I’ve seen that people have strong feelings regarding fitness trackers: either they love the chance to learn more about their health or they abhor the idea of poring over all those information. In all honesty, I fall somewhere in the middle. I don’t want my bracelet to vibrate every time I sit hunched over at my computer; I want to know how my body recovered from a difficult day.
I reasoned that the Fitbit Luxe, a reasonably priced fitness tracker choice from a well-known company that has supporters among some of my friends and family, may suit my tastes. In addition, I hoped that their most recent tracker would include customizable customization choices so I could quickly zoom in on the information that mattered to me (read: more info on my sleep habits, less analytics around water intake). To see if that was the case, I put the tool to the test.
FITBIT LUXE DETAILS AND VALUE Price: $130 Cost of the subscription: $10 per month or $80 per year to access further features Up to 5 days of battery life Dimensions: 36.30 mm, 17.62 mm, and 10.05 mm Android OS 8 or later and Apple iOS 14 are both compatible operating systems. Purchase It: Fitbit Best Buy Target Walmart Amazon
THE FITBIT LUXE’S TESTING PROCESS Some troubleshooting was required during setup, but since I hadn’t upgraded the operating system on my phone in a while, that was my responsibility. I set up the device once I had resolved the issue with Fitbit’s accessible tech help. After that, I wore the Fitbit Luxe for seven weeks, wearing it when I slept, worked out almost every day, and throughout every other activity. I only removed it to shower, which, considering that the device is water resistant up to 50 meters, wasn’t necessary (about 165 feet).
You can see daily statistics in the Fitbit app, including activities four rings to fill that are similar to those on the Apple Watch. The circles represent your miles traveled, steps taken, calories burned, and “ Active Zone Minutes ,” or the duration of time your heart rate was 111 beats per minute or higher. Personally, I thought they were difficult targets to meet. I’ve never been able to close all four rings in a single day, but you may change your daily objectives to fit your lifestyle and degree of activity.
I also got access to features that are only accessible to Fitbit premium customers who pay an annual or monthly premium subscription for these nearly two months. Insights and content, such as extra sleep analytics, a daily readiness score (a measure of how prepared your body is for a workout), mindfulness audio clips, virtual walking and running races, step-based challenges, and cooking videos are all unlocked by signing up for the premium membership.
Twenty workout videos from Fitbit, Physique57, Daily, and other sources are available to non-paid users, while a premium membership gives access to hundreds of workouts. I watched a couple stretching videos with them and listened to some sleep meditations, but I mostly wore my Fitbit Luxe while working out on my own. When you start moving, the wearable performs a good job at automatically detecting your activities, saving you the trouble of having to manually log them. The Fitbit Luxe has the drawback of not always correctly predicting your activities. For instance, the fitness tracker sometimes misidentified my movements as walking or elliptical use when I was actually lifting weights.
Even if you aren’t interested in documenting your workout, the device has other capabilities that you might find interesting. It offers a period tracking feature that tells you when your next period will start and provides information on your typical cycle length and predicted ovulation. You can choose to input your feelings at any time of the day using a stress management tool on a scale of extremely calm to highly stressed. Several times, including after a very calm morning meditation or when I felt overburdened by my to-do list, I kept track of my stress levels. That gave the gadget the data points it required to start giving me a daily stress management score, which informed me of how well my body handled stress on a particular day based on variations in my heart rate, my level of physical activity, and my sleeping habits. The Fitbit Luxe also has a weight and food and drink intake logging feature that I did not use.
I liked that there are several Fitbit Luxe replacement bands available, both from Fitbit and other manufacturers, as I detest the idea of a tracker clashing with my attire. I switched between using the included silicone band, which allowed me to twin with my coworker, and an silver stainless steel band , which I believed to be better suitable for dressier attire. Graphite, platinum stainless steel, and gold watch heads are also options.
What distinguishes the Fitbit Luxe from other trackers is I was amazed by the quantity of capabilities the device has considering how inexpensive it is, even though the majority require a membership. When tracking and evaluating your health data, you may become incredibly specific by examining how your resting heart rate, oxygen saturation, breathing rate, and heart rate variability (HRV) alter over time. Even though I personally think the overall readiness score (which is based on your activity, sleep, and HRV) is adequate, I can see how this degree of specificity may be helpful to an athlete who wants to maximize their training and recuperation.
Because it matches you with one of six animals depending on your sleeping habits over the course of a month, Fitbit’s approach to a sleep report is distinctive. My coworker learned she is a giraffe, an animal that achieves the ideal ratio of deep and REM sleep despite having a shorter overall sleep duration, according to the app, while I learned I am a tortoise because I spend a lot of time in bed overall.
Those who desire to employ an activity tracker as a fictitious accountability partner will find the Fitbit Luxe and other Fitbit products to be particularly noteworthy. Along with creating groups with other Fitbit users to support one another, you may add friends and receive badges for completing specific milestones. Compared to other trackers, you’ll find a wider variety of groups, from “Stress Less” and “New Moms” to “Vegetarian” and “New York.”
MY CONCLUSION ABOUT THE FITBIT LUXE The Fitbit Luxe met my needs thanks to its adaptability, but I think it would also be appealing to those who desire to rely more heavily on a fitness tracker than I do. By committing to a premium subscription, you may participate in challenges, keep track of every ounce of water you consume, and get recipe ideas. Alternately, you might concentrate only on closing your rings while using your body as your primary guidance to structure your exercise.
