Is a Fitbit Worth Buying in 2021? A Comprehensive Review (2023)

FAQs

Is Fitbit 2021 worth it? ›

I highly recommend it to others who like data as much as I do as well. The metrics have been super helpful for me to gauge my activity levels and what I'm doing well and what I can improve upon. At the end of the day, however, a Fitbit is a luxury and it is more than possible to track your fitness levels without one.

Fitbit trackers aren't meant for the most hardcore of athletes, but they're still excellent devices for tracking overall activity as well as monitoring certain health and wellness metrics like EKGs and blood oxygen levels.

While your Fitbit hardware tracker will continue to count your steps, Fitbit's new owner Google is discontinuing more features. Starting March 27, 2023, Fitbit announced they will remove the adventures, challenges, and open groups features from the app.

As a UHC Medicare Advantage member, you are eligible for one Fitbit device every two plan years to help you achieve your health goals.

While both brands offer outstanding, high-quality wearables, Fitbit has more budget-friendly options, superior battery life, and better health and fitness tracking than the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch edges out the Fitbit in terms of accuracy, convenience, and extra features, but it may be too pricey for some users.

The Fitbit Versa 3 is the best overall smartwatch, as it offers a good compromise between price and features. With GPS, Alexa and Google Assistant, and music playback, it has excellent functionality at a more affordable price than the more high tech Fitbit Sense.

FITVII Slim Fitness Tracker with Blood Oxygen, Blood Pressure, 24/7 Heart Rate and Sleep Tracking, IP68 Waterproof Activity Trackers and Smart Watches with Step Tracker, Pedometer for Women Kids.

The Fitbit Charge 5 is our favorite fitness tracker that does it all. Easy to use, comfortable to wear, and jam-packed with health-tracking features, the Fitbit Charge 5 is our favorite fitness tracker. It's small enough to satisfy those who prefer the size of a fitness tracker over a smartwatch.

A Fitbit can last for 24 to 36 months under normal use. The quality of the hardware, water resistance level, and battery life degrade over time. Even the reset and cleaning frequency can have an impact on your Fitbit's overall lifespan.

If you can get used to wearing a watch to bed, the Fitbit Versa 4 is your best option for sleep tracking. It measures most of the same metrics as the Oura ring—heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels—to give you an idea of how much time you spent asleep each night.

What is the newer and better Fitbit? ›

What's the newest Fitbit? The newest devices in the lineup are Fitbit Sense, Versa 3, and the Inspire 2. The Sense and Versa 3 are high-end smartwatches with a great range of features. The Inspire 2, on the other hand, is a slim fitness tracker which can be helpful if you're looking to up your daily exercise.

Most of the devices can tell you exactly how far you ran, how high your heart rate goes during a workout, and how active you've been during a day. If you don't care about any of those specific fitness tracker details and are happy with just getting some exercise in, a Fitbit might be a waste for you.

Safety Concerns Fitness trackers emit non-ionizing radiation from their Bluetooth. The EMF radiation emitted by such devices is quite low. ... However, radiation exposure may increase while wearing Fitbit continuously. A few Fitbit models have been reported to cause skin irritation, wrist pain, or burns.

Over just six years, Fitbit's revenue increased from five million U.S. dollars in 2010 to more than two billion U.S. dollars in 2016. Soon after, Fitbit experienced a period of declining revenues, dropping to just over one billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

Support of Fitbit accounts will continue until at least early 2025. After support of Fitbit accounts ends, a Google account will be required to use Fitbit. We'll be transparent with our customers about the timeline for ending Fitbit accounts through notices within the Fitbit app, by email, and in help articles.

This voluntary recall is specific to Fitbit Ionic devices. It does not impact any other Fitbit smartwatches or trackers. If you own a Fitbit Ionic, please stop using your device.

Best answer: No, you don't need to pay for a subscription to use Fitbit software. You can download and use the basic Fitbit app for free.

Fitbit Premium costs $9.99/£7.99 per month, or $80/£79.99 if you sign up for a year's membership. The good news is that Fitbit offers a three-month free trial of their Premium membership, so you have 90 days to decide whether or not the features on offer are worth paying for.

Fitness Trackers

Trackers are simpler devices intended mainly for basic physical monitoring. They don't work with the third-party apps that smartwatches do. But they usually don't cost as much, either. Fitbit's fitness tracker offerings boil down to a handful of models.

When it comes to overall features, Apple definitely has more to offer than Fitbit. In addition to health and fitness metrics, the Apple Watch supports the app store, phone calls, music, text, notifications, alarms, timers, Siri, emergency SOS, fall detection (some models), and much more.

Which lasts longer Apple Watch or Fitbit? ›

When it comes to battery life, Fitbit wins hands down, said Gebbie. "The Apple Watch offers an 18-hour battery life, which means you need to charge it every day, whereas many Fitbit trackers and watches can last for days or even weeks at a time without charging.

Your Fitbit device can receive notifications from your nearby phone to keep you informed, including calls, texts, meeting alerts, and app updates.

