The Fitbit Alter HR: A Comprehensive Health Tracker with a Few Caveats

As an entry-level Fitness tracker, the Fitbit Alter HR offers a solid set of features for basic health tracking and light activity monitoring. The device boasts a sleek design, making it easy to wear and forget about during the day. This is particularly useful for those who want to collect data on their daily activities without having to think too much about it. With its automatic activity tracking feature, the Alter HR can successfully detect walks, runs, bike rides, and elliptical machine workouts, providing users with a seamless experience.

One of the standout features of the Fitbit Alter HR is its heart rate monitor. This allows for more accurate tracking of calories burned and exercise performance. The device also comes equipped with smart tracking capabilities, which identify activities such as walking, running, cycling, and strength training exercises. While these features are impressive, they do have some limitations. For instance, the Fitbit Alter HR does not come with GPS built-in, making it less suitable for long-distance runners or hikers who require precise location data. Additionally, there is no water resistance, which means swimming is off the table.

In terms of accuracy, the heart rate monitor provides an interesting additional metric for workouts. However, it may not be as accurate during training sessions, and it does not provide detailed breakdowns after activities. Nevertheless, the device offers a useful measure of overall fitness through its resting heart rate feature, which can help users track their progress over time.

Sleep tracking is another area where the Fitbit Alter HR excels. The device provides an accurate breakdown of sleep into four distinct stages: awake, REM, light, and deep. This level of detail is particularly welcome for those who want to monitor their sleep patterns in greater depth. Furthermore, the device offers movement reminders, which encourage users to get up and move throughout the day.

Software Integration

The Android app accompanying the Fitbit Alter HR remains one of the most intuitive and useful Fitness tracking solutions available on the Play Store. The software integrates seamlessly with a wide range of other services, including Alexa and MyFitnessPal Insights. The badges and messages within the app are motivating and help users stay engaged in their fitness journey.

Popularity and Community

The popularity of Fitbit is another significant advantage of using the Alter HR. With a large user base comes access to features like friendly competitions and community challenges. For example, the "Weekend Warrior Challenge" allows friends and family to compete with one another to reach step goals. This added social element can be a powerful motivator for those who struggle to stay active.

Will it Help You Lose Weight?

For those looking to lose weight, the Fitbit Alter HR is an excellent tool. By tracking calories consumed and burned, users can create a calorie deficit that promotes steady weight loss. The heart rate monitor further enhances this ability by providing more accurate data on exercise performance.

Conclusion

The Fitbit Alter HR offers a solid set of features for basic health tracking and light activity monitoring. While it may not be the most comprehensive device available, its strengths lie in its ease of use and accuracy. For those looking to track their sleep patterns or monitor their heart rate, the Alter HR is an excellent choice. However, serious athletes or runners may find other options better suited to their needs. Nevertheless, for casual users who want a reliable brand with a thriving ecosystem, the Fitbit Alter HR is well worth considering.

