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The top Fitbit devices: Versa, Ace, Charge, Inspire, and Sense compared
The best smart treadmillsFitness tracking used to mean a bulky strap or a pesky monitor—no longer is that an issue. Fitbits have changed the way we track our health and fitness, offering a convenient way to view your stats in a flash and monitor specific health details, like your blood pressure and heart rate. You can even track your sleep!
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ZDNET Recommends
However, there is more than one model available, so it can be confusing when it comes time to choose which Fitbit is best for you. That is where we can help.
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- Bright display
- Easy touchscreen
- Lightweight build
- Subscription required for advanced features
- Spotify support unavailable offline
Tech specs: Screen size: 1.58" | Battery life: 6 days | Call/text notifications: Yes | Water resistance: 50m
The Fitbit Versa 3 is an exceptional smartwatch that is perfect for anyone who wants to prioritize their health and fitness. With a sleek and modern design, it's a stylish addition to any outfit. But it's the impressive tech specs that make it stand out from the crowd.
The watch has a large and easy-to-read screen that measures 1.58 inches, making it effortless to navigate through your apps, messages, and fitness data. Its battery life is also impressive, lasting up to six days, so you don't have to worry about recharging it every day.
The Fitbit Versa 3 is water-resistant up to 50m, so you can wear it in the shower or take it for a swim without any worries. This makes it perfect for anyone who enjoys water-based activities.
The fitness features are where the Versa 3 really shines. With built-in GPS, it accurately tracks your exercise and provides real-time health reporting. The watch monitors your heart rate through PurePulse 2.0 technology, ensuring you have a complete understanding of your fitness level.
Read the review: Fitbit Versa 3 review: GPS sports watch
With a Fitbit Premium subscription, you'll receive a Daily Readiness Score, which provides personalized insights and recommendations to help you reach your fitness goals. Additionally, Alexa and Google Assistant are built in, so you can easily control your smart home devices, check the weather, or set reminders.
The Versa 3 also has call and text notifications, as well as access to popular music apps like Pandora and Spotify. This makes it easy to stay connected while you're on the go.
Overall, the Fitbit Versa 3 is a fantastic smartwatch that offers an impressive range of features, particularly for fitness enthusiasts. It's a great investment for anyone looking to take their health and fitness to the next level.
- Fun interface
- Built-in activity tracker
- Durable build
- Smaller screen
- Black and white screen instead of color
Tech specs: Screen size: 0.96" | Battery life: 8 days | Call/text notifications: Yes | Water-resistant: 50m
The Fitbit Ace 3 is a top-of-the-line fitness tracker for kids that is packed with features to help your child stay active and engaged in their physical health. With its waterproof build and durable design, it's the perfect device for kids who love to play and explore.
The Fitbit Ace 3 has a screen size of just under an inch, but don't let that fool you. The device is packed with features that are easy to navigate and understand. The clock faces change throughout the day with fun animations that keep kids interested and engaged. Parents will appreciate the smartphone capability that allows for call and text notifications, making it easy to stay connected with their child.
The battery life on the Fitbit Ace 3 is truly impressive, lasting up to eight days with continuous use. This means that your child can wear the device for an entire week without needing to recharge it. And with its water-resistant build, your child can wear it during swim lessons, on water-based vacations, or just for everyday play.
Also: Fitbit Ace: My kids go hands-on
One of the standout features of the Fitbit Ace 3 is the built-in activity tracker and sleep monitor. The device encourages kids to be active throughout the day and rewards them with virtual badges and rewards when they reach their goals. The sleep tracker has bedtime reminders and silent alarms that help kids establish healthy sleep patterns.
The Fitbit Ace 3 the perfect choice for parents who want to encourage healthy habits in their children
- Incorporated GPS
- Simple to use
- Fantastic heart rate monitoring
- Mediocre workout details
- Lack of music controls
Tech specs: Screen size: 1.04" | Battery life: 7 days | Call/text notifications: Yes | Water-resistant: 50m
The Fitbit Charge 5 is an impressive fitness tracker that packs a ton of features into a compact and stylish design. The screen size of 1.04" is the perfect size to display all your fitness data, and the battery life of up to 7 days ensures that you'll never be without it. With its water-resistant capabilities of up to 50m, you can take it swimming without worry.
One of the standout features of the Charge 5 is its ability to keep you informed with call and text notifications, ensuring that you never miss a message or call. The GPS tracking feature is an added bonus, allowing you to track your progress wherever you go.
But the real magic of the Charge 5 is in its Health Metrics dashboard, which provides you with a comprehensive overview of your body's vitals. The SpO2 tracking, skin temperature changes, and changes in heart rate make it a standout device in the fitness tracking world. With a Premium membership, the Daily Readiness Score and Stress Management Score are game-changers that take the Charge 5 to the next level.
Read the review: Fitbit Charge 5 review: Best fitness tracker with color
The Fitbit Charge 5 is an excellent investment for anyone looking to take their fitness and health tracking to the next level. Its sleek design, advanced features, and comprehensive health metrics make it a must-have for anyone looking to stay on top of their fitness goals.
