Fitbit’s many achievements in its subject has, to some extent, turned the model identify into one thing of a family time period for wrist-worn health trackers. Nevertheless, the idea of the health tracker itself is shedding a little bit of steam as smartwatches have now change into reasonably priced sufficient to make these smaller, fitness-focused bands considerably out of date. Nevertheless, for health lovers, a devoted tracker that matches of their price range remains to be a worthwhile proposition. Fitbit continues to work in direction of successful over this demographic, because of its mixture of conventional {hardware} and ever-improving software program.
Whereas the premium section is now largely dominated by smartwatches with first rate health-tracking capabilities, Fitbit stays devoted to the concept of a better and higher health tracker. The Fitbit Versa 4 is priced at Rs. 20,499 in India and guarantees a smartwatch-like expertise, however doesn’t shrink back from its fitness-first credentials.
The Fitbit Versa 4 has an AMOLED display, with varied watch faces together with Premium choices as a part of the subscription bundle
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Fitbit Versa 4 design and specs
Health trackers and bands as soon as adopted a definite look, characterised by fundamental, slender screens and a usually compact kind issue. Nevertheless, the choice in direction of massive screens on wearables have seen trendy fitness-focused wearables extra carefully resemble smartwatches, and that is the aesthetic that the Fitbit Versa 4 goes for. It has a sq. AMOLED display which dominates the entrance, an aluminium casing with a matte end, and a single button on the suitable aspect of the gadget.
Though the specs of the display aren’t formally said by Fitbit, it’s sharp and fairly good to take a look at, particularly in case you use a watch face with a black background. Waking the display works with a press of the button or the lift-to-wake gesture, however tapping the touchscreen will not work till the gadget is energetic. You even have the choice to make use of the always-on show mode to see the time, set the display timeout length, and select between three brightness ranges, relying in your preferences.
The underside of the watch has the charging contact factors and the optical sensors for coronary heart charge and blood oxygen measurements. There’s additionally an altimeter within the Fitbit Versa 4, which is utilized by the gadget to depend flooring when climbing stairs; sadly the precise altitude knowledge cannot be accessed simply or straight.
In India, the Fitbit Versa 4 is obtainable in 4 color choices, with the color of the smartwatch matching that of the straps in all instances. These embrace a black strap with a graphite colored casing, ‘Pink Sand’ strap with a copper rose colored casing, ‘Beet Juice’ with a copper rose colored casing, and ‘Waterfall Blue’ strap with a platinum colored casing. Whereas I appreciated the blue-platinum color mixture of my assessment unit, I personally felt that the all-black choice regarded higher.
Strap consolation itself is a subjective level, and I did face some points with it throughout my time with the Fitbit Versa 4. A considerably tight adjustment did trigger some pores and skin sensitivity points, whereas a free match was snug however affected the readings from the optical sensors. I used to be fantastic with the connected small strap, however there may be an extra massive strap included within the gross sales bundle. Additionally included within the field is the charger for the Fitbit Versa 4, which attaches to the underside of the watch magnetically and plugs right into a USB Sort-A port for energy (you will want your individual adapter or join it to a laptop computer).
By way of specs, the Fitbit Versa 4 is water-resistant as much as a depth of 50m, and might due to this fact deal with vital publicity to water with out a lot threat of harm. For connectivity, the gadget makes use of Bluetooth 5, and has an in-built speaker and microphone which can be utilized to speak with Alexa for voice assistant performance, and to obtain incoming calls from the paired smartphone. The gadget additionally helps satellite tv for pc location monitoring by means of GPS and GLONASS.
Fitbit Versa 4 software program, interface, and app
Many in style wearables are OS or platform-specific, and Fitbit’s acquisition by Google has led many to consider that the gadget and app requires an Android telephone to work, or works higher on Android. This is not actually the case although; the Fitbit app works on each Android and iOSÂ and Fitbit stays gadget agnostic on this regard. I primarily used the Versa 4 with an iPhone for a lot of this assessment, and all app-based performance labored as anticipated.
