Fitbit Alta Review

Hope everyone had a wonderful MDW! Mine was super relaxing (a major perk of skipping Figawi haha) so I’m going into this work week with a ton of energy. A good thing because–side note–I’m subbing a bunch at Btone. If you’re local, sign up for one of the following classes with me!

• Wednesday Back Bay 6, 6:55 & 7:50AM
• Thursday Back Bay 6 & 6:55AM
• Friday North End 12PM
• Saturday Back Bay 9, 10 & 11AM
• Sunday North End 9 & 10AM

Ok, on to today’s post …

A couple months ago I got to upgrade from my (broken) Fitbit Flex to the new Fitbit Alta, and now that I’ve been playing around with it for a while I thought it’d be helpful for any prospective buyers to do a little review. By “little” I mean long AF. Fitbit gave me the tracker for free as part of their Fitbit Local launch in Boston, but they didn’t ask me to review it and this is not a sponsored post.

Years ago when I got the Fitbit Flex, I was a little mehhh about it (I did a review here). I thought it was cool and would go through phases of being obsessed with how many steps I could get in a day, but ultimately lost interest in having a pedometer on my wrist. This is how the week would go: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays I teach and would therefore blow passed the step goal by 9AM and then not even think about it the rest of the day. Saturday and Sunday I’d end up not even wearing the Fitbit most the day because it didn’t look cute with my outfits (*eyeroll* I know, but when you live in yoga pants Mon – Fri, wearing real clothes is fun!). The only two days of the week I found it helpful were Mondays and Fridays–no teaching, just blog work. I’d do my own workout on these days, but other than that just sit at my computer. Knowing I had 10,000 steps to take really did motivate me to move on otherwise inactive days.

So when Fitbit graciously offered me a free wearable why did I pick the Alta, which is basically just an improved Flex, instead of one of the new models that can track heart rate? I don’t know. But I’m glad I did!! The changes from the Flex have made me fall in love with the Alta. Like the Flex, it’s still an activity tracker and probably not for you if you’re looking for data and feedback on your workouts, but the new features are enough that I find it useful in various ways throughout the day.

Side note: You can manually enter in your workouts using the Fitbit app (Alta will automatically recognize walking, running and hiking) but the caloric burn data is just going to be an estimate based on your weight/age/height and the type of activity you select.

Since the Alta is basically a Flex 2.0, I wanted to start by outlining the three big design differences (improvements!). The Alta is $129.95 compared to the Flex at $99.95 and in my opinion the improvements make it well worth the extra $30 if you’re trying to decide between the two.

Design Improvements from the Flex

Monitor Display

Whereas the Flex just has a row of lights that illuminate as you get closer to your step goal, the Alta has a monitor display. Information you’d need to go into your phone’s app to get with the Flex can now be viewed by tapping through the small screen on your wrist. And you can customize the default display (step progress, clock face, a combination of both) as well as the data displayed when you tap through (steps, mileage, active time, battery level, calories burned).

Better Charger

My biggest frustration with the Flex was actually the charger–and in doing a search online I am not alone with that one. It wasn’t designed efficiently and after only a few uses it started being very finicky. I had to hold the flex at juuuust the right angle to get it to charge. It quickly got worse. I had to secure it with hair clips and bobby pins for a while, then it just stopped charging altogether.

The charger for the Alta is a completely different design. It’s almost like a sandwich clip, clamping on and aligning with the shape of the Alta to secure it in place while it charges. Woop!

Sleeker Appearance

A big part of this is due to the monitor display. Instead of looking like you’re wearing one of those rubber wristlets you get at concerts, the reflective surface of the monitor gives the Alta more of a watch-like appearance. The metallic detail on the sides helps with this, too. And the band options are SO MUCH BETTER for the Alta. I’ll get into those below.

Alta Features I Love

Just to clarify, some of the following features are software upgrades that the Flex got as well, so I’m not necessarily comparing the two any more.

Reminders to Move

Going back to what I said in the start of this post, on days I teach it’s not even a question of whether or not I’m going to hit my step goal. With the Flex, those lights would flash congratulatory vibrations at 9AM and then I really had no use for the tracker the rest of the day.

I LOVE the Alta’s reminders to move. You can customize them, but I just have mine on the default setting: every hour from 9 to 6 my wrist will vibrate and the monitor will tell me how many steps I need to take to hit the hour’s 250+ step goal. 250 doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you’re in the zone cranking away at computer work, it’s surprisingly easy to get ZERO steps in an hour. 

In the Fitbit app, you can see the activity data all broken down by hour. This is the challenge I need. Some days I’ll hit 20k+ steps but then look at my hourly activity and see that the majority of my day was still spent sedentarily. SONOFA–

Now I actually focus more on moving a little every hour between 9AM and 6PM than I do on hitting my step goal.

Automatic Sleep Tracking & Silent Alarms

I have a love-hate relationship with the sleep tracking because I never–NEVER–hit 8 hours if I’m waking up early to teach the next day. For a Type A like myself, it is maddening to not hit that goal. But on that same note, the silent alarms were life changing for me. I have to get up between 4:45 and 5AM most mornings to teach but Joe … does not. I used to feel so guilty every time my alarm went off and woke him up! The silent alarms are awesome. My Alta vibrates enough to wake me up without disrupting him.

Clock & Quick View

I love that the Alta is also a watch and you can chose the clock format. I have mine display seconds so that I can use it as a stopwatch while teaching at Btone–so convenient!! With the Quick View feature, the Alta knows when you turn your wrist towards your face (the motion you make to look at a watch) and will display the clock when you do so (otherwise the monitor is blank to preserve battery).

Text, Phone Call & Calendar Alarm Sync

This is a feature that I personally don’t get a ton of use from, but I can see how it’d be amazing for others. You can sync your phone so that text messages, phone calls and calendar alerts will get displayed on your Alta’s monitor. This is done through Bluetooth, so your phone would need to be in the same room as you for it to work.

In general, my phone is always on me, so I don’t see the need to have these go to my wrist as well, but I do have phone calls get displayed because I keep my phone on silent and never notice incoming calls–even when my phone is right in my pocket. Other scenarios when this would be awesome: You’re a mom going to a fitness class but are expecting a phone call from your kids’ school. You’re in an important business meeting and don’t want to be rudely checking your phone but need to stay in the loop on an important text conversation.

Wristband Options

Last but not least, THE WRISTBAND OPTIONS. This goes back to what I said earlier–the Alta is just overall a sleeker-looking wearable than Fitbit’s past models. The metallic wristband is my absolute favorite–I honestly think it’s even better than the line Tory Burch did for the Flex. It’s $99, so definitely not cheap, but worth it if you’re going to wear it every day (in my opinion). 

Images from Fitbit.com

There are also leather options for the Alta in blush pink and dark gray that look great and are slightly cheaper than the metal band ($59).

Bottom line: I love the Alta! Like the Flex, it’s an activity tracker and I wouldn’t recommend it if you want the best data about your workouts. If that’s the case, you need to go with a wearable that measures heart rate. But if you want a tracker for everyday life, I highly recommend the Alta. Spend the extra $30 and get it instead of the Flex.

You can shop the Alta HERE.

Big thanks to Fitbit for my new favorite toy! The next Fitbit Local Boston event is June 12 and will be a group run followed by yoga with Ambassador Cara Gilman. It’s free and you can sign up here.

Do you have the Alta or another Fitbit tracker? What are your thoughts?

Links in this post are affiliate.