Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker, Special Edition Gold, Black, Large (US Version)

I don't usually buy the latest greatest thing, but I've been saving up and researching this since it came out & wanted to finally buy it! Product has worked awesomely since Day 1. I spent a LOT of time researching which Fitbit I wanted to upgrade my Fitbit Flex from. I'm not 'techy' but I love that it's SO easy to set up. It shows the time/texts/calls/steps/battery level/miles/DAY & Date. I DID have the Fitbix Flex set up before, so maybe that's why it's easier. I'm a plus size woman, but I got the Small size, and I have plenty of room to spare.

PROS: (I'll keep it short!)
-If you go to the Fitbit Website, you can print out a sizing for your wrist, and play around with it.
-Purple! It's a dark purple, but so much better than plain ole black
-You can either tap the screen OR just turn your wrist down & then up and it shows the time, distance, steps, etc (you choose the order and what appears first, then you tap the screen to view the other options).
-I LOVE that it shows the TIME!
-Has an idle alert, so every hour, it vibrates and says "get moving, only 100 more steps", to get you to be more active--and believe me! THat helps when you have an office job!

CONS:
-It says that you shouldn't wear it in the shower. I wore my OLD Fitbit Flex in the shower EVERY TIME--and I had it for 2yrs.-So this Fitbit Alta says no showering. I've accidentally left it on and no harm has been done, but don't want to ruin it----so this may be a factor for you.
-If you miss a text/call on your Fitbit, you cannot find it after it's been missed. You'll need to look on your phone for that info.
-Texts: If the text is long OR if you have the persons' name as something really long, that takes up the characters of what is allowed.

I was not compensated/given a discount or any other option, other than paying hard earned money for this Fitbit Alta. [...]. Thanks so much!

***Updates are located at the bottom of review.***

***Original Review***
I am a pretty active person and I love keeping track of my fitness levels so I can gauge how much daily activity I do and what I can do to improve it. Last year for Mother's Day I received a Fitbit Flex and I was so excited! I got it set up and loved seeing how many steps I actually take a day. The only thing is, the Flex doesn't tell you exactly how many steps you take on the device itself so you have to look at the app or on your computer. Personally, my excitement over the Flex slid downwards because I didn't feel motivated enough by it and I had syncing problems with it so I decided recently to look into other options and came upon the brand-new Fitbit Alta! This time I am really, truly excited over it because it has a slim, classy design yet it is more like a smartwatch so it can tell you a lot of information without even looking at an app. I included a picture of the Alta and Flex (my Alta is black and the Flex is pink).

What's included: The Fitbit Alta comes with the Fitbit itself, a USB charger, and a Bluetooth device if you choose to use your computer to look at all of your activity instead of your phone or tablet.

Sizing: The Alta comes in three sizes, small, large, and x-large (only available online). Size small fits wrists 5.5 inches to 6.7 inches in circumference, large fits 6.7 inches to 8.1 inches in circumference, and x-large fits 8.1 inches to 9.3 inches in circumference. Another way to measure for the small and large sizes is to use a ruler and measure the width of your wrist while laying it flat. I've included a picture taken from the Alta's box that you can use as a measuring tool. If your wrist is up to 2 1/4 inches wide, you would want to purchase a small. If your wrist measures between 2 1/4 inches and 3 inches, you would want to order a large. If your wrist is larger than 3 inches, you want to order an x-large. If you are between sizes, Fitbit recommends sizing up. I ordered the small size and it fits very comfortably with plenty of room to spare. I compared my Alta with my small Flex wristband and they are the same size.

Colors: Currently, the Alta comes in black, blue, plum, and teal. I have the pink Flex and it got very dirty from everyday use so I decided to order a black Alta because it will at least appear cleaner and goes with everything.

Features: The Alta has a number of great features, some of which are optional. You can see the time, number of steps currently taken along with a five-dot progress bar, distance walked, number of calories burned, and number of active minutes. You can also turn on text and call notifications, which I like. As long as your Alta is within range of your Bluetooth device (generally 30 feet) of either your phone, tablet, or computer, your Alta will vibrate and either show a text message symbol with the sender's name and the first part of the message or a phone call symbol with the caller's name. I've included a general list of the phones, tablets and OSs that are compatible with the Alta at the bottom of this review, taken from Fitbit's website. Personally, I like those features in case I turn my phone on silent. I haven't quite figured out exactly what counts as active minutes and how to reach the daily goal of 30 minutes a day. As soon as I figure it out, I will add that information. The Alta is water-resistant so you wouldn't want to go swimming or take a shower with it on. One of my favorite features is that the Alta automatically tracks your sleep quality! With the Flex, you have to tap it a number of times and let it know you are going to sleep and then tap it several times to tell it you are awake but the Alta automatically senses that you are sleeping. You can also set a silent, vibrating alarm. With my Flex, every time I would go to the grocery store and I'd be pushing a cart across the parking lot, the Flex would sense vibrations and assume I was going to sleep so of course my sleep time was completely wrong. The Alta doesn't use tapping to put it in sleep mode so you don't have to worry about that! A couple things the Alta doesn't do are measure your heart rate and the number of floors you have climbed. If those features are important to you, the Fitbit Charge would be a better option at this point. Another nice feature of the Alta is that it reminds you to move. Every hour, the goal is to walk 250 steps. At 10 minutes before the next hour comes, your Fitbit will buzz and encourage you to move and tell you the number of steps you need to take if you've already walked at least some during that hour. You can choose the hours you want this notification from 5 to 14 consecutive hours. Don't worry, it won't disturb you at night as long as you don't include those hours. When you accomplish goals, the Alta will vibrate and celebrate! In order to view the time and any daily activities, you simply turn your Alta towards your face and it will automatically show you the time or you can tap the band.

