Google Fitbit Air: Tested review

Before I unpackaged my review pattern of the Google Fitbit Air, all I’d learn on-line was how this new wearable was about to provide Whoop some severe competitors. After carrying it 24/7 for 2 weeks, I can safely say that these early headlines had been spot-on. But I chorus from calling it a legit Whoop killer, despite the fact that it comes fairly shut.

For the common consumer, the $100 Fitbit Air is the perfect screenless health tracker. While the Whoop band itself is technically free, its subscription plans begin at $199 per 12 months, with larger tiers at $239 and $359 yearly. Google affords a far cheaper subscription price for entry to its premium options, charging $10 per thirty days or $100 per 12 months. It additionally affords simply the correct amount of knowledge and training insights which are simple to digest.

The Whoop expertise, alternatively, is tailored to a more advanced athlete who can higher benefit from its far larger membership value and complete information, even when Whoop has by no means explicitly stated this. Because of its extra premium utility, the Whoop won’t ever actually be killed, actually not by one thing as fundamental because the Fitbit Air.

Now, to be clear, the Fitbit Air isn’t a historically fundamental wearable, however it’s easy by way of what’s to be anticipated of a contemporary well being tracker. It affords a far richer expertise than the Apple Watch and is akin to one thing just like the Oura Ring by way of the in-depth information it gives. For these concerned with monitoring private information past steps and energy burned, it affords a incredible entry level. I simply don’t see it swaying the Whoop energy consumer. And that’s advantageous; it doesn’t need to.

What it does have to do is perform properly sufficient to exist alongside Whoop and Oura and supply another with a decrease barrier to entry, by way of each its price ticket and the way it presents your health information. My two weeks with the Fitbit Air have confirmed that it does precisely that, albeit with a couple of minor annoyances.

The Fitbit Air is Google’s foray into screenless well being trackers, highlighted by distinctive AI teaching, a cushty light-weight design and a value level that bests its closest competitors.

You can set it and neglect it

Because of its lack of a display and relative lightness in your wrist, the Fitbit Air is nearly unnoticeable when worn. And because it’s meant to be worn beneath your wrist bone, it suits properly beneath a long-sleeved button-down or sweater.

I’ll admit it took about two days for me to get used to the sensation of the usual Performance band strap towards my pores and skin, nevertheless it by no means turned uncomfortable or annoying. By day 4, I ended noticing it altogether. I put on an Oura Ring on the identical arm/hand and would regulate that on my finger extra typically than I adjusted the Fitbit Air on my wrist. I actually simply affixed it to my wrist proper out of the field and primarily forgot it was even there.

And though this doesn’t really have an effect on how the Fitbit Air features, I do really feel this gentle weight is one in every of its robust fits. To convey Whoop again into the dialog, the up to date Whoop 5.0 weighed greater than double that of its 4.0 predecessor, resulting in blended evaluations upon launch. We known as the Whoop 4.0 one of many best sleep trackers, primarily as a result of it had a small profile and weighed so little. For trackers like these, weight issues.

After the primary week of carrying the Fitbit Air, I couldn’t assist however take into consideration simply how unnoticeable it’s. Since it’s primarily invisible on my wrist, I initially assumed it could by no means hassle me whereas sleeping, understanding or no matter else I used to be doing whereas I had it on. And that’s precisely what occurred (or didn’t occur, I assume).

I’m all for heavy-duty wearables; I’m a giant fan of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and have written at size about it, however I’d be mendacity if I stated I wasn’t taken by how light-weight the Fitbit Air was throughout my time with it.

Data is the Fitbit Air’s bread and butter. It’s what units it other than each Fitbit tracker and Google Pixel Watch earlier than it, and is the primary motive why anybody would go for this type of wearable over actually every other well being tracker not named Whoop or Oura Ring. And I once more convey these two up as a result of the form of information the Fitbit Air affords is extraordinarily related.

There’s in-depth sleep monitoring that charts every thing from time spent in REM and deep sleep to sleep effectivity, minutes of restlessness and, one in every of my favorites, how lengthy it takes so that you can be dozing. It creates a complete image of your sleep habits and gives suggestions and training to assist enhance them. For instance, it supplied strategies on after I needs to be attempting to begin sleeping in an effort to hit my sleep objective of seven-plus hours. This kind of recommendation was one of many standout options that drew me to the Oura Ring, and the Fitbit Air scratched that very same itch for me.

Also just like the Oura Ring, the Fitbit Air, after a week-long calibration section, doles out a day by day readiness rating comprised of three elements: coronary heart fee variability (HRV), latest sleep information and resting coronary heart fee (RHR). It gives a rating out of 100 that may assist you to determine whether or not your physique wants relaxation and restoration or is prepared for a exercise. It’s not precisely a carbon copy of what Oura affords, nevertheless it’s fairly shut.

