Fitbit Alta review: A solid, albeit slightly old tracker

Since we first reviewed the Fitbit Alta, several new wearables have been added to the company’s collection including the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Fitbit Flex 2. Then there’s also the Fitbit Alta HR. In terms of price, the Fitbit Alta (£100) sits between the Flex 2 (£70) and the Charge 2 (£140) and is £30 cheaper than the Alta HR (£130).

In terms of functionality, the Alta is closer to the Flex 2 than the Charge 2, with one big difference: the Flex 2 is swimproof, and can help you track lengths amongst other things. The Alta has a screen though, meaning it can show caller ID and the time – whether you think that warrants an extra £30 is up to you.

As its name suggests, the Alta HR adds heart-rate tracking (and more detailed sleep analysis), but if you want to track floors climbed and have multi-sport support and smartwatch style notifications, then you’ll need the Charge 2, which only costs £10 more.

READ MORE: Best fitness trackers 2018

Nothing we’ve mentioned in the review needs to be revisited in light of the new members of the Fitbit family – it’s just a good idea to be informed about other options – especially when you could save £30 by purchasing a Flex 2 instead.

Original review continues below

There was a time when buying a Fitbit was simple. There was only one of them, and it did one thing very well: it counted your steps. You could blissfully carry on with your life, with a gentle prod from the Fitbit encouraging you to be a tad more active.

Today, however, there are no fewer than eight Fitbits, ranging from the £50 Fitbit Zip up to the Fitbit Surge at three times the price. About halfway up the Fitbit ladder at £100, sits the Fitbit Alta. Meanwhile, Amazon UK have the Fitbit Alta from £79.99 (or Amazon US from $99). Like the super-popular Fitbit Flex, the Alta represents a return to a more basic wristband tracker – and it looks all the sharper for it.

Buy the FitBit Alta now from Amazon

Fitbit Alta: Design

When I reviewed Fitbit’s first smartwatch, I commented that, for the first time, the company had made a product designed to stand out. No longer content purely with substance, Fitbit was making a play for the style market, too. With the Alta, the truth is more complicated: it looks very swish indeed, but Fitbit has retreated to its understated comfort zone.[gallery:4]

In other words, the Alta is more closely related to the Flex than anything else in the collection. It is almost exactly the same size, and, although it packs a lot more information on to its tiny, monochrome Oled screen than the Fitbit Flex, the screen is off by default. For most of the day, it is a faceless, non-descript band.

Fitbit would argue that it is only as non-descript as you want it to be. The company sells a range of coloured bands that snap in place around the screen element, giving you a degree of customisability. However, even with the most brightly coloured band attached, the Alta still attracts fewer glances than the Blaze.

Whether or not you think this is a bad thing is personal. Some people like their wearables to make a statement, while others just want functionality. Fitbit treads the line between the two quite well here.

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On a practical level, it works better than the Flex, too. While the bestseller’s stretchy rubber pouch had a tendency to tear after repeated use, the Alta’s strap comes in two parts, each one fastening to the Fitbit’s brain via a metal clip. It feels sturdy, it is easy to pop in and out and, crucially (given that it’s designed to track your sleep as well as general activity levels), it is comfortable enough to wear in bed. As with all Fitbit products, the Alta is water-resistant, rather than waterproof, so you’ll want to take it off in the shower or the pool.

A familiar downer that will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Fitbit’s products over the years is that the Alta features yet another unique, proprietary clip-based charger. The reason for this is the aforementioned water resistance; open USB ports are clearly a big no-no. However, it is baffling why Fitbit can’t aim for some kind of compatibility between models – until you look at the cost of replacement cables.

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Fitbit Alta: Features

Since the Alta sits firmly in the middle of Fitbit’s range, it is understandable that it isn’t the most feature-packed tracker. At £100, I wasn’t expecting to see GPS inside, but the absence of a heart-rate monitor and a “floors climbed” tracker is a disappointment. On the other hand, it has some basic smartwatch functions, displaying caller ID and text messages onscreen should you wish, making it the cheapest Fitbit to do so. Here is how it sits in the Fitbit food chain:

Other than that, it is business as usual. The Fitbit Alta will count your steps, track your sleep automatically, detect how active you are at any moment and ring a silent alarm, so you don’t wake your partner when you need to get up. Taking a leaf from the Apple Watch’s book, it will also buzz after a customisable period of lethargy to get you up and moving again.

Buy the FitBit Alta now from Amazon

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Additionally, it should automatically detect when you’re exercising and log it accordingly, but I don’t advise you rely on it to do so. It only kicks in if you’re active for more than 15 minutes, but it didn’t record anything during a weekend 5K race (which was longer than 15 minutes since I’m not a world-class athlete).

This seems to be because Fitbit recorded Runkeeper’s figures instead. A second run without starting Runkeeper triggered a belated prompt congratulating me on my 18-minute run and offering limited statistics: time taken, calories burned and steps taken. All the same, it is probably not something serious runners will want to rely on.[gallery:10]

Not that you can, really. As I’ve written before, tracking distances without GPS is a mug’s game – those looking to track the distance covered while cycling or running should take their phones with them or look for a more expensive wearable. The Fitbit app takes a guess at your kilometres travelled every day, but, seemingly aware of its own flakiness, it doesn’t break distance down by time.

To see how it fared, I did a DIY workaround, where I divided the steps taken when I knew I was running by the total distance travelled. Using this method, Fitbit thought I ran 2.01km on my run. Mapometer tagged the distance as 3.25km. You can see why Fitbit doesn’t make the data easy to access.

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In terms of battery life, the screen doesn’t seem to harm it much at all. Bearing in mind it will deteriorate over time, it will last you a good six to seven days between charges. That’s better than my Flex, which tends to go for five days, but some way off the marathon performance of the old Fitbit One, which could go two to three weeks without feeding off its proprietary cable.

The proprietary cable is why battery life is all-important. The battery lasts long enough for this not to be a huge problem, and the company even sends email notifications when your devices are low on battery, so – theoretically – you should never be caught short.[gallery:2]

Fitbit Alta: Verdict

There’s a reason the Flex is one of the most popular fitness trackers on the market, and Fitbit has pulled off a tricky balancing act here by simultaneously resisting the temptation to reinvent the wheel while adding in a handful of useful extras. The Alta is just as light and discreet as the Flex; it looks a lot more stylish; and it has impressive battery life, despite the additional screen. The smartwatch-lite functions are a welcome addition, too.

Serious athletes will want to look elsewhere – Fitbit has this demographic covered with the Surge, while Garmin’s Vivoactive fills a similar brief – but, for those who only need a nudge to get more active, the Fitbit Alta provides this – and does so very well indeed.

Buy the FitBit Alta now from Amazon

Fitbit Alta specifications
Wearing modes	Wrist strap
Pedometer	Yes
Heart-rate monitor	No
GPS	No
Display	OLED, tap display
Waterproof	Yes (splashproof)
OS support	Android, iOS
Wireless	Bluetooth
Battery size	Not stated
Battery life	5 days