Charge 5

I have a fitbit, my wife has an apple watch. Her apple watch is far superior at being a smart watch. My fitbit is far superior at being a fitness/health tracker. It barely functions as a smart watch. (note: I have a charge5). Both are perfectly competent at being watches. If you just want a watch, get a watch.

Mine more reliably tracks sleep, O2, breathing, and a few other metrics than my wifes apple watch.

For reasons, we have a separate pulse oximeter and my watches figure tends to be more accurate than hers when compared to the dedicated device. Her watch is absolute shit at tracking breathing and often as either no or absolutely impossible data, whereas mine is fairly consistent and reasonable.

My charge 5 is a bit over 2 years old and the battery just isn't lasting.  I moved to a Galaxy ring. It's not quite as accurate and doesn't track as many things, but it's simpler and so far I like it.

Garmin is "a lot." I love it but I'm not your parents. I think you're describing someone who would like a Fitbit. Garmin's are really big and that alone will turn off people, and certainly make it more likely that they'll not wear it at night (which is very important). The Fitbit charge line is sleek. If either of them really get into the Fitbit, you can get that person a Garmin next year. That was my path to Garmin... Fitbit Charge 4, then 5, then 6, then Garmin. And now I go to the gym daily. But the gym came first and the Garmin was a choice because the Fitbit was no longer enough - I didn't want to just look at steps, I wanted to go deep into training. Fitbit has plenty of training and health. Garmin is more for really serious fitness people, I think.

My seventh Fitbit died last week (from Luxe to Versa to Charge 5 and 6, this was my second in-warranty replacement), white line on the screen to no screen at all within 24 hours. So with some Target credit I decided to go with a Garmin Instinct for $200. The GPS is much, much more accurate (even when not paired with my phone), the app tracks a lot more information than the Fitbit app did and takes up a third of the space on my phone. I miss the constant step updates; the Garmin just updates every minute. That's about the only drawback.

I've been with Fitbit for 5 years. I have to charge 6 right now. I don't like going a day without it. Last year while camping I broke my Fitbit 5. On that same day I went to the closest Best buy and bought a Fitbit 6. Once you get used to having a Fitbit, it's very addictive in the sense that it helps you keep active and moving. It's not a lot of money for a lot of benefit, especially when you're trying to stay healthy.