Fitbit Versa Water Resistant Smartwatch
Last updated: August 5, 2023
We looked at the top Smartwatches and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best Smartwatch you should buy.
Product Details
In our analysis of 117 expert reviews, the Fitbit Versa Water Resistant Smartwatch placed 12th when we looked at the top 16 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.From The Manufacturer
Meet Fitbit Versa – an all-day companion that helps you live your best life. This lightweight, swimproof smartwatch empowers you to reach health and fitness goals with 24/7 heart rate, actionable insights, personalized guidance, on-screen workouts and more. Run your day with notifications, quick replies (android only), apps, phone-free music — all with 4+ day battery life (varies with use and other factors). Plus, wear it your way with fresh accessories and clock faces.
Expert Reviews
What reviewers liked
Excellent battery life. Slick, comfortable design. Lots of tracking options. Swim-proof. Bright, clear screen
Sleek, lightweight design. Four-day battery life. Female health-tracking features. Insightful sleep analysis
Lightweight design. Fitbit’s most customizable wearable. Relatively low price
More agreeable design than the Ionic. Packed with features. The price is right
- Wearable
Flat, lightweight build. Compatible with iOS and Android. Tracks a wide variety of health / fitness stuff. Four-day battery life
The Fitbit Versa is a prettier, cheaper version of the company’s first true smartwatch, the Ionic. The Versa still boasts four-day battery life and a comprehensive range of health-tracking features, making it a strong fitness-centric smartwatch.
- Engadget
Unobtrusive and attractive. Affordable. Easy to accessorize and personalize. Accurate sleep, heart rate, and activity monitoring. Lots of useful apps like Relax, Weather, and Timer. Long battery life.
- Wired
Very accurate for counting steps. Excellent display readability in bright sunlight. Excellent display readability in low light. WiFi connectivity. In our water immersion test it passed the manufacturer's claim of 164 feet for 10 minutes
Fitbit's second attempt at a smart watch is a solid, better looking product which shows that the company is listening to consumer demands.
The Fitbit Versa is a compact, lightweight smartwatch and fitness tracker with an improved interface for easier fitness stat readouts. It’s water-resistant to 50 meters, and works with iOS and Android. Many of the apps and watch faces are useful and fun. Multiday battery life beats the Apple Watch.
Really comfortable • Super light • Very bright screen • Superb fitness tracking • Long battery life
- Mashable
The Versa sits on the fence between being a smartwatch and fitness tracker — that really works for me. It can track steps, calories burned, sleep and heart rate, along with specific workouts and exercises. Its smartwatch features include displaying notifications and access to some third-party apps, like Strava and The New York Times app. The battery life is incredible; it can last up to four days if you wear it constantly, but since I took it off when I slept and showered, it lasted much longer (almost a week). The slim design makes it really comfortable and the all-black design of the model I tested, with the black metal mesh strap, looks pretty pristine in my opinion.
What reviewers didn't like
No built-in GPS. Shortage of apps. Passive notifications
Small app store. No on-board GPS. Limited actionable notifications
Rounded design won't suit everyone. Battery life not as good as Ionic. No GPS
Fitbit Pay not on all devices. Heart rate inconsistencies. No built-in GPS
- Wearable
Poor notification support. Swapping bands sucks. No data sharing with Apple Health or Google Fit
It lacks built-in GPS and NFC payments, but you’ll save $100 if you opt for the new watch over the original.
- Engadget
Everyone will think it's an Apple Watch. No Spotify. Can't respond to texts, or even read most of them.
- Wired
No GPS tracking. Short claimed battery life of 4 days. Requires included proprietary charging cable or accessories which can be expensive and time consuming to replace. This base model does not have NFC, so to use Fitbit Pay you have to buy the more expensive Versa Special Edition
But, the gaps in its app gallery are much harder to defend a second time around, and needs to be resolved fast.
Its battery life falls short of other Fitbit fitness trackers. The apps and watch faces aren’t always easy to load. Music transfer to the watch is complicated and limited. There's no on-board GPS and the charger is bulky. Tap-to-pay model costs a bit more in the US.
No built-in GPS • Bands are difficult to swap • Fitbit OS is still weak • NFC costs extra • Takes forever to change watch faces via app
- Mashable
The Versa isn’t as capable a fitness tracker as other smartwatches for the simple fact that it doesn’t have a built-in GPS — if you go for a run or hike or swim without your smartphone, the Versa won’t be able to trace pace or distance as accurately. The only music services that let you download playlists to the Versa are Deezer and Pandora; since I don’t subscribe to either, I’m out of luck. (The Versa does have enough internal storage for mp3 files, so you can upload songs directly from an iTunes library, for example, but that process is kind of a pain and updating playlists can be arduous.) You can only reply to text messages from the smartwatch if you have an Android device. Since I use an iPhone, I couldn’t text from the Versa. The Versa doesn’t have a speaker or microphone, so you can’t answer calls or talk to a virtual assistant.
View our Smartwatch buying guide for in-depth advice and recommendations.