This week Fitbit introduced the newest additions to its fitness-focused smartwatch lineup with the Fitbit Versa 4 and Fitbit Sense 2. Whereas Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch outsell the as soon as dominant participant within the wearables market and unquestionably provide extra smartwatch options, there’s one key benefit for Fitbit that makes it nonetheless one of the best smartwatch for well being and health monitoring.
When you’ve researched any of those watches you might already know the reply, it’s merely battery life. The Versa 4 and Sense 2 each provide over six days of battery life in response to Fitbit and whereas we now have but to evaluate them, final 12 months’s Fitbit Sense hit that mark so I’m keen to provide them the advantage of the doubt. By comparability, the Apple Watch Sequence 7 and Galaxy Watch 5 are simply in a position to make it right into a second day.
Feeling a bit run down?
Apart from the annoyance of getting to cost one thing each day, we already do this with our telephones in any case, why is that this such a major benefit that it’s best to contemplate the Versa 4 or Sense 2 over an Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch? These corporations all stress that well being and health monitoring is the first objective of their respective smartwatches and to serve that operate the watch wants to remain in your wrist. There’s no query that you’re extra prone to find yourself with a day, weekend or night time with a useless Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch in your wrist as you forgot to cost it or forgot to carry your charger on a weekend getaway.
Leaving apart how ridiculous it feels to raise your wrist to test the time or see in case you’ve missed any notifications and see solely your reflection staring again at you within the clean show, there’s the misplaced knowledge, whether or not that be steps or sleep monitoring. I recognize that there’s a backlash to the notion that “When you didn’t observe it did it even occur?” Nonetheless, in case you are significantly monitoring your well being or health then there’s some reality to that. Taking a guess at your calorie burn for a day or a particular exercise just isn’t going to be as correct, neither will your estimation as to the way you slept, and if you’re going to inform me you might be sure what your coronary heart price regarded over the course of a day then you might be both Daredevil or you might be mendacity.
That final one is of explicit notice, Apple loves speaking about its coronary heart price monitor and its potential to detect situations of an abnormally excessive or low coronary heart price or the more moderen addition of atrial fibrillation (A-fib) detection by way of EKG. Once more Versa 4 covers all of this identical floor with the additional advantage of with the ability to monitor for indicators of A-fib when you sleep. These are all measurements that profit from monitoring you as commonly as doable and the Versa 4 is best suited to that job.
Apple and Samsung each flip to the identical answer for extending the battery life on their smartwatches with battery saver modes that primarily shut every little thing down with the intention to preserve your watch alive for timekeeping and probably step monitoring, however at that time, you’ve given up the entire supposed benefits of these wearables over the Fitbit.
Smarter than the typical health tracker
So what’s the opposite facet of the coin? What are you giving up by going with the Fitbit Versa 4 or Sense 2 over the Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch? Not as a lot as you may suppose.
The most recent replace to the Google-owned firm’s smartwatches brings with it help for Google Maps for instructions and Google Pockets for straightforward touchless funds. Fitbit additionally has a mic and speaker to permit for calling over Bluetooth and utilizing voice assistants like Google Assistant or Alexa. Notifications are strong as properly and you are able to do messaging, though notably for iOS customers it’s much more restricted than what is feasible on Apple Watch.
When you love the Images app in your Apple Watch or the house automation options, then you’re going to be upset by the Versa 4, however for many customers which might be on the lookout for well being and health monitoring with a bit notification triage, the Fitbit watches are good sufficient.
Outlook
With the Apple Watch Sequence 8 virtually right here I can’t wait to totally take a look at Fitbit’s newest towards no matter Apple unveils. In my Apple Watch 7 vs. Fitbit Sense face-off final 12 months the win for Apple was tipped by the design, which was largely a results of the capacitive button on the facet of the Sense sometimes failing to reply. It appears Fitbit realized its lesson and an actual button is again.
Whereas there are a selection of rumored adjustments for the Apple Watch, the battery life is one I simply don’t see them cracking. The rugged Sequence 8 Professional that some point out is coming could prolong battery life with a bigger battery and chassis, however that may rule it out for anybody that prefers a smaller watch and likewise I think will nonetheless come up days shy of the Versa 4 or Sense 2. A lot the identical might be stated for Galaxy Watch 5 Professional which pushes to 2-3 days of battery life versus simply over a day for Galaxy Watch 5.
All of this isn’t to persuade you that the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch aren’t wonderful smartwatches, they’re, however in case you are shopping for a smartwatch with well being and health as your major purpose it’s value contemplating whether or not needing to cost simply as soon as every week would make you extra doubtless to make use of it reliably. The perfect weight loss program is the one you’ll follow and one of the best well being and health tracker is the one which stays charged in your wrist.
