Fitbit offers some of the best fitness trackers on the market. Not only can you use a Fitbit to keep tabs on your numerous athletic pursuits, but they’re also essentially smartwatches since they offer smartphone notifications. Best of all, they’re very competitively priced, costing hundreds of dollars less than the Apple Watch. Three of the best Fitbits that you can get are the Versa Lite, Versa, and Ionic. They’re the perfect blend of fitness tracker and smartwatch, allowing you to check texts, calls, and emails while eyeing the heart rate monitor as you’re jogging. Save up to $50 when you get them on Amazon today.
Fitbit Versa Lite – $139, was $160
The Fitbit Versa Lite is virtually identical to its predecessor, the Fitbit Versa. The only difference is, as its name suggests, the Versa Lite is so lightweight that you’ll barely notice it on your wrist. You should also know, though, that it’s slightly anemic when it comes to features. Its 1.3-inch LCD display looks crisp and bright and it has one button on the right side for navigation that’s very easy to use. At the back, there is a heart rate monitor and inside it is an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, and an SPO2 sensor. It comes with a replaceable silicone band that comes in a range of colors encompassing both shockingly bright and more subdued tones.
This watch doesn’t skimp on its wellness features, even though this is the more affordable version of the Fitbit Versa. There are, however, a few omissions that might prove to be dealbreakers for many people. While you can track your exercises, heart rate, steps, sleep, and whether you’re moving each hour, what’s missing is an altimeter to measure elevation, so you won’t be able to determine the number of stair steps you’ve climbed, and a gyroscope, so you can’t keep tabs on the number of laps you’ve made in the pool. It’s also lacking onboard music storage so you can’t store any MP3s in it.
Thankfully, this watch is capable of smart notifications. You can customize which apps can send notifications to it, as well as when you want to receive them, and the interaction between the watch and phone is seamless. Once your phone receives a message, you can count on the watch to display it. You can’t read entire messages though, but just the first few lines.
The Fitbit Versa Lite usually comes with a $160 price tag, but you can get it on Amazon today for $21 less – paying just $139 for it.
Fitbit Versa – $147, was $170
The Fitbit Versa looks almost exactly like an Apple Watch. It is square with chamfered edges and has a 1.3-inch LCD screen. The watch’s size is just right and won’t look gigantic on women nor diminutive on men. Its anodized aluminum watch body is thin and compact, and it comes with a silicone strap that’s breathable so it won’t smother your skin while you work out.
Fitbit has always been laser-focused on activity tracking, and the Versa certainly delivers in that department. At a glance, the dashboard provides you with your daily stats, tabulated into charts on a weekly basis for comparison purposes. You can keep track of more than 15 different types of exercises, as well as your sleep quality and progress. This watch is water-resistant to depths of up to 50 meters, so you can still monitor your vitals in the pool and even while scuba diving. The heart monitor is impressively precise, women can identify recurring irregularities in their menstrual cycles through the Female Health app, and GPS and a gyroscope are built-in to track your running, cycling, or climbing pace and direction. You can even receive motivational messages every morning. Don’t worry, you have the option to turn these off if you find them saccharine.
The Versa is powered by Fitbit’s proprietary operating system, Fitbit OS, and comes with 4GB of storage. The interface is fairly responsive, though it can experience stuttering when you’re going through lots of notifications. Tap on the screen or flick your wrist to awaken the display so that you can navigate the interface.
Of the 4GB of internal storage, 2.5GB is dedicated to music. You can choose to manually upload songs, or stream music through Pandora or Deezer, both of which are made available with a free one-month trial period. You can also use Spotify on this watch. Unfortunately, you cannot download songs on it even if you have a premium subscription. Transferring songs from your phone to this watch is also a very tedious process. The Versa can receive the usual smart notifications like text, call, email, app alert, and more, and if you’re an Android phone user you’re in luck as you can send out quick replies. Lastly, this watch’s battery life can last roughly three and a half days with normal usage, so you won’t need to charge this every night, unlike an Apple Watch.
The Fitbit Versa is currently on sale on Amazon for just $147, $23 less than its normal retail price of $170.
Fitbit Ionic – $200, was $250
If you’re not a fitness nut, the Fitbit Ionic might just turn you into one. This smartwatch not only boasts extraordinary fitness tracking and days-long battery life but also looks incredibly stylish and is extremely comfortable. Out of the box, it reminded us of the Fitbit Blaze, although its frame is square instead of octagonal. It even offers a similar experience — despite the fact that Fitbit developed an entirely new operating system for it dubbed Fitbit OS. However, after just a few minutes of use, it becomes apparent that the Ionic’s interface is much smoother and cleaner than the Blaze’s. Navigating it is super fast and easy and only requires light taps and swipes. Just like most wearables, you can wake up the screen by lifting your wrist or by pressing the small button on the left. This watch’s band is made with elastomer, a lightweight and breathable material that doesn’t feel obtrusive. Even when you work up a sweat, you’ll hardly notice that you’re wearing the Ionic on your wrist.
As far as fitness tracking goes, the Ionic has the most basic features covered plus several more. As expected, it tracks a wearer’s daily steps, heart rate, burned calories, sleep patterns, and flights of stairs climbed. In addition to this tracking data, the Ionic also offers personalized exercise routines, guided breathing sessions, and sleep tracking, and sends friendly, hourly reminders to keep moving. What’s more, the Ionic has a built-in GPS with GLONASS that can simultaneously display and record your stats like pace, distance, and split times. It’s also equipped with multisport modes for specific workout tracking and the SmartTrack for automatic exercise recording. You can even start dynamic personal coaching if you want on-screen guidance on workouts or activities. And just like the Fitbit Versa, the Ionic is water-resistant to depths of up to 50 meters for tracking swim workouts.
App support is quite extensive (although not as broad as Apple’s), including giants like Strava, Pandora, and Starbucks. Strava is particularly wonderful as it’s essentially a social network for runners and bikers. Pandora is also great for those who don’t want to shell out $10 every month for a Spotify subscription. What’s more, you not only get to remotely control and stream your music, you also have enough space to store roughly 300 songs on the Ionic.
The Fitbit Ionic is normally worth $250, but right now it’s available on Amazon for $200.
Looking for more? Check out our curated deals page for more fitness tracker, smartwatch, and Apple Watch deals.
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