they age.
The Beginning Of Garmin:-
Garmin first came to existence in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min H. Kao, but at that time these two formed a company named ProNav. The name got changed later with the combination of the first names of the two founders.
The first product which the company built was explicitly for the maritime market. The GPS 100 was launched in the year 1990, and it was one of its kind panel-mounted GPS receivers.
The brand got a huge success, and then the US Military called them for a contract. From the very beginning, the company’s focus was to make the best GPS systems that can be used for personal and professional use, such as in fishing and the navy, respectively.
Now in 2007, things have taken a right turn, and they were involved in creating fitness trackers for the sports athletes, mostly professionals who are playing on an international level.
Garmin got a call from English Premier League to team up not only once but several times. First, it was Middlesborough, and then in 2014, the other team from the English league got a contract for them. That English team was Southampton.
The brand also found the opportunity to sponsor the EF pro cycling professional cycling team from 2008 to 2016. To find out the best Garmin watch that the company is offering isn’t a challenging task, to be honest.
We got the best options for different people, and all they could come up with praise in their reviews. There are a number of Garmin watches which you should consider before you buy a product for yourself.
We are comparing Fitbit sense to Garmin Fenix 6. These two are top tier products, so it’s a right apple to apple comparison
The Garmin Watches
Yes, the very first defense that you get to see is that Garmin sells watches while Fitbit sells fitness bands. But the two companies sell fitness bands and smartwatches as well, respectively.
The eyes are made up of premium quality products, and that’s why you can feel them be a little bulky when you are using them. But that all adds up to their robustness.
When we were testing them, the GPS signal locked in instantly, and we get to see all that is present in the watch which it can offer us. You can be sure of one thing, and you don’t need to have anything else on your hands when you are using it.
It can be your watch, a smartphone, and it can be your fitness tracker. It has all the sports activities which you can do outdoors.
From running to playing rugby, the Garmin watches can track your activity with precise stats that will help you improve your game and make you a better player.
A lot of professional teams and players use the Garmin tracking system to find out how much they were able to burn calories when they were performing their best and the other things like heart rate and blood pressure etc.
Yes, it’s kind of a luxury brand if you think about it, but if you are going to buy something which is going to sit on your wrist for the next couple of years, you need something which doesn’t look and feel cheap at all. The Garmin watches will stay with the ages, and you can wear them with pride.
The Features:-
When we are saying you can expect some pretty darn good features in this smartwatch, we are not bluffing. We are using it for quite some time, and we love every single second of it. Given below, there are some features that make it unique in the fight of Fitbit vs Garmin.
Display:-
You do not want to see a flat screen when the sun is up in the sky. You won’t be able to see anything on it, and then you will feel like you have brought something which is of no use in the outdoors.
Well, say goodbye to that experience as Garmin watches come with OLED screens, which give you crisp pixels with high brightness in the daylight. You can be sure of seeing all your stats even when it’s 12:00 Pm.
Body Battery:-
Now you might think our body doesn’t have any charging cord hanging over then. Why this smartwatch company has a feature called a body battery?
Well, with a body battery, you can find out the energy levels that are present in your body throughout the day. This will help you find out the best time to do the sports activity and when to step out from the paddle and take a rest.
Pulse Ox Sensor:-
Blood oxygen saturation is the way to find out the amount of oxygen present in your blood. It can help in a lot of ways. Someone who is not able to sleep during the nighttime can use this feature to find out the oxygen levels when they are sleeping.
This can help patients overcome suspected sleep apnea or severe snoring. Also, it can help you give feedback on your breathing interventions in case you are taking any for the betterment of your health.
Women’s Health Tracking:-
Just like Fitbit, Garmin has its own menstrual cycle chart where a female user can track hers and find out when the next occurs to prepare herself beforehand. You can also log pregnancy symptoms, your exercise routine, and nutrition education.
Animated On-Screen Workouts:-
You don’t know how to do a particular exercise? Well, what if your smartwatch tells you and that too with the animation so you can see how to do it in the correct way and in the right position.
The smartwatch has built-in cardio, strength, yoga, and Pilates workouts for you. They all are preloaded on the watch. Also, if you need something else, you can just download it from the app and send it to your smartwatch.
Build Your Own Workout:-
If there is one thing that makes Fitbit Vs Garmin comparison, not even is the feature where you can connect with the app which you have on your phone and then create your own workout routine.
Once the workout routine is prepared, the watch will guide you through your workout and will make a database of all your stats during the workout sessions.
Garmin Coach:-
Want someone to train you when you are running? Someone motivating you to push yourself forward for the last lap? Then Garmin coach is the thing for you.
It will help you crush your goals and make sure that you will not lose your health in doing so. In addition to this, you can choose if you want to train for 5k, 10k, or half marathon depending on your goal, and the Garmin watch will make that goal a reality.
GPS Tracking:-
Want to go from one place to the other, but you don’t have your phone with you? Just ask your smartwatch, and it will start telling you directions in no time. Garmin is famous for its GPS system and its accuracy.
With the help of the tech team, they were able to put that accuracy of GPS in their smartwatches. In addition to this, you can track almost every activity which is there outdoors, and for the indoors, you get 20 exercises that the smartwatch can easily follow.
Conclusion To Fitbit Vs Garmin
These are some of the features you will be missing in Fitbit, along with the better build quality and GPS tracking system. Fitbit surely knows how to make a fitness band. There is no doubt about it.
But when it comes to making a smartwatch, they just don’t have that touch of a genius you expect from a great smartwatch. But that’s the main thing. That’s what we are looking for in our Fitbit vs Garmin comparison.
We wanted to show you that both of them are different and yet the same in some ways. One is a watch brand, while the other is a sports fitness brand.
If you want to have a watch that can also do fitness band work go with Garmin. Otherwise, if you need a fitness band with all the smartwatch features but a small screen goes with Fitbit.