Test and review of Fitbit Ionic fitness tracker: smart watch for athletes

The first research in the field of fitness training company Fitbit has done with the release of its bracelet Blaze. Now fitness experts want to go further and develop the amount of functionality Fitbit Ionic.

Test results

Using the recipe for success, which sounds like “half smart watch, half fitness tracker”, Fitbit with its gadget Ionic leaves all competitors behind in our respective rankings. In addition to numerous fitness functions during tests, we liked the contrast and bright display, as well as the rational performance of smart watches.

Benefits

• First-class equipment
• Bright display, clear display
• Swimsuit
• The function of displaying notifications supports working with popular messengers.

disadvantages

• High price
• No micro USB cable for charging

Test results for Fitbit Ionic

Price-quality ratio Good

Place in the overall ranking 1 of 45
Value for money: 64
Equipment (40%): 100
Accuracy (30%): 95.1
Ergonomics (30%): 95.4

Fitbit Ionic: a personal trainer with great experience.

To assess your fitness level Fitbit Ionic get access to a variety of data: the number of steps taken, the current heart rate, the pulse at rest, sleep data (including information about REM phases), jogging or cycling, surmounted drops heights as well as calories burned.

To improve or keep fit, the watch will help you like a real personal trainer: using the touch screen, you can choose different exercises, which are selected based on the current status and training preferences. The gadget will help and relax: to restore your breath, Ionic will give you several different breathing exercises after a workout.

Fitbit ionic

An integrated GPS sensor is not only used to accurately determine distances and speeds. He helps Fitbit Ionic in automatic recognition of various sports. For example, if you run, all data will begin to be recorded with the appropriate mark. In addition, you can manually choose one of 7 sports: running, cycling, aerobics, ellipsoid training, walking, swimming or sports in general (for example, strength training).

What is interesting for professionals - Fitbit Ionic has knowledge of the field of cardio workouts. And if you wear watches all the time, day after day, a hybrid of a fitness tracker and a smart watch turns into a full-fledged laboratory for analyzing your sleeping state, including the sleep phase.

Fitbit Ionic In a special application, you can not only see all the results of training and monitoring data, but also record your eating habits. But there are some nuances. For example, during the test, we didn’t like the fact that the number of calories burned can only be viewed with a “detailed” display of data.

And on the contrary, a battery gave us a very positive impression on the test results: for about five to six days, the watch was kept at an average intensity of use. And if you turn off the GPS module, you can use the gadget without recharging even longer. Unfortunately, no standard power supply units with a micro-USB connector can be used for charging - only a proprietary Fitbit cable is suitable here.

Fitbit Ionic: a good smart watch with a clear display

Already on only one appearance of the gadget and the name "fitness watch" suggests itself. Fitbit Ionic does not look like familiar fitness trackers: with their design, they are more like a more smart smart watch. We especially want to praise the touchscreen display: the resolution here is more than satisfactory, the screen glows brightly, and the touch input is very responsive and smooth.

The case is made of high-quality aluminum and exists in three colors: light gray, dark gray and copper. Fitbit also offers bracelets in various versions: you can choose silicone or leather as materials. And in order to emphasize individuality, you can install various dials. During testing, wearing the Fitbit Ionic was very comfortable, and so much so that we didn’t take them off at night and used it as an alarm clock in the morning.

Fitbit IonicWhat looks like a smart watch, then, of course, a smart watch should be at least a little. Fitbit has endowed Ionic with popular social applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Mail and, of course, WhatsApp. In addition, the tracker highlights incoming calls and shows not only calendar entries, but also SMS messages.

The tracker also offers free memory space to store approximately 300 songs. You can transfer music to a compatible headset via Bluetooth. Playing your favorite music via Wi-FI is done in a somewhat less understandable way and it turns out to be done only if you create a playlist in advance - for example, using iTunes. There is still something to improve.

Fitbit Ionic: future functionality will be expanded

Already, the Fitbit Ionic fitness watch is ready to work with various smartphone platforms: the gadget can be connected to the iPhone, Android and Windows phones, and through the supplied USB / Bluetooth dongle even to your PC. Fitbit in its smart watches pays serious attention to this, since in the future it plans to equip Ionic with additional functionality.

In particular, there is the prospect of using the Fitbit Ionic integrated NFC chip for payments. That is, you can make non-cash transactions using a fitness tracker in stores if you link your bank card details to it.

However, as long as it is implemented, you will have to wait a bit. In the CHIP edition, there was a general argument about whether this function is really necessary for a fitness tracker, and whether it will not be too much for this category of gadgets. On the other hand, Apple fans have been asking the manufacturer for years to introduce the Apple Pay feature into their Apple Watch.


In addition to the payment function, according to Fitbit representatives, new functions will be offered in the future through its own application store. We are intrigued. It remains only to mention the cost of the device: about 27,000 rubles, which the manufacturer asks for at the time of the test, is an impressive price, but, given the quality and equipment of the product, it is quite adequate.

Characteristics and test results for Fitbit Ionic

• Price-quality ratio

• 64

• Display type

• LCD (color)

• Display: quality and readability

• very good

• Display: readability in the sun

• very good

• Accuracy: number of steps

• 99%

• Displaying the number of steps (on the tracker display)

• Yes

• Distance display (on tracker display)

• Yes

• GPS sensor

• Yes

• Heart rate monitor

• Yes

• Sleep monitoring

• Yes

• Vibration motor

• Yes

• Waterproof case

• Yes

• Bracelet length (min.)

• 14.0 cm

• Bracelet length (max.)

• 20.6 cm

• Interchangeable bracelet

• Yes

• Bracelet with clip

• -

• Android app

• Yes

• IOS app

• Yes

• Application for Windows Phone

• Yes

• Web application

• Yes

• Working hours

• 6 days

• Charging without removing the bracelet

• Yes

• Low Battery Warning

• Yes

• Charging connector

• proprietary

• Weight

• 47 g