The Best Cycling Watches (Review and Buying Guide) in 2023 | Autance

Fitness enthusiasts will immediately recognize the Fitbit brand because it’s among the most popular brands when it comes to fitness tracking. This watch is loaded with features, all of which are accessible from an easy-to-read display. Apart from the heart rate monitor that is standard on all fitness trackers, this watch has an app that can play workouts on screen while guiding users during every step. It also can store up to 300 songs and stream them wirelessly to Bluetooth-enabled earphones. A built-in GPS receiver with GLONASS allows users to track information like pace, distance traveled, elevation climbed, and route covered, and Fitbit boasts that the battery can last a little over four days.

The watch is water-resistant and feels quality to the touch, but one downside is that the touchscreen can be a little too slow to respond to touches.

The Letsfit Smart Watch packs a lot of features in something so surprisingly affordable. Apart from the heart rate monitor and the 24/7 activity tracking functions that are now standard in most fitness trackers and smartwatches, this budget-friendly wrist computer provides notification support for a whole host of apps — from your calls to your texts to Facebook and Twitter. The watch doesn’t have a GPS but it can be connected to your smartphone to track things like pace, distance covered, and routes taken. Users can track their sleep patterns and get detailed insights into their health, too, and best of all, the battery on this watch lasts an impressive ten days.

One downside to this otherwise exceptional fitness tracker is that the accuracy of its heart rate monitor and step counter is a little wonky.

The Apple Watch Series 6 has gone through a ton of updates, a lot of which were geared toward fitness, making it a great option for cyclists. Indeed, it has everything a fitness tracker offers, and then some. Apart from the usual heart rate monitor and activity tracker functions, this watch has a pulse oximeter and altimeter, which allows users to track their oxygen level and their altitude above sea level — helpful for hikers, climbers, or anyone whose workout consists of some form of altitude change. It has a built-in GPS that gives out highly accurate location, speed, and distance information, and — among the watch’s biggest advantages — it gives users access to the slew of great cycling companion apps available in Apple’s app store.

Of course, if you have an Android device and are unwilling to ditch it for an iPhone, then this watch isn’t for you.

Don’t let the simplicity of the monochrome display fool you, because The Fitbit Charge 4 is a fantastic fitness tracker that offers companion app options in spades. With its sleek and uncluttered interface, users can track information like heart rate, steps, distance, calories burned, and a lot more else. It has a sleep tracking function to give you insights on your sleep quality and duration, as well as a built-in GPS so you can map out your cycling route. The Charge 4 also offers Spotify support, allowing users to control their music from the watch, as well as an impressive seven-day battery life.

While the basic interface and one-inch grayscale display wasn’t something that bothered us, we can imagine that it’s not for everyone.

As far as multi-sport watches go, the Garmin Fenix 5 is as capable as the best out there. This watch is built tough — it has a stainless steel case and a rugged design that screams quality from any angle. Apart from the slew of sensors this watch has onboard to track and monitor your health and activity, it also features Garmin Pay, which is the brand’s no contact payment solution. The watch also has 15 preloaded apps to track and monitor specific activities, including cycling, swimming, yoga, and more. The battery can last an impressive seven days on a single charge, and Garmin boasts that this watch can pretty much be kept underwater.

For all it does well, it doesn’t have onboard music storage. Another thing is that, while Android users can respond to text messages from the watch, iPhone users cannot.

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is a versatile, multi-sport fitness tracker that is another great option in the wearable tech space. It has a built-in GPS tracker and is fitted with a slew of sensors to perform other basic tracking tasks like heart rate and reps. It comes preloaded with a slew of sports apps to use, from swimming to cycling, to yoga and more, as well as access to thousands of widgets, apps, and watch faces from the Garmin app store. Where battery life is concerned, the Vivoactive 3 can last seven days on a single charge, or 13 hours while on GPS mode.

While this is an overall superb fitness tracker, the lack of onboard music storage means you’ll need your phone close by to avoid having to work out in silence.

The Garmin Forerunner 235 has been around for quite some time now. But despite its age, its style, low price point, and the reliability of its tracking features assure that it’s still a viable option for cyclists who want performance for a bargain. This watch has most of the tracking features one needs, displayed on a crisp color screen. It can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth and display all your text and call alerts, as well as emails and calendar reminders. Additional features include the ability to download widgets, watch faces, and companion apps through Garmin’s own Connect IQ store.

While the watch does the fundamentals well, its sleep tracking is a little wonky. Lastly, as far as construction is concerned, the watch does feel plasticky. 

One look at the Garmin Instinct’s rugged exterior and you’ll know this watch was meant to take a ton of abuse. Indeed, Garmin boasts that this watch was constructed to Military Standard 810G, so it can survive in the toughest environments and be submerged in water up to 328 feet. Tracking features include heart rate, steps, distance traveled, and others. The watch doesn’t include onboard music storage but it can connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth and control your music from its interface. As for notifications, you won’t be able to respond to them, but Garmin’s Smart Notifications feature can display text messages, emails, and reminders as long as it’s connected to your phone. Best of all, the battery on this device can last up to two weeks on a single charge.

Just like some of Garmin’s other fitness trackers, the Instinct’s sleep tracking function doesn’t work very well.

The Amazefit Bip S might not have all the bells and whistles, but it delivers a lot of the fundamentals in a very affordable package. It offers tracking for 10 sports modes, including cycling, swimming, running, and yoga. The watch is also rated 5 ATM, which means you can submerge it and take it for a swim. Like the previous iteration of this watch, the heart rate monitor is accurate, and its built-in GPS can track your step count, calories burned, and sleep cycles. Notifications, like texts, emails, or social media messages, can be displayed on the watch’s screen, and lastly, the device has a 40-day battery life.

The device struggles to function as a good smartwatch, however, and many users have reported smartphone syncing problems that render the notifications feature unusable.

The Garmin Forerunner 735XT is a watch that’s geared towards runners, but it has a lot of features that can prove useful to the avid cyclist, too. The watch can provide tracking information for various physical activities like running, cycling, swimming, and even give out detailed information like stride length, vertical ratio, and more. The watch has a built-in GPS to track GPS-based activities, as well as provides users access to Garmin’s Connect IQ store where they can get different watch faces, companion apps, and more. The battery can last up to 11 days on a single charge, or 14 hours while on GPS mode.

One downside to the device is that the heart rate monitor is not as accurate as other fitness trackers. Another thing is that, while the design is good, it does feel like plastic.