Fitbit Alta: a stylish, tightly focussed step counter
The perfect Alta-rnative to more expensive fitness trackers (sorry)
Why you can trust T3
The Fitbit Alta is a few years old but it still does what a lot of people require from a fitness tracker/step and sleep counter.
You can get it for £69 right now at John Lewis and Currys. The RRP of £99 is frankly pushing it a bit, but at that discounted price, the Alta feels like a good deal.
• Fitbit Alta At John Lewis with two-year guarantee for £69
• Fitbit Alta at Currys, also for £69
What do you need a fitness tracker for? Tracking exercise or motivating you to walk instead of taking the bus?
If the answer is the former, you'd be better served by a fitness tracker with more features, (such as a heart rate sensor) or even a GPS running watch.
- You can find the best fitness trackers here, and the best GPS running watches here
But if you want a little inspiration, to keep track of how far you've walked, and maybe push yourself to be a little more active - a basic fitness tracker is the way to go.
The Alta is Fitbit's second wearable released in 2016, after the Blaze, and carries the company's new, more 'design-y' aesthetics.
It's a good lookin' wearable, and easily the most attractive on that Fitbit makes. It's thin, lightweight and comes with a number of band options from durable rubber to more fashionable leather.
It's a massive improvement from previous Fitbits, and will look less out of place when worn with a dinner dress and bangles.
Unlike similar-sized Jawbone trackers, the Alta has a 1.4-inch OLED display packing 128 x 36 pixels. It's a monotone screen, and as well as showing your fitness data, will also display caller ID, calendar and text message alerts.
Gotta track them steps
So what does the Fitbit Alta actually do, and where does it sit in Fitbit's lineup?
It's one of the company's most basic trackers, it'll count steps, take a stab at automatically detecting other exercises, estimate calorie burn, and monitor your sleep.
How well does it work? Good enough.
Step counting is reliable, although as with all previous Fitbit's - the Alta does tend to overestimate a tad. As a step counter, it's probably the best you can get.
Watch T3's video on fitness tracker accuracy below:
As the Fitbit Alta uses the same algorithm as the Fitbit in the video, and we found similar results during this review.
The calorie burn is inaccurate - you definitely shouldn't use this as part of a weight loss or exercise routine. The Alta doesn't have a heart rate tracker, making the results less accurate.
There's no way of telling if the sleep monitoring is accurate, it tells whether you're in deep or light sleep. It's interesting, but not incredibly useful. Still.
Automatic tracking of exercise is surprisingly accurate, we tried it with running and cycling, and the Fitbit got it more or less correct. Of course, if you wanted to track those activities a dedicated activity tracker would be better.
- These are the best GPS running watches
Other things you should know
The Fitbit Alta comes with YET ANOTHER proprietary charge, any other existing Fitbit charger will not work with the Alta. That's annoying.
Fitbit's app is excellent. Fitbit has sold more wearables than anyone else so it has a leading ecosystem, world leaderboard, and chances are your friends have one as well - so you can compete against them to be the fittest of the fittest.
There are brief summaries which aren't overwhelming, and which can be drilled into for more detailed info.
You can also log food, water and weight.
Verdict
Will Alta your perception of cheap fitness trackers? No. But it's a sleek, attractive fitness tracker that works well. Also, your friends probably have a Fitbit as well, so you can compete against them in "fun" fitness leaderboards.
You really can't go wrong with a Fitbit, is what we're saying.
Liked this?
- These are the best fitness trackers around
- Why not try the best smartwatch on for size?
- More into running and GPS watches?
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
As the Style and Travel Editor at T3, Spencer covers everything from clothes to cars and watches to hotels. Everything that's cool, stylish, and interesting, basically. He's been a part of T3 for over seven years, and in that time covered every industry event known to man, from CES and MWC to the Geneva Motorshow and Baselworld. When he's driving up and down the country in search of the greatest driving roads, he can be found messing around on an electric scooter, playing with luxury watches, or testing the latest fragrances.
-
You’ve seen the rebrand, now here’s the first new Jaguar EV
The Type 00 concept previews Jaguar’s all-new electric line-up. We speak to the creatives behind it
By Phil McNamara Published
-
Audi A6 e-tron: your up-market EV estate has landed
The Audi A6 saloon and Avant estate – plus sportier S6 versions of both – deliver futuristic looks and promise huge range.
By Alistair Charlton Published
-
Quick! This stunning Bang & Olufsen Bluetooth speaker is $200 off, but it'll be gone tomorrow!
The Beolit 20 is one third off right now
By Sam Cross Published
-
This 77-inch LG OLED TV is suddenly even cheaper than its Black Friday price – but only for a few hours
Save an extra $300 on the already heavily-discounted LG OLED C3, but you need to be quick
By Rik Henderson Published
-
This monster 77-inch Samsung OLED TV is less than half price for Cyber Monday – that's crazy!
You can get $1,700 off the Samsung Class S84D OLED at Best Buy right now
By Rik Henderson Published
-
I love this mini retro games console and this big deal makes it the ideal Christmas present
The NeoGeo Mini is a superb buy with £15 off – comes with 40 games and its own screen
By Rik Henderson Published
-
Is there a DJI Neo drone deal on Black Friday? Here's what I found
The brand's top-selling dinky drone might not be any cheaper for Black Friday, but there are a ton of exciting DJI offers to choose from
By Matt Kollat Published
-
Samsung's latest iPad rival just dropped to its lowest-ever price in great Black Friday deal
You’re running out of time to save money on a new tablet
By Yasmine Crossland Published
-
Samsung's 5-star style TV has fallen to a record-low price – it's my dream TV
The Frame doubles up as a piece of artwork when you aren't using it
By Yasmine Crossland Last updated
-
This hidden Atari retro games console deal is the best I've seen – and it's from an unlikely source
The Atari GameStation Pro includes more than 200 classic games
By Rik Henderson Published