Fitbit Luxe: Solid tracker's deluxe price delivers on looks, not features

This tracker’s features don’t have the same polish as its stylish design.

- ALAINA YEE

The Fitbit Luxe has the look you’d expect from its name. Encased in stainless steel, available in black, gold, and silver, and backed with a line of fashionable accessory bands, it blends readily with stylish outfits. Its slender, thinner profile is also discreet on your wrist—of Fitbit’s lineup, it’s the smallest and least obtrusive model.

But a refined appearance is mostly what you get in this posh (and more expensive) take on Fitbit’s cheaper Inspire 2 tracker. You’re looking at a bump up in glamour rather than feature set, which doesn’t benefit fitness enthusiasts. A couple of key hardware upgrades even compromise performance compared to the Inspire 2.

GOOD LOOKS, CONSTRAINED PREMIUM FEATURES

You’ll notice one of the Fitbit Luxe’s main upgrades at first glance—the 0.76-inch color AMOLED display, which is roughly the same size as the Inspire 2’s monochrome PMOLED screen, but on a thinner body. (The Luxe measures 1.43x0.69x0.4 inches, or 36.3x17.5x10.1 mm, which makes it a touch shorter, wider, and skinnier than the Inspire 2.) And at first glance, the screen is crisp and bright, making it easy to read…in theory.

Unfortunately, the Luxe’s interface bungles the appeal of the display. (Disappointment over the interface is a recurring theme with the Luxe; more on that below.) The size and text wrapping is at times comically bad. You’ll notice this most when skimming through message notifications, where you often get just one word per line. Trying to keep up with chats or email actually began to test my patience, unlike with other Fitbit trackers that have limited screen real estate. Having an option for a smaller font or tighter line spacing would have been useful.