Fitbit Versa 4 Review: Fitness At Core, But Is It Worth The Upgrade?
High notes: Good battery life, lightweight build, stylish design, great sleep tracking and insights.Low notes: Unreliable heart rate tracking, no support for third-party apps.
From small screen basic health tracking devices that could track steps and a little more to having big, bright-coloured displays with sensors galore, heart rate, sleep and menstrual tracking, among others, fitness wearables have come a long way. For years, names like Fitbit and Garmin have dominated the market in terms of offering smartwatches and fitness bands in every price bracket and offering the ones that are dependable too.
After Google's acquisition of Fitbit, the latter unveiled three fitness wearables in India, the Fitbit Sense 2, the Fitbit Versa 4 and the Fitbit Inspire 3. While the first two are smartwatches, the Inspire 3 is a fitness band. What sets the Fitbit Versa 4 apart from the Sense 2 is the lack of stress tracking and well-being features. However, the Sense 2 provides overall well-being and additional features at a higher cost. We used the Fitbit Versa 4 for a few days and here's how it fared in our review.
Fitbit Versa 4 Design, Looks, Display And Build
Even though Fitbit claims that the new model has been redesigned from the ground up, at a first glance, it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Similar to the Versa 3, the new iteration also comes with a classic square display with rounded edges, a formula, which has worked wonders for Fitbit. This is both good and bad as Fitbit has again brought its tried, tested and loved design to the table, but has not experimented much.
The AMOLED screen has been fitted snugly in a way to disguise the bezels better. When compared to smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and the Apple Watch SE, the new Fitbit Versa 4 earns brownie points, courtesy of the always-on display feature. The AMOLED screen on the Versa 4 is bright, crisp and big enough to beautifully fit my small wrists. The display measures 1.58 inches and also supports a galore of watch faces. However, there are no customisable watch faces that Wear OS offers. The AMOLED display has a matte aluminium casing around it and there's a button on the right side of the smartwatch.
Fitbit has not provided specifications of the display, but it is crisp and bright with good viewing angles under direct sun. The screen lit up with the lift-to-wake gesture as well as up by pressing the button on the side. As mentioned earlier, there's also an option to turn on the always-on display mode, but that will of course deplete the battery faster.
The Fitbit Versa 4 has been unveiled in India in four colourways: Black strap with a graphite-coloured casing, Beet Juice with a copper rose-coloured casing, Pink Sand strap with a copper rose-coloured casing and Waterfall Blue strap with a platinum-coloured casing. I liked the all-black variant better than the other three, but the Waterfall Blue with the platinum casing is also a classy option.
Fitbit has made the Versa 4 out of aluminium and lighter than its predecessor Versa 3, but it has fewer sensors onboard than the Sense 2. The straps that came with the Versa 4 triggered my skin sensitivity when I wore it tightly, but it was manageable when I wore it loosely on my wrist. The sales package contained a small strap and a large strap as well. The company's proprietary bands are soft and comfortable otherwise, but finding suitable and affordable bands for the Versa 4 was not easy. The sales package also included some documentation and a magnetic charger for the Fitbit Versa 4. The charger can attach itself to the bottom of the Versa 4 and can be plugged into a USB Type-A port for charging.
Fitbit Versa 4 Features, Battery And Performance
I must admit that I have been a fan of the Fitbit interface and I am happy with the tweaks the company has introduced to make the interface look similar to the WearOS. The company has already mentioned that all Fitbit device users must have a Google account by 2025 as it would be needed to run some features and set up devices starting as early as this year.
While I praised the Versa 4 for the always-on display, turning the feature on meant we bid adieu to the week-long battery life on a single charge. The Versa 4 adds the ability to answer or reject calls directly from the smartwatch and read texts received on the paired smartphone (compatible with both Android and iOS). However, the smartwatch lacks typing and one has to make use of the preset replies if one chooses to not answer a call. The call audio quality was strictly average.
The heart rate sensor in the Versa 4 is not the same as the upgraded one being used in the Sense 2, which is disappointing. I also noticed that the heart rate tracking was unreliable at times. As mentioned earlier, the Fitbit Sense 2 has more sensors than the Versa 4, which kind of pales the latter, when compared. The pricier Sense 2 packs in sensors to track ECG as well as an EDA monitor.
An apt rival for the Versa 4 would be the Garmin Venu Sq 2, which has the ability to download third-party apps via the Connect IQ Store app. Sadly, there is no option to download third-party apps on the Versa 4. However, the Venu Sq 2 was launched at a starting price of Rs 27,990 in India, which is higher than the price of the Fitbit Versa 4.
I liked the sleep-tracking ability of the Versa 4 and the Fitbit app works equally well with both Android and iOS. The company also provides six months of free Fitbit Premium subscription with the Versa 4 that will help keep a track of data that goes beyond the basics of health and sleep tracking. The app generates detailed data on detailed sleep profiles, resting heart rate, breathing rate, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate variability, among others.
The menstrual health tracking feature in Fitbit Versa 4 needs a special mention too as it helped keep a tab on the estimated fertile window, predict periods and more. One can manually log details of accompanying symptoms, flow intensity and weight in the app and track it in future. One can also manually log their stress management score manually by choosing from preset moods within the app.
Having said that, I was shocked to find out that the integrated skin temperature sensor could not detect my skin temperature and I kept getting a message on the Fitbit app that read: "Wear for 3+ nights".
Fitbit Versa 4 Final Verdict
The Fitbit Versa 4 will set you back by Rs 20,499 and by no means is it cheap. With the benefits of the Fitbit app and the bundled premium subscription, fitness enthusiasts can get a holistic experience from the Versa 4. Its lightweight and posh design, exceptional sleep tracking, sleep insights, menstrual tracking and good battery life make it a worthy proposition in this price segment.
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