Your life on your wrist

A NEW and slimmed-down version of Fitbit’s popular Versa smart fitness watch, the Versa Lite Edition is also much more affordable as it does away with some of the features of the original Versa that are probably unnecessary for many users while still retaining core fitness functions.
For example, the Versa Lite won’t count the floors you are climbing or track the number of laps you have swam though like its more developed sibling, it is waterproof.
Nor does the Versa Lite have a function to store and play music files to your Bluetooth headset or bring in a Fitbit Coach to guide you through on-screen workouts. It doesn’t have the NFC feature for contactless payment either. 

On the plus side, it is even simpler to use, coming with just one navigation button to the full Versa’s three and wearers will be using the touch display navigation anyway.
The Versa Lite retains the rest of features of the full Versa, including heart rate monitoring, activities tracking and smart notifications.
It’s available in four colour options: White/Silver Aluminium, Lilac/Silver Aluminium, Mulberry and Marina Blue. The attractive straps can be replaced with more fashionable versions that you can order from Fitbit.com and come in different leathers, stainless steel and in a woven hybrid.
Like the original Versa, the Lite edition comes with a large and high-resolution touchscreen display with 1,000 nits of brightness so you can read the display easily under bright sunlight. The display is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 panel so you don’t have to worry about scratches.
The Versa Lite automatically tracks your steps, calculates the distance you have covered and the calories you have burned based on your steps. It also tracks the minutes you are active as well as how well or badly you sleep each night.
It has features to remind you to walk at least 250 steps each hour between 9am to 5pm so that you will remain active throughout the day.
The Versa Lite also has a heart rate sensor that uses Fitbit’s PurePulse Heart Rate technology. The sensor will monitor your heart rate all the time and keep a record of your resting and active heart rates – a record that comes in useful if you are unfortunate enough to develop a heart problem.

The data from the heart rate sensor is used by exercise functions on the watch, which boasts 15 exercise modes from which to select. 
The Versa Lite does not have a built-in GPS so you must connect it to your smartphone and use the GPS on the smartphone to see real-time pace and distance while you are out exercising. The available exercises for tracking are Walk, Run, Bike, Elliptical, Hike, Golf, Tennis, Weights, Interval Workout, Workout, Treadmill, Stairclimber, Spinning, Yoga, Bootcamp, Circuit Training, Kickboxing, Martial Arts and Pilates.
To use the Versa Lite, you will need to register for an account with Fitbit for syncing and tracking your fitness data. All of the fitness data recorded by Versa Lite will be synced to your account’s cloud storage with a Fitbit app that you must download and install on your smartphone. Then, you need to use the Fitbit app to connect to the Versa Lite. When you buy a Fitbit fitness tracker, it’s like you also buy lifetime after-sales service with free cloud storage. Best of all, Fitbit also sends you a weekly report of your fitness data, such as total steps taken over the past seven days, total estimated distance travelled, average daily calories burned, total active minutes, average resting heart speed, and average restful sleep per day.
Using and navigating Versa Lite is intuitive. You can navigate the fitness watch by tapping the touch screen, swiping from side to side and up and down or pressing the back button.
You can swipe down the screen to see notifications from your connected smartphone. The Versa Lite can alert you of an incoming call and SMS message, calendar notifications as well as other apps’ notifications. You can use the Fitbit app to customise which apps can send notifications to the watch.

If paired with an iPhone, Android 8.0 or later, Versa Lite lets you accept or reject incoming phone calls. After you accept a call by tapping the green phone icon, you must use the phone to speak as the watch does not have a built-in microphone. You can also send 
 a voice mail from the watch when you reject a call.
If you connect the watch to an Android phone, when you view a text message, you can also send a prepared quick reply text message to the sender.
You swipe up the watch main display to see your daily stats, including the number of steps you have taken, current heart rate, length of your sleep in the previous night and the number of steps you have taken in the current hour between the 9am to 5pm monitoring time.
To see which apps are available on the Versa Lite, simply swipe the display to the left. You’ll find Exercise, Alarms, Relax, Weather, Timer and Strava.
The Exercise app is where you can select the more than 15 exercise modes to do. The Relax one will provide guided breathing sessions to calm you down and reduce your heart rate.
You can also use Fitbit app to download more apps. Among those available are World Clock, The New York Times, TicTacToe, Uber by Fitbit, Snake Game, Peg Solitaire, and News Headlines.
During my test, the Versa Lite worked fine in recording my daily steps and reminded me to move every hour between 9 and 5. I used the Walk mode of the Exercise app to take a 10-km walk in the neighbourhood. The watch had no problem using the GPS of the connected smartphone to record the details of my neighbourhood map though it’s worth noting that the accuracy of the map depends on the accuracy of the GPS data on your smartphone.
Fitbit Versa Lite has a suggested retail price of Bt6,690 and it is available at the Fitbit official store on Lazada.co.th.
  

KEY SPECS
>> Sensors: A MEMS 3-axis accelerometer, which tracks motion patterns; optical heart-rate tracker; ambient light sensor
>> Wireless: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
>> Memory: 7 days of storage for daily stats, sleep information, and exercise history
>> Wristband size: 140 mm-180 mm (small); 180 mm-220 mm (large)
>> Water resistance: Water resistant up to 50 metres
>> Maximum operating altitude: 8,534 metres
>> Battery: Lithium-polymer, two-hour charging time, four days of battery life