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Well, my friends, I have officially spent the past 2 weeks using the Fitbit Air and have got to say right out of the game, for $99, I don't think Google has made a better product from a pure value standpoint. This thing is incredibly affordable. You get access to Google's excellent health tracking suite. The battery life actually does last a full week straight and there is no monthly subscription required to get the most out of it. But, the best part, at least to me, this device is completely invisible in daily use. It's truly one of those set it and forget it type of devices just put it on, you get your health stats, and half of the time you don't even need to know it's there,
which is exactly what I wanted. I could honestly go on about this forever, but let me get into it because there is a lot to cover in this video. And, of course, if you appreciate Google coverage like this, don't forget to subscribe to the 9to5Google YouTube channel because we have a lot more coming your way. As I said, I've been using the Fitbit Air all day, every day, for everything from strength training to cardio work, sleep tracking, step counting. You name it, I've been using it for the past 2 weeks and I need to tell you guys, I am beyond happy with this device. The Fitbit Air is incredibly lightweight. During daily wear, I didn't even realize that I had it on and especially when wearing long sleeves, it surprisingly
just felt like a basic part of my clothing, not that I was wearing an actual smart device. And, by extension, it also works well with formal wear, too, because you can just slip it underneath of your sleeves quite seamlessly. So, wearing it out or to any kind of formal events has been a complete non-issue. On the other hand, though, when it is exposed, because it looks like a normal band or bracelet, I never ever get any questions about it. It doesn't stick out. It doesn't stand out, which is exactly what I wanted. And, that same feeling, by extension, also applies to sleep tracking, as well.
Going to bed with the Fitbit Air feels completely normal. I get none of the bulk or weight that I typically get from a smart watch. There's no catching it on your sheets. It's not uncomfortable if you're sleeping with a partner. Like, nobody ever wants to cuddle with someone wearing a glassy, greasy smartwatch on their wrist. Again, it's a complete non-issue. Same thing, too, when you're doing your usual workouts. I've taken it on hikes, on runs, weightlifting, cycling, and during all of that time, the Fitbit Air again felt non-existent. As I said in my hands-on, this device is made specifically for me. At this point, I just need a simple, seamless tracker to help me stay aware of my health
stats, and this works perfectly in that regard. I will say though, I'm not super happy with the first-party band options. I spent most of my time using these Steph Curry edition right here, which is basically the regular performance loop band, but in a custom color with a ridged interior on the inside. As I said in my hands-on, that raised interior does give me a tiny bit more breathing room, although not as much as I would have liked. Over my 2 weeks, I've gotten some stains on it, maybe some oil from my fingers rubbing off, which is to be expected, don't get me wrong, but it
doesn't seem you can purchase a replacement band, so I'm not sure what's going to happen when this does become unusable. I also have the regular performance loop, which is fine. It's fabric with no raised interior, so it does get damp with sweat or water a bit more often, so there are times where you're going to have to actually take it off to let it dry, and I do also have the silicone active sport band as well. And that, by contrast, is very easy to wash, very easy to clean, and dries pretty much immediately, but with the ridges on the outside and a smooth surface on the inside, sweat gets trapped between the band and your skin, which is so incredibly uncomfortable if you're going on a walk or just wearing
it on a hot day. And without one single third-party band option available right now at the time of this recording, it's something that we're just going to have to deal with for now. We will get them eventually, and as soon as I do get a band with perforated holes, all of these issues are going to be completely resolved, at least for me. I do have a few more observations though that I think are very important to note if you do end up getting this device. You need to know that building the habit of logging activities does definitely take some getting used to. Obviously, it's a screenless device, so you can't start a workout from the tracker directly. That means you have to manually log it or
rely heavily on the auto activities feature. And there are only a few instances where that auto activities feature does actually trigger. Typically, it's anything that causes a high heart rate like biking, walking, running, elliptical, or sports once you're at least 15 minutes into the activity. Otherwise, you do have to log a lot of activities yourself. So, if you're into weightlifting like I am, you have to go in the app and manually trigger that activity. Also, maybe I just don't know how this works, but if you do manually log an activity, you are stuck on that screen until the workout
is over. You can't use any other aspects of the app. So, if you manually log a walk for example, and then you grab a bite to eat while you're out, which is very common if you live in a city, let's say, you'll just have to wait until the walk is over to actually log your meal. Just a weird issue that I found, and I hope that Google fixes that. Two more things I wanted to note about the day-to-day experience. The new smart alarm feature I actually really, really enjoy. Inside the app, you can set several of these smart alarms that wake you up at the most optimal time within a 30-minute window. When that does happen, your wrist will get subtle vibrations that repeat every few minutes or so if
you don't dismiss it with a double tap gesture. For me, the vibration motor has been strong enough to wake me up, and I do think I prefer the physical feedback as opposed to an audio alarm, which has been a nice change of pace for me, I will say. Lastly, Google says the Fitbit Air has 7-day battery life, and I've only had to charge it twice in 2 weeks, so that tracks perfectly well on my end. I went on a 5-day trip to Google I/O, and I had like 35% left by the time I got home. And it's especially good not needing to bring a charger with me, so again, love the convenience there.
