Fitness technology has never been more popular and due to the way we use these devices they needs to be able to stand up to a lot of punishment and all manner of conditions.
But will your smartband survive a shower? Even washing your hands? There’s a large difference between something being water proof and water resistant, find out what below.
Water resistant
Water resistant means that a device will resist water – small amounts of rain, splashes or the odd spill. However water resistance does not mean it can be submerged and if some heavy rain does start to come you better make sure your gadgets are covered up!
Most fitness bands will offer water resistance, which means you can keep them on your wrist whilst you wash your hands or hose down the car – but if you wanted a bath or shower then you should definitely take it off and leave it somewhere dry.
Waterproof
Waterproof means that your device will completely protected from water – even full submersion. This means you can take these devices swimming with you or if you caught in the rain you don’t need to worry about the device getting wet. Waterproof materials are a lot harder to manufacture than water reistant ones as they have to be completely sealed so that no water can get through, even at a molecular level.
This is a particularly hard thing to do, as any tiny little manufacturing hole could allow water to leak in and destroy the electronics inside your device. This generally means that anything that is waterproof is consierably more expensive than something that is just water resistant.
Which do I need
Well this all depends on your individual needs. For general fitness tracking around the gym or if you generally stick to dryer activities (not mudruns!) then water resistant gadgets will do just fine.
If you intend on doing activities where there is a much higher chance of water damage – so swimming or things like mudruns that often feature deep puddles or trenches then I would definitely look for a device that is fully waterproof.
