Hands-on review: Is the Fitbit Air the best model yet?

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I knew I was in trouble when I saw the first pictures of the Fitbit Air. I was smitten from the start. I’m all about simple and fast wearable tech, so the Fitbit Air spoke to me, personally. Then I saw the price of $99.99 and I stopped breathing for a second. Google’s first take on the recently launched faceless fitness tracker, and I’ve been wearing it non-stop for almost a month to test its features.

My favorite thing about Fitbit Air it should be how it feels to dress. By far, the most comfortable smartwatch though fitness tracker I have experienced it. And since this is an honest review, I even like the Google AI fitness trainer, which has given me almost daily workouts and kept me on track better than any other fitness method I’ve tried in recent years. Here are my thoughts on the budget-friendly Fitbit Air and who should consider owning one.

It costs $100 for comfort and a simple look

Google designed the Fitbit Air to feel like you’re wearing nothing, and I can vouch that this is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn on my wrist. I was dressed my love CMF Nothing Watch 3 Pro months now, but I put it aside to test the Fitbit Air. The difference in comfort, size, and weight on my wrist was significant, especially when I was sleeping.

The Fitbit Air is small compared to my CMF Nothing Watch 3 Pro.
Credit: Lauren Allain / Mashable

Fitbit Air weighs 12 grams or 0.03 kilograms. I can’t tell if I’m wearing it during the day or when I’m sleeping. That’s about half the weight of the popular faceless fitness tracker, the Wow 5.0which comes in at 26.5 grams.

I took off the Fitbit Air to shower and swim in the salt water. That’s not necessary since it’s water resistant up to 50 meters, but Google recommends taking it out for a shower, as soaps can cause damage. Other than that, I wore it non-stop and got quite a few compliments on its look. Some friends at dinner even thought it was a bracelet and not a fitness tracker.

All-week battery life and fast recharging

Google says the Fitbit Air will get up to seven days of battery life on a single charge, and they weren’t lying. In my testing, I got more than eight days of wear before my watch reached about 4 percent and put it on the charger to make sure I didn’t miss a night of sleep tracking. For comparison, the Apple Watch 11 it gets about 24 hours of battery life per charge.

The Fitbit Air brain easily slips in and out of the bands.
Credit: Lauren Allain / Mashable

In addition to an impressive one-week battery life, the Fitbit Air doesn’t take any time to charge. In my first test, I reached 100 charges in 67 minutes. That dropped to 65 minutes on my second charge. After just 10 minutes of the Fitbit sitting on a charge, it has reached 44 percent.

Thanks to this excellent battery life and fast recharging, you don’t have to worry about skipping sleep tracking nights or losing steps due to recharging the fitness tracker.

Google Health Premium kind of rocks

I tested the Fitbit Air with Google Health Premium, which comes free for the first three months. After that, it costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 for an annual plan. Built with Gemini, Premium comes with advanced AI features such as the ability to ask health and fitness questions of the trainer, log in with meditation sessions, and get a weekly fitness plan. I told Coach I was focusing on getting stronger and getting my resting heart rate down, and a five-session plan each week came up that included Hydro rowing machine.

Google Coach created a weekly fitness plan for me that was easy to follow.
Credit: Screenshot: Google Health

A video of each exercise helps to understand each exercise or stretch.
Credit: Screenshot: Google Health

I’m not much on the AI ​​train, so I’m embarrassed to say I like Google Health Premium, especially the personalized workouts. I grew up in a Catholic school, which means, I am a strict follower of the rules. So when Google Coach told me to stretch, row for 20 minutes while keeping my heart rate in zone 2, and then stretch to cool down, I did it right. And that was enough to greatly increase the frequency of my work.

Sleep, nutrition, and hydration tracking on the Fitbit Air is unique

We all want a fitness tracker that provides good sleep metrics in detail and automatically detects sleep. Since I can’t see myself wearing a Fitbit Air, I’m giving this my new award Favorite sleep tracker. The detailed sleep metrics are brilliant, and each night I wear them, they get better as Google adapts to my sleep patterns.

The Fitbit Air did an accurate job of automatically detecting a nap.
Credit: Screenshot: Google Health

Tests the ability to take a photo of food to enter the app.
Credit: Screenshot: Google Health

Google also lets you track nutrition with the Fitbit Air, and that can be as simple as scanning a barcode or taking a picture of your plate. It even breaks down big goals, so you can aim for the right amount of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins each day. Tracking hydration is also easy, and Coach could even send me a reminder to get my ounces in before bedtime, as I tend to down 20 ounces before bed, which leads to waking up in the middle of the night.

Like all AI-driven technology, the Fitbit Air has some flaws

No AI is flawless, and when I tested the Fitbit Air, I came across some flaws. I skipped my daily workout, and Coach asked me to do any other exercise. When I said I picked blueberries in the yard this afternoon (I should be doing some yoga there), the Fitbit said I should eat one cup of berries. Although that was true, I was trying to document the movement of light.

In all fairness, I probably ate one cup of blueberries while picking.
Credit: Screenshot: Google Health

I also noticed some precision when I exercised. Each trainer-designed Fitbit Air workout begins with a warmup, which is usually a stretch. Start a workout, and the app shows you a video of someone doing the stretch, which is incredibly helpful. However, the written description of the stretch does not always match the movement the person was doing in the video.

And of course, using health and fitness AI doesn’t mean it has to be a place to get professional healthcare.

Is a screenless fitness tracker right for you?

It took me a while to get used to wearing something on my left wrist that didn’t tell me the time. I’m getting used to it now, but I’ve seen this happen to other people. However, I prefer not to quickly access my emails or text messages, so the faceless design suits me, although I understand that it is not for everyone.

In some ways, the Fitbit Air is a great option if you’re headed for an analog life again You put in your phoneFor example. But because there’s no face, everything with the Fitbit Air is done through an app, available on (you guessed it) your phone. So while you won’t get texts on your arm, you should look at your phone to check steps, heart rate, and other metrics.

Is Fitbit Air worth it?

I would recommend the Fitbit Air to anyone who likes the idea of ​​an affordable fitness tracker that doesn’t double as a smartwatch. It’s a fitness tracker that’s easy and comfortable to wear and includes plenty of health and fitness tracking. It’s also one of the budget-friendly options, priced at $99.99. However, I found the extra features from Google Health Premium to be worth the price, so add another $99.99 per year to access those deeper insights.

I don’t think the Fitbit Air is good for people who are very anti-AI. Health and fitness tracking benefits rely heavily on AI. At times, I was horrified to receive a Google Health notification confirming that I had arrived on vacation at my destination and had already walked on the beach.