Fitbit Edge May Be the Sweet Spot for Smartwatch Noncommittals

If you’re lukewarm on smartwatches but not minimalist enough to go completely screenless, Google may have found your Goldilocks option.

The new $179 Fitbit Edge sits between the $100 Fitbit Air and $400 Pixel Watch 5 in price, features and form factor. It gives you a color screen, built-in GPS and many of the health sensors you’d expect from a smartwatch, but in a slimmer, lighter package with up to a week of battery life.

The concept isn’t new for Fitbit. Previous trackers like the Inspire and Charge paired a simple screen with Fitbit’s health and fitness tracking while working with both iOS and Android; if anything, the screen-less Fitbit Air was the departure. But it’s been three years since the Charge 6, and Google now has a lot more to pull from across its wearable lineup. The Edge combines some of what I like about the minimalist Air with features that have trickled down from the Pixel Watch 5.

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Whether that combination hits the sweet spot remains to be seen.

The Fitbit Edge is available for preorder on Monday and goes on sale Oct. 27.

The mini screen 

I’m a big fan of the minimalist Fitbit Air, which hides almost every trace of tech behind sleek bands. Aesthetically, it’s my ideal; practically, not so much. I inevitably glance down expecting to see the time, only to get annoyed at this thing seemingly freeloading on my wrist because all the payoff is in the phone app.

Apparently, I want my cake and to eat it too. That’s where the Edge comes in.

Its 1.34-inch color AMOLED display is 46% larger than the one on the Charge 6 and has an always-on option. There’s also a physical side button for pausing workouts and accessing menus.

The Edge keeps with the same style choices that make the Air and Pixel Watch 5 stand out, and as a lover of all things color, I’m here for it. It comes in Obsidian, Fog, Olive and Canyon combinations, with interchangeable options including a performance loop, magnetic band and metal links. There’s also a Stephen Curry Special Edition that costs an additional $50.

Google

Google also redesigned the interface with tiles that resemble the Pixel Watch UI, including watch faces with complications and quick access to workouts and health metrics. It still runs Fitbit’s own operating system rather than Wear OS, so this isn’t a miniature Pixel Watch as it lacks access to the Play Store and Gemini. But it does mean you can use the Fitbit Edge with the iPhone as well as Android phones.

You can get weather, alarms, timers, media controls and turn-by-turn directions. The Edge can also mirror notifications and incoming calls from your phone and send canned replies to messages on Android.

But there’s no microphone or speaker, so you can’t take calls from your wrist as you would on a smartwatch. There’s also no NFC for Google Wallet or tap-to-pay, an odd omission considering the older Charge 6 had it.

More smartwatch-like health and fitness tracking

The Edge also borrows plenty from the smartwatch side when it comes to health and fitness.

Unlike the Fitbit Air, which relies on your phone for GPS, the Edge has built-in GPS and an altimeter. It also tracks heart rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature and supports ECG readings.

Google says heart-rate tracking is 40% more accurate than on the Charge 6, a claim I’m especially interested in testing against a chest strap once I get the Edge on my wrist.

It tracks more than 50 exercise types and can automatically recognize more than 40. Google says it has also improved automatic detection since launching the Air, including the ability to recognize racquet sports.

During workouts, you can see metrics like pace and heart rate zones on your wrist, which I missed on the Air. The Edge can also broadcast live heart rate data to compatible exercise equipment, so you can see your heart rate on a treadmill or other supported machine.

The Edge comes with three months of Google Health Premium, which costs $10 per month or $100 per year after that. Premium unlocks the AI-powered Google Health Coach and Health Guardian, which measure monthly blood pressure and insulin resistance trends. Health Guardian is also coming to the Fitbit Air, but Google hasn’t said when.

Seven-day battery comes with an asterisk

Battery life is one of the Edge’s biggest advantages over a smartwatch.

Google rates it for up to seven days per charge, but there’s a massive caveat. That’s the estimate with the raise to wake setting. If you prefer an always-on display (which I do) then the estimate dwindles down to two days, according to Google. 

Google

For me, the deciding factor may be how quickly raise to wake responds. The entire reason I missed having a screen on the Air was the ability to glance down and instantly see the time. If I’m waiting for a black screen to wake up, I might as well have the Air on and just pull out my phone.

Charging is a mixed bag, too. Five minutes on the charger gets you about a day’s worth of battery, but a full charge takes about 90 minutes. Knowing my charging habits — where I don’t have a lot of downtime to recharge my wearable devices for an hour plus — I don’t need hands-on time to predict that I’ll probably never see this thing at 100%.

The Edge uses the same charger as the Air, and Google says you can move between Fitbit devices and the Pixel Watch without interrupting your health data. I can already envision a scenario where I’d use an Edge most days and swap in the Air when I forgot to charge, or want something less distracting. Whether I’d actually buy two devices to accomplish that is another question.

Fitbit’s first tracker with a user-replaceable battery

The Edge has a user-replaceable battery, making it Fitbit’s first tracker designed with this level of repairability. Google has already moved in this direction with the Pixel Watch 4, which was redesigned without adhesives to make repairs easier. My colleague Katie Collins even replaced its screen herself despite describing herself as an “ambitious amateur.”

Bringing that approach to a smaller, less expensive tracker could help extend its life, especially since batteries inevitably degrade over time. Google says repair options vary by region and recommends self-repair only for people with the technical expertise to do it safely. 

Fitbit Edge: Bottom line 

At $179, the Edge costs nearly twice as much as the Fitbit Air and more than Fitbit’s other entry-level trackers. But compared with the Pixel Watch or Samsung’s Galaxy Watch, the price could feel like a deal if you’re prioritizing fitness features and don’t need other smartwatch features like contactless payments. For people who want GPS, a screen and notifications, and found the Air came up short, that extra money buys a lot. Few trackers this capable sell at this price: The next step up would be something like the $249 Apple Watch SE 3 or the $300 Samsung Galaxy Watch 7.

On paper, that makes the Edge a strong pick for people like me who aren’t ready to choose a smartwatch that’s only able to work with an iPhone or an Android phone. Now I need to find out whether it’s my Goldilocks wearable, or whether I’ll end up back with the smartwatch-and-band combo I once thought was my happy medium

Principal Writer

Vanessa is a lead writer at CNET, reviewing and writing about the latest smartwatches and fitness trackers. She joined the brand first as an on-camera reporter for CNET's Spanish-language site, then moved on to the English side to host and produce some of CNET's videos and YouTube series. When she's not testing out the latest health tech, you can catch her on a hike or trail run with her family. See full bio