Since Fitbit released its new generation of fitness trackers and smartwatches this month, I’ve spent a lot of time testing and reviewing the much more colorful Inspire 3 and stress-tracking Sense 2. Fitbit Versa 4.
Fitbit Versa 4 video review
Fitbit Versa 4: Pros
button
Like the new Fitbit Sense 2, the Versa 4 features new and improved buttons. This time, I actually raised the button to make it easier to use. You can use this button to turn on the screen, navigate to your list of favorite apps, or navigate to customized functions assigned in settings. However, it can also be set for other functions such as alarm clock, exercise selection screen, Fitbit Pay, etc.
User interface
I also like Fitbit’s more streamlined user interface. This is where Fitbit has always excelled. It has an easy-to-use and simple interface that anyone can quickly understand and use immediately. Further improvements in an already great area are encouraging signs.
Users can swipe up to adjust settings, swipe down to view notifications, and swipe left or right to view different tiles such as weather, exercise selection, primary goals (set in the app), sleep score, and more. Circulate. What I really appreciate here is the new heart rate tile that shows your heart rate history for the last few hours.
screen
All of the Fitbit Versa 4’s features look great on its bright AMOLED touchscreen. With hundreds of watch faces available, most people should be able to find something they really like.
Versa 4 is also significantly lighter at just 24g. This makes it 15% lighter and about 10% thinner than the Versa 3. Despite having the same size display and battery life, this one is much smaller.
battery life
Fitbit Versa 4 typically has a battery life of 5-6 days, but with always-on display enabled, it’s about 2-3 days.
In all honesty, if you tend to work out outdoors and utilize GPS tracking, the battery life is closer to two days. The battery lasted about two days as I turned the brightness to maximum outdoors to make the screen easier to see. I think this is decent.
The battery charges fairly quickly, taking about 12 minutes to get a full day of battery life if you’re not using the always-on display.
workout
When it comes to tracking your workouts, Fitbit has 41 workout options to choose from. That’s twice as much for him as for budget fitness trackers.
The workout screen is very simple and mostly shows one key metric at a time. The metrics displayed can be adjusted with a press. This isn’t great for those who want to see a wider range of running metrics at once, but again, Fitbits are better suited for those who want something simple and easy to track.
GPS accuracy
Like Fitbit’s Sense 2 and Charge 5, the Versa 4 has its own integrated GPS. This means you don’t have to run it on your phone if you don’t want to.
When it comes to GPS accuracy, I found the Fitbit Versa 4 to be excellent for the price. GPS tracking stays firmly on target. For a fitness tracker priced at $229, it’s a good one, so few were thrown away.
Fitbit Versa 4, like its predecessors, is water resistant to 50 meters. This is water resistant enough for swimming and showering.
sleep and health metrics
As you sleep, Fitbit Versa 4 tracks a variety of health metrics, including breathing rate, HRV (heart rate variability), skin temperature changes, oxygen saturation, and resting heart rate. Along with these metrics, it tracks your sleep and breaks it down into time spent in different sleep stages.
Fitbit uses health metrics to give you a readiness score to help you better determine how prepared your body is for additional training and exercise. This is my favorite thing about the Fitbit Versa 4 because all of these metrics seem pretty solid.
In fact, I’ve found Fitbit’s Versa 4 and Sense 2 sleep tracking to be some of the most accurate wearables out there. They were even able to track exactly which naps I took.
I think the actual tracking is good, but I’m a little hesitant about trusting the scores Fitbit assigns. At least to me they seemed a little too optimistic.
For example, when putting together my review of the FitbitSense 2, I stayed up pretty late and didn’t get much sleep. Fitbit gave me a score of 71 out of 100…and a readiness score of 68, which I would say is excellent. I felt devastated and far from excellent.
Bluetooth and sync range
Fitbit Versa 4 has improved Bluetooth and sync range. This allows for a better connection with your cell phone and a much wider sync range, extending from 9 feet to 30 feet.
You can now receive notifications from your phone using your Fitbit Versa 4. There’s also an app to find my phone (which I use all the time). In the near future there will be call support to answer, hang up or ignore calls directly on the Versa 4 itself.
Google Wallet and Google Maps
Fitbit says Google Wallet and Google Maps integration will be available on the Fitbit Versa 4 soon. These are not currently out and could not be tested. No specific release date yet.In the meantime, you can use the FitBit Pay app as your wallet.
watch band
Not to mention the included watch band. Fitbit Versa 4 includes both small and large sizes, and the band can be easily removed and replaced with another.
I found the included watch band very comfortable.Previous Versa 3 or Sense bands work basically the same on the Fitbit Versa 4 as he does on the 24mm band Fitbit bands can be used.
Fitbit Versa 4: Cons
heart rate accuracy
I found the GPS and sleep-tracking accuracy to be pretty solid, but heart-rate tracking during exercise didn’t fare as well.
At rest, or when I’m not doing a tough workout, my heart rate seems to track pretty well, but I found the Fitbit Versa 4 to lag a bit when I started doing something at higher intensities. It often took more than a minute to catch up, and sometimes I couldn’t fully adapt to my heart rate.
Again, it’s not bad for low-effort, continuous work, but for interval training and harder workouts, heart-rate tracking seems far from reliable.
Fitbit Premium Features
Daily readiness scores, sleep profiles, analytics, health reports, games and challenges, video workouts and more are locked behind a Fitbit Premium membership.
Buying a Fitbit Versa 4 gives you six months of free membership, after which it costs about $10 a month to continue.
Fitbit Versa 4: The Ugly
Removed features
The Fitbit Versa 4 is a significant downgrade from the Versa 3, removing many features. I was disappointed to see that snore and noise detection were removed. But the removal of Google Voice instead of Alexa is just baffling.
Lack of support for third-party apps and music
The complete removal of third-party apps and music support is where things get really ugly.
Removing support for third-party apps prevents us from adding additional features that we may be missing. This is especially bad considering the removal of apps like Spotify that let you play and download music on your Fitbit Versa 4.
You can’t download content to the watch, so you’ll have to bring your phone with you for outdoor training if you want to stream audio. Probably because most of the time you need to carry your phone with you on walks and runs.
In my opinion, the lack of third-party app support makes it hard to call Fitbit’s Versa 4 and Sense 2 “smartwatches.”
price
The Fitbit Versa 4 is definitely a great fitness tracker, but at a price point that’s close to a real smartwatch, it feels a little misplaced.
If you want a very simple, easy to use, and well-designed fitness tracker, you can opt for the much cheaper Fitbit Inspire 3 or Fitbit Charge 5. If you want a lot of the features that come with a smartwatch, you can probably get the Apple Watch SE or the upcoming Google Pixel watch.
The Fitbit Versa 4 seems to be only for those who want a really nice, simple fitness tracker and are willing to pay a lot more for the best-looking version of it.
That seems to have been the point of Fitbit. It’s about further separating Fitbit’s simple device from the upcoming Pixel watch, which is both a full-featured smartwatch and uses many of Fitbit’s fitness and wellness features.
Most people should probably wait for the Pixel Watch. Or get the Fitbit Versa 3 with all the now-removed features while it’s still possible.
Buy Fitbit Versa 4 here.
Buy Fitbit Versa 3 here.
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