Charging: The Alta is very simple to charge. You take the entire wristband off and hook it up to your USB charger. I plug mine into my computer but if you don't use a computer, a lot of smartphones come with USB wall chargers which work as well. There are two small gold pieces which you line up on the Alta and you just snap the Alta into the charger. The face of the Alta will tell you if it's charging correctly and show a picture of a battery and how far it's charged along with the charging symbol (a bolt of lightning). Once it's done, the battery will just be full and the charging symbol will be gone. The battery generally lasts up to 5 days and takes about 2 hours to charge. I like to charge mine at night or in the evening when I'm less active so I get most of my steps in.

Tips: Some people have trouble with with tapping the device to scroll through the daily activity. Another reviewer mentioned a tip and I've discovered it works perfectly! Instead of tapping directly on the face of the Alta, tap just below the bottom of the face on the wristband. Once I found that out, I've had no problems at all. Also it is very easy to snap the Alta on your wrist. If you are familiar with the Flex, it works the same way. You use your opposite hand to snap and unsnap the wristband and it easily pops into the holes.

Compatibility: The Fitbit Alta syncs with certain phones and OSs (operating systems). They are: Windows Vista and later, Mac OS X 10.6 and up, iPhone 4S and later, iPad 3 generation and later, and leading Android and Windows devices (this information was taken from Fitbit's website).

I've only used the Alta for 6 days and I can already tell that it's so much nicer than the Flex. It's slim like the Flex but it looks very stylish, has a lot of great features and best of all, it motivates me to get moving even more than I was before! It's more expensive than the Flex but it can do so much more that it's worth spending the extra money to me. If you are interested in purchasing a Fitbit, I would seriously consider the Alta. It's cheaper than some of the really fancy Fitbits but it does exactly what I want it to do and if you are looking for more features, you'd want to look at the more expensive Fitbits. As I discover new features, have something else to share about the Alta, or if my opinion changes about this product, I will update this review. I'm so happy with the Alta and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to lead a more active lifestyle!

***Update 04/14/2016 - I have had my Alta for about two and a half weeks now and still love it! I've found that it does a good job of encouraging me to get up and move, even when I really don't feel like it. I've also researched and figured out based on my activity what are active minutes. According to Fitbit's website, active minutes are awarded when "the activity you're doing is more strenuous than regular walking, which includes everything from a brisk walk to a cardio workout or run." Fitbit also says "minutes are only awarded after 10 minutes of continuous moderate-to-intense activity." I was outside a lot today with my kids as well as several other days when I earned active minutes. Some of the activities I've done where I've earned active minutes are hauling tree branches out to the curb for yard cleanup, pulling my three-year-old twins around in a wagon, pushing my twins in a stroller, shooting hoops, and running. Now that I know and understand more about how to accomplish this goal, I plan on trying my hardest to get those active minutes, which also gets me more steps and calories burned. I've also only had to charge my Alta a couple times since I got it. In general the battery seems to last me five to six days.

***Update 04/25/2016 - Another feature I hadn't noticed until it appeared on my Alta is that it has calendar notifications as well. I use the Google calendar for appointments and things I need to do and usually have an alarm set for those events that lets me know I have something coming up in an hour. My Alta vibrated and told me that I had an appointment which I thought was great, just in case I forgot and my phone was on silent! One other thing I've noticed (this has to do more with the Fitbit app than the device itself) is that sometimes the numbers won't sync on the app even though it says it just synced. For instance, my Alta will say I have 9.1k steps and the app says I have 8,184 steps. I've found if I tap each category in the Dashboard (steps, calories burned, active minutes, etc.) and wait a few seconds, it usually catches up, not always but most of the time. I'm still impressed with the Alta and feel it's a great investment for anyone wanting to be more active!

