(Credit: Andrew Gebhart)
I just started wearing the Fitbit Air, but I already like how it feels. The $99 fitness tracker has a screenless design, putting it in direct competition with the Whoop band.
The review unit I received includes the lightweight fabric Performance Loop band in Obsidian (black). Google also sent an extra Performance Loop in Berry (red), and a hardy plastic Active band in Fog (silver). Switching bands is easy. I was able to remove the sensor from the black band and pop it into either of the others in a few seconds. That said, I’ll be sticking with the basic black Performance Loop for now because I prefer its understated look, and it's comfy and lightweight enough that I can almost forget it's there.
As I move forward with testing, I plan to wear it 24/7 for the next few weeks. One of the main tests will be judging its comfort level over that time and how its design compares with Whoop's. Like its main rival, the Fitbit Air is meant to serve as a holistic tracker for measuring activity, exercise, sleep, and stress. It’ll give me more data the longer I wear it, so comfort is important. I'll also evaluate whether it delivers on Google's weeklong battery life estimate with real-world use, and assess the accuracy of its metrics.
Slated for release on May 26, the Air is the first Fitbit-branded tracker since the Charge 6 in 2023. It arrives alongside a rebrand of the company’s app, now called Google Health (available for Android and iOS), and the official launch of the Gemini-powered Google Health Coach.
After unboxing the Air and letting it charge, I set it up via Google Health and reintroduced myself to the AI coach, which remembered some of my workout preferences and schedule quirks from when I first tested it in preview last fall. I conversed with the coach about my goals, and it proposed a new workout plan, taking into account my existing personal training schedule. Some of the responses came through slowly, but it also felt a bit like catching up with a friend. The coach was very responsive to its suggested prompts and pivoted seamlessly when I input more complex replies.
(Credit: Andrew Gebhart)I don't have much data from the Fitbit Air yet, obviously. I need to spend more time wearing the tracker to see if it can accurately assess my health while remaining unobtrusive. Stay tuned for my full review, and in the meantime, check out the video below for all of my initial thoughts after unboxing the Air.