Fitbit Luxe - As accurate as it is beautiful | REVIEW
Fitibit has recently presented a new wearable that makes elegance one of its strengths and is also innovative in the array of wearables of the American company. Fitbit Luxe is in fact the first device of the brand that uses a display with AMOLED technology. On the surface it might seem to be meant for a female audience, but its color and function combinations make it perfect for a unisex style. But let's not waste any more time and discover Fitbit Luxe in the course of this full review.
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Let's start with the analysis of the design of the Fitbit Luxe which is proposed as a band with a decidedly premium look, inspired by high jewelery bracelets, relying on materials and colors that are suitable for wearable, quality and youthful jewelry. Harmonious and rounded lines give a pleasant first impression and the quality of the materials gives the bracelet an elegant appearance.
In fact, the Fitbit wearable is available in 3 different colors plus a special edition, in my opinion perhaps too tacky. In any case, we have a basic steel case painted in black or shiny gold or shiny silver which is combined with a silicone strap in black, vanilla or orchid pink respectively.
The strap offers a proprietary release and on the Fitbit store you can find other solutions, such as Milanese mesh and leather (in the package there are 2 sizes for wrists with a circumference from 140 to 180 mm or 180 and 220 mm). Very comfortable on the wrist, made of soft silicone, it allows the skin to breathe well also due to the buttonholes for the closure, the latter made of anodized metal, for greater resistance to wear and dirt in general. Overall, the comfort on the wrist is further strengthened by the contained dimensions and weight, equal to 17,6 mm wide x 36,3 mm wide x 10,05 mm thick and 32 grams.
But let's go back to the capsule, where all the technological heart of this smart jewel resides. Starting from the front, we find a 0,76-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 124 x 206 pixels, a size perhaps too small considering that cheaper rivals have far exceeded 1,56 inches (Xiaomi Mi Band 6). We can of course customize the watchfaces through the complementary app, drawing on a rather large database, choosing between analog and digital designs. All of these watch faces show the time at a glance, but some also offer additional stats, including your current heart rate, step count, and calories burned so you can view them without scrolling through the relevant sections.
AMOLED display translates into excellent reproduction of colors and texts, as well as sharpness and brightness.In this regard it is appreciable that in the small size of the Fitbit Luxe, the company has integrated a brightness sensor that will automatically calibrate the backlight of the display based on the light conditions of the environment in which we find ourselves, even if the reactivity of the latter is not exactly lightning-fast. In fact, with a rather narrow ignition time, sometimes we will be forced to rotate the wrist to view the display, even two or three times before focusing on what is displayed on the screen.
There is no type of physical button and therefore all the functions, even that of the simple return to the home, are managed by the touches on the display. In principle, a solution that does not bring any problems, but if you have sweaty hands, well then the complications could be felt. Despite the AMOLED technology I do not understand why Fitbit for its Luxe has not inserted the Always On Display function.
The Lilliputian dimensions do not affect the presence on the back of the Fitbit Luxe capsule of a good array of sensors dedicated to monitoring our health, such as the infrared sensor for the SpO2 value monitor, or the oxygen saturation in the blood, but also an optical sensor for recording heartbeats, which also has the HRV function, which monitors heart rate variability. Finally, in order not to miss anything we also have the presence of a 3-axis accelerometer and a powerful vibration motor for the various notifications of the case. Unfortunately, however, in full Fitbit style, when it launches a new product it is crippled in the promised functions, and in this case the SpO2 sensor works only as night monitoring and there is no possibility of using it separately during the day. We therefore await a future firmware update that unlocks the functionality.
All the measurements of these sensors are combined in the Fitbit Health Metrics, a special function that allows, among other things, to obtain precise data on the quality of sleep and on the levels of stress. But of course we could exploit sensors for the benefit of sports activities by obtaining metrics related to counting of steps, calories and planes of stairs.
Unfortunately, the miracle of integrating a GPS for the layout of the route failed, therefore it will be necessary to use the smartphone to have this parameter, with a clear improvement in the reliability of distances traveled and training pace.
There are 21 sports that can be monitored and for some of these, such as walking, running and cycling, it will not be necessary to start a training session as the Fitbit Luxe will recognize the type of exercise and will automatically start recording it. Maybe we are not pure sportsmen but this does not mean that we do not do activities in the course of our daily lives and this is exactly what the Active Zone Minutes function is aimed at, which records the minutes during the day in which we have carried out any physical activity that has affected the increase in our heart rate significantly.
In any case you will not have to fear for sweat and water, as Fitbit Luxe has a resistance in water up to 50 meters deep, therefore being able to use the smart wearable even in the shower but above all for swimming in the pool, considering that swimming it is one of the sports that we can track. Indeed, in this regard, the sports activities that can be recorded are: Walking, Running, Bike, Swimming, Elliptical, Treadmill, Weights, Interval Exercise, Free Exercise, Trekking, Golf, Step, Tennis, Spinning, Yoga, Bootcamp, Training Circuit, Kickboxing, Martial Arts, Pilates, Outdoor Exercise.
The minimal and elegant design allows the Fitbit Luxe to adapt to both male and female wrists, so much so that the female audience can also benefit from the menstrual health monitoring and control function. In terms of autonomy, the small tech device can count on a duration of up to 5 days of rather intense use. A value that is actually underestimated by the company as during my tests after 4 days of constant use on my wrist, I still had 44% of remaining charge.
