Samsung’s Galaxy Fit, released in June, is a smart and sleek looking smartwatch and health tracker – and on the face of it a direct competitor to the Fitbit Inspire HR – $99 on Amazon.com .
Both retail at around $99 in the US and £90 in the UK and both are very nice-looking watches – which makes it very hard for consumers to know which one to choose. Appearance isn’t everything though so here we’ve put together a comparison to help you decide whether the Fit or the Inspire should be on your wrist.
| Samsung Galaxy Fit | Fitbit Inspire HR | |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Display | PMOLED 128×64 | OLED |
| Colour screen | Yes – Mono | No – Greyscale OLED |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, HR Sensor | Accelerometer, HR Sensor |
| Size | 40.2 x 16.0mm | 37 x 12.6mm |
| Weight | 15g | 20g |
| Battery life | 6-7 Days | 5 Days |
| Waterproof | Up to 50 meters | Up to 50 meters |
At first glance
The face of the Samsung Galaxy Fit is a little bigger and isn’t as rounded as the Fitbit Inspire HR, but this only makes it easier to use. The Galaxy Fit has a colour screen – the Fitbit’s is greyscale OLED – which is aesthetically pleasing, and gives you plenty of options to personalise your watch. The strap on the Galaxy Fit is a little bit trickier to do up, but it tucks away nicely, whereas the Fitbit has the buckle fastening which some users tend to find feels more secure.
The Samsung has a choice of easy-to-remove black, yellow or white straps, and the Fitbit has the choice of black or purple. Although the Samsung strap looks a lot neater, the big buckle on the Fitbit does feel a little more secure during vigorous exercise. In practice, however, most users find both secure enough for most forms of exercise.
Features
The Samsung Galaxy Fit’s features don’t disappoint. On first start, it connects easily to your phone and those with a Samsung phone can use the Galaxy Wear App and integrate any other devices you may have – Galaxy Buds, for example. This makes things feel more connected and easier to use as everything is in one place and avoids the need to have different apps for the different devices.
The Galaxy has a wireless charger that magnetically attaches your watch to the charger – much easier to use than the short charging cable with pogo used to connect the Inspire. The Samsung also has a Find my Watch and Find my phone feature – great for finding one or other when you’ve mislaid them.
The Fitbit Inspire HR has only one brightness setting. It’s not too bright at night and it’s OK in daylight so long as it isn’t too sunny. The Samsung Galaxy Fit has adjustable settings, so it’s easier to see in bright sunlight. Both smartwatches have a night mode setting, which stops them from waking up every time you turn over in bed.
Fitness Features
Samsung has put a lot of effort into its exercise choices on all devices and the Galaxy Fit is no exception. There are 90 exercise choices and you can choose 10 at one time to be on your watch. The Fitbit only has 15 overall and a maximum of six that can be loaded on to the watch at any given time. Depending on how many sports you do, the Fitbit is a bit disappointing in this regard, but there is the choice of ”Other’ which you can use for the exercises that aren’t an option.
Both smartwatches have heartrate trackers that seem very accurate, but only the Samsung Galaxy Fit has a choice of when to track your heart rate. You can have it tracking your heartrate every 10 minutes, cutting down battery usage. The Fitbit only has continuous tracking, but you can turn off tracking on both. Both watches claim to work up to 50 metres underwater, so you can certainly track your swimming.
In conclusion
Overall, the Samsung smartwatch wins for us. The strap may not be quite as secure, but it’s a little bit bigger and beats the Fitbit when it comes to productivity, battery life and exercise choices.
Samsung pros
- More exercise choices
- Colour screen
- Lighter
- Longer battery life
- Accurate heartrate tracker
- Adjustable Brightness
Samsung cons
- A little bigger/bulkier
- Strap is somewhat fiddly
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