Whether you’re shopping for Father’s Day or trying to keep your kids entertained over summer break, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a great Fitbit right now. You can currently pick up the Fitbit Charge 6 for $50 off at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, the Fitbit Ace LTE for $80 off (Amazon, Best Buy, Target), and the new Fitbit Air (Amazon, Best Buy, Target), and all come in around $100.
While all three cost about the same, they’re designed for very different users. The Fitbit Air is geared toward anybody who wants a simple wearable focused mainly on health and fitness tracking, without the distractions of a screen or smartwatch features. It’s lightweight with no buttons, and tracks activity, steps, sleep, as well as core health metrics like heart rate and nightly blood oxygen levels. It also supports Bluetooth connectivity with certain gym equipment, allowing you to broadcast your heart rate to compatible machines during workouts. If you pay for a $9.99 monthly (or $99.99 annual) subscription, you’ll also gain access to Google’s surprisingly useful AI-powered Health Coach, which can create personalized fitness plans and offer recommendations based on your activity, sleep, and overall health data.
The Charge 6, in contrast, looks more like a traditional Fitbit fitness tracker and offers a few extra perks. In addition to a bright OLED touchscreen, it boasts an FDA-cleared EKG reader and notably offers smartwatch-like functionality such as built-in GPS, turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps, support for Google Wallet, and the ability to display call, text, and app notifications. As a result, it’s a better fit for people who want a wearable that can do more than simply track their health and workouts.
The Fitbit Ace LTE, meanwhile, is geared toward kids, offering fun movement-based games and rewards while tracking activity, sleep, and other basic health metrics. With the $9.99 monthly Ace Pass subscription, kids can call or text preapproved contacts, share their location through Google Maps, and even make purchases using Google Pay, making it a handy smartphone replacement with parental controls.
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