Fitbit Alta HR Review - The Accurate Compact Activity Tracker

As a follow-up to the ever growing fitness craze in our country, Fitbit, the leader in the global fitness band business recently introduced the Alta HR in PH! It's also known as the world's slimmest fitness band with heart rate tracker.

FitBit Alta HR box

As a quick recap, the Fitbit Alta HR is the company's follow-up to the Fitbit Alta designed to cater the fitness tracking needs of anyone who wants a compact fitness band, Like what we mentioned above, the Fitbit Alta HR is now equipped with the PurePulse heart rate technology to continuously track your heart rate accurately thru your wrist.

It also has new advancements in sleep and overall fitness tracking. Like what we mentioned before, it now includes automatic exercise recognition, and give actionable insights thru the Fitbit app.

However, it doesn't have GPS connection and altimeter feature of its similarly priced Charge 2 brother. Let's all find out if it is worth the pretty high asking price on paper.

Fitbit Alta HR Specs

Display: OLED screen w/ tap display and Gorilla Glass protection

Battery: Li Pol with up to 7 days battery life

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Connectivity: Bluetooth

Sensors: Motion, steps, distance, calories, sleep, optical heart rate tracker

Others: Water and dust resistance, interchangeable wristband

Price: PHP 8,490

Disclaimer: This is a seeded unit from Fitbit Philippines and Digits Trading Corporation, but rest is assured of our honest and constructive review.

Unboxing / Accessories

Everything inside

As usual, Fitbit made an effort to make their packaging feel and look premium. It has an easy to slide to open design to make the unboxing experience better.

Once opened, you'll immediately find the gorgeous looking Alta HR. In our case, we got the pink version with girly appeal. It also has a USB cord with clip for charging and some paper documentations inside.

What would have made the package better is the inclusion of Fitbit's own charging brick with recommended power charging output.

Build Quality / Design

The body is this small and slim!

The body of Alta HR is made out of metal while its strap is made out of rubber. We find the construction of Altra HR is generally sturdy and solid. The rubber strap is durable yet flexible and glass screen is protected with Gorilla Glass as well. This wearable is designed to last.

Detached!

Note 1: While the quality of materials are flexible yet tough, we noticed that it is prone to very hard to remove dirt. We recommend getting straps with darker colors.
Note 2: The Alta HR has water splash resistance, but it doesn't mean you can swim with it or submerge it in water for long number of hours.
Note 3: The strap is easy to remove and replace.

Green light for the optical heart rate sensor

Design-wise, the profile of this wearable is slim and minimalist. It simply looks great in general. Comfort level is also great. It doesn't get itchy when wet with sweat.

Display Quality

Tap OLED screen

Like the Charge 2, the Alta HR is equipped with an OLED screen with tap to function technology. The quality is great and bright enough to be readable enough under direct sunlight. The refresh rate performance is fast and simply works like the Charge 2. No complaints even if it isn't a colored screen.

Battery Life

The battery life of the Alta HR is excellent! We would wear the watch everyday and it took 7 days before the need to charge again.

Excellent battery life again!

When connected from phone thru Bluetooth it'll consume slightly more power. But, it'll still provide you with 5 days of straight usage.

Charging time is around 2 hours using our proprietary Aukey charger for safe charging.

Performance

The interface of Fitbit app

The Fitbit Alta HR is compatible to both Android and iOS. Setting is up is relatively easy. All you need to do is download the Fitbit app, turn-on the Bluetooth and data (internet) of your phone, and select Fitbit Alta HR on the Fitbit app. Then viola, it'll automatically sync there.

Once your Fitbit is activated, it'll provide you with basic fitness all day tracking features, sleep tracking, and smartphone notification. What made this device special is it is the smallest and slimmest fitness band in the world with optical heart rate tracker.

As expected, fitness tracking and all the other sorts of tracking available are accurate! Classic Fitbit performance!

Tracking and gathering of data is accurate and fast. You can slightly cheat it by shaking it hard to count steps, but that'll also require you exert some effort so you'll still likely burn the same calories. Sleep measurement is also available for those who wants to measure it and improve the quality of sleep. However, the stair counter is gone.

More features inside the app

The app is intuitive, customization (watch face style), easy to use, and packed with lots of features. In particular, we liked that there's a lot of exercises you can follow. You can even challenge your friends on Fitbit.

Then thru Fitbit app, users may enable "Push Notifications" to alert you whenever you have messages or notifications from your phone via Bluetooth. Overall, the Alta HR is a dependable Fitness tracker and standalone watch.

Pros - Solid build, water splash resistance, great comfort, user replaceable wristbands, compact design, accurate fitness tracking performance, heart rate sensing, great app and features

Cons - Easy to stain and hard to clean rubber straps, no altimeter, not fully water resistant, no GPS, higher than expected price tag

Verdict

Like most Fitbit products, the fitness tracking capability of the Alta HR is undeniably accurate. Again, this is one of the better pure fitness bands in the country today with robust software and support.

Is it worth it? Yes if you need a compact fitness band with low profile design, heart rate sensing, and great overall fitness tracking experience. Otherwise, the similarly priced Fitbit Charge 2 with altimeter and GPS is still the better buy.

Build / Design - 4
Display - 3.5
Battery Life - 4.5
Performance - 4.5
Average - 4.125 / 5