Fitbit Versa Reviews: Solid Smartwatch Option at $200 Unlikely to Lure Away Apple Watch Owners

[pika2000]

Why would an iPhone user want to pay $200 for a sub-par experience when they can pay $249 for an actual Apple Watch?

FitBit and the rest of wearables OEMs are dying. I wouldn't bother getting any of their products as you don't know how long they will still be in business.

 

[iReality85]

As someone who doesn't own an AW or Fitbit (watch or otherwise, but let's consider the watch here), can someone tell me what the Fitbit does that the AW doesn't? Are Fitbit's heath trackers that much better than Apple's?

Everyone I know who owns an AW goes running with it and loves the health trackers...

 

[tny]

Considering the cavalier attitude Fitbit has displayed about ongoing support of their products on macOS, I wouldn't take one of these if they gave them away. Have you ever dealt with their support? Have you ever tried to get a software update that is compatible with the latest macOS? Forget Fitbit, they will soon pass into history (ask Pebble owners, too).

Actually, I have dealt with their support recently. I had to jump through a couple of hoops so they knew I was reporting a real issue, but once they recognized that it was a hardware (battery) issue, they replaced a defective Fitbit immediately. And the software is working fine with my iPhone 8 - though yes, I did need to add SyncSolver.

If you can't justify spending the full price of an Apple Watch, and don't need GPS and NFC and tight integration with iOS, it's a good budget choice. But Fitbit competes with Apple Watch solely on price - not features, not integration, not build quality, not design.

 

[shaunp]

Actually this will lure away some AppleWatch owners. My Mrs has an aging iPhone 5 and an AppleWatch 1. The watch is okay, but the phone is ancient and barely holds a charge. We've decided that it's not worth spending around £800 on an iPhone when a £200 Android phone will do the job for her needs. So for the half the price of an iPhone she can have a new phone and a new watch. Yes the Apple stuff has better build quality, but they are starting to price themselves out of the market now there are plenty of viable budget options.

 

[ocnitsa]

They were idiots for not running with Pebble. They had an opportunity to offer a different sort of thing to a growing niche of users looking for extended battery life and some smart capabilities with some limitations.

 

[charlesdayton]

"hardcore Apple fans" and "Android Users"

Why these guys can just say iPhone Users instead of Hardcore Apple Fans???



By the way it is 2018 and Fitbit still don't support Apple Health or Google Fit. Plus their popular Fitstar Yoga app is not available on Android. Seems they are alienating both Android and iPhone users at once.

 

[Elijen]

Attractive design

Actually one of the main reasons I would choose Apple Watch over any other is the design. Many smartwatches look like ugly cheap plastic widgets I'd be embarrassed to show up with.

Although Withings Activité (Nokia Steel now) is far more likely for me. I just wish they implemented hearth rhythm tracking.

 

[Krayzkat]

Fitbit is just tumbling along waiting for a company like Google, Microsoft, or Amazon, to buy them. Share price is 10% of what it was a few years ago

 

[Kabeyun]

they are starting to price themselves out of the market now there are plenty of viable budget options.

No. Your wife may have a use case for a basic mobile phone and what amounts to a glorified pedomoeter watch, and that’s fine. But I’m weary of hearing this stuff about price. I have zero doubt that Apple could also hit a $200 price point if they also killed AppleWatch NFC, Bluetooth, and WiFi. The AW “Basic” would drop from $329 to $200, and would do so with better looks, quality, and support. You get what you pay for.

Now if they can only educate Siri...

 

[44267547]

The Apple Watch is just the natural choice because if someone already owns the iPhone and how both products communicate to each other. The Way I see the Apple Watch is it’s more multi tool that can do so many things, where is fitbit is primarily used for fitness, with some side capabilities.

On a sidenote: Strangely enough, I feel like fit bit’s marketing has dropped a lot lately where I don’t see them advertise as much as they used to. And one thing about the Apple Watch, Apple does an excellent job marketing Apple Watch in many ways.

 

[skin88]

The watch is hideous

 

[Col4bin]

So what's Fitbit primary differentiated value when directly compared to Apple Watch? If the answer is cost and brand recognition only, then I say good luck. Looking beyond the existing tech, until a company can launch a device containing clinical applications aimed at providing serious health benefit solutions, the full potential of this untapped market won't be realized.

