Leading health and fitness tracker maker Fitbit has a breadth of products—there’s literally something for everyone—from fashionably simple such as the Alta, all the way up to its flagship smartwatch the—Ionic. The last Fitbit I wore was the Versa, its entry-level smartwatch; but here comes a couple of new ones for 2019 – the Versa Lite, Inspire and Inspire HR.
Fitbit tells me that the Inspire and Inspire HR replace the Alta series – a popular, affordable health and fitness tracker in its portfolio. The Versa Lite, on the other hand, is the trimmed down version (doh) of its full-fledged sibling. It doesn’t take much brain matter to deduce where Fitbit is going with these—it wants to get a tracker on everyone’s wrists. Yes, cheap fitness trackers from the likes of Xiaomi and other Chinese makes have been nipping at its market share for the past couple of years, but Fitbit has the edge in terms of expertise, an active community and brand recognition.
Fit for everyone
The numbers speak for themselves. Fitbit has sold 90 million devices to date (Q4 2018) and thanks to the Ionic and Versa, is also the number two smartwatch in the US behind the Apple Watch. It is sold across 87 countries with a network of 39,000 stores worldwide. The brand has 27.6 million active users with 8.1 million using female health tracking features.
Inspire and Inspire HR
If you’re familiar with the Fitbit Alta, Flex and Charge, then imagine the Inspire as the culmination of all three—a lightweight, full-fledged fitness tracker with the flexibility to be worn on the wrist, or with the aid of an accessory, clipped on your collar or pocket.
It boasts all-day automatic activity tracking including exercise with 15-plus goal-based modes, and Sleep Stages. The built-in heart rate monitor (on the HR model) enables PurePulse 24/7 heart rate tracking; there’s also female health tracking that includes tracking a women’s menstrual cycle.
The touchscreen enables easy access to the on-device dashboard and the tracker is water resistant up to 50m.
Battery life is rated at up to five days.
For more info on the Inspire series, visit Fitbit.
Versa Lite
The Versa Lite is Fitbit’s most affordable smartwatch to date. Built on the success of the Versa family of devices, the Versa Lite packs most of the much-loved core features of the Versa including PurePulse 24/7 heart rate tracking, activity and Sleep Stage tracking, goal-based exercise modes, Connected GPS, female health tracking, Cardio Fitness Level (VO2 Max) as well as smart notifications and replies (Android).
There’s support for apps and clock faces, and the smartwatch delivers up to 4+ days of battery life.
It loses swim lap counting, music (and storage) as well as on-screen workouts, just to name a few, but nonetheless, a good all-rounder.
It runs Fitbit SmartWatch OS 3.0, which is the latest edition of Fitbit’s smartwatch operating system.
For more information on the Versa family, visit Fitbit.
Pricing and availability
The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition retails for MYR768 and is available in five colours—white, lilac, mulberry, marina blue and charcoal. For those who want the full Versa experience, the Versa and Versa Special Edition are sold at MYR990 and MYR1,120 respectively.
The Fitbit Inspire HR carries a price tag of MYR468 and is available in black, lilac and two-tone black. The Fitbit Inspire costs MYR348 and is available in black and sangria.
Inspire accessories including clips, classic, leather and metal bands range from MYR98 to MYR268.
The Fitbit Versa Lite, Inspire and Inspire HR are available for purchase at all Fitbit authorised resellers starting this week.