It additionally tracks numerous different well being information like day by day coronary heart fee, respiration fee, blood oxygen ranges and pores and skin temperature, amongst a number of others. However, many of those are locked behind the Google Health Premium membership (which has similarities to Fitbit Premium), which I clarify extra beneath.

What actually turns the Google Fitbit Air from a helpful information tracker into a strong well being software is how this information is used. Every health tracker, from the Apple Watch to the Whoop band, tracks well being metrics, however that info is barely helpful if what to do with it. That’s the place the Fitbit Air’s progressive AI coach comes into play.

With as a lot information at your fingertips because the Fitbit Air affords, a serving to hand in navigating that info is a necessity. That assist comes within the type of the Google Health Coach powered by the company’s Gemini AI. Though it’s not an ideal answer for managing your information (it suffers from the identical form of computing absentmindedness as many AI fashions do), it does an honest job steering you in considerably of the correct path.

But even after two weeks with the Fitbit Air, I’m not sure the way to correctly fee my expertise; it was chock-full of ups and downs, and I’m on the fence about it. However, I notice my pattern dimension will not be that large. What I can say is that the thought of utilizing AI to sift by way of your information and supply actionable insights is attention-grabbing. As the Fitbit Air progresses and the AI improves, this may very well be a useful characteristic, particularly for folk carrying a well being tracker for the primary time.

What I did like was how the AI coach is displayed inside the companion app. Every time you boot up Google Health, you’re greeted together with your day by day metrics on the prime of the display (your steps, readiness rating, sleep timing and weekly cardio progress), in addition to up-to-the-minute perception from the AI coach concerning the accumulation of your information. It contains how your physique is recovering, comparisons to prior exercises, strategies for managing the remainder of your day and so forth.

It’s meant to be conversational, too. At the tip of every entry, you’re capable of reply again to the AI to say the way you’re feeling that day, whether or not you need to plan an train or to ask for extra perception into what your information means. There are even canned responses you’ll be able to merely click on on which are related to what the AI requested, when you don’t really feel like typing out a full message.

I discovered many of those messages fairly distinctive to my expertise with the Fitbit Air, too. It did an alright job of precisely monitoring my exercises and would then present helpful suggestions about how a lot sleep I ought to purpose for, what the climate was going to be like in Brooklyn the subsequent day (in case I needed to plan a exercise exterior) and the way my general health was progressing.

But, as talked about, it wasn’t excellent. Aside from some aggressive nudges to sync my information, it wasn’t at all times essentially the most correct at auto-tracking my exercise. A run would typically be cut up into two classes (with out my having stopped alongside the best way), or a brisk stroll would register as a run with a “solid 16’49” tempo,” because the coach put it.

I don’t maintain these errors towards the general expertise of the Fitbit Air and as an alternative contemplate them AI rising pains. The true check is whether or not the identical points persist after 6 or 12 months of use.

My NCS Underscored colleague Henry T. Casey additionally wore the Fitbit Air for a few weeks and skilled largely related ups and downs with the AI coach. Regarding the negatives, he famous one occasion through which he’d acquired a jumbled message that appeared to current the whole computing course of right into a single message. Conversely, he reported a sequence of very constructive interactions and helpful, actionable insights from the AI coach that he stated made a noticeable, constructive influence.

Casey additionally famous which you can manually observe exercises within the Google Health app, however warned that you want to bear in mind to hit the Stop button within the app for it to correctly finish a session.

If there’s one factor veteran and first-time exercise tracker wearers can agree on, it’s {that a} cumbersome app negatively impacts the general expertise of a wearable. Thankfully, the Google Health app (which changed the Fitbit app) is intuitive and straightforward to navigate after a considerably brief studying curve.

Your day by day stats are clearly displayed on the prime of the display, as are buttons to log exercises, hydration, meals and extra. You can rapidly begin monitoring an train right here, too. Below all that’s the above-mentioned AI coach log, formatted as a reside blog-like expertise the place you’ll be able to scroll by way of the latest timestamped replace or any prior messages. Then, on the backside of the display, there are tabs to navigate to your health stats, sleep information or present well being metrics.

Google Health’s ease of navigation meant I used to be by no means overwhelmed when opening the app, whether or not syncing my up to date information or combing by way of my present metrics. But I notice that this expertise is barely distinctive to me.

As talked about, I put on an Oura Ring and an Apple Watch virtually day by day, so I’m used to the routine of booting up an app and sifting by way of information. Couple this with the truth that I review health trackers for work and it’s apparent my familiarity performs an enormous half in why the app expertise is intuitive. This was made extra obvious after evaluating notes with Casey, who stated the Fitbit Air is the primary wearable he’s worn for an prolonged interval except for the Apple Watch.

For Casey, he wished the primary tab on the app had been easier. The mixture of the day’s tracked information and what he known as a “chatty” AI left him barely overwhelmed.