Another big question I see being asked a lot with the Fitbit Air is what is going on with that subscription situation? Exactly what does is $100 yearly premium subscription actually gets you, and is it mandatory to enjoy the Fitbit Air to the fullest? I know a lot of people might be coming from Whoop, where a subscription is mandatory, but with the Fitbit Air, it's actually very straightforward. With the subscription, you get a lot of the AI features, and no, it isn't mandatory in the slightest. The premium subscription will get you Gemini Insights, which is like a summary or analysis of your last few activities, Gemini Coaching, where it can give you personalized recommendations based on
your data, and the Ask Coach feature, which is like an on-demand chat button with the coaching experience. You also get a workout library with pre-recorded videos where you can follow along on your own, and that's really about it. Long story short, it's a totally unnecessary subscription if you just want your core metrics. And besides that, a lot of people don't really like AI anyway, so maybe you're better off. That said, it's been very satisfying to open the Google Health Coach, describe to it a meal that I had recently, and it kind of just logs it on my behalf. I truly enjoy that. And I would say on top of that, Google Premium will be included in the Google One AI Pro 5 TB plan
starting from May 26th onwards, so you might already have it yet, and you might not even know about it. With that bundled in, the AI Pro plan actually seems like a good deal at this point, especially if you're using Google services as often as I am. Now, at this point, I wanted to touch on what is arguably the most important part of the Fitbit Air, and that is how accurate it is when it comes to health tracking. And I have to say, I am no expert here, but without a doubt, The Quantified Scientist is the gold standard when it comes to testing fitness wearables. I heavily encourage you to watch his video on this device. He tested the Fitbit Air against real medical-grade equipment,
which I clearly do not have, but to summarize his results, for heart rate tracking, Rob tested the Fitbit Air against a medical-grade ECG chest strap, where indoor cycling and running only had minor deviations. It was about 90 to 99% as accurate as that ECG chest strap, again, when it comes to running or cycling. Rob also tested sleep tracking with the Fitbit Air alongside an EEG brainwave headband tracker, where again, the Fitbit Air on average was approximately 80% as accurate as that EEG headband tracker. And there were similar results with step tracking as well. Rob did a manual clicker test over 5,000 steps and found the Fitbit Air over counted by 1%. I think it was 10
additional steps for every 1,000 steps walked. And again, that is just a brief summary with the biggest, most important takeaways. I do encourage that you watch Rob's 40-minute breakdown. He has a lot of raw, real data that I think will really help you if accuracy is your number one concern. But long story short, for the most important metrics for most of the users out there, that being sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, and step counting, the Fitbit Air is basically best in class or one of the best at a half to a third of the price compared to its direct competitors. Finally, I think we can close out this video talking about the updated Google Health app, formerly the Fitbit app, which seems to be a really, really big talking point within the
Fitbit community. And as much as I hate to say it, there does seem to be a bit of frustration with this new update. If you look at the Fitbit subreddit and some recent reviews on the Google Play Store, it's clear some people are very unhappy with the new UI. There is a lot of repetitive posts over and over again just saying they hate the new app and they hate the UI. To summarize all of these posts, there are some valid concerns as usability has been changed a bit. We do have to acknowledge that. No questions asked. And the second part of that, I would say is I think people are just annoyed that they have to learn how to use a new user interface.
Specifically with usability, it seems like food tracking isn't as straightforward and easy to log items as it was before. People don't like that they have to scroll through massive paragraphs of text to get to some of their other stats on the today page. You can't easily swipe through your previous days data like you could do on the old app. And in general, there to be a lot of complaints regarding smaller health stats that just aren't showing anymore or just aren't easy to access anymore. There is reports of certain pieces of data not tracking correctly or previous stats not transferring over into the new app correctly as well. So, while I don't agree that this is a horrible update and it's ruined Fitbit
forever like some would say, yes, there is some feedback that Google does need to address. Thankfully, they did put out a blog post recently going over their road map which includes a ton of bug fixes that should help with that while also making the dashboard and today view more customizable so you can tailor it to your needs making Google Health Coach less overbearing especially for minor activities giving more concise summaries during times where it actually matters and it should get a lot better at not repeating unimportant details over and over again. So, it does seem like Google is taking this feedback seriously and there's a lot of planning that they're putting into this to make sure this new
redesign is more in line with what people actually want from a fitness app and I'm excited to see how these changes all add up in the future. So, overall with all of that said, am I happy with the Fitbit Ace and by extension to some degree the new Google Health app? I would say with the Fitbit Ace in particular, my answer is an overwhelming resounding yes. I think Google met the expectations and far exceeded them in some way. It is incredibly affordable at $99 and we really haven't even seen how low this is going to get during the holiday season and from what I'm seeing based off the Quantified Scientist, it is incredibly accurate at least on par with the Pixel Watch or Apple Watch or
other competitors in the field. And for me personally, I think once the band situation gets figured out and once the app gets tweaked a bit to address the feedback, this is without a doubt going to be one of Google's strongest product offerings. With that said, let me know in the comments, did you end up picking up a Fitbit Ace for yourself? If so, what do you think of it so far? Are you enjoying it? Are you having issues with it? Are you going to use it as a hybrid device only at certain times of the day? Leave a comment and let me know all of your thoughts. Until next time my friends, I'm getting out of here. This has been Jordan Floyd from 9to5Google.
Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you in the next one.
