Wearable Technology

For the second year in the row, Best Buy is hosting the Life and Tech Wearable Expo and Fashion in Toronto Ontario. On August 25th visit the free event and have a great time learning about the newest fitness trackers, virtual reality headsets and more directly from the companies responsible for creating this amazing technology.

Google didn’t just unveil its two new Pixel smartphones and the Chromecast Ultra this week, it also intimated its focus on the home, and how different devices can factor into that vision. One of these was the Daydream View VR headset, designed to work with the Pixel (and other Android phones), and the other was the Google Home, a hub that uses the Google Assistant artificial intelligence platform to help with various tasks on command.

I’ve had a number of fitness trackers in my life over the past few years. My favourite was the FitBit Flex; simply, light, and did its job fairly well. The problem is that our demands on our fitness trackers have increased: Samsung fired the first shots in the smartphone war, with Microsoft and FitBit coming out swinging. Apple dropped their Apple Watch bomb earlier this year, outselling every other smartwatch before it…put together.   Garmin has been making some smart moves with their Vivosport line over the past year or so, and like many other tracker makers, they’ve stepped up their game with heart rate monitoring, releasing the aptly named Vivosmart HR. It’s a watch-like band with a heart rate tracker, a connected app and website, and it comes in at a reasonable price. Is it your next fitness tracker? Let’s find out.

In the past year the wearable tech market has really exploded. From Bluetooth rings to Smart Eyelashes we’ve seen them all, but there’s nowhere it’s been more dominant than in the fitness category. To improve your heath and keep yourself accountable, you just can’t go wrong with a fitness band, and the latest band out of Garmin will track to improve your sleep and monitor your heart during fitness activities too.   Garmin has entered the fitness ring with the Garmin vivofit, available now at Best Buy.

The boundary between augmented and virtual reality has blurred, with new headsets and smart glasses announced at CES 2024.

Apps are amazing on so many different levels. They keep you organized when you’re frantically sprinting through your day, they entertain you when you need some downtime, and they will even be your personal trainer when you want to get healthy or lose weight.   Personal fitness apps are where Garmin comes in, and although you may have only heard of Garmin for their GPS products, they’ve recently hit the sports market with a variety of fitness bands that track your exercise data via the Garmin Connect Mobile app.

Golf can be a frustrating game.  Why not get all the help you can, by grabbing some new golf technology? Garmin has just released three new golfing gadgets that can help you keep track of your game and make improvements too. From a swing sensor, to the score tracking abilities of a sleek golf watch, help for your game is as close as your wrist and your smartphone.

I have to start off confessing the first thing I tested on the Jawbone UP Move was the sleep feature. Was my midday nap really that long? It felt like only half an hour. I did quickly progress to using the Jawbone UP Move to track my daily activities and it did motivate me to get off the couch.

The 12 Days of Christmas gift idea list is now upon us, and for the seventh day, you may want to consider one of the best smartwatches— the Fitbit Versa 2.

Fitness trackers are a great tool for anyone interested in getting the most out of their workout or just adopting some healthy new habits. I’ve tested out a lot of wearable technology and used quite a few different fitness trackers, and although they all have different features that will appeal to a different type of user, the common thread I found with all of them is how incredibly motivating they are. Fitness trackers make great gifts for the holidays too, so if you’d like to choose one for yourself or pick one up to put under the tree this year, here’s a few types you can choose from.