Fitbit’s new Versa Lite is a colorful, cheap smartwatch

Fitbit unveiled a cheaper version of its flagship Versa smartwatch today, the Versa Lite. At $159.95, it has most of the core functionality of its more expensive sibling, while adding quirky colors to the range.

That means you’ll still be able to take advantage of Fitbit’s activity tracking, PurePulse heart rate sensor, Sp02 sensor for estimating blood oxygen changes, and 15 exercise modes. It also retains the four-day-plus battery life, supports connected GPS when connected to your smartphone and is swim-proof.

Fitbit’s sleep tracking also trickled down, with Fitbit’s Sleep Stages feature set that can differentiate between light, deep and REM sleep stages.

More about the new Fitbit Versa Lite

It’s also a capable smartwatch, with smartphone notifications when your device is nearby. If you’re an Android user, you’ll also be able to reply to text messages from your wrist.

The newly designed Versa Lite comes in white, lilac, blue and mulberry, with both the watch casing and the strap being the same tone.

Image: Fitbit

As this model fits between Fitbit’s activity trackers and the full-fat smartwatches, some features disappear with the lower price. Examples include the ability to count swim laps or show on-screen workouts from the Fitbit Coach app, it also loses the ability to track elevation for tracking floors climbed. Music storage and playback are also missing, although you can still use it to control your smartphone’s music player. Oh, and on-wrist payments are missing too, but those only work on the most expensive Versa Special Edition anyway.

Sure, the Apple Watch might be swankier and do more things. It also costs over twice the price of the Versa Lite, with lackluster battery life due to all the extra features. Do you want a status symbol or do you want affordable health tracking? The market would let you believe the former, as Apple makes up 50% of the global smartwatch market. For me, it’s nice to not have to recharge my Versa every night.

The Fitbit Versa Lite is currently available for pre-order with an expected ship date within a week (~March 13).

What do you think of the new smartwatch from Fitbit? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Apple seems to finally be looking into sleep tracking on the Apple Watch
• Apple’s long-awaited AirPods 2 reportedly coming this month
• Fitbit Care is a new program designed to keep tabs on your employees’ health
• Samsung is working on two more folding smartphones because hey why not
• You can now use the Google Home app to change the color of your smartbulbs

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.