Editors' Note: We first published this review in November 2014, and the Basis Peak remains one of the top-performing fitness trackers we've tested. In August 2016, Intel recalled the tracker for overheating issues known to cause discomfort, burning, or blistering on the skin. It is no longer available for purchase, and Intel is offering exisiting users a full refund for the tracker and any authorized accessories. As such, we no longer recommend this product. (The original review is below.)

The Basis Peak ($199) is the best fitness tracker you can buy on the market today. It looks like an ordinary watch, and a slightly sporty one at that. But the magic is in how it automatically detects when you're walking, running, sleeping, and bicycling to measure all those activities when you do them. And "automatically" is the operative word there. You never have to put it into sleep mode or running mode. It does that part for you.

The Basis Peak also records your heart rate throughout, plus skin temperature, perspiration, how many calories you burned, and more. In the case of sleep, the Basis Peak breaks down your light, deep, and REM sleep cycles, as well as your restless and waking moments. The device, which is an updated version of the venerable Basis Carbon Steel Edition (that device is no longer being sold), will support some smartwatch functionality, namely incoming text messages and phone calls (although it won't be active at launch; the feature will be pushed to devices by the end of 2014, according to the company). For its effortless tracking, comfortable design, and excellent data collection, the Basis Peak is our new Editors' Choice for fitness activity trackers.

Design and Compatibility

The Basis Peak is a watch-style activity tracker available in two colors: matte black and white. It has a large, high-contrast LCD screen, which shows either dark text on a light background or vice versa depending on the light conditions around you. You won't find any buttons on this watch, as all the navigation happens via a touch screen. The housing is forged aluminum, topped with Gorilla Glass.

Petite people will likely find Basis Peak too big. I have wide wrist bones, and it's a comfortable fit for me, but barely. Because the Basis Peak has an optical heart rate monitor (HRM) behind the watch face, it helps to wear it slightly higher on the arm than in the wrist bone divot, especially while working out.

A silicone band feels more sporty and casual than business-like, but it's comfortable and has ridges that encourage some airflow to the skin. The straps come off, and the device is compatible with other standard watch bands, so you can change the sporty look to something different if you like.

The Basis Peak has a waterproof rating of 5ATM, so you can take it in the pool, no problem. The battery lasts anywhere from two to five days, depending on use.

The watch ships with a cradle and charger, and one detail I'm happy to see is that the cradle and cord are separate. The cord is a standard micro USB-to-USB, making it easy to replace if you lose it. The cradle snaps into place courtesy of a simple magnet, without you having to remove the wristbands, which you had to do with the old Basis. These are the kinds of little improvements that make the new watch better, but not wildly different from the old one.

Your options for syncing, however, have changed. The first Basis watch could sync via a computer when you connected the USB charger, but not so with the Peak. This activity tracker requires a mobile device, either iOS or Android, and can't sync with a computer. You can still access all the information the Basis Peak collects about you via the website, MyBasis.com, but getting that data to the Web requires a mobile phone or tablet. More about the mobile apps in a bit.

Automation and Features

As mentioned, the real selling point of Basis Peak is the automation. I can't tell you how many times I've put on some activity-tracking device, set out on a ride or run only to realize five minutes in that I forgot to turn on the special tracking feature. This never happens with the Basis Peak. When you run, it knows. When you ride your bicycle, it knows. When you walk, it knows. Fall asleep? Ditto. No other activity tracker works this way.

Hop on your bicycle while wearing the Basis Peak, and within a few seconds of pedaling, you'll see a bicycle icon appear on screen. Peak shows your time in this activity, calorie burn, and other relevant stats. It just works, and it shows you it's working via the icons on the screen. That's unbeatable.

Plenty of other activity trackers support a range of activities, but you have to put them into the right "mode" before you start. The Misfit Flash is one example. It's very inexpensive and works well, but its display is a cryptic dial that takes some time to learn how to read, so if you forget how to enable your special tracking mode, it's almost impossible to figure it out on the spot—like when you're already outside and suited up to hop on your bicycle or jump in the pool.

A lot of activity trackers give you a stopwatch option for tracking any activity other than walking, but this is one feature notably missing from the Basis Peak. Not having a stopwatch is one reason the Peak is not the most evolved in terms of it being a sports watch or runner's watch. (On a forum recently, a company official said she can't rule out that there will never be a stopwatch feature pushed to the watch via a firmware update, but that there is no plan to add one at this time.)

If you're just getting into running, I would recommend checking out the Garmin Forerunner 15, or anything else in the Forerunner series. The Forerunner 15 is something of an entry-level runner's watch, but it's great and also counts your daily steps.

There are so many other runner's watches, too, from the TomTom Multi-Sport to Magellan's Echo, but most of them don't do general activity tracking (i.e., daily step count). It all depends on what you want to track.