Versa has few vices
Fitbit’s new offering is great value and an ideal first smartwatch purchase
Late last year Fitbit launched a full-on attempt at a smartwatch. While it was a decent fitness tracking device it wasn’t a serious rival to Apple or Samsung’s high-spec watches. However, Fitbit are trying again with another watch, the newlylaunched Versa.
Unboxing the Versa was a pleasant surprise as it’s slicker looking and feels better in the hand than their last smartwatch. The Versa is available in three colours and there are a couple of fancier-looking special editions that cost a bit more. The black version looks unisex but there is a range available of leather, silicone, metal and woven bands that you could personalise your device with.
Also in the box is the clever clipin battery charger, which is sturdy and you won’t knock your watch off charge by accident. I charged the watch and went about the set-up using an iPhone. The watch connects via Bluetooth to your smartphone and it supports Android, iOS and Windows devices.
Fitbit have made the pairing process easy and within a couple of minutes my watch was paired and I could see it in my Fitbit account on my phone. The Versa tracks your steps as you go about your day and they’re recorded in your account which you can review on your phone or home PC.
However, this is a watch with serious tracking capabilities, so it does a great deal more than just step tracking. It will track your running and while it doesn’t have an inbuilt GPS, it can use the GPS on your phone. With this, you can get more accurate feedback on the terrain you’ve covered and you get an accurate reading on pace and distance as you run.
The Versa does an excellent job at tracking swimming, and figures out when you finish a length and start another. It’s water-resisitant to 50 metres, which is great for swimming – and you can wear it in the shower.
If you’re keeping an eye on your general health or a keen exerciser, the Versa has a built-in heart-rate tracker. It does this well and gives you stats based on your age, weight and running speed. There’s a really informative feature letting you measure yourself against people of a similar age and gender to benchmark your progress.
As well as activity and heart-rate tracking the Versa functions well as a sleep tracker. The Fitbit app shows you an easy-to-read graph of your sleep phases, REM, light and deep sleep and this graph was the first thing I looked at every morning for a week.
IT HAS AN EASILY READABLE GRAPH OF YOUR SLEEP PHASES
There are also some additional features on the watch, including Fitbit Pay for cashless purchases available where banks support it. You can also store music on it – about 300 tracks– but it’s a little fiddly to use. There are additional apps, but I found few of them that appeared to be useful. I thought the omission of inbuilt GPS would be a letdown. That isn’t the case. Fitbit have made what is maybe their most appealing device so far. There are smartphone notifications on your wrist, inbuilt coaching and excellent exercise and sleep tracking. The battery life is superb, at least four or more days, which puts most smartwatches to shame. While the Fitbit Versa doesn’t have the cachet of high-end devices, its battery life, tracking features and value for money could make it an ideal first smartwatch purchase.