The Fashionable Fitbit Luxe Is a Solid Alternative to a Smartwatch

The humble health tracker has lengthy since been eclipsed by the smartwatch. It’s straightforward to grasp why, in fact however it’s left anybody on the lookout for one thing easier—and cheaper—with dinky wristbands to select from that aren’t a lot to have a look at. The Fitbit Luxe looks like the right answer, with a chic jewelry-inspired design, shade touchscreen, and all the fundamental health-monitoring options an individual may ask for, after which some. It’s additionally acquired a price ticket befitting a “luxe” tracker. That could or will not be a superb factor, relying on what you’re on the lookout for.

An Actually Fashionable Fitness Tracker

It’s been some time since we’ve seen a sexy health tracker that wasn’t really a hybrid smartwatch. The final one was in all probability the Fitbit Alta HR—and that launched ages in the past in 2017. When Fitbit introduced the Luxe in April, I jokingly advised a coworker it had “bougie bitch energy”—in a great way. And it does!

When the touchscreen isn’t on, you can simply mistake the Luxe for a bracelet. That makes it straightforward to decorate up or down, particularly for those who splurge for a nicer-looking band. My evaluation unit got here within the gold-and-lunar white mixture, and Fitbit additionally despatched alongside a gold mesh strap. While the Luxe regarded extra like a tracker with the default silicone strap, once I swapped it out for the mesh, I’ll admit I felt fancy.

The huge benefit the Luxe has over different trackers is the colour touchscreen. It’s straightforward on the eyes, textual content is simpler to learn than on a monochrome LED display, and colours are vibrant. However, the show itself is definitely fairly small and the bezels are big. If you faucet on the high or backside of the display, it received’t register, so that you’ll need to maintain your faucets to the middle of the show. Otherwise, navigating is easy. You swipe up for a dashboard of your day by day exercise, right down to entry settings and a Do Not Disturb mode, and left or proper to your apps. Double tapping any display will deliver you again to your default clock face, which you’ll swap from the app. There aren’t a ton of choices, however sufficient to search out one you want.

While stunning, the show’s measurement presents some quirks. Swipes registered simply with minimal latency, however a smaller display isn’t as straightforward to make use of in comparison with a smartwatch. Setting an alarm, as an example, requires extra swiping, and you’ll solely actually do one. Same with timers. Scrolling by notifications takes some time when you’ve got plenty of them. The display additionally isn’t the simplest to see in direct daylight. This is just a disadvantage if you wish to work together together with your tracker loads. I ended up appreciating how I spent much less time taking a look at my wrist than I do with different smartwatches.

At 1.43 inches by 0.69 inches by 0.4 inches (LWH) and 0.96 ounces, the Luxe is kind of slim and light-weight. Unless you’ve acquired it strapped on too tight, it’s straightforward to overlook you’re even carrying it. That makes it splendid for not solely sleep-monitoring, but in addition on a regular basis exercise. It’s additionally nice for petite wrists, because the small strap suits wrists starting from 5.5 to 7.1 inches in circumference. The bigger one accommodates wrists measuring 7.1 to 8.7 inches. Between the modern design and luxury, the Luxe will get main factors for wearability.

You are giving up some performance for the design, although not a lot. The two notable omissions are built-in GPS and NFC funds. That stated, you continue to get health-monitoring options you’d anticipate from a pricier tracker, like SpO2 sensors (although Spo2 clock faces aren’t accessible at launch), pores and skin temperature readings, steady coronary heart rate-monitoring, and multi-day battery life.

The Luxe can also be water resistant to 50 meters and has a water lock setting. But honestly talking, I didn’t need to get it wherever close to water if I may assist it. It was positive for laundry dishes and my fingers, however I didn’t really feel comfy carrying it within the bathe or within the pool. Maybe it’s one thing to do with the actual fact it seems like jewellery, however I handled the Luxe extra gingerly than I’d Fitbit’s different monitoring bands, Charge 4 and the Inspire. (Even if I didn’t should.)

One factor I didn’t love? Fitbit’s caught us with yet one more proprietary charger. I get it, however for the love of God, that is the fourth or fifth one previously two years. Also, Fitbit, it’s time to lastly transfer from USB-A to USB-C. Please.

The Biggest Selling Point: Fitbit’s App

The Luxe isn’t tremendous spectacular from a {hardware} standpoint. It’s actually simply a median health tracker in nicer packaging. But the Luxe will get you entry to the Fitbit app, and buddy, that app is without doubt one of the most complete for well being monitoring on the market. Here’s what you get with out a subscription: stress administration instruments, guided respiratory and meditations, well being and wellness applications, sleep monitoring, heart-related well being tendencies, competitors and challenges with associates, sensible notifications, a crap-ton of train modes together with swimming, menstrual health-monitoring, meals and hydration-logging, blood glucose-monitoring, and a metric that Fitbit calls Active Zone Minutes (AZM). AZM is mainly a illustration of the 150 minutes of average exercise you must get per week, as beneficial by numerous well being establishments. It’s a hell of much more significant than random step counts and takes a number of the strain off of assembly arbitrary day by day targets.

