Smartwatches and fitness trackers have become a part of our lives these days, and fitbit is one of the prominent players in this space. fitbit was recently acquired by Google, which said that the American smartwatch maker ‘has created engaging products, experiences, and a vibrant community of users.’ We tested its latest flagship offering – the Fitbit Versa 2 – for about a month, and we can say that it has a few special tricks up its sleeve. The Versa 2 offers everything that you want in your smartwatch / fitness tracker, including a very long battery life, which is also one of its highlights.
In simple terms, we can say that the Fitbit Versa 2 is a lifestyle watch, and your 24/7 health and wellness companion. It comes with new features, including one that not only records users’ sleep and workout patterns but also coaches them in their overall fitness journey. The Versa 2 has Alexa built-in, which means that it can do everything that other Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo. The smartwatch also has Spotify, which enables you to directly play songs from your wrist. But how is this device a notch above others? Let’s find out.
Design
The Fitbit Versa 2 looks a lot like an Apple Watch, but a single button on the left edge of the chassis is what distinguishes it from the latter. The button can be used to open the app gallery and can also be used as a back button to go back to the previous screen. It has an AMOLED touchscreen display protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The smartwatch comes with two straps – one for the wrist size of up to 5.5 inches and the other one for up to 7.1 inches.
The wearable comes with an optical heart rate monitor and a built-in microphone, in addition to the general sensors that can also be found in other wearables.
Performance
The Fitbit Versa 2 comes loaded with features like On-Screen Workouts, sleep tracking & sleep score, female health, multiple exercise modes, and Guided Breathing Sessions. During our time with the watch, we were able to test its fitness-oriented features extensively. It allows you to choose the type of workout you want to do, based on which, it will display information. For example, if you chose a cardio workout, the watch will constantly measure things like the amount of time spent during the exercise, your heart rate fluctuation, and the number of calories burnt during that session.
We also tested it while working out on a cross trainer. The smartwatch displayed heart rate, the number of burnt calories, and the duration of the exercise. We also tested it while working out with free weights. Here, the fitness tracker only gives you the heart rate but lacks any in-depth data concerning your weight training. If you are into High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), you have to manually log in your data and set the time intervals for each set for the watch to correctly guide you through the session.
Once we finished our workout, the wearable gave us a report detailing the total duration of the exercising session, average heart rate, maximum heart rate, and the total number of calories burnt. You can set that as a benchmark, and try to better the scores every time you hit the gym. The watch syncs and stores 7-day data on the fitbit mobile app to revisit previous data to track your improvement. The watch constantly tracks your steps and measures the total distance you’ve walked in a day.
The Versa 2 also includes sleep features like ‘sleep score’, which gives you information regarding the quality of your sleep. The score is based on your heart rate while you’re asleep or resting, restlessness, awake time, and different sleep stages.
The Versa 2 is also the first fitbit smartwatch with built-in Alexa, which can be used to undertake tasks, like finding information on the internet, controlling Alexa-enabled devices, and setting alarms & timers. Apart from that, there is no use of Alexa, which essentially means that the feature is more-or-less useless. You can easily perform these tasks using other WearOS-powered devices or on your smartphone.
When it comes to entertainment, users can log-in to their Spotify subscription to control music and podcasts. Users can also store and play over 300 songs from the library. One feature that we really like is the option to enjoy relaxing sessions offered by the Relax app, which provides personalised deep breathing sessions, which vary from 2 minutes to 5 minutes. When you tap the app, it asks you to sit still and start taking deep breaths.
The Versa 2 then measures the changes in your heart rate, which increases while inhaling and decreases while exhaling. The Versa 2 uses this data to recommend a personalised breathing pattern. Women users can also log in data of their period and record symptoms, allowing them to holistically manage their fitness levels.
Battery
While the company says that the Versa 2 can deliver over six days of battery, we could only wring out just over five days of run time. The wearable takes up about an hour and a half to fully charge.
Conclusion
At Rs 20,999, the Fitbit Versa 2 is an affordable replacement for an Apple Watch. It brings style and features that can help people achieve their fitness goals quite efficiently.
Pros
One of the most accurate fitness trackers available with a number of personalised training and relaxing sessions.
Cons
Built-in Alexa is not a useful feature.
