Fitbit announced the Fitbit Luxe on Monday, the company's latest effort to make a wrist-worn fitness tracking device that looks more elegant than a traditional fitness band.
The Luxe, which starts at $149.95, is sleeker than its popular Charge 4 tracker but still includes some of the more advanced features found in pricier smartwatches like the Versa 3.
That's significant because many wearable devices that prioritize style don't come with as many health and fitness-oriented features.
The Luxe comes at a time when many companies are attempting to make their devices more appealing to style enthusiasts. Earlier this year, Garmin released the Lily, a fashion-forward smartwatch designed with women in mind.
Fitbit Luxe price and availability
The Fitbit Luxe is available to preorder on April 19 and will ship later this spring.
The base model with a silicone band costs $149.95
The special edition that comes with the Gorjana Soft Gold Stainless Steel Parker Link bracelet is available for $199.95 and also launches this spring.
Physically, the Luxe has more in common with the Charge 4 than with the Versa 3. It lacks the large round face of a traditional smartwatch, instead featuring a thinner and longer look like Fitbit's other trackers. Yet, like the Versa 3, the Luxe offers a full-color touch display while the Charge 4 is stuck in greyscale.
Like the Versa 3 and Charge 4, the Luxe offers a heart rate sensor, sleep tracking, and blood oxygen monitoring, but that last feature won't be available at launch. Luxe owners can also get access to their stress management score, although this wristband does not have an EDA sensor for additional insights about how your body reacts to stress like the Fitbit Sense.
Instead, the Luxe examine metrics like activity levels, sleep, and heart rate to determine stress. The Luxe also comes with a six month trial of Fitbit's $9.99-per-month premium service.
Fitbit is also bringing its health metrics dashboard, which was only previously available on smartwatches, to the Luxe and other trackers. This dashboard tracks metrics like breathing rate, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, skin temperature variation, and blood oxygen monitoring.
Both the Versa 3 and Charge 4 offer stand alone GPS, while the Luxe needs to be paired to a phone to track distance and pace. The Luxe has shorter battery life than the Versa 3 even though it lacks a battery-sucking GPS. Fitbit claims the Luxe gets up to five days of battery life, while the Charge 4 gets up to a full week and the Versa 3 lasts for six days.
Fitbit sells woven, sport, and leather bands for the Charge 4 and Versa 3. But only the Luxe is compatible with stainless steel mesh or linked bracelet bands in addition to leather, silicone, and woven bands. Fitbit partnered with the jewelry company Gorjana to create the $99.95 Parker Link bracelet band exclusively for the Luxe.
The Fitbit Luxe could be appealing to those who prefer wristbands over smartwatches but don't want a device that has a sporty look like most fitness trackers. It lacks an onboard GPS, which might be a downside for avid runners, but offers many other fitness features.
The addition of high-end bands could make Fitbit stand out in the fitness tracker market. That's especially true considering there's less selection in this space as many tech companies have focused more on smartwatches than fitness bands in recent years.
Wearables that emphasize style and design also don't typically come with as many health capabilities. The Bellabeat Time, for example, is a sleek watch that can monitor sleep, activity, and stress. But it doesn't come with advanced features like blood oxygen saturation measurements, which is coming to the Fitbit Luxe in a later update, and skin temperature variation.
