 Fitbit has just put out another, yet another, new Fitbit. But what's actually new about it? So this is the Fitbit Alta HR, and as its name suggests, it now has heart rate sensors. It costs $149.99, which is $20 more than the regular Fitbit Alta, and is about the same price of the Fitbit Charge 2, which is a whole other wristband. It looks exactly like last year's Alta. Exactly. It has the same tap-sensitive screen. The one thing that's different about it on the underside is that the strap is a little bit different. Last year's Alta had a series of holes, and you kind of snap in to close it, and this one is more of a traditional railroad-style strap. The good thing about the Fitbit Alta is that it's one of the more attractive Fitbits out there. You can see how people might mistake this for a bracelet, not a clunky activity tracker, which is nice. On the downside, it's one of the more basic Fitbits. I mean, it tracks your steps and your distance traveled, your calories burned, it does track sleep, but it's not like the kind of fitness band that you would use if you were going out for an intense exercise, you wanted to get your duration and your GPS and your VO2 max. It's not for that. It's just your everyday activity tracker. Why would Fitbit add heart rate sensors to this tracker? Well, I mean, for one, you can check your heart rate throughout the day. Right now, mine is 70, which is a little high. I think you're making me nervous, but you also get your resting heart rate now if you wear the Fitbit to bed, which is considered to be a key baseline metric for your overall heart health. Speaking of sleep, Fitbit is now doing more advanced sleep tracking, not just with the Alta, but with a few of its other wristbands as well. This means you can now go into the app after you've slept, and you can see your different sleep stages in a way that you couldn't see it before. The app is also giving you insights around your sleep, like how you sleep during the week compared to the weekends, or how that informs other key metrics in your health. Fitbit is not the first company to do this. I mean, there have been other wearable makers out there that have tracked your sleep before and said what kind of stages you're in when you're sleeping. We still don't know how accurate all of this is, by the way, but it's a nice feature add. Okay, so a few things to note about the Fitbit Alta. It does have some automatic exercise recognition technology, which means if you go for a brisk walk or an intense run, it's going to pick up on that, but you can't start or stop exercises, like I said earlier, which also means I wouldn't necessarily trust it when it comes to accuracy if you want to know exactly how many miles you ran. I mean, this doesn't have GPS. It's just using an accelerometer, so take that with a grain of salt. Some people have also asked me whether or not this would be a good replacement for the Charge 2, which is also $150 and also has heart rate sensors built in, and my answer is no. I mean, this is really meant to be more of a stylish Fitbit, kind of a basic Fitbit, and the Charge 2 actually does have specific exercise tracking. By the way, this means Fitbit has nearly 10 different Fitbit models for sale on its site right now, along with that Smart Scale that it's still selling, and it's all just kind of a repackaging of the same feature sets and the same technology with slight variations on features and price. So it's cool that the Alta now has heart rate sensors, but it's not like this is the most innovative, new Fitbit we've seen. So should you buy the Fitbit Alta HR? If you are one of those people who bought the Alta last year and you love that activity tracking wristband and you've said to yourself on a dozen occasions, this is great, but I really wish it had heart rate tracking, then this is for you. You should be really happy because that decision's easy, right? But if you're looking for more intense exercise tracking, you want to stop and start, you want to track your runs and your cycling and your swims and all that other stuff, this is not for you. Okay, this is just your everyday activity tracker. There are other products out there, beyond Fitbits by the way, that do more intense exercise tracking. In fact, we've reviewed a lot of them. So go to theverge.com and check it out. And thanks for watching. I'm Lauren Good, host of this special episode on every Fitbit you need to know about because there are 2,700 of them now and we're going to break it down in this seven part miniseries.
 Fitbit has just put out another, yet another, new Fitbit.
 But what's actually new about it?
 So this is the Fitbit Alta HR, and as its name suggests, it now has heart rate sensors.
 It costs $149.99, which is $20 more than the regular Fitbit Alta, and is about the same
 price of the Fitbit Charge 2, which is a whole other wristband.
 It looks exactly like last year's Alta.
 Exactly.
 It has the same tap-sensitive screen.
 The one thing that's different about it on the underside is that the strap is a little
 bit different.
 Last year's Alta had a series of holes, and you kind of snap in to close it, and this
 one is more of a traditional railroad-style strap.
 The good thing about the Fitbit Alta is that it's one of the more attractive Fitbits out
 there.
 You can see how people might mistake this for a bracelet, not a clunky activity tracker,
 which is nice.
 On the downside, it's one of the more basic Fitbits.
 I mean, it tracks your steps and your distance traveled, your calories burned, it does track
 sleep, but it's not like the kind of fitness band that you would use if you were going
 out for an intense exercise, you wanted to get your duration and your GPS and your VO2
 max.
 It's not for that.
 It's just your everyday activity tracker.
 Why would Fitbit add heart rate sensors to this tracker?
 Well, I mean, for one, you can check your heart rate throughout the day.
 Right now, mine is 70, which is a little high.
 I think you're making me nervous, but you also get your resting heart rate now if you
 wear the Fitbit to bed, which is considered to be a key baseline metric for your overall
 heart health.
 Speaking of sleep, Fitbit is now doing more advanced sleep tracking, not just with the
 Alta, but with a few of its other wristbands as well.
 This means you can now go into the app after you've slept, and you can see your different
 sleep stages in a way that you couldn't see it before.
 The app is also giving you insights around your sleep, like how you sleep during the
 week compared to the weekends, or how that informs other key metrics in your health.
 Fitbit is not the first company to do this.
 I mean, there have been other wearable makers out there that have tracked your sleep before
 and said what kind of stages you're in when you're sleeping.
 We still don't know how accurate all of this is, by the way, but it's a nice feature add.
 Okay, so a few things to note about the Fitbit Alta.
 It does have some automatic exercise recognition technology, which means if you go for a brisk
 walk or an intense run, it's going to pick up on that, but you can't start or stop exercises,
 like I said earlier, which also means I wouldn't necessarily trust it when it comes to accuracy
 if you want to know exactly how many miles you ran.
 I mean, this doesn't have GPS.
 It's just using an accelerometer, so take that with a grain of salt.
 Some people have also asked me whether or not this would be a good replacement for the
 Charge 2, which is also $150 and also has heart rate sensors built in, and my answer
 is no.
 I mean, this is really meant to be more of a stylish Fitbit, kind of a basic Fitbit,
 and the Charge 2 actually does have specific exercise tracking.
 By the way, this means Fitbit has nearly 10 different Fitbit models for sale on its site
 right now, along with that Smart Scale that it's still selling, and it's all just kind
 of a repackaging of the same feature sets and the same technology with slight variations
 on features and price.
 So it's cool that the Alta now has heart rate sensors, but it's not like this is the most
 innovative, new Fitbit we've seen.
 So should you buy the Fitbit Alta HR?
 If you are one of those people who bought the Alta last year and you love that activity
 tracking wristband and you've said to yourself on a dozen occasions, this is great, but I
 really wish it had heart rate tracking, then this is for you.
 You should be really happy because that decision's easy, right?
 But if you're looking for more intense exercise tracking, you want to stop and start, you
 want to track your runs and your cycling and your swims and all that other stuff, this
 is not for you.
 Okay, this is just your everyday activity tracker.
 There are other products out there, beyond Fitbits by the way, that do more intense exercise
 tracking.
 In fact, we've reviewed a lot of them.
 So go to theverge.com and check it out.
 And thanks for watching.
 I'm Lauren Good, host of this special episode on every Fitbit you need to know about because
 there are 2,700 of them now and we're going to break it down in this seven part miniseries.