Nearly a year on from announcing their first true smart watch, the Ionic which I reviewed back in November, Fitbit have launched their latest creation; Fitbit Versa!
Fitbit Versa Smart Watch
The purists out there will no doubt screaming this is Fitbits 3rd smart watch outing after the Blaze and Ionic, but I’d argue the Blaze was more a multi function Fitness Tracker!
The Ionic on the other hand (excuse the pun!) was billed as a real smart watch, but for me it was more a brilliant fitness/activity tracker and a good smart watch to boot. So can the Versa really crack the smart watch market?
No. Is the short answer. With no built-in GPS, therefore a need to have your smart phone with you to map your run, it can’t, and I would love to hear from Fitbit as to why they felt the need to leave it out!
That aside, I speak very highly of Fitbit devices, and even more so of their excellent customer support. If you can look beyond the missing GPS function, the Versa looks to be a very desirable device.
Features
As with its predecessor, the Versa has a full range of fitness focused tools on board to enhance your workouts and help with your every day well-being.
There are over 15 different exercise modes that can track your sport or workout, all of which are backed up by the Purepulse®️ Heart rate monitor. In early models the heart rate monitor simply did just that! Now it can do so much more!
The monitor tracks your sleep patterns and on the Versa, provides a personalised cardio fitness level and even offer tips on how to improve it with continued exercise! It also provides how many calories you have burned during a session, even when swimming.
On the Ionic, the display was vibrant! The Versa has more of the same with a touchscreen display with a brightness rating of 1,000 nits! To put that in context, it is brighter, sharper and easier to read in sunlight than most high-end smart phones currently on the market!
For those who like some music while on a run, and won’t have their smart phone with them even if it doesn’t have GPS!! then the Versa can store around 300 songs. Alternatively, for Deezer subscribers, you can download your playlists on to the watch for offline playback.
My favorite addition to the Ionic makes a return on the Versa, Fitbit Pay. Similar to Apple/Google Pay, Fitbit can now make contactless payments direct from your watch. Load a credit or debit card via the Fitbit app and you can make contactless payments anywhere that accepts them, worldwide.
Along with the launch of the Versa, Fitbit have also announced Female health tracking will be added to the Fitbit App at some point during Spring 2018.
“You asked and Fitbit answered: Female health tracking will be available in the Fitbit app and on Versa and Ionic in Spring 2018. Log your period, record symptoms, gauge your estimated fertile window, get predictions on future periods, and more. This new in-app experience (available to all Fitbit users age 13 and older) and on-device experience is designed to help you learn more about your menstrual cycle—and your body—so you can better understand how it affects other aspects of your health and fitness. And that’s just the beginning.” ~ Fitbit.
Specifications
If anything, the Versa is more of a replacement to the 2-year-old Blaze, than a contender to the Ionic! However, it’s still feature rich, strong yet lightweight enough for anyone to wear when on the go or exercising and with contactless payment, travelling through major cities becomes hassle free!
- Optical heart rate monitor
- 3-axis accelerometer
- 50m Water Resistant
- Battery Life up to 4 Days
- 2-Hour Charge time
- Android, iOS, Windows Fitbit App
- Fitbit Pay
- Bluetooth Connectivity
Price
The Fitbit Versa is available on Pre-Order from Fitbit for £199. This is £100 less than ionic which is reasonable given the shorter battery life and missing GPS, but amazon are currently running a rather attractive promotion!
For a limited time you can purchase the Fitbit Ionic for £239 and it is Prime eligible.