The Fitbit app handles the connection between the Versa 4 and the paired smartphone, and likewise synchronises with the tracker to gather and analyse knowledge. This itself is not particular — each smartwatch and health tracker does this — however the place Fitbit really units itself aside is within the high quality of its evaluation of the information. The app generates detailed graphs and statistics primarily based on the information the Versa 4 collects, together with varied knowledge units that come as a part of the Premium subscription.
The Fitbit app (out there on iOS and Android) is the important thing to the general expertise, and the Premium subscription unlocks varied attention-grabbing knowledge factors
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Fitbit Premium provides an assortment of further knowledge and statistics that transcend the fundamentals of health, well being, and sleep monitoring on the Versa 4. This consists of detailed knowledge units on factors equivalent to respiration charge, resting coronary heart charge, oxygen saturation, coronary heart charge variability, and detailed sleep profiles, amongst others, all with your individual efficiency primarily based on private and typical ranges.
You may as well generate a well being report in PDF format, which supplies you a complete break up of the way you’re doing by way of well being and health. Some particular metrics equivalent to Readiness Rating, Sleep Profile, snore and noise detection, and extra can be found solely with the Premium subscription. You additionally get entry to video exercises and wholesome cooking recipes by means of the Premium subscription.
Whereas the concept of paying a month-to-month subscription charge after already having spent over Rs. 20,000 on the Versa 4 itself could seem a bit extreme, it is value mentioning that I discovered the Premium service to be significantly higher by way of knowledge evaluation in comparison with the competing free choices I’ve had an opportunity to attempt. Six months of complimentary Premium subscription comes with the Fitbit Versa 4 upon activation, after which it’s priced at Rs. 99 per 30 days or Rs. 999 per 12 months. That is fairly affordable for what’s on provide, in my view.
The Fitbit Versa 4 itself comes throughout as a bit fundamental for a tool that prices over Rs. 20,000. There’s a easy on-device working system with screens displaying fundamental knowledge together with steps taken, sleep hours, coronary heart charge, climate, and instruments equivalent to alarms, timers, and stopwatch. You may as well management fundamental gadget parameters equivalent to always-on show and DnD mode, entry Alexa on the watch (as soon as arrange by means of the app), arrange Fitbit Pay (not supported in India for now), and look at notifications out of your smartphone.
Watch faces (known as ‘Clocks’ within the Fitbit app) for the Fitbit Versa 4 could be downloaded and synced by means of the app, with loads of good choices out there at no cost or as a part of the Premium subscription. Whereas I most popular the Fitbit-developed, AMOLED screen-friendly choices, many would possibly just like the seasonal and curated watch faces as effectively.
The Fitbit Versa 4 is rated for water resistance as much as 50m
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Different in-app choices embrace establishing Alexa for the Versa 4, on-wrist calls from the paired smartphone, and establishing particular gadget preferences together with day by day health targets and account settings. I did have occasional points with knowledge synchronisation, sleep and SpO2 stats took some time to replace within the app, and there have been minor bugs together with one affecting distance monitoring, however nothing was too severe or precipitated any long-term hassles throughout my assessment. Meals, water consumption, and guide weight monitoring could be maintained inside the app as effectively.
Fitbit Versa 4 efficiency and battery life
Virtually each smartwatch, no matter worth, can function a health tracker, though the accuracy and high quality of the evaluation of knowledge collected varies. The place the Fitbit Versa 4 hopes to set itself aside is in its deal with health monitoring. There are some smartwatch features equivalent to the flexibility to take calls in your wrist and look at notifications from the paired smartphone, however the Versa 4 is, above all else, a health tracker at its core.
The core knowledge assortment by the Fitbit Versa 4 is essentially just like what most health trackers present, and accuracy within reason good as effectively. The tracker has the flexibility to retailer as much as seven days of detailed movement knowledge on gadget, which might be retained till the gadget is synchronised with the app in your smartphone. Day by day totals could be saved for as much as 30 days on gadget.
Step monitoring on the Fitbit Versa 4 was first rate sufficient in our 1,000-step take a look at. The gadget measured 1,020 steps the place I manually counted 1,000 steps whereas strolling at a reasonable tempo — a suitable error margin of two %. At a brisk tempo, the Versa 4 barely undercounted steps, with an analogous error margin of round two %. Satellite tv for pc location monitoring on the Fitbit Versa 4 labored effectively for out of doors workout routines, with the gadget measuring 1.01km for a distance said by Google Maps to be 1km, throughout an outside stroll.