If you're looking for more advanced features like GPS, water resistance, and detailed breakdowns after activities, you might need to consider alternative options. Nonetheless, the Fitbit Alter HR's refinement over previous models makes it an excellent choice for those seeking a solid entry-level Fitness tracker with a focus on heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enanyone who has used one of fitbit's entry-level fitness trackers before will know exactly what to expect from the Fitbit alter HR simply put this is the Fitbit alter plus heart rate monitor what that means is you're getting a device that is great for Passive users and that will reliably track steps taken Sleep Quality and basic activities it has one of the best app ecosystems out there and a solid design that's comfortable to wear however this is not a device meant for serious athletes or even anyone with more than a passing interest in running or other activities such as CrossFit for those casual users this is a likable and well-made tracker that is worthy of your consideration I'm Adam shinitzky let's turn the tables and see just how fit for purpose the Fitbit alter HR is in terms of appearance this device barely deviates from the Fitbit alter that came before it it's a slim tracker that blends into its strap it has a simple black screen that requires a firm tap to activate and scroll through and this is the only input that the HR will recognize and it's not particularly sensitive it gets annoying quickly you can also turn the screen on to check the time by bringing your wrist up to your face this works about 80% of the time the straps have been updated since the last generation of alters and now use more conventional and less fiddly locking systems which is welcome the other good news is that you can swap out the straps to find the one that best suits your personal style or lack thereof and yes it is backwards compatible with the alter meaning that you can try all the fancy leather and metal straps that are already out there the alter HR is comfortable to wear it doesn't get in the way much and it's certainly a welcome break from my bulky Vivo active HR it's visible enough to say hey I track my health but not ostentatious enough to draw unwanted attention battery life is fairly middling and although it CL gam it can manage 7 days I found mine tends to start running low to around 5 I've seen better from far more feature packed devices but it's long enough not to be an issue for most use case scenarios the charger is proprietary so don't lose it but it's easy enough to use and charges fairly quickly there are some very basic Smartwatch features here specifically you can receive notifications on your wrist as with most other trackers these days as well as calls and calendar reminders notifications are limited to just a few apps though and messages are truncated even when you choose the maximum length for them in the settings after they've disappeared there's no way of getting them back to see the messages you missed it's nice not having to get your phone out to see who texted you or who's calling but that's as far as it goes did not buy this as a smartwatch but this device is all about the fitness tracking earlier I described the ideal user for this device as being passive and that's particularly accurate seeing as nearly everything the Fitbit alter does happens on the down low step counting of course happens in the back ground and is pretty accurate for the most part but so too does most of the activity tracking that is to say that you don't tell the alter HR that you're going for run or engaging in sports rather it will try to detect it on its own you do have the option to start a walk hike or run if you wanted to sync with the GPS though but there's no way to manually begin other activities specifically the Fitbit alter HR can automatically identify and track walks runs outdoor bikee the elliptical machine aerobic workouts and sports as an entry-level Fitness tracker there is no GPS built in here there's no water resistance this time either unlike the Flex 2 so swimming is off the cards there's also no way to track weight training which for me is a big let down looking at the Fitbit during a workout also doesn't provide any useful information fortunately the algorithm here called smart track because why not appears fairly impressive in keeping with the other fitbits I've tried out only now it has the added benefit of a heart rate monitor for even better accuracy it can successfully autod detect bike rides and runs which never ceases to amaze but that said it's not infallible I recently used some Edge trimmers to cut the grass around the edge of my lawn for instance and the Ala HR recorded that as a bike ride the heart rate monitor provides an interesting additional metric for your workouts but it's not as accurate as more Sports oriented trackers during training and it doesn't provide a particularly detailed breakdown after activities either rather it mainly comes in useful as a way to track your heart rate throughout the day and to provide you with a score for your resting heart rate this is a useful measure of overall Fitness and a nice addition to have if you're dedicated to your gym sessions and runs you'll be able to see your Fitness improve over time you can also check your current heart rate at any time during the day and the heart rate monitoring should result in a slightly more accurate total for your daily calories burned as well the heart rate monitor also ensures that users can take advantage of the new and improved sleep tracking which now breaks your sleep down into four distinct stages awake REM light and deep this is possibly the best implementation I've yet to experience with