Most of what I’ve touched on requires the Google Health Premium subscription, however you don’t want it in the identical means that Whoop requires its subscription plans that begin at $199 per 12 months. For $10 a month, or $100 a 12 months, Google’s plan offers you the AI Health Coach and its helpful insights in addition to different options like customizable health plans, expanded well being monitoring and in-depth sleep information, to call a couple of.

Without the subscription, you’ll be able to nonetheless see fundamental metrics corresponding to steps taken, blood oxygen degree, coronary heart fee (together with resting coronary heart fee), pores and skin temperature and sleep stage information. Though it’s a fraction of what the premium model affords, there’s nonetheless sufficient right here to make the wearable helpful and never only a glorified pedometer (or utterly unusable, like Whoop is and not using a subscription).

I’d nonetheless extremely suggest Google Health Premium, particularly on the yearly fee of $100, however relaxation assured that when you’re on a good finances, you’ll be able to nonetheless get quantity out of a non-subscription Fitbit Air.

The Google Health app syncs information painfully slowly. Could it’s that I’m impatient? Perhaps. I’m additionally fairly used to the Oura Ring app expertise, which trounces the Fitbit Air by way of data-sync time. I’ve clocked the time distinction at about 45 seconds (and some occasions it’s taken over a minute).

What’s been annoying is that my iPhone’s auto display lock is about to 30 seconds, so it virtually at all times locks earlier than Google Health has completed syncing. Now, I actually don’t thoughts simply reopening my telephone, however after doing this a couple of occasions a day, the method felt tedious. After a few days, nonetheless, I knew to only give the display a fast scroll to maintain it open (although perhaps I ought to change my lock time to 1 minute).

The material band can get soaked with sweat

There’s a really clear theme in my “didn’t like” listing: each are simply avoidable. Regarding the sweaty band I encountered a couple of occasions, I rapidly realized to only swap to the rubber lively band earlier than beginning a exercise.

However, these preliminary exercises (a mixture of working, biking and HIIT routines), produced a reasonably soaked material band. For what it’s value, the band is known as the Performance Loop Band, so it’s not out of the query to assume you’re capable of be lively with it on. But alas, I actually don’t suggest it. You’ll both want to only cope with it feeling moist in your wrist till it dries, take it off for a bit or swap to a different band (in case you have one).

	Google Fitbit Air	Whoop 5.0
Price	Device: $100 Membership: $10/month or $100/yr	Device: Free Membership: From $199/yr as much as $359/yr
Size choices	One dimension, adjustable bands	One dimension, adjustable bands
Display	N/A	N/A
Water resistance	Water-resistant to 50m	IP68 (as much as 10 m for two hrs)
Battery life	Up to 7 days	Between 5 and 14 days
Sensors	Optical coronary heart fee monitor. 3-axis accelerometer & gyroscope, purple and infrared sensors for oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitoring, system temperature sensor, vibration motor	Blood oxygen sensor, coronary heart fee monitor, pulse oximeter, thermometer
Compatibility	iOS and Android	iOS and Android
Weight	5.2 g with out band 12 g with band	26.5 g

Although it’s simple to liken the Google Fitbit Air to the equally designed Whoop band, it’s really an entire lot nearer in expertise to one thing just like the Oura Ring. The Fitbit Air, like Oura, affords a place to begin for these concerned with well being information past simply steps tracked, energy burned and the variety of hours you stand all through the day.

It could not persuade a Whoop-wearing superior athlete, somebody who not solely prefers however requires advanced and complete well being information, to make the swap. And that’s advantageous. Instead, it’s excellent for a first-time exercise tracker wearer or anybody who’s been on the fence about investing in one thing just like the Oura Ring. It has a modest studying curve, but nonetheless affords an in-depth well being and health monitoring expertise highlighted by its distinctive AI coach.

Its value can also be far decrease than each Oura and Whoop. Starting at $100 for the band, plus a recurring $10/month or $100/12 months subscription value for Google Health Premium (you don’t have to subscribe, both), it undercuts each merchandise by a major margin.

It’s a formidable first-generation wearable, which maybe isn’t all that stunning contemplating it comes from Google, which owns Fitbit. And whereas it does have some drawbacks, specifically gradual information syncing occasions, inaccurate exercise monitoring and a glitchy AI, it’s about pretty much as good an entry-level superior well being tracker because it will get.

NCS Underscored editors and writers guarantee each product included in an article is totally vetted and one thing we ourselves would really feel snug shopping for and utilizing. Our staff has many a long time of collective expertise researching, testing and recommending merchandise throughout each class — from vogue and meals, to dwelling items and well being, to electronics and every thing in between — and we’re dedicated to utilizing that experience that will help you benefit from your cash and reside a greater life.

The author of this review, senior testing editor Rick Stella, has examined health trackers for near 10 years, relationship again to the early Fitbit period. He’s most frequently carrying an Oura Ring on his proper hand and both an Apple Watch Series 11 or Ultra 3 or a Garmin Epix on his left wrist. Now he’s carrying the Fitbit Air and should not take it off for some time.