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If your primary purchase decision is a health/activity tracker, get the Fitbit Ionic. If you want a smart watch with a bunch of features (that you really will not use), get the Apple Watch. As a former Apple watch user I really love this.
First, it looks great (I always thought the apple watch face was too small on my wrist) and the various tracking capabilities are super robust and accurate. The most understated feature is the battery life! I cannot tell you how frustrating having to charge your watch every day is. It also makes other watches useless for my favorite functionality - sleep tracking. Sleep cycle patterns are really insightful is already impacting how long I allocate to sleeping and tracking how slight tweaks to my "sleeping experience" (different pillows, oil diffusers, etc) impacts my light sleep vs deep sleep, etc.
Features - No, it does not have all the features or apps of the apple watch. However, I promise you will not use most of them. You may think you will send texts from your watch, but you really won't. Most apps for the apple watch are super gimmicky and basically just scrunch an awesome phone app experience into a much smaller and less useful interface. For me - tracking heart rates, activity, sleeping patterns is the most important aspect of a smart watch (below).
Tracking - This sets the Fitbit far apart from any other smart watch. I do not think the apple watch is even comparable here, though to be fair i think they are trying to achieve different things. In this regard, I guess it's better to compare the Fitbit to some of the Garmin watches. For awhile, the Fitbit lagged behind Garmin for accurate heart rate and elevation tracking. While I do not own a Garmin, i have played around with them and from everything I have read the gap is closed in terms of accuracy. I really like how the Fitbit automatically detects different activities. I don't know how it works but it somehow knew when I took a bike ride a few days ago, which I thought was awesome. Also, tracking V02 max (basically how well your body uses oxygen and thus how fit you are) and comparing this to age benchmarks is pretty cool (I don't believe this is a part of the apple watch offering).
Interface - I have read reviews about the laggy user interface and difficulties syncing, etc. Not sure if this was resolved with a software patch but I haven't experienced this at all. The interface seems very responsive to me and it syncs to my phone whenever I open the app. I haven't used the Fitbit pay yet, though it seems pretty cool (in theory).
The Fitbit app - last point to mention is that the Fitbit app is awesome and has been consistently getting more useful as time goes on. I really like how they compare your health and fitness to benchmark standards for your age. I find myself opening it multiple times a day, which I never did with my apple watch/apple health app.
In conclusion - I obviously really like my Ionic. I usually don't post amazon reviews but I found myself frustrated by articles that seem to miss the point of having a tracker on your wrist. I don't know if those reviewers are just apple fanboys, but man, I rarely used the apple watch for more than checking the time. The concept of a "smart watch" has changed in my mind after owning one. For me at least, fitness tracking is the most attractive use-case here and the Ionic is the gold standard for this. Stop reading reviews hung up on the lack of being able to send a text message. Get this watch and start seeing yourself caring much more about your overall well being.
Not sure how to verify this isn't a paid for review other than you checking my user history or posting a photo of it on my wrist/ order form. I ordered it direct on the Fitbit site (attached the order form). Also, I ordered the leather band (pricey, I know) but have not received it yet. I actually really like the blue/grey band though.
Hope this helps your decision!
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