The Luxe additionally comes with a 6-month trial of Fitbit Premium, the corporate’s $10 month-to-month subscription tier. That unlocks some in-depth perception into metrics like sleep, stress, coronary heart price variation, and respiratory price, in addition to expanded choices for guided exercises, meditations, well being and wellness applications, and challenges. It’s loads!

Getting entry to all these instruments is sufficient to overlook a number of the Luxe’s weaknesses—as long as all you need is a holistic overview of your exercise. Looking for one thing extra granular to assist with coaching? This in all probability isn’t going to fulfill all of your wants.

This is especially as a result of the Luxe depends on tethered GPS, which implies you’re going to wish to hold your telephone with you on out of doors runs, walks, hikes, and bike rides. That’s positive for weekend warriors, however not so nice for those who’re somebody who likes to go onerous in areas the place you’re in all probability not going to get good mobile service. (You additionally should be aware of whether or not the Luxe has acquired a sign by way of your telephone earlier than you begin a exercise.)

Even for those who do get a sign, the Luxe goes to be barely off in the case of recording your tempo. (Heart price, nevertheless, is spot on in comparison with my Polar H10 chest strap and Apple Watch SE.) On a 2.75-mile run recorded by my telephone with a median tempo of 11’06”, the Luxe logged 2.87 miles and a ten’44” tempo. My Apple Watch SE logged 2.77 miles and a tempo of 11’o3”. That’s an affordable discrepancy and was replicated on two subsequent runs, that means the Luxe is constant sufficient to reliably measure progress. It’s much less positive if you’re coaching for a race and correct metrics will make a big distinction on race day.

However, for those who worth comfort, the Luxe is nice. Because of the restricted display area, you need to pre-program which train shortcuts present up on the wrist. Meaning, no infinite scrolling to search out the one exercise you need. Also, you don’t even should manually begin actions. In my testing, the sensible monitoring was fairly dependable. On an extended day the place I used to be exhibiting some out-of-town associates round, it mechanically recorded once we have been strolling with freakish accuracy. The Luxe recorded 25,882 steps and 11.34 miles for that day, in contrast to my Apple Watch’s 26,802 steps and 12.1 miles. This is the form of hole you’d anticipate to see from two correct however algorithmically completely different devices worn on completely different arms. You would possibly assume that is par for the course lately, however it’s not at all times assured.

Another factor within the Luxe’s favor is battery life. Fitbit says it’s estimated for as much as 5 days between expenses, however I really acquired a bit over 7 days with roughly 30-45 minutes of exercise per day. Of course, this may depend upon how you employ the machine, however I take into account myself an influence person and I used to be impressed, particularly given the colour touchscreen. Charging from 15% again as much as 100% took about 90 minutes, which is a little bit higher than common.

Fitbit Luxe vs. Fitbit Charge 4

The Fitbit Luxe is a stable tracker, however the principle factor that flits by my head once I have a look at it’s, “It’s pretty.” If design is without doubt one of the major causes you haven’t gotten aboard the wearables prepare, then the Luxe is an efficient, inexpensive choice in comparison with a extra full-featured smartwatch. It’s additionally a stable alternative for those who’re not fairly as zealous about notifications, superior options, or hyper-accurate out of doors exercise monitoring. So lengthy as you perceive that you simply’re paying a premium for a trendy tracker, the Luxe is a positive alternative.

But say all you need is an easy health band. This is the place issues get muddled. Fitbit has one other wonderful choice, the Charge 4. While it initially price the identical because the Luxe at $150, now you can discover it on Fitbit’s website for $130. The design is ho-hum and there’s no shade display, however it has extra options, together with the built-in GPS and NFC funds that the Luxe is missing.

I can perceive why you would possibly omit built-in GPS with the Luxe. It’s a fashion-first machine. But leaving out contactless funds seems like a missed alternative, given we’re nonetheless within the midst of a pandemic. Sure, Fitbit Pay’s future is a bit doubtful now that it’s been purchased by Google, however together with the NFC sensor would’ve made sense for the Luxe. It in all probability has one thing to do with the Luxe’s slim type issue, however it’s a disgrace.

Obviously, the Charge 4 makes extra sense for those who’re extra severe about out of doors health and sturdiness. In reviewing my testing outcomes, the Charge 4’s built-in GPS will get you barely extra correct out of doors activity-monitoring. But for those who’re not an outdoorsy individual, the Luxe’s accuracy is simply nearly as good because the Charge 4’s. In that case, it boils right down to appears versus contactless funds.

That stated, we don’t suggest the Luxe Special Edition. It prices a whopping $200, and for that further $50 you get a… fancy Gorjana hyperlink bracelet and nil further options. Unless you assume the Gorjana bracelet is essentially the most stunning factor ever to have graced the earth, that doesn’t make any monetary sense—particularly since third events will ultimately put out comparable equipment for a lot lower than Fitbit’s official ones. And even then, I guarantee you there are stunning hybrid smartwatch choices within the $200 vary.

Having used each the Luxe and the Charge 4, the cheapskate in my coronary heart says the Charge 4 is the higher worth. Knowing that, I’d personally go for the Luxe as a result of it’s tremendous comfy, I like fairly shiny issues, and the perfect tracker is the one you’re going to put on. Call me shallow, but when I’m going to go primary, I need to look good. And on my wrist? The Fitbit Luxe appears rattling good.