Best Fitbit fitness tracker 2021: Which Fitbit is right for you?
Fitbit has been around for years, sitting at the top of its activity tracking class, smugly watching as its competitors hope to raise the same sort of brand awareness. For many, a fitness band is simply called “a Fitbit” – such has been the impact of this company – and it’s now being bought by Google, to add to its power.
We’ve broken down each of the Fitbit trackers, looking at how much each costs, what features it offers and why you might consider buying each one. This list is all about helping you work out which Fitbit will suit you and your lifestyle best.
Quick summary
The Fitbit Inspire is the cheapest fitness tracker in Fitbit’s offering, replacing the Zip, Flex and Alta. It offers all-day sleep and activity tracking, smartphone notifications, clock faces and interchangeable straps. It has a touchscreen display, is swim proof and it offers automatic exercise recognition too.
The Fitbit Inspire HR has a very similar design to the standard Inspire but it adds heart rate monitoring, more advanced sleep data, VO2 Max, Goal-Based exercise modes and Connected GPS. Other functions are the same as the Inspire, but it is a little more expensive due to the extra features.
The Fitbit Inspire 2 has a slightly more refined design compared to the Inspire and Inspire HR, offering many of the same features but doubling the battery life and adding Active Zone Minutes and Quick Replies for Android users.
The Fitbit Charge 3 offers everything the Inspire HR does, including swim tracking and Goal-Based exercise, but it adds more advanced smartphone notifications and it has an altimeter. There is also a Special Edition model with NFC for Fitbit Pay.
The Fitbit Charge 4 updates the Fitbit Charge 3, adds NFC as standard, offers Spotify controls and built-in GPS, so it’s better at accurately tracking workouts as a standalone device.
The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition moves into smartwatch territory, offering a middle ground between the Charge 3 and the standard Versa 2 smartwatch in terms of features and price. The Versa Lite Edition has the same features as the Charge 3, including swim proofing, but it adds apps. It loses Fitbit Pay however, as well as an altimeter.
The Fitbit Versa 2 is the next step up in the Fitbit smartwatch sector. It offers everything the Versa Lite Edition has, but it adds the altimeter back in, along with Fitbit Pay and built-in Alexa. Still no built-in GPS, but the Versa 2 has phone-free music, which the Charge 3 and Versa Lite Edition do not.
The Fitbit Versa 3 is an upgrade to the Versa 2, adding Google Assistant as an option on top of Alexa, a built-in speaker for taking calls, Pure Pulse 2.0 heart rate technology and most importantly, built-in GPS.
The Fitbit Ionic is more sportswatch in its design than smartwatch. It offers built-in GPS, water resistance up to 50-metres, mobile payments and smartphone notifications, as well as all the features found on other Fitbit devices. No voice assistants though.
The Fitbit Sense is the all-singing, all-dancing Fitbit smartwatch with a number of sensors on board. It has everything the Versa 3 offers, along with an EDA sensor for monitoring stress, the ability to take an ECG and a skin temperature sensor.
