Fitbit Versa 3 review: The best fitness tracking smartwatch?
With ever increasing competition Fitbit finds itself in a position it has never been in before. Fitbit has two choices. It can either do what it has always done better or it can try to take on the smartwatches. Refreshingly, it seems like it has opted for the former for the most part. Save for the ECG and the stress monitor, the Fitbit Versa 3 gets almost all of the feature set of the far more expensive Fitbit Sense.
The Versa 3 hasn’t changed much on the outside. It has the same body as its predecessor but now gets a bigger 1.58-inch AMOLED screen that is bright (even out in the sun) and sharp with slimmer bezels. You can use the always-on feature that pares down the information on offer but I suspect most people would simply not use it to improve battery life. With third party watch faces, you literally have hundreds of options to choose from. It does have an indented haptic button instead of a physical button and it is one of my few gripes with the Versa 3. The feedback is nowhere near that of an actual button. Fitbit has also changed the mechanism to swap straps with the addition of buttons, doing away with the fiddly clasp.
It is now safe to say that Fitbit has nailed the basics of fitness tracking and everything from step counts, heart rate tracking, distance tracking is done without a hitch. It has 20 different activities for you to choose from and even automatically detects a few like running. There is also built-in GPS for the first time on a Versa and it works reasonably well. It does take a short while for it to lock on to the GPS though.
Additions such as Active Zone Minutes that you see on the Charge 4 are also present here. It also monitors blood oxygen level, breathing rate and variations in skin temperature when you sleep to put together a comprehensive understanding of your overall health.
An important upgrade on the Versa 3 is the addition of the built-in microphone and speaker so that you can take calls on it when paired to a phone. You can also pair Bluetooth earphones to the Versa 3. You can respond to messages on the Versa 3 but only when connected to an Android smartphone. When it comes to voice assistants you have Alexa and Google Assistant to choose from. On the charging front, the Versa now gets fast charging with 30 minutes enough to give you a full charge (enough to power through a work week).
The Versa 3 has all the fitness tracking that you would need. The addition of GPS now means that it is an option for those who want to be rid of their smartphones on their daily run. And it offers, by far, the best sleep tracking feature on a smartwatch. Put together, all these features make the Versa 3 the most complete smartwatch for the price.
Click here to buy the Fitbit Versa 3.