Though it’s splendid to manually begin exercises straight from the Versa 4, the gadget can robotically detect train and provoke the detailed monitoring itself. It handles this effectively, though it’s typically a few minutes late to provoke the monitoring. In all instances of train monitoring, additionally it is in a position to detect if you find yourself in cardio and fats burn zones primarily based in your coronary heart charge, categorised by Fitbit as ‘Zone’ minutes which could be set as a day by day objective.
Coronary heart charge monitoring takes place each 5 seconds ordinarily, and as soon as per second throughout an train routine, with these readings affecting the measurement of ‘Zone’ minutes. Whereas resting and sleep coronary heart charge monitoring was fantastic, I discovered train and main exercise coronary heart charge monitoring on the Fitbit Versa 4 to be a bit unreliable, thereby affecting correct measurement of ‘Zone’ minutes and different parameters.
I usually discovered monitoring to be fantastic as much as round 130bpm, however increased coronary heart charges (widespread throughout intense exercises) precipitated the Versa 4 to slide up. This additionally affected different total readings equivalent to cardio health rating and coronary heart charge variability, since measurements throughout heavy exercise had been usually unreliable. Some others equivalent to pores and skin temperature variation and total pores and skin temperature did not appear to indicate any dependable readings even after many days of use.
The Fitbit Versa 4 has a speaker and microphone inbuilt, and can be utilized to obtain calls from the paired smartphone or talk with Alexa
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Blood oxygen monitoring on the Fitbit Versa 4 isn’t on-demand, as is the case with most smartwatches and health trackers which have the function. As a substitute, this metric is simply proven after in a single day sleep, and could be seen solely with a watch face that helps displaying it, or by means of the app. This additionally tended to indicate decrease readings than what a good SpO2 monitor confirmed throughout daytime measurements however that is anticipated, and nonetheless offers a good outlook into your blood oxygen ranges every day.
Sleep monitoring is the place the Fitbit Versa 4 performs exceptionally effectively, offering correct and detailed sleep high quality statistics and well being monitoring. The app additionally generates a sleep profile after logging sufficient knowledge, and helps with insights on tips on how to enhance your total sleep and well being by means of this technique. This additionally helps to estimate a ‘Readiness’ rating — a parameter which offers some steerage as to when you must work out, relaxation, or atone for sleep, primarily based on latest exercise.
Battery life on the Fitbit Versa 4 is significantly higher than most smartwatches, however comes throughout as fairly strange when in comparison with different gadgets with comparable {hardware} capabilities. The Versa 4 ran for just a little below 4 days on a single cost with regular use for me, which was barely decreased on days with extra frequent display use or train monitoring.
Name high quality is strange and workable for brief calls; the standard of the on-device speaker is not superb, and sounded a bit muffled for calls in addition to responses from Alexa. Notification pushing is dependable so long as the Fitbit Versa 4 is close to the paired smartphone, however not like similarly-priced smartwatches, you possibly can solely view notifications on the gadget with no potential to reply.
Verdict
The Fitbit Versa 4 is, at the very least by way of the standard of the {hardware}, a reasonably strange health tracker and smartwatch for the value. Nevertheless, the true worth of this isn’t purely within the {hardware}, however within the app and advantages of the Premium subscription, significantly for health lovers who actually stand to learn from the information and insights on provide. In case you’re somebody who works out typically and needs to regulate your well being, it is a good tracker for round Rs. 20,000.
There are some drawbacks right here, significantly within the type of unreliable coronary heart charge monitoring, a reasonably fundamental smartwatch expertise, and battery life that actually needs to be higher contemplating the extent of {hardware} capabilities. Nevertheless, the general health monitoring expertise was largely optimistic for me, and I did profit from the varied insights and knowledge supplied by the app and the Premium service.
Nevertheless, in case you do not count on to place the main points well being analytics to frequent use, and also you need a extra all-round expertise as a substitute, it is likely to be value getting an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch as a substitute. You possibly can additionally contemplate the Garmin Venu Sq 2 or the marginally extra reasonably priced Amazfit GTR 4 for fitness-focused performance.