 

[PastaPrimav]

$200 is a lot to ask for something that is less capable Chinesechinese knockoff of an Apple Watch.

 

[TimUSCA]

Purely anecdotal, but most of the people I see with fitbits are people who are semi-interested in fitness tracking, and dont want to spend more then $100-150 on it.

Or not interested at all and want to make themselves feel better daily by checking their horribly inflated step counter.

 

[L-Viz]

All "smart" watches are cheepo watches. If I was 15, they'd be cool.

But now, I stick to my Omega.

 

[tangowhiskey]

So many people asking why this over an Apple watch... two words: battery life. I also really like Fitbit's social aspect too. The challenges are fun and the leaderboards make me want to walk more.

 

[mtneer]

I think that's part of the problem. FitBit is known for inexpensive fitness trackers - so inexpensive that it isn't a hassle for the buyer to replace it rather than repair it. A company like FitBit doesn't have the infrastructure to service their devices where a major consumer electronics manufacturer does.

If FitBit was a $20 use and throw device from the mall kiosk, then yes sure I can expect non existent support. They do charge over $100, which is not exactly throw-away money (at least for me..).

 

[Apache1]

FitBit needs to work on their product quality and customer support. I had a ChargeHR that fell apart at the band after 6 months. When I called in to request a warranty replacement, they accused me of buying from a "non-authorized" store and refused to entertain warranty. Now, how the hell is the customer supposed to keep track of what is an authorized store and what is not? I bought an Apple Watch 2 & have no intention of looking back at FitBit everafter.

I am in total agreement they only seem to last a year with typical use and when I say typical use I am referring to my 73 yr old parents.

 

[Piggie]

It looks horrible.
Sweet jebus. I'm not a designer by any means but I'm not blind either.
Why is is that the designers of these things can't see how bad these things look?
Even the cheap $10 watches from china look 100x better.

it baffles me.

 

[Precision Gem]

So many people asking why this over an Apple watch... two words: battery life. I also really like Fitbit's social aspect too. The challenges are fun and the leaderboards make me want to walk more.

For me, the Apple watch has too much battery life. I put it on first thing in the morning, and take it off to sleep. It always has at least 75% life left. I would prefer a thinner battery and go to bed with 30% left.
The watch works as a perfect night side alarm clock while being charged, so 1 day is all that I would require for the battery.

 

[jicon]

I've had a Fitbit One for years. Loved it because battery would last well over a week, it could just sit in my pocket, and gave far better step counts than anything I could wear on a wrist... then one day it went missing...

I've had a Charge 2HR for the past year, and bought a replacement metal band from Amazon. It was a bit bulky, but I adjusted. More like four days battery life, and nice to see heart rate, but I went out of my way to turn off the realtime syncing of step/heart to help save battery on my phone first and foremost. Syncing takes about a minute... that sucks. I like some of the social aspects, and some of the tracking on the website.

Messages come across the band, but not taking advantage of the long screen on the device, instead, scroll sideways, and often difficult to read.

So, last Wednesday, I got an AW3 GPS, and a few things that I really like... the better heart rate data in Health, the charger... the charger isn't a difficult thing anymore... sure, it's a daily/every second day thing, but it only needs 30 minutes. I can talk in to it to turn the lights on or off, or send dictate a message when I'm driving in the car (no carplay). I'm diabetic, and I've had a few dangerous low blood sugar readings over the last year... until I'm able to get some sort of continual blood glucose monitor, this works pretty good warning me something may not be right with elevated heart rate warnings. I wear it overnight, just in case. Then, quickly charge in the morning.

Anyway, this new fitbit seems to have a few strikes against it... The charger, again...noway to respond to texts, and I suspect, at least for now, no heart rate sensor warning system. Maybe none of those are big for anyone that uses the fitbit for general step counts, and alerts when someone is trying to get a hold of them, but I do see some value in the next iteration up.

 

[Baymowe335]

Why was this ever going to lure Apple customers away? Does it work with Apple products? Does it run Watch OS? Does it have iMessages?

Why companies think they can compete with Apple because they are cheaper, I'll never understand.

