The Best Fitbit: Which One Is Right for You?
Fitbit has become synonymous with fitness tracking, and we’ve tested and rated every model on the market, including the Charge 3, Charge 4, Inspire HR, Ionic, Versa 2, and Versa 2 Lite. Which is right for you?
One of the most well-known and respected names in the wearables market, Fitbit offers a wide range of fitness trackers and smartwatches. It offers so many, in fact, that choosing between them can really work up a sweat.
If you’re looking to start monitoring your health and tracking your activities, but you’re not sure which Fitbit is right for you, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve reviewed all of Fitbit’s devices, and we’re here to help you figure out which one is right for you depending on your needs and budget.
Fitbit Smartwatches vs. Fitbit Trackers
The first thing to consider to narrow down your options is whether you want a fitness tracker or a smartwatch. You’ll get a wealth of health features, including activity and sleep tracking, with any Fitbit device, but the smartwatches feature color touch screens and support a wider selection of apps. The fitness trackers have grayscale screens and fewer lifestyle features, but they cost less. All these devices support notifications from your phone and connect to Fitbit’s excellent app for Android and iOS.
Smartwatches: Fitbit Ionic vs. Fitbit Versa 2 vs. Fitbit Versa Lite
Fitbit’s two main smartwatches are the $249.95 Ionic and the $199.95 Versa 2. Though it doesn’t have GPS, the Versa 2 is our Editors’ Choice for its always-on AMOLED display and Amazon Alexa support. It’s also our favorite Android-compatible smartwatch-even more so than models based on Google’s Wear OS platform.
The company also makes a $229.95 Versa 2 Special Edition, which comes with an attractive woven strap and a three-month trial membership of Fitbit Premium.
Design-wise, we prefer the Versa 2’s rounded corners to the Ionic’s sharp edges, but style is subjective, so you can decide which one you think looks better. Aesthetics aside, the three-year-old Ionic remains a solid choice. Its primary selling point over the Versa 2 is built-in GPS for tracking your pace and distance without a smartphone, but you’re giving up the Versa’s always-on display and Alexa integration.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to spend less, you might want to consider the $159.95 Versa Lite. It offers many of the fitness-tracking features of its more expensive counterparts, including over 20 exercise modes, heart rate monitoring, and reminders to move. But you’ll be missing out on an altimeter to track floors climbed, a gyroscope for counting laps in the pool, onboard music storage, some battery life, and the Fitbit Coach app for on-screen workouts.
Fitness Trackers: Fitbit Charge 3 vs. Fitbit Charge 4 vs. Fitbit Inspire vs. Fitbit Inspire HR
Sitting atop Fitbit’s fitness tracker lineup is the $149.95 Charge 4. With GPS to map your exercise route without a phone, Spotify support, and a motivating new metric called Active Zone Minutes, it stands out as one of the best advanced fitness trackers you can buy, and our Editors’ Choice, though we wish it had a color display.
There’s also a Special Edition Charge 4, which costs $20 more than the standard model, but comes with a reflective granite/black woven band, plus a classic black flexible plastic band you can use for sweaty workouts.
If the Charge 4 costs more than you’re looking to spend, there are a few other options, including the Charge 3 and the Inspire HR, both of which are priced at $99.95. The Charge 3 tracks workouts a bit more accurately and gets better battery life than the Inspire HR. Both lack built-in GPS, mobile payments, Spotify support, and the Active Zone Minutes metric, but pack all the basic features you need to monitor your health and exercise for an affordable price, including continuous heart rate and sleep tracking.
Fitbit also sells a standard version of the Inspire that doesn’t monitor your heart rate. It’s only $69.96, but for basic fitness tracking, we recommend the Inspire HR, which paints a more complete picture of your overall health.
The Best Fitbit for Kids
Finally, there’s the kid-friendly Ace 2 ($69.96), which earned our Editors’ Choice for being the best children’s fitness tracker you can buy. It has a durable design and tracks step count, active minutes, hourly movement, and sleep. If you’re looking to buy a fitness tracker for your little one, we highly recommend it.
Which Fitbit Should You Buy?
Still confused? Fitbit offers a handy quiz to help you determine which one of its wearables is right for you. If that still isn’t enough, you can dive into each of our reviews linked above. We explain the various features of each model in detail, along with how they held up in testing.
And if you’ve read this far and still aren’t solid on any one Fitbit, check out our all of the best fitness trackers and smartwatches we’ve tested.
Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.
