Fitbit Inspire 2 guide: The lowdown on Fitbit’s new fitness tracker

Fitbit has officially unveiled the Inspire 2, the follow up to the Inspire and Inspire HR fitness trackers that represent the most affordable options in its family of wearables.

While the Inspire arrived in two versions, the new Inspire is landing in just one promising welcome improvements with the hardware and adding some new software features to make it a more powerful fitness tracker.

Until we get our hands on one for a review, we take a look at what the Inspire 2 is bringing to the tracking table and whether it will help make it one of the best fitness trackers to slap onto your wrist.

Fitbit Inspire 2: Design, colors and bands

Fitbit Inspire 2 guide

The Inspire 2 looks set to adopt the same look as the Inspire HR, though Fitbit promises an “enhanced stylish, slim design, and a brighter, more vibrant screen.”

We found the display on the Inspire HR pretty lacklustre, so it’s good to hear that Fitbit has made screen improvements to improve visibility indoors and particularly outdoors.

It’s set to be available in black with the option of a white, pink or black band.

What gives Fitbit’s trackers that more attractive look has a lot to do with the bands. They’re still interchangeable on the Inspire 2 an there’s a bunch that are launching just for the Inspire 2.

Along with the classic bands, there’s also rose gold and silver stainless steel mesh options to dress things up. You still have the Fitbit clip, which allows you to attach the Inspire 2 to your clothes if you don’t want to put your tracking on show.

There’s also additional print bands and Horween leather double wrap and standard bands available that will also be compatible with the Inspire HR and Inspire too. Pricing of these bands start from $19.95

While the Inspire arrived in HR and non-HR models, it looks like there will be just one version for the Inspire 2.

Fitbit Inspire 2: Fitness and health tracking

Fitbit Inspire 2 guide

The Inspire 2 is built for fitness tracking and it’s fair to say you’re getting plenty in the way of how it can track your movements in the day and recovery at night.

It covers the basics, tracking steps, distance, calories burned and serving up inactivity alerts. It will also continuously monitor heart rate through the day and the night. You can still see a break down of sleep stages including the important REM one.

When it’s time to step things up, you’ve got more than 20 exercise modes to track activities along with Fitbit’s SmartTrack software to automatically recognise when you’re doing a host of sports. There’s Connected GPS support to piggyback off your phone’s GPS signal to better track outdoor exercises like cycling and hiking.

If you like to swim, the Inspire 2 is waterproof up to 50 metres depth and should offer the same level of swim tracking support as the previous Inspire HR.

Fitbit is adding support for its new Active Zone Minutes feature, which is designed to hit target heart rate zones each week. That also joins the ability to train with heart rate zones and check your cardio fitness level inside of the Fitbit app.

To complete the setup of health and fitness features, you’ll also have support for menstrual health tracking and guided breathing exercises to help keep you calm.

Fitbit Inspire 2: Extra features in Fitbit Premium

Once you’ve picked up your Inspire 2, you just need to download the companion app to your smartphone, get paired up and you’re ready to go.

Fitbit is additionally offering extra features that live behind its Fitbit Premium platform. If you decide to pay the monthly or annual subscription, you can expect to see more personalised insights fuelled by you tracking data.

You will also unlock Sleep Scores with additional sleep insights, get access to guided programs for things like nutrition, more mindfulness features like guided meditations and access to video and audio workouts. You can also compete in challenges against other Fitbit-owning friends and family members.

Fitbit Inspire 2: Smartwatch features

Fitbit Inspire 2 guide

While it’s certainly no Versa or Ionic, Fitbit does manage to squeeze in a couple of smartwatch-style features into the Inspire 2.

Like its predecessor, you’ll be able to receive phone notifications from compatible Android phones and iPhones. that means you can see incoming calls, texts and calendar appointments. If you own an Android phone, you can send quick replies when your phone is nearby.

We expect to be able to switch up watch faces like you could on the Inspire HR, which you had to sync over from the Fitbit companion app.

If you were banking on some Fitbit Pay love or some music controls, then sadly those features once again do not make the cut.

Fitbit Inspire 2: Battery life

If you’re looking for the best Fitbit for battery life, this is the wearable you need in your life. Fitbit claims the Inspire 2 can last 10 days away from its charger. That will of course be entirely dependent on the types of features you use on a regular basis.

That does mean it promises five more days than what the Inspire and the Inspire HR delivered. In our testing, we tended to get to that five days, so we have high hopes the Inspire 2 really can go the distance again.

If you compare that to the competition, it’s more than the seven days promised on the Samsung Galaxy Fit, but does fall short of the two week battery you can get from the Xiaomi Mi Band 5.

Fitbit Inspire 2 v Inspire HR: What’s different?

So what are the big changes that Fitbit has made on the new Inspire compared to the now old Inspire? From a hardware perspective, the promise of an improved screen is the big one. The promise of double the battery life is a big deal here too.

On the software front, you’re getting five more goal-based exercise modes and the Active Zone Minutes feature is also something you won’t find on the Inspire HR either.

Elsewhere, the two trackers are evenly matched for features. While we shouldn’t rule out those software features coming to the Inspire HR, you’ll only get those screen and battery improvements on the newer model.

Fitbit Inspire 2 release date and price

The Inspire 2 is available to preorder now ahead of a late September launch. It will come in black, lunar white and desert rose and will cost you $99.95, which does mean it comes in at the same price as the Inspire HR. That does come with a free 1 year membership to Fitbit Premium, which does normally cost $79.99 for an annual subscription.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *