Fitbit Ace 2

AN EYE-CATCHING KID’S FITNESS ACCESSORY.

2018’S FITBIT ACE may have been aimed at kids, but it was actually based on the company’s adult-oriented Fitbit Alta, so it could hardly be claimed that it was built from the ground-up with younger users in mind.

Fitbit has changed its approach this year, and the Ace 2 is clearly designed with children as its main focus; as a result, the age range has dropped from 8+ to 6+.

While the original Ace had a metal body, the Ace 2 is essentially a plastic pebble set within a soft, rubber-like strap. This strap – which fully encases the unit and protects it from bumps and drops – is entirely interchangeable and comes in two different color schemes: Watermelon/Teal and Night Sky/Neon Yellow.

The straps look playful and appealing, and the whole design is certainly a lot more kiddie-friendly than the rather austere original.

The downside is that if you’ve got a child who is fast approaching their teenage years, they may be a little self-conscious wearing this unit. And at least with the original Ace, you could swap out the strap for a larger one as your child grew older. The Ace uses a monochrome OLED screen to display information such as the time, date, total steps for the day and total active time. The screen also displays notifications, so your child is constantly being updated on their progress; the little animations that play out given them the incentive to keep active.

You can also use the Fitbit app to transfer a special watch face to the unit; our personal favorite is ‘Sprout’, which displays a plant pot that contains a flower which slowly grows as your child builds up their step count throughout the day.

While the hardware has had a facelift, the actual process of setting up the Fitbit Ace 2 has remained largely the same – and once again, getting things configured correctly can be a bit of a nightmare for newcomers.

The Ace 2 automatically sets fitness goals for your child, and you’ll get notifications when they beat their goal for the day, as long as the unit is within range of your phone so it can sync the data.

It can track both steps and active minutes, and seemed accurate in our tests, but with no heart rate monitor or GPS it is certainly at the basic end of the scale. Still, those features are probably overkill for most young children.

You can even set alarms for them from the app and monitor their sleeping patterns, which sounds a little bit Orwellian to us; besides, your child can easily remove the Ace 2 – which lacks a heart rate monitor, so it can’t check for a pulse – when they go to bed, robbing you of the ability to snoop on their slumbering activities.

While the more colorful casing might make this a hard sell for older kids, there’s no denying that the Fitbit Ace 2 is a much better fitness tracker for children than the original.

Mastering the smartphone app can be a bit tricky, but all in all, this is the ideal way to ensure your offspring lead as healthy and active a lifestyle as possible without hovering over them 24 hours a day.

[ DAMIEN MCFERRAN ]