***Update 07/22/2016 - I've now had my Alta for almost four months and still love it! I feel it's accurate with how many steps I take and now that I know how to earn active minutes, it's been easier for me to get them. I play a lot of basketball and that is a fairly simple way for me to get the active minutes because that activity requires a lot of running around. Regarding the notifications, occasionally I've found that my Alta won't tell me when I have a text message or phone call, even when my phone is right next to me. When I first asked my techie husband about it, his first question was "Well, did you restart your phone?". So I restarted my phone which has my Fitbit app on it and what do you know, the notifications were working again! Typically, that seems to solve the problem since electronics need an occasional reboot to work correctly again. If you ever have this problem, I'd suggest restarting your phone or tablet to see if that fixes it. I still feel the Alta is worth every penny I spent and recommend purchasing one if you want to lead a more active lifestyle!

***Update 09/08/2016 - My Alta and I have now been inseparable for over five months. Even though I occasionally don't feel like being very active, in general, this Fitbit has increased my activity levels and keeps urging me to get up and walk more. I recently noticed that at ten minutes to the next hour (e.g. 12:50, 3:50), the notification to get some more steps in is now two short vibrations instead of one. I'm guessing this must be a recent update. I've found this to be much more helpful since it's more noticeable. Another thing I've discovered is that the notifications for texting and calling don't always show up for various reasons. Sometimes my phone (with the Fitbit app on it) will be in my kitchen and I will be at the other end of the house, which is more than 30 feet away. Bluetooth can't always reach through the walls so I sometimes don't get these notifications. If I've gotten a text or call and it's been several minutes when I come back into Bluetooth range, the Fitbit won't notify me but it seems to notify me if it's been about a minute or so since the text or call has come through. Generally, these features work really well and I've been happy with them. Cleaning for my Alta has been fairly minimal. I never wear it when I'm washing dishes or taking a shower but it occasionally gets a little wet when I wash my hands and of course it gets sweat and lotion on it. When it starts to smell, most of the time it's because either water, sweat, lotion, or a combination have gotten into the small holes where you clasp the band shut. An easy way to clean this and get rid of the funky smell is to run just the band part, not the device itself (I have the rubber Fitbit band, not a leather one) under running water and, using a cotton swab, clean out each of the holes from both sides of the band, then towel dry the band. I recently did that and it has helped immensely! After all of these months, I still maintain that the Alta is a great activity tracker and would recommend it if you want to be more fitness-conscious and improve your activity levels!

***Update 02/25/2017 - I've been using my Fitbit Alta for about 11 months now and it still works great. I haven't noticed a decline in the battery life or performance and the band is still in great shape. I have no complaints and still recommend this Fitbit for anyone who wants to lead a more active lifestyle!

***Update 03/06/2017 - At about the 11-month mark, my black band started to pull away from the tracker. With the amount of use my Fitbit gets, I wasn't surprised at all and feel I got my money's worth out of the original band. I ended up replacing it with the same exact band, just a different color. I ordered Fitbit Alta Classic Accessory Band, Plum Small and it's the same product and very easy to replace. If you have the same issue and want the same band, I recommend this product!

OMG, a huge mistake was made by me picking this up for my wife! She was in some kind of work related challenge and wanted a better way to record her steps without having to have her phone on her, so being the swell and thoughtful husband that I am, I decided to get one for her.

Gentlemen, it did not turn out so well for me.

The moment she strapped this little thing in her wrist, she turned into Richard Simmons on steroids. Now she insists that I walk with her everywhere and that I get one as well so we could record our steps as a couple. Long gone are my evenings of relaxing on the couch, my restful days of nothingness have turned to making sure I add enough steps to pacify my fitness guru from the third plane of hell. Did you know it's 15 steps to my bathroom? Unfortunately, I do.

On a more serious note, I've found that going on a motorcycle ride while wearing one will add a load of steps. So don't (or in my case do) wear this while on the Harley.

Well I love this damn thing even if it did make me aware of the fact that, according to the average number of steps I get each day, I'm basically a houseplant. Only very slightly more active than a ficus.

I was excited about so many things regarding the Alta. I misplaced my Charge, and when I went to replace it, I discovered the Alta. I love the sleeker design, but I was most thrilled by the ability to change bands to match my clothes and jewelry. It wasn't until after I used it for a few days that I realized there is no altimeter and therefore, it does not count stairs. I really rely on the fitbit to motivate me to make better choices, and I have the option about 15 times a day to climb 3 flights of stairs or take the elevator. My Charge would totally motivate me to climb stairs. If I had truly paid attention, I would have realized they had removed this option on this model, so I'm hoping to alert others to this change.

I've noticed some people are hoping for a fix to this in a software update, but this is a hardware change. If counting stairs is important, pick a different model.