With Fitbit devices, older adults have all the tools they need to get more active, understand their nutrition needs, stay on top of their medical conditions, improve their sleep, and even connect with others socially.

As mentioned, Fitbit Premium does come with a lot of extras beyond just stats. Even with that being the case, the basic Fitbit account can still get you quite far with its free features. With a free Fitbit account, you're looking at health and fitness stats like your activity, weight, and nutrition.

See your SpO2 trends in the Health Metrics tile in the Fitbit app on your phone. The Health Metrics tile is available with Charge 4, Charge 5, Inspire 3, Luxe, Sense series, Versa 2, Versa 3, and Versa 4.

Use the built-in speaker and microphone in Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Sense 2, Fitbit Versa 3, and Fitbit Versa 4 to take calls from your wrist.

Can Fitbit measure blood pressure? Since Fitbit's own study was just launched in April 2022, there are no results available yet. However, the Fitbit devices will estimate blood pressure using pulse arrival time, which does have some available data.

Fitbit now supports blood glucose level tracking inside the app.

Are Fitbits able to accurately measure blood pressure? According to Eric Friedman (Vice President of Research at Fitbit), it's very similar to pulse transit times but measures pulse at a slightly different pace than Samsung. These strategies have a drawback: they cannot reliably measure relative blood pressure.

Is there a Fitbit you can see in the sun? ›

A bright color display

The first thing you notice about the Fitbit Inspire 3 is the bright, color AMOLED screen, replacing the monochrome screen on the Inspire 2. Not only does this new screen make the tracker more appealing to look at, but it's also easier to see your information in bright sunlight.

Garmin Vivofit 3

It can even auto-detect your current activity to collect the appropriate data. It's affordable, too, at under $90 on Amazon. If you're looking for an alternative for the Fitbit Charge 2 or any other lower-tier Fitbit smart wearable, this handy piece of fitness wrist tech should get the job done.

The primary difference between these two products is that the Charge 4 is a dedicated wrist fitness tracker, whereas the Versa 3 is more of a smartwatch.

It's not going to be 100% accurate. Your Fitbit tracker may be overestimating your calorie burn if you're very active. Because the tracker uses your heart rate to estimate calorie burn, it may not be able to estimate caloric burn as accurately for people whose heart rates are frequently high.

In testing, the built-in heart rate sensor proves quite solid, with the overall results being accurate for health and activities. In comparison to chest strap sensors, Fitbit returns more heart rate data when tracking bike rides and running.

The Fitbit Versa 2 smartwatch earns a Best Buy recommendation in Consumer Reports' tests, and that's because it performs well across the board and offers an array of smartwatch features at a price that's more typical of a fitness tracker.

Google announced the Fitbit Charge 5 on August 25, 2021. You can order the 2021 Fitbit Charge from Fitbit.com.

While both brands offer outstanding, high-quality wearables, Fitbit has more budget-friendly options, superior battery life, and better health and fitness tracking than the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch edges out the Fitbit in terms of accuracy, convenience, and extra features, but it may be too pricey for some users.

Are Fitbits able to accurately measure blood pressure? According to Eric Friedman (Vice President of Research at Fitbit), it's very similar to pulse transit times but measures pulse at a slightly different pace than Samsung. These strategies have a drawback: they cannot reliably measure relative blood pressure.

Fitbit develops the most accurate activity trackers. With a Fitbit on your wrist, you can be sure that you're accurately informed about your steps, heart rate, distance, or sleep. It can sometimes happen that your Fitbit is a bit of the mark.

Which Fitbit has the most accurate heart rate? ›

The Fitbit Charge 5 is among the most accurate for measuring steps and heart rate (although accuracy isn't everything). It reliably detects, nearly always correctly identifies, and automatically begins to record workouts—running, walking, biking, swimming—after about 10 minutes of activity.

Best for heart health tracking: Fitbit Sense

The Fitbit Sense has many similar features to the Versa 3. The two models share the same GPS and heart rate tracking functionality and offer the same sleep options. Both also have the Active Zone feature and can monitor the oxygen levels in a user's blood.

Fitbit's ECG app records those electrical signals and looks for signs of AFib. To take a heart rhythm assessment, set up the ECG feature in the Fitbit app. With Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications, Fitbit analyzes your heart rhythm while you're still or sleeping and looks out for potential signs of AFib.

No integration with Apple Health and Google fit. You have to stick with Fitbit all the way. No GPS. You need to connect it to your phone to all GPS tracking.

Hi @Lmeaglemom - the Versa 2 isn't discontinued and is also on sale and probably a excellent deal at it's price and works reliably.

The Fitbit ECG app software algorithm was able to correctly identify people with AFib 98.7% of the time and correctly identify people with a normal sinus rhythm 100% of the time.

A Fitbit can last for 24 to 36 months under normal use. The quality of the hardware, water resistance level, and battery life degrade over time. Even the reset and cleaning frequency can have an impact on your Fitbit's overall lifespan.

What's the difference between a smartwatch or a fitness tracker? A fitness tracker is designed to keep track of your health and exercise. A smartwatch keeps track of your fitness too, but it also keeps you connected by delivering notifications and updates on your wrist.