Fitbit's legacy of offering flexible smartwatch-meets-fitness-trackers continues with the Versa 3, a wearable that offers a solid blend of capabilities for the price.
This watch is far from the simple pedometer Fitbit started with, too. With a number of sensors for tracking health and regular activity, the Fitbit Versa 3 is well-equipped for general fitness. Fitbit's operating system may not be as robust as some of its competitors, but it still continues the company's trend of designing some of the best fitness trackers and carries support for both Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant onboard.
The most health-conscious users or serious athletes may prefer something with more robust tracking, like an Apple Watch or something from Garmin. But outside of special use cases, the Versa 3 shines as a capable all-arounder and is one of the best Fitbit devices.
Design
The Fitbit Versa 3 features a sleek and smoothly curved case design found in other Versas. It also continues the trend of diminishing hardware buttons — it has none, opting instead for a touch-sensitive area on the left side of the watch case.
At almost a half-inch thick, the Versa 3 isn't the thinnest watch but its curved edges go a long way to help keep it from feeling overly large and snagging on sleeves and pockets too much. The case is built of aluminum and features a subtle antenna line around its circumference.
The Versa 3 features a 1.58-inch AMOLED display that gets plenty bright for use in direct sunlight. It's also a pleasure to look at as the pure black pixels of the AMOLED panel help it blend in with the black bezels around the display. It's a considerable step up from the LCD display on the original Versa.
The watch has a mic on each side and even features a speaker on the right side. The pairing of these allows for phone calls on the watch, though it's not loud enough for practical use outdoors on busy streets.
The Versa 3 features a new watch band design and attachment mechanism. The bands attach with a simple latch that's incredibly easy to open, though I never accidentally unlatched it during time with the watch. However, there is a clicking sound I hear while moving the watch every now and then, and the plastic construction of this mechanism raises durability concerns compared to a more traditional metal pin connector.
The new straps included with the Versa 3 are similar to the sports bands for the Apple Watch that feature two loops. This keeps the loose end from flopping about but does make finding a good fit trickier, as the bit of band that tucks back under reduces space in the loop. The strap is a firm rubberized material that's stretchy enough to remain comfortable, even when my arm swells mid-workout.
All of these designs are packaged and sold in three official color combinations: Black/Black Aluminum, Midnight/Soft Gold Aluminum, and Pink Clay/Soft Gold Aluminum.
The Fitbit Versa is a straightforward product right from the start. The pairing process with my Android phone was quick and my phone detected the Versa 3 automatically when I began the setup process on the watch, prompting me to install the Fitbit app.
The display is fairly easy to navigate with simple swipes and taps but I still find a lot of basic actions require that much more of my attention due to the lack of hardware buttons. Animations in the software are also relatively smooth.
The touch-sensitive button takes some getting used to. It does an interesting job mimicking a physical button, as it doesn't respond to a light touch, instead requiring a more forceful press. And it gives satisfyingly tactile haptic feedback, too.
The watch supports tons of features through its software. App notifications from my phone come through promptly and allow me to reply with pre-set messages, emojis, and even voice dictation. Having Google Assistant available on my wrist is also excellent for setting timers and reminders as well as controlling smart home gadgets.
The Fitbit Versa 3 has Fitbit Pay by default, unlike the original Versa which only offered it on a special edition of the watch. It worked promptly when I paid in a cafe.
This is not to say there aren't a number of hitches with the Versa 3's software. I regularly catch it displaying the wrong time for a moment, long enough that if I just glimpsed the watch for the time, I'd be misled. This may be a glitch displaying 24-hour time, as I've seen the watch display 29:00 at 9:00 PM. It has always corrected itself after a few seconds though.
I often find myself in a tug-of-war with the display waking as well. I often press the side button to wake the screen manually but sometimes it wakes before my button press registers, and then the button press puts it back to sleep. This wouldn't be an issue, but the auto-wake isn't always reliable, so I often find myself manually waking the watch.
Tracking
On top of its smarts, the Fitbit Versa 3 adds a considerable helping of tracking features.
The optical heart rate sensor can run all day and night but requires a snug fit. I've often found it able to keep consistent track without being uncomfortably tight. However, that snug fit can run into issues with workouts that require a lot of forearm work. I've mostly done rock climbing with the watch on and while it starts out comfortable, it can become constricting after only a little climbing. While working out, the watch also provides vibration feedback to indicate when you enter different heart rate zones.
There are a number of activities the watch can track. Some are typical, like running and biking, while it also has more general options like "workout" and "boot camp" as well as specialized options like tennis and yoga. Naturally, I was a little disappointed to have to settle for the catchall workout mode for climbing.
The Versa 3 can also automatically detect some activities, as it did for two of my recent bike rides. The Fitbit mobile app allows for more accurate labeling of activities at least, so I can tag workouts as rock climbing after the fact.
The watch also uses its sensors to track sleep. Afterward, it provides sleep charts and a sleep score. And if you use the watch's alarm clock, it can wake you up during an optimal period outside of deep sleep. It measures SpO2 levels through the night but it can't provide instantaneous blood oxygenation readings. Fitbit also tracks menstrual health, but like many features, a lot of it comes down to the Fitbit app, and not the watch itself.
Battery life
The battery life of the Fitbit Versa 3 hinges largely on what features it's using. For most of my review period, I ran 24/7 heart rate monitoring, wore the watch at night for sleep tracking, and tracked five to six hours of exercise throughout the week. I also frequently checked notifications and regularly used Google Assistant throughout the day.
With these settings and the always-on display active, I got a little over 48 hours of battery life. By disabling the always-on display, I was able to stretch the battery life to a full 5 days. That shows how much of a hit the display has on the battery.
Fitbit makes keeping the watch powered easy. I get a notification whenever the watch hits 25% and another when it gets closer to dead. This gives me plenty of opportunity to charge it back up. Even if I forget, the watch can almost fully recharge in just an hour, and just 10 minutes of charging would be more than enough to get through the day.
The Fitbit Versa 3 is a particularly great smartwatch and fitness tracker because of its versatility. Unlike some of the best smartwatches, it's simple to use for fitness tracking and makes a great sidekick for anyone who doesn't like pulling their smartphone out too often.
If you want a watch that does a bit of everything and doesn't need to be charged every night, then this is definitely a good pick. It doesn't have every feature under the sun but it doesn't have any glaring omissions either.
For more robust health monitoring features, you may get more out of the Apple Watch Series 8 or the Fitbit Sense 2. The Fitbit Sense 2 should be a largely comparable experience beyond that, while the Apple Watch Series 8 offers a more robust app ecosystem, albeit at a higher price.