 

[shaunp]

No. Your wife may have a use case for a basic mobile phone and what amounts to a glorified pedomoeter watch, and that’s fine. But I’m weary of hearing this stuff about price. I have zero doubt that Apple could also hit a $200 price point if they also killed AppleWatch NFC, Bluetooth, and WiFi. The AW “Basic” would drop from $329 to $200, and would do so with better looks, quality, and support. You get what you pay for.

Now if they can only educate Siri...

You get what you pay for... Not always. I have an OnePlus 5 and I can't honestly say an iPhone X is that much better to be worth an extra £700. Cheap phones used to be just that cheap and nasty. Around 3 years ago we reached a point were there weren't huge increases to be made in mobile phones and they've started to become commodity items. To the point where a £200 phone is now rather good and will suit the needs of most users.

I'm not naïve enough to think a £200 phone can compete with an iPhone X in terms of build quality, but if we compare apples with apples (excuse the pun) and compare say a Galaxy S9 with a Huawei P10 Light for most users the Samsung just isn't worth the extra money. They run the same OS and yes the Galaxy is quicker, has a nicer screen and a better camera, but the user experience is not drastically different, certainly not so different that you would spend 4 times the price.

You may now say 'but iPhone is so much better than Android', and that might be your preference ,but for Apple the comparison is worse. If you go from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 8 they look very similar and run exactly the same OS. After a few minutes you would forget you had a new phone other than it is quicker and you now don't have a headphone jack. That may or may not matter to you, but the point is there is now no sense of occasion from getting a new iPhone unless you leave it 4 years+ between upgrades and get one with a completely different form factor and then you'll be paying a lot of money.

I just think the days of the premium phone are numbered. Those that buy them will keep them longer, and others who prefer more frequent updates will just get cheaper phones. Yes there will always be those who have to have the newest and don't care about price, but they will be in the minority.

As for the watch, not everyone uses it for fitness, many just use them for notifications because modern phones are so bad at letting you know when you have a phone call.
[doublepost=1522094516][/doublepost]

Why was this ever going to lure Apple customers away? Does it work with Apple products? Does it run Watch OS? Does it have iMessages?

Why companies think they can compete with Apple because they are cheaper, I'll never understand.

Erm, because they are cheaper. Simple as that. There is nothing more to it. Not everyone can afford Apple kit.

 

[actcyclist]

The thing this has over the Apple Watch is you can see your health information on your (big) computer screen. That is a huge advantage if I want to actually see more than a days worth of health data to see how it changes, or total cycling distance.

When I look at what the AW has over the Fitbit, it's mostly stuff I don't use because the iPhone handles it better.

 

[Baymowe335]

You get what you pay for... Not always. I have an OnePlus 5 and I can't honestly say an iPhone X is that much better to be worth an extra £700. Cheap phones used to be just that cheap and nasty. Around 3 years ago we reached a point were there weren't huge increases to be made in mobile phones and they've started to become commodity items. To the point where a £200 phone is now rather good and will suit the needs of most users.

I'm not naïve enough to think a £200 phone can compete with an iPhone X in terms of build quality, but if we compare apples with apples (excuse the pun) and compare say a Galaxy S9 with a Huawei P10 Light for most users the Samsung just isn't worth the extra money. They run the same OS and yes the Galaxy is quicker, has a nicer screen and a better camera, but the user experience is not drastically different, certainly not so different that you would spend 4 times the price.

You may now say 'but iPhone is so much better than Android', and that might be your preference ,but for Apple the comparison is worse. If you go from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 8 they look very similar and run exactly the same OS. After a few minutes you would forget you had a new phone other than it is quicker and you now don't have a headphone jack. That may or may not matter to you, but the point is there is now no sense of occasion from getting a new iPhone unless you leave it 4 years+ between upgrades and get one with a completely different form factor and then you'll be paying a lot of money.

I just think the days of the premium phone are numbered. Those that buy them will keep them longer, and others who prefer more frequent updates will just get cheaper phones. Yes there will always be those who have to have the newest and don't care about price, but they will be in the minority.

As for the watch, not everyone uses it for fitness, many just use them for notifications because modern phones are so bad at letting you know when you have a phone call.
[doublepost=1522094516][/doublepost]

Erm, because they are cheaper. Simple as that. There is nothing more to it. Not everyone can afford Apple kit.

Then be prepared to get crushed (as if it's not already happening) if you're FitBit. Competing on price is the worst possible strategy in discretionary products.