sleep tracking it's accurate in my testing and the additional information is very welcome and useful I'm actually going to miss this when I stop using the Ala HR and it really is well done oh and there's also movement reminders which are pretty much par for the course these days although it's nice touch when the device challenges you to feed it 170 steps the big bonus of using any Fitbit device though is the software the Android app remains one of the most intuitive and useful of any Fitness tracking Solution on the Play Store and there's fantastic support and integration from a wide range of other services ranging from Alexa and ift to my fitness pal insights are useful and the badges and messages are generally motivating the popularity of Fitbit is also a big plus here as it means you'll be much more likely to be able to find friends to compete with with I've been challenging my wife with the weekend warrior challenge which has been a fun way to encourage a few more steps out of us both do you see what you get when you mess with the warrior so the big question is whether or not the Fitbit alter HR can improve your health and help you lose weight the answer to that is yes if you diligently track your calories consumed and calories burned then make sure to maintain a deficit you should see steady weight loss the heart rate monitor will only help to make that calculation more accurate and the automatic activity tracking is seamless and certainly useful less driven users will likewise benefit from the ability to track runs and monitor their sleep and resting heart rate as they say that which is monitored improves that said those looking for full Smartwatch features or who are more serious about their training should look elsewhere for something that comes with more precise and fully featured activity tracking I'll be sticking with my vvo active HR this does a lot for a basic health tracker but it falls short of being a full Sports Tracker there's nothing particularly new or exciting about the Fitbit alter HR this is literally the alter but with a heart rate monitor thrown in for good measure but that heart rate monitor makes a big difference and opens up a lot more possibilities for sleep tracking and for calorie counting it's refinement rather than true Innovation that's often what yields the best and most reliable technology you pay a little more for Fitbit as compared with other similar products from other manufacturers but in exchange you get a reliable brand with a thriving ecosystem it's nice to Weare good at what it does and has a decent amount of features for basic health tracking and light activity tracking if you're a casual user looking to collect a little data about your health and maybe shed a few pounds then the Fitbit alter HR is a fairly comprehensive and very reliable choice so I hope you found that interesting and useful guys thanks very much for watching if you did please consider liking sharing and subscribing and I highly recommend you check out androidauthority.com as we are your source for all things Android ohanyone who has used one of fitbit's entry-level fitness trackers before will know exactly what to expect from the Fitbit alter HR simply put this is the Fitbit alter plus heart rate monitor what that means is you're getting a device that is great for Passive users and that will reliably track steps taken Sleep Quality and basic activities it has one of the best app ecosystems out there and a solid design that's comfortable to wear however this is not a device meant for serious athletes or even anyone with more than a passing interest in running or other activities such as CrossFit for those casual users this is a likable and well-made tracker that is worthy of your consideration I'm Adam shinitzky let's turn the tables and see just how fit for purpose the Fitbit alter HR is in terms of appearance this device barely deviates from the Fitbit alter that came before it it's a slim tracker that blends into its strap it has a simple black screen that requires a firm tap to activate and scroll through and this is the only input that the HR will recognize and it's not particularly sensitive it gets annoying quickly you can also turn the screen on to check the time by bringing your wrist up to your face this works about 80% of the time the straps have been updated since the last generation of alters and now use more conventional and less fiddly locking systems which is welcome the other good news is that you can swap out the straps to find the one that best suits your personal style or lack thereof and yes it is backwards compatible with the alter meaning that you can try all the fancy leather and metal straps that are already out there the alter HR is comfortable to wear it doesn't get in the way much and it's certainly a welcome break from my bulky Vivo active HR it's visible enough to say hey I track my health but not ostentatious enough to draw unwanted attention battery life is fairly middling and although it CL gam it can manage 7 days I found mine tends to start running low to around 5 I've seen better from far more feature packed devices but it's long enough not to be an issue for most use case scenarios the charger is proprietary so don't lose it but it's easy enough to use and charges fairly quickly there are some very basic Smartwatch features here specifically you can receive notifications on your wrist as with most other trackers these days as well as calls and calendar reminders notifications are limited to just a few apps though and messages are truncated even when you choose the maximum length for them in the settings after they've disappeared there's no way of getting them back to see the messages you missed it's nice not having to get your phone