The best (and worst) smartwatches, fitness bands, and wearables of 2015

It has been a big year for wearables. The Apple Watch was born (finally), Google Glass died (finally), and bands that track everything from steps to mood changes have grown up and become not terrible (finally!). While wrist-bound devices have cemented themselves as the face of wearables, we started to see other forms of wearable technology grow in popularity, like smart scales, textiles, and jewelry. There were hits and misses in 2015, and trends are emerging that indicate where these devices will go in the coming year. Here are some of the wearables that stood out in 2015—for better and for worse.

What worked

Fitbit Charge HR

Fitbit has been the king of fitness trackers since 2013, and it's keeping that title this year by making the best tracker for the money: the Fitbit Charge HR. It does everything you'd want a fitness tracker to do and has the right mix of extras to make it worth the $150 price tag. It monitors steps, distance, calories, floors climbed, and sleep and has a continuous heart rate monitor to use throughout the day, whether during workouts or just sitting around. It also delivers call notifications to your wrist, and now with software updates, the SmartTrack feature will automatically know when you're doing some type of workout and record it to the app.

.related-stories { display: none !important; }

Fitbit has one of the most extensive lines of fitness trackers available, and the Charge HR is easily the most cost-effective way to monitor your activity. It's a no-brainer choice for anyone in need of a tracker but not sure where to start, as it provides the simplicity of the more affordable Fitbits with the heart rate monitor and exercise tracking software similar to the $250 Fitbit Surge. Overall, Fitbit remains the top fitness tracker company because its devices are versatile enough (and priced well enough) to appeal to people with all kinds of lifestyles—from coach potato to marathoner to anyone in between.