Fitbit Alta HR Review: The Most Stylish and Practical Fitness Tracker Around
Here’s our Fitbit Alta HR review.
The days when fitness trackers were only available in some variation of black are long over. Today’s trackers come in multiple colors and styles to better match the personality of its user. One of the most fashionable trackers to date is the Fitbit Alta HR, which launched earlier this year. It’s similar to the 2016 Fitbit Alta except that it includes a heart rate monitor.
In this review, you’ll learn more about Fitbit’s most personal fitness tracker to date from two perspective, design and feature set.
The Fitbit Alta HR
All About Design
The Fitbit Alta HR, like its predecessor, is one of the most fashionable fitness trackers around. It’s focus on style comes with some limitation, however, which you’ll learn about below.
The default wristband (priced at $149.95) is made of a flexible, durable elastomer material like you would find on sports watches and includes an aluminum buckle. The tracker itself is made of stainless steel. Available colors at the time of this writing are black, blue gray, fuchsia, and coral.
Looking for a little bit more bling to start?
The Fitbit Alta HR is also available in two “special edition” models, both priced at $179.95. These include the Fitbit Alta HR Black / Gunmetal Stainless Steel and Soft Pink / 22k Rose Gold Plated editions.
The Fitbit Alta HR & Alta “Lookbook” features luxury bands made of leather, stainless steel, and 24k gold plating. There’s also a designer collection featuring products from Public School, Vera Wang, and Tory Burch.
Double Wrap Leather + Metal Bracelet in Black
For review purchases, I was sent a standard Fitbit Alta HR with an add-on leather band. Both bands were extremely comfortable, although the leather band a little bit more so. This band also looked better on my wrist, not that anyone else was looking. Not surprisingly, the leather bands aren’t waterproof like the regular bands.
Drawbacks
The Fitbit Alta HR is available in three band sizes, small, large, and extra large. However, there’s only one size for the tracker, a 0.61 inches. This tiny bit of real estate forced Fitbit to limit the data you can monitor on the device’s OLED tap display. On the face, you’ll see a clock, number of steps, calorie burns, and current heart rate information.
If you can’t get past the size of the Fitbit Alta HR display, there are two solutions. First, recognize there’s always a huge divide between what data has been collected with a device versus what’s displayed on its screen. That’s why all tracking devices require a complementary app for iOS or Android.
Second, consider the Fitbit Charge 2, which comes with a larger display (0.84 inches) for the same price.
Features
From a feature perspective, the Fitbit Alta HR checks off all the important boxes. In addition to calculating heart rate zones and resting heart beat information, the device keeps track of steps, calories, and distance. It can also automatically identify workouts like running, elliptical, and biking.
The Fitbit Alta HR also measures light, deep, and REM sleep, and also includes call, text, and calendar alerts. Finally, the wearable device offers seven days of use between charges, which is two days more than the Fitbit Charge 2.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for a lightweight and stylish fitness tracker, you can’t do better than the Fitbit Alta HR. Just make sure you’re okay with its tiny display.
You can purchase the Fitbit Alta HR through the Fitbit website or at retailers like Amazon.com.
- Get the power of continuous heart rate in Fitbit's slimmest design
- With heart rate, you can better measure calorie burn, and use zones (Fat Burn, Cardio, and Peak) to find the right workout intensity for your goals.
- With sleep stages powered by PurePulse heart rate, automatically track your time spent in light, deep and REM sleep and take steps toward a better night's rest.
- Seven days between charges