Net of what we have told each other, you may be wondering how to wake up the Fitbit Luxe and what it offers at the system level. Well, to activate the wearable you just need to rotate your wrist (however this function can be deactivated) or firmly touch the surface of the touch display twice, an action that if done within the menus will allow us to return to the home. Eventually to go back you can swipe to the right.
Starting from the home, scrolling upwards, we will have access to the Today screen, where the date and percentage of the battery, step count, distance traveled, calories burned, minutes of active zone, heart rate, resting heart rate are shown, sleep duration, sleep score and any training performed during the day. Scrolling down we access the device settings relating to brightness, screen activation (wrist gesture) and backlight timing. However, we also have the ability to change the intensity of the vibration, enable notifications of the cardio zone as well as customize specific do not disturb modes such as those of sleep mode. There is also a function that locks the screen in the water.
Always starting from the home, by swiping to the right or to the left, we access the clock software from which we can recall a respiratory relaxation session, set an alarm which is also of an intelligent type, i.e. the device will begin to vibrate within a range of 30 minutes. from the beginning of the actual wake-up time (example 7: 15-7: 45) during the light sleep phase. We can call up the timer or stopwatch functions but also read the notifications and I must dwell on this for a moment.
In fact, although Fitbit Luxe is not a smartwatch, we have the possibility of being notified by all the applications on the smartphone but for some, such as Whatsapp, we can even respond with preset messages (modify them from the app) or with emoticons directly from the wrist. In this regard, I add that we can also view the emojis contained in the text of the message but we cannot view photos nor listen to or send vocals since we do not have a speaker and / or microphone. Also for the calls there is a not indifferent gem, that is we can answer the incoming call, in the sense that we can acquire the call from the Fitbit Luxe and answer later on the phone. A feature that I appreciated because my smartphone often gets stuck in the bag and I happen to not take a call in time. Therefore, there is no NFC for mobile payment, whose presence would have given a certain value to the expense that is required for the purchase of the Luxe.
Finally we can recall the monitoring of sports activities: as already mentioned there are 21 sports that can be monitored but in the memory on the device we can only keep 6. Unfortunately we do not have an integrated GPS, but the connection with that of the smartphone is instantaneous. Furthermore, many of the sports that can be monitored have dedicated metrics and the data report is quite complete, almost like a professional sportwatch.
The Luxe supports Fitbit's SmartTrack feature, which automatically recognizes and records certain types of workouts, including walking, running, aerobic and elliptical sessions, outdoor cycling, continuous high-motion sports (such as tennis, basketball, and soccer), and swimming . Accuracy in recognition is quite high but I do not hide the fact that I once found myself with one of the many recognizable arts tagged as a swim. The Luxe can also estimate your VO2 Max (the maximum amount of oxygen you can use during strenuous exercise, a common measure of aerobic endurance).
There is also no lack of stimuli to move, encouraging us to improve our activity habits, or the awards for good exercise, in the form of a medal, but also a reminder for drinking water, etc. while always referring to the reliability of data collected by the Fitbit Luxe, particular mention should be made to sleep monitoring which also allows you to record naps as well as divide our sleep into various phases including REM sleep. I repeat, Fitbit Luxe is extremely precise in recognizing the beginning and end of our sleep activity as well as in recognizing when we get up at night, perhaps for a drink or some physiological need.
After the first three nights wearing the Luxe in bed, you will also begin to see additional health metrics, including respiratory rate (the number of breaths taken per minute, a metric that will soon arrive on the Apple Watch as well), HRV and temperature change. skin (if you were warmer or colder than your baseline). It is also possible to monitor the estimated change in oxygen or changes in SpO2 levels.
Very complete then the companion app through which you can see your trends over time and manually record how you feel (very calm, calm, neutral, stressed, very stressed) to compare your perceived stress level with your own stress responses. body. The app is pretty comprehensive but with a Premium membership, you'll also see a breakdown of the factors that affect your Stress Management Score and so many other trends. The fact of having paid functions makes you turn up your nose a little is true, but included in the sale price of Fitbit Luxe you will have 6 months of free Premium subscription, more than ample time to evaluate whether the options available are actually right for you. yours or not.
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PROJECTED IMPACT
Undoubtedly Fitbit Luxe turned out to be a reliable and discreet companion on our wrist, offering many unique functions, at least if we look at competing fitness bands. The selling price is 149,99 euros, perhaps a little too high for some parameters, even if we have to think about how many fitness trackers in the last year we have bought and then thrown away because they did not satisfy us.
Considering an average cost of 25/30 euros, I would say that spending a high amount all together could initially scare but over time we will be repaid. In fact, Fitbit Luxe is a wearable that with its elegant design will never go out of fashion, its inconspicuous refinement allows it to adapt to any outfit. It is ideal if you are a gym sportsman, with its excellent dedicated heart rate and SpO2 sensors. Excellent tool for interval sessions such as spinning. The integrated software also pushes us to develop better physical activity habits, stimulating us on a psychological level with small medals and encouragement to do movement.
Of course if you are a professional runner, the absence of GPS will weigh like a boulder in the purchase evaluation of Fitbit Luxe, but even if this had been present I would still have directed you to other shores, as a priori I think it's not a fitness band to be worn on the wrist in certain sporting or competitive environments. Even if you prefer the smart aspect, such as music control or payments, Luxe is not for you, although it should be emphasized that the smartwatch soul of the Fitbit device is one of a kind.
