AFTER two years of working from home and living with restrictions caused by the pandemic, the lack of physical mobility has led to a shift to indoor workouts for those who make or have time. Staying isolated also resulted in increased stress from juggling personal and professional life at home. Navigating these uncertain times has reinforced the value of health and well-being.
In April, Fitbit launched Fitbit Luxe designed “to help you take a more holistic approach to your health and wellness,” it said in a press release.
BusinessWorld had the opportunity to try out the wellness tracker from mid-October to mid-December.
This was my first time to use a Fitbit watch. The tracker I received came with an orchid platinum silicon band. My first impression was it looks sleeker compared to regular watches and their wristbands. The Luxe also is also available in gorjana bands, which transform its style to look like jewelry.
THE FEATURES
To monitor your activity, you have to create an account on the Fitbit app and sync your device with your tracker.
The Luxe gives insights into your daily activities and well-being through its Health Metrics dashboard in the Fitbit app. The dashboard shows daily steps taken, miles covered, calories burned, exercise, resting heart rate, water intake, food calories, menstrual cycle, and sleep activity.
Personally, my favorite features of the Luxe are the sleep tracker and Relax.
The Sleep feature allows the user to set their target duration of slumber. It is advised that the user wears the tracker on the non-dominant hand while sleeping.
Once the user taps “Sleep” on the Fitbit app, the sleep timer is activated and prohibits the user to navigate the app. Upon waking up, the user needs to tap “I’m Awake” which then records the duration (hours and minutes) of sleep. The tracker is also able to monitor the user’s sleep quality by monitoring the duration and at which hour when the user was awake, restless, in light or deep sleep; as well as their rapid eye movement.
I wore the Luxe to three morning walks that I managed to squeeze in on weekends. Those three separate morning walks lasted for an hour. The Exercise feature on the tracker allows the user to set a goal of distance covered with a maximum option until 5 miles or 8 kilometers and its maximum duration is three hours. During the user’s exercise, the tracker vibrates to alert the distance and time covered, and occasionally flashes of motivation. While wearing it during the day but not exercising, the tracker will also vibrate to alert that you have been idle for too long.
Meanwhile, the Relax feature on the tracker has a breathing exercise. The user chooses the duration of the exercise between one and 10 minutes, which requires the user to inhale-exhale following the expansion of a blue circle on-screen. I enjoyed it as it’s similar the breathing practice when doing yoga. It also helped me calm down when needed.
I also appreciated how every weekend, a summary of your “Weekly Stats” is sent via e-mail. It shows your total steps, miles covered, average daily calorie burn, average restful sleep, average resting heart rate, number of exercises, and weight change.
The Luxe also offers a six-month Fitbit Premium trial which allows access to more wellness features, but only if you pay P3,114.
THE DESIGN
The 0.76-inch AMOLED display is convenient to read in a well-lit room. However, reading text under the sun was a challenge, also due to the watch’s small screen.
One good point is that the watch’s features are easy to navigate through the touchscreen by swiping and tapping.
As for its battery life, the product claims its power lasts for five days. For me, it ran out of juice after four days if I used it for an hour of exercising or if I forgot to turn off Bluetooth when sleeping.
As for its P8,490 base price point, with its wellness features, this is a reasonable amount to spend for an active person with an established fitness routine, but might be too much for the average person who can’t maximize its features.
The Fitbit Luxe is available at Fitbit.com and major retailers, such as Digital Walker, Lazada, and Shopee. Luxe retails for P8,490 with a six-month Fitbit Premium trial at P3,114. Premium is available for P519 per month or P4,190 per year in 18 languages and in more than 40 countries. Luxe’s accessory colors and styles range from P1,690 to P5,990. The gorjana for Fitbit Luxe Special Edition is also available for P12,990. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
