If you’re looking to be more active, training for a specific race or you have a particular goal in mind, a fitness watch can help. The best fitness watches can assist you in closely monitoring your training and activity by tracking your heart rate, mapping your routes, and alerting you when it’s time to move.

Of course, with so many different models and makes out there, it can be difficult to find the right watch for you. After all, you don’t want to end up spending a fortune on a bunch of fancy features you’ll never use. Here are a few tips to help you find the best fitness watch for your needs.

What you need to know about shopping for fitness watches

The fitness tracker and watch market is getting smaller, with companies merging and smaller companies being bought by larger ones. For example, Fitbit bought Pebble, Motorola has put their smartwatch plans on hold, and Jawbone has started to move away from fitness trackers. However, there’s still a broad range of fitness watches to choose from.

When looking for which fitness watch to purchase, you need to take into consideration how you’re planning to use the watch. For example, if you’re a cyclist or outdoor runner, you should look for a watch with GPS connectivity. If you just want to know how many calories you’ve burned, or how many steps you’ve taken, you can look for a more basic model, and if you’re a swimmer, then you need to look for a waterproof model.

Let’s take a closer look at what you need to know about finding the right one for you.

Apple or Android?

This is one of the most fundamental questions. If you have an iPhone, then you might want to consider an Apple Watch, which only works with iPhones. If you have an Android phone, then you have more choices, such as Samsung’s Gear S3. There are a lot of other watches that pair with iPhones, but they work in a more limited way and don’t have all the options offered by the Apple watch.

Charging time

The battery on most fitness watches lasts around one or two days. Android Wear, Samsung Gear S3, and the Apple Watch are all high-maintenance, and they need charging every day. If this is something that annoys you, or you’re planning on taking your watch on weekend hikes where there’s no chance of charging them, then look for something with a longer battery life.

Waterproof

Most fitness watches are water resistant, meaning that you can wash your hands while wearing them and a splash of water won’t hurt them, but real swim-proof watches are rare. If you want to track your health while swimming, look for something that has at least 5ATM.