The Best Fitbits of 2021

The Charge 4 is our hands-down favorite fitness tracker for its mix of good looks, easy-to-navigate device menus and companion app, and plethora of other information: For example, it tracks sleep and calories burned during workouts and all day long.

The setup is a cinch for getting the device and app up and running. Once in use, the Charge 4 makes itself known, with hourly reminders to move and a 250-step countdown to hit before you sit back down. The Charge 4, like the other Fitbits we tested, also automatically detects sustained activity, based on the movement patterns and heart-rate data the watch records, giving you credit for it in the app. Walks, runs, and bike rides especially are chronicled pretty accurately within a minute, plus or minus. (Though it’s not foolproof: a vigorous laundry folding session could give you credit for “sport.”)

If you prefer not to rely on the device to automatically recognize your workouts, you can turn on an exercise mode, selecting from seven on the watch that you pre-set from about 15 options on the app. The Charge 4 has built-in GPS, as opposed to its predecessor’s “connected GPS,” which requires you to bring your connected smartphone along if you want mapping and more accurate paces for your walks, runs, and bike rides. The Charge 4’s GPS worked well on my test runs and bike rides, recording distance measurements on par with the Garmin Forerunner 245 running watch against which I tested it. However, the Charge 4 has a small screen that’s hard to read in the sunlight and takes a split-second to wake up (and turns off almost as quickly), making it difficult, if not frustrating, to scope your stats mid-workout. For that reason, I recommend that dedicated runners who want to eyeball their pace, distance, or duration as they run consider a dedicated running watch instead.

Fitbit offers an extensive and active community centered around step-focused challenges, something that no other fitness-tracker company has had the same success replicating. Having a social aspect to help you set and meet goals can be a driving factor for sticking to your wellness plans, and the community is a selling point for Fitbit fans. (During our testing, Google announced it was acquiring Fitbit, which has raised privacy concerns regarding how the tech giant might use all health data accumulated from its vast network. The EU approved the merger in late 2020 with a few concessions from Google—most importantly that it won’t use Fitbit data to target users for ads. The US has not yet approved the acquisition, but it’s something we’re keeping an eye on.

The Charge 4’s sleep tracking seems to record accurately, and as a troubled sleeper, I noticed it captured my middle-of-night restlessness better than some other devices. I also liked perusing the deeper data on resting heart rate (which I suspect is accurate), and time spent in deep and REM sleep (though without a sleep lab analysis, I can’t speak to that accuracy). It also records a Pulse Ox measurement during sleep, which could flag a dip in blood-oxygen level to bring to your doctor’s attention if you suspect you may suffer from sleep apnea.

Which brings up another point about accuracy—namely, that of the Charge 4’s optical heart rate monitor. As a rule, wrist-taken heart rate will never be as accurate to the second as data measured by a chest heart-rate strap by virtue of its distance from the heart. It is fine for tracking trends (such as keeping a record of average resting heart rate), but I’ve never had much success using it for measuring changes in exertion while training, and especially Fitbit’s technology in particular. With the Charge 4, Fitbit unveiled heart rate zone training alerts, which can only be as useful as the data is accurate. Unfortunately, in my experience, it’s just not.

The Charge 4 offers some additional user-friendly health features, including a breathing activity for stress reduction, menstrual cycle tracking, a hydration log, a food log with a searchable database of common foods, as well as pay-to-play on-screen workouts, meditation, and other wellness programs through the Premium app upgrade.

The Charge 4 has some smartphone features, including notifications, which you can customize or turn off entirely if all that buzzing gets on your nerves. You may reply to texts from the watch using preset canned replies and emojis, but if you want voice-to-text to reply in your own words, you should consider the Versa 3, Sense, Versa 2, or another smartwatch.

Unless you strongly desire a larger screen for its looks or readability, we think most people will prefer the smaller overall size of the Charge 4, particularly for sleeping, despite the compromise to the display. (But if you want a Fitbit with a larger screen, keep reading.)

The Fitbit Versa 3 is not the most advanced smartwatch out there (that mantle falls to Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Active 2. Nor does it offer the most advanced health and fitness features (Apple Watch and Fitbit’s own Sense has it beat there). But for most people who want detailed, actionable activity tracking and who want handy smartwatch features in one reasonably priced package, we recommend you consider the Versa 3 over the others.

The Versa 3 is an upgraded version of the Versa 2, which I reviewed positively on its own merits when it first launched. Versa 3 bests its predecessor—and many of the other products I tested—all the way around.

For activity tracking, Versa 3 has all the great fitness and sleep features of our favorite tracker Charge 4, including built-in GPS for recording outdoor walks, runs, and bike rides. It also has an updated heart rate sensor (the first time in years Fitbit has improved this, also for the Sense watch), which supposedly is more accurate. (I’m dubious about using any wrist-based heart rate monitoring as the gospel, but the numbers it recorded seemed fine for general workout-exertion guidance, and better than what I got from my Charge 4 tests. Either way, I’m still not a fan of Fitbit’s three-zone heart rate scale. Versa 3 has a blood-oxygen sensor (like several other devices) and a skin-temperature sensor (less common), which it uses to inform sleep tracking. (Your skin temp naturally fluctuates overnight.)

Unfortunately, the advanced analysis in Fitbit’s “Health Metrics Dashboard” is kept behind a paywall in its Premium app. While six months of Premium access is currently included with the purchase of a new Versa 3, you have to pay $9.99 per month to keep it up—frankly, I’m not impressed by Fitbit’s decision to make me spend more money for details about my health, tracked by the device I already paid for. (Sense has even more, er, sensors—and more data behind the paywall—which are among the reasons I recommend Versa 3 above it. Read more about Sense below.)

Still, what you get for free with Versa 3 is more than adequate to help inform changes and improve habits for better fitness and/or sleep quality. For example, you get the average temperature of your skin while you sleep (in relation to your average waking temp), but you can’t see a chart of how your temp fluctuated, or receive insights into why this matters, without the app upgrade. Premium users also get access to workout programs, guided meditations, and more, which could be worth the additional cost for you, independent of that “advanced” health data.

Something that is worth an additional cost to me is upgrading the band. The one it comes with it is stiff, hot, and tough to close, but you can buy a much more comfortable woven fabric strap for $40.

Smartwatch-wise, Versa 3 has bothbuilt-in Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls and audible responses, and the ability to answer phone calls over Bluetooth. (Android users also get voice-to-text replies, which I found especially handy.) Versa 3 also stores and plays music via Bluetooth to your own wireless headphones which you don’t get with Charge 4). Fitbit has “Fitbit Pay”, its version of Apple Pay, and an ever-expanding catalog of smartwatch apps, including Spotify, Strava, Starbucks … and that’s just ones that start with S. It’s not as expansive as what you’d get with Apple and watches built on Android, but plenty if you’re looking to dip your toes into the practice of using your watch in place of your phone.

The bottom line: If you want a smartwatch-featured, well-equipped activity tracker, Versa 3 offers a great option that’s not too pricey. If you must have a top-of-the-line smartwatch that also provides solid fitness tracking, smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 6 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 are your better bets.