Fitbit recently held a press event in New York City to unveil its latest wave of fitness trackers for the upcoming Spring season. The new products include the Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Inspire/Inspire HR, and Ace 2. Here's what you can look forward to from each one.
Fitbit Versa Lite Edition
From a design point of view, the Versa Lite is almost identical to the regular Versa — save for a few new colors. It has the same squircle body, LCD display, and uses the same watch band system. Fitbit's launching four new colorways for the Lite, including Marina Blue, Mulberry, Lilac, and White.
As you might have noticed by now, the Versa Lite only has one button on the left — no two additional buttons on its right side like the normal Versa does. In my initial hands-on with the Versa Lite, this didn't really make much of a difference. A single press of the button takes you back to the watch face and holding it down brings up a quick settings menu. The only thing you miss out on with the omission of the other two buttons is customizable app shortcuts.
The blue and purple Versa Lite colors look incredible.
Another big difference with the Versa Lite is that it doesn't have Wi-Fi. Because of this, software updates are handled a little differently. Rather than downloading it all at once, any available software updates will be seamlessly downloaded in the background in small chunks each time you sync the Versa Lite with the Fitbit app on your phone. When an update is fully downloaded, you'll get a notification to install and you'll be on your way.
Elsewhere, everything else with the Fitbit Versa Lite is pretty much the same. It has 24/7 heart-rate tracking, has access to Fitbit's female health tracking, showcases notifications from your phone, Quick Replies on Android, is waterproof up to 50M, and is rated for 4 days of use on a single charge.
What the Versa Lite cannot do is track floors climbed, on-device swim lap counting, store music, showcase on-screens workouts, or use Fitbit Pay.
If you're interested, the Fitbit Versa Lite Edition is available for pre-order starting today, March 6, for $159.95. That makes it a healthy $40 less than the regular Versa, and according to Fitbit, is designed for people that are looking for their first smartwatch but don't want to spend too much money for something with features they'll never use.
The value proposition here is quite enticing, and after some additional hands-on use, it'll be interesting to see if it makes sense buying a Versa Lite or just splurging anyways for the regular version.
Fitbit Inspire & Inspire HR
The Inspire and Inspire HR replace Fitbit's popular Alta, Alta HR, and Flex 2 which isn't all that surprising considering these trackers have been around for 2-3 years. According to Fitbit, the Inspire series is created for people that are just starting their fitness journey, want a wearable that's easy to use, and are conscious about the money they spend.
The Inspire is ridiculously small and lightweight. I love it.
Based on what we've seen so far, it looks like the Inspire could be an absolute hit.
The design of the Inspire trackers is something Fitbit spent a lot of time on, and that became immediately evident when I put it on my wrist.
The overall size is incredibly small, it's ridiculously lightweight, and while the display is small, it's still easy to read and use its touchscreen.
Because of the Inspire's small size, Fitbit was able to do something pretty unique with it. In addition to being able to wear it on your wrist, you can also put it in a clip-on case and clip it onto your belt or pants. This is the first tracker of Fitbit's that you can do this with, and because of this functionality, the Inspire trackers are also replacing the Fitbit Zip.
In regards to health/fitness features, the Inspire does just about everything you'd expect. It has all-day activity and sleep tracking, 50M water resistance, the battery lasts up to 5 days per charge, and it supports Fitbit's female health tracking. When you upgrade to the Inspire HR, you have access to all of that in addition to 24/7 heart-rate monitoring, Cardio Fitness Level, sleep stage tracking, guided breathing sessions, and over 15 goal-based exercise modes.
The Inspire is available in Black and Sangria colors with the Inspire HR getting Black, Lilac, and White options. Pre-orders are open as of today, March 6, with the Inspire costing $69.95 and the Inspire HR going for just a little more at $99.95.
Fitbit Ace 2
Third third and final tracker that was announced is the Ace 2 — a successor to the Ace from last year that served as Fitbit's debut into kid-focused wearables.
The Ace 2 retains a lot of what made the original Ace great, including all-day activity tracking and up to 5 days of battery life. As you can probably tell by now, the biggest change is the Ace 2's design.
Where the original Ace's designed didn't differ too much from the slim and lightweight Alta, the Ace 2 is protected by a durable plastic case that's raised over the display. This ensures that the tracker stays safe no matter what your kiddos get up to, and in addition to the Watermelon and Night Sky colors that are available by default, you can buy additional cases to change up the Ace 2's style. Also included is better waterproofing up to 50M.
Something else that's interesting is that the Ace 2's body is identical to that of the Inspire and Inspire HR. As such, when kids grow older and decide they want something that looks more grown-up, they can take off the Ace 2's protective case and equip it with a regular Inspire watch band. Parents can also give kids access to additional watch faces instead of the kid-specific ones.
The Fitbit Ace 2 will be available this summer for $69.95, and according to Fitbit, it's designed for children 6 years and older.
Fitbit Rewards & an updated Fitbit app
Along with the three new trackers, Fitbit also announced two other things — a new rewards system and a complete overhaul to the existing Fitbit app.
Fitbit wants to reward you with free gifts for being healthy.
Fitbit Rewards is currently available to a limited number of beta testers and allows users to earn points for using their Fitbit trackers for tracking steps, sleep, and active minutes. As you acquire points, you can redeem them for rewards from Adidas, Blue Apron, Deezer, and Fitbit itself.
There's currently no set date as to when Fitbit Rewards will be available for everyone, but I certainly hope it sees a proper launch sooner rather than later. Everyone likes free stuff, and if people can track their daily activity with a Fitbit tracker and get real, tangible prizes for doing so, that could be incentive enough to go with a Fitbit tracker instead of a competiting one from Samsung, Garmin, etc.
As for the Fitbit app update, an upcoming redesign will make it easier to use and see all of your logged data. The app will be broken up into just three pages instead of the current five, a new Fitbit Focus section will showcase "relevant insights, messages, and tips to keep users engaged", and the overall aesthetic just looks a lot cleaner and more pleasing.
The update is coming "soon", but that's as specific of a timeframe that we have at the moment.