- Detailed fitness tracking
- 24/7 heart rate monitoring
- USB connectivity
- Lacks built-in GPS
- Black and white display
Tech specs: Screen size: 0.7" | Battery life: 10 days | Call/text notifications: Yes | Water-resistant: 50m
In conclusion, the Fitbit Inspire 2 is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a budget-friendly fitness tracker. It offers many features found in more expensive models, such as call and text notifications and water resistance, making it an excellent value for money.
The Fitbit Inspire 2 is not only a fitness tracker but also a life assistant. It has call and text notifications, keeping you connected to your phone and loved ones even when you're on the go. It's also water-resistant up to 50m, making it perfect for swimmers or anyone who wants to track their activity in water.
One of the most significant features of the Fitbit Inspire 2 is its compact design. With a screen size of 0.7", it's incredibly lightweight and comfortable to wear all day. You won't even notice it's on your wrist, making it an excellent choice for those who don't like bulky fitness trackers.
Also: The Fitbit Inspire 3 is a low wrist, high reward tracker at $99
To customize your workout, there are over 20 exercise modes that you can choose from, plus 24/7 heart rate tracking. Despite its low price tag, the battery lasts an impressive 10 days, the most of any of the best Fitbits.
- Incorporated GPS
- Built-in smart features
- Sleep and stress tracker
- Fitbit Premium additional
- Most expensive Fitbit
Tech specs: Screen size: 1.58" | Battery life: 6 days | Call/text notifications: Yes | Water-resistant: 50m
The Fitbit Sense 2 is the best high-end Fitbit, with an updated user interface and a new body response sensor that sets it apart from its predecessor. The device is priced at $300, which is slightly cheaper than the original, and it promises to provide a more useful approach to stress tracking. The new body response sensor measures continuous electrodermal activity, or cEDA, which, combined with other metrics like heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature, can flag moments when you might be stressed.
The new software interface on the Fitbit Sense 2 is cleaner and easier to navigate, with bubble-shaped tiles showing important metrics like calories burned, distance, steps, heart rate, and weather, among others. The physical navigation button, which was last seen on the Versa 2 from 2019, is a welcome addition as well.
The new stress-tracking features are still in their early stages, and it remains to be seen how effective they will be in providing actionable insights to users. However, the continuous tracking feature seems more useful than having to take a scan on-demand, which was the only option available on the original Sense. The stress management score is also a helpful feature, providing a closer look at your health and wellness, based on your activity, sleep, and other factors.
Read the review: A month with Fitbit's Sense 2 and Versa 4
The Fitbit Sense 2 also features like ECG, high and low heart rate notifications, and full GPS. Overall, it has a sleek design and feature set. It's even swim-proof, making it perfect for 24/7 wear. It's a promising device. Sure, it's not as fast or as smooth as the Apple Watch Series 8, but it provides a more affordable alternative for those looking for a high-end fitness tracker with advanced health and wellness features.
What is the best Fitbit?
The best Fitbit is the Fitbit Versa 3 for its stacked features, oversized screen, and modern design. To see how it measures up against our other picks, here is an overview of the best Fitbits.
Fitbit | Price | Screen size | Battery life |
Fitbit Versa 3 | $160 | 1.58" | 6 days |
Fitbit Ace 3 | $80 | 0.96" | 8 days |
Fitbit Charge 5 | $125 | 1.04" | 7 days |
Fitbit Inspire 2 | $65 | 0.7" | 10 days |
Fitbit Sense | $200 | 1.58" | 6 days |
Which Fitbit is right for you?
We can help you find the best Fitbit for your needs with our expert recommendations.
Choose this Fitbit... | If you want... |
Fitbit Versa 3 | The best overall option |
Fitbit Ace 3 | A kid-friendly Fitbit |
Fitbit Charge 5 | A Fitbit worthy of athletes |
Fitbit Inspire 2 | A budget-friendly Fitbit with great battery life |
Fitbit Sense | A high-tech Fitbit with advanced features and sensors |
How did we choose these Fitbits?
There are several factors we use to find the best Fitbits.
Features: From workout tracking to health reporting and sleep tracking, there are a series of features that each Fitbit offers that can help you improve your health and wellness.
Battery life: Your Fitbit won't matter if it does not have the battery life to keep up with your activity, so we consider the battery life for each Fitbit model.
Price: Fitbits can range in price considerably, so we look for options that meet a variety of budgets.
Are Fitbits waterproof?
The best Fitbits are all water resistant up to 50 meters, which means that you can swim and shower with them.
Do Fitbits work with smartphones?
The Fitbit app is available from both the App Store and Google Play to work with your iPhone or Android phone.
Does Fitbit track blood pressure?
Right now, Fitbits do not have the capability to track blood pressure. However, Fitbit recently conducted a study on how/if Fitbit devices can estimate blood pressure using pulse arrival time, so it's a possibility the technology could appear in a future Fitbit down the line.
Are there alternative Fitbits worth considering?
In our search for the best Fitbit, we also found these alternative Fitbits that may be worthy of your consideration.