health

Review: Fitbit Alta

As somebody who has recently become a gym bunny and zumba enthusiast I have been looking at getting an activity tracker for a while. For my 20th birthday I was gifted the FitBit Alta and it has become my most important accessories.

What is a FitBit Alta?

FitBit are a company that offers activity and sport trackers. These range from clip on steppers, wristbands and smart scales. The FitBit Alta is one of their newer products on the market costing £99.99. It is an everyday tracker so perfect for those who don’t just want to track their sporting activities but their walking, food and sleep. 

What does it do?

The Alta tracks your activity throughout the whole day. This includes your steps, calories burnt, sleep, KM walked and active minutes. It also allows you to import you food and water.

The App

What I love most about my FitBit is the app it comes with. The dashboard shows all of your stats in simple pie chart style meters and seeing it light up all green when I reach my goal is really motivating.

The App also has features that allow you to start challenges with your friends to see who can do the most steps in a period of time. For the competitive people this is perfect and after participating in a few challenges I can say that it has really made me feel more motivated to move more, especially with the notifications and reminders about how close your step goal is to that of your friends.

Another key feature that I love is the sleep tracker. I used to stay up late and get up early which left me working on 4-5 hours a day, but with the FitBit you can see how much sleep you are getting and even set silent alarms on the weekend so it wake you up once you have had your recommended 8 hours.

These silent alarms are also brilliant if you have reminders on your phone throughout the day. It just sends a gentle vibration to your FitBit and a message telling you what the reminder is.

The calories tracker in my mind is the best out there and reminds me slightly of the My Fitness Pal tracker. What is great is that it has both metric and imperial measurements incorporated into it, and unlike many food trackers on the market it has British brands built into its library of food. This is brilliant as I have often struggled trying to find the American version of something I have eaten with other trackers.

Something that I love with the app as well is the rewards and badges you can collect for walking a certain amount of KM during the day or over a lifetime. It just adds even more motivation for those who like to be a bit more competitive with things they do, and it’s also just a bit of fun.

The Band

The FitBit Alta comes in different colours to suit both sexes and all style tastes, and you can also buy separate bands if you are one to chop and change the colour of your FitBit to match your outfit that day.

I personally went for the purple rubber band which is very comfortable and does stretch and become more flexible within time. One issue i did have though was that the clasp was very hard to pop into the designed holes at first but again I found that softened and became easier the more I used it.

The rubber bands however can get sweaty and rub on your skin if you end up sweating a lot which isn’t ideal if you are doing a of of exercise. I find taking it off half way and wiping your wrist and the band with a tissue works just fine. There is a guide on the FitBit website about how to care for your band.

As for the screen, it did take a few tries to get used to the tap motion you need to make for the screen to light up and show you your stats, but once you get the knack of it, it becomes so easy. The screen is brilliant and doesn’t lag when you are trying to go through it to find out your daily stats. But I do feel it can get scratched easily if you knock it a few times as mine has a few small scratches on the side already. But if you take care of it I don’t feel it will break easily. – I’ve been in and out of a warehouse moving shelving during summer so it was bound to get knocked about-

The battery lasts up to around three full days if you leave it to run out. A tip is to put it on charge when you are in the shower as it isn’t waterproof and you have to take it off anyway.

My Rating

Accuracy: ★★★★★

Comfort: ★★★★☆

The App: ★★★★★

Features: ★★★★☆

Overall: ★★★★☆

This is a brilliant fitness tracker for those who want an everyday and exercise tracker. It is accurate in its tracking and offers some great features. However, if you are looking for something that is comfy then I would advice to opt for a different band rather than the rubber one as it can feel tight and rub on your skin during long periods of exercise. The one feature as well that I feel is missing from this band is the heart rate monitor. You can get this in the FitBit Charge HR for £20 more. But as an everyday tracker this is definitely worth having!