Fitbit Versa Lite: A good-looking watch with solid build, colourful screen

The Fitbit Versa Lite is a stripped-down version of the Versa smartwatch. It looks and feels the same — and closely resembles the Apple Watch — but skips a few features to keep the cost down. Let’s evaluate if there’s a place for it in your life. 

Design (4.5/5)

I was sent a Versa Lite that has an aluminium dial and a white silicone strap. The watch fits my wrist like it was meant for it, but I am not a fan of the pasty white strap. It’s not subtle or versatile. The charcoal, lilac, mulberry and marina blue are much more appealing.

The design of the Versa Lite is identical to the original model barring two buttons on the right of the aluminium casing. This leaves it with just one button on the left. The sleek, rectangular casing with curved edges is chic and a perfect fit, but better for thin wrists than broad ones.

Performance (3/5)

The Versa Lite is a very reliable fitness tracker. I tallied its step count manually on several occasions and it was about 90 per cent accurate on an average. It has an interval timer, yoga and weight training modes over the basic walk, cycle and run. But unlike the Samsung Galaxy Watch, you have to manually begin a particular workout for the watch to track it. In a 45-minute gruelling weight-training session, it monitored my heart rate accurately (I tallied it with my Garmin 2 that uses a chest strap) and notified me that I had burnt 340 calories, which seemed reasonably accurate, too.

If you can learn to sleep wearing your watch, it provides detailed data, breaking your daily ritual into active time and light, deep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.

It does what it does well but what it misses is heartbreaking. The Versa Lite is 5 bar waterproof so you can swim with it, but it does not provide swim stats. You can walk with it but it does not have an altimeter to track floors. You can run with it but it does not have in-built GPS. And taking into account a beginner’s perspective, I could have compromised on all of this, but it does not even have storage for music. And that’s just mean. 

Verdict (3.5/5)

For Rs 15,999, it’s a good-looking, solidly built watch with a colourful screen and clean interface for people who would like to be reminded of their daily activity. But it’s not for fitness enthusiasts who need technology to track and help improve their performance.