Fitbit Luxe review: A stylish health companion

Price: Rs 10,999
Colour: Orchid - Platinum Stainless Steel, Black - Graphite Stainless Steel, Lunar White - Soft Gold Stainless Steel
In the box: FitBit Luxe tracker, silicon band, magnetic charger
 
Fitness trackers are about health and well-being, a subtle yet constant motivation right on your wrist. And while there are plenty to choose from, there is hardly any differentiation as mostly all look the same. But this doesn’t hold for the FitBit Luxe. Compared to other Fitbit offerings, and other fitness bands in the market, the Fitbit Luxe feels ultra-premium and stylish. Unlike the core made of hard plastic found in most, the slim stainless-steel case on the Luxe feels premium, does not weigh much and feels super light. The accompanying silicon band has a soft finish, making it comfortable to wear for longer durations. This compact band is perfect for a small wrist but looks a bit too small for bigger wrists. Complementing the design is the super vibrant coloured touch display that was legible even under bright light. However, the touch response felt a tad bit slow. And also, I found the screen a bit too small for quickly glancing through the exercise logs.
 
Right out of the box, the Luxe has to be paired with the Fitbit app, which took a few minutes to set up. Once done, the navigation was all about swiping down and sideways – Luxe does not have any physical buttons. Swiping left from the home window gave quick access to notifications, selecting a workout, entering a 2-minute relaxation cycle, access alarm and timer, and I was able to further explore some of these vertically. And swiping up from the home window displayed the day’s activity, hourly activity, heart rate, sleep data, amongst others. It took me a couple of days to get used to the small screen and navigation but once done, using the Fitbit Luxe was a delight.
 
Unlike a full range of workouts other fitness brands track, FitBit has kept it simple -- it records walk, run, bike, swim, workout and treadmill, and suggests editing exercise shortcuts from the Fitbit app. I have still restricted myself to home and used the Luxe extensively for tracking my morning and evening walks. While my heart rate during the workout captured by the Luxe was similar to that on the Apple Watch, there was a difference in step count. For every 1,000 steps, the Luxe recorded 30 steps less - about 300 step count difference for 10,000 steps.
 
The Luxe also supports running but like many love to track the route followed, this one will disappoint because Luxe does not have in-built GPS and for accuracy relies on the phone’s GPS. While Fitbit is facing tough competition from other fitness bands, one thing that stands out is the clean mobile app. The app prominently displays the day’s workout activity including the step count, distance and calories burnt. Based on the stats entered into the app, it even suggests the number of minutes of exercise I should engage in. Analysing my stats, it suggested  22 minutes of daily exercise and displayed a neat breakup of fat burn and cardio & peak.
 
Of late, a lot of stress is being given to the quality of sleep and Fitbit tracks it perfectly. It automatically detected the sleep time, wake time and the app had detailed sleep stage data including awake, REM, light and deep sleep. Fitbit also calculated my sleep score, which was mostly between fair to good. I was able to improve it further and reduce stress using the Relax feature that involved 2 minutes of slow, deep breathing.
 
Other than health and fitness, the Luxe mirrors notifications too but nothing fancy. All it does is notify for the incoming calls, text messages (that I could only read but not reply to) and notify for the upcoming calendar events.
 
This compact wearable is accompanied by a proprietary charger that magnetically attaches to the band. And a single charge lasted me about a little over four days of usage including sleep tracking, workout and mirroring notifications.
 
If you are feeling guilty about all the sweets you guzzled during the festive season, fret not, the Fitbit Luxe can help you shed those extra calories. Luxe comes with a six months free trial of FitBit Premium subscription that offers guided tours and wellness reports. However, for Rs 10,999, you are paying a premium for the Luxe in an already cluttered market full of affordable fitness bands.

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