out to see who texted you or who's calling but that's as far as it goes did not buy this as a smartwatch but this device is all about the fitness tracking earlier I described the ideal user for this device as being passive and that's particularly accurate seeing as nearly everything the Fitbit alter does happens on the down low step counting of course happens in the back ground and is pretty accurate for the most part but so too does most of the activity tracking that is to say that you don't tell the alter HR that you're going for run or engaging in sports rather it will try to detect it on its own you do have the option to start a walk hike or run if you wanted to sync with the GPS though but there's no way to manually begin other activities specifically the Fitbit alter HR can automatically identify and track walks runs outdoor bikee the elliptical machine aerobic workouts and sports as an entry-level Fitness tracker there is no GPS built in here there's no water resistance this time either unlike the Flex 2 so swimming is off the cards there's also no way to track weight training which for me is a big let down looking at the Fitbit during a workout also doesn't provide any useful information fortunately the algorithm here called smart track because why not appears fairly impressive in keeping with the other fitbits I've tried out only now it has the added benefit of a heart rate monitor for even better accuracy it can successfully autod detect bike rides and runs which never ceases to amaze but that said it's not infallible I recently used some Edge trimmers to cut the grass around the edge of my lawn for instance and the Ala HR recorded that as a bike ride the heart rate monitor provides an interesting additional metric for your workouts but it's not as accurate as more Sports oriented trackers during training and it doesn't provide a particularly detailed breakdown after activities either rather it mainly comes in useful as a way to track your heart rate throughout the day and to provide you with a score for your resting heart rate this is a useful measure of overall Fitness and a nice addition to have if you're dedicated to your gym sessions and runs you'll be able to see your Fitness improve over time you can also check your current heart rate at any time during the day and the heart rate monitoring should result in a slightly more accurate total for your daily calories burned as well the heart rate monitor also ensures that users can take advantage of the new and improved sleep tracking which now breaks your sleep down into four distinct stages awake REM light and deep this is possibly the best implementation I've yet to experience with sleep tracking it's accurate in my testing and the additional information is very welcome and useful I'm actually going to miss this when I stop using the Ala HR and it really is well done oh and there's also movement reminders which are pretty much par for the course these days although it's nice touch when the device challenges you to feed it 170 steps the big bonus of using any Fitbit device though is the software the Android app remains one of the most intuitive and useful of any Fitness tracking Solution on the Play Store and there's fantastic support and integration from a wide range of other services ranging from Alexa and ift to my fitness pal insights are useful and the badges and messages are generally motivating the popularity of Fitbit is also a big plus here as it means you'll be much more likely to be able to find friends to compete with with I've been challenging my wife with the weekend warrior challenge which has been a fun way to encourage a few more steps out of us both do you see what you get when you mess with the warrior so the big question is whether or not the Fitbit alter HR can improve your health and help you lose weight the answer to that is yes if you diligently track your calories consumed and calories burned then make sure to maintain a deficit you should see steady weight loss the heart rate monitor will only help to make that calculation more accurate and the automatic activity tracking is seamless and certainly useful less driven users will likewise benefit from the ability to track runs and monitor their sleep and resting heart rate as they say that which is monitored improves that said those looking for full Smartwatch features or who are more serious about their training should look elsewhere for something that comes with more precise and fully featured activity tracking I'll be sticking with my vvo active HR this does a lot for a basic health tracker but it falls short of being a full Sports Tracker there's nothing particularly new or exciting about the Fitbit alter HR this is literally the alter but with a heart rate monitor thrown in for good measure but that heart rate monitor makes a big difference and opens up a lot more possibilities for sleep tracking and for calorie counting it's refinement rather than true Innovation that's often what yields the best and most reliable technology you pay a little more for Fitbit as compared with other similar products from other manufacturers but in exchange you get a reliable brand with a thriving ecosystem it's nice to Weare good at what it does and has a decent amount of features for basic health tracking and light activity tracking if you're a casual user looking to collect a little data about your health and maybe shed a few pounds then the Fitbit alter HR is a fairly comprehensive and very reliable choice so I hope you found that interesting and useful guys thanks very much for watching if you did please consider liking sharing and subscribing and I highly recommend you check out androidauthority.com as we are your source for all things Android oh\n"