How Is the New Google Fitbit Air? A Doctor Shares His Review
Former Oura Ring 4 user here, and I’m excited to share my review of the new Google Fitbit Air wearable sleep and fitness tracker. I figured that for $99, how could I go wrong? Here’s what I found out.
Fit and comfort:
The Fitbit Air is very light and comfortable. Although I do readjust the strap from time to time (I’m still using the standard one that comes with the Fitbit), it’s easy to wear and doesn’t get in my way. It doesn’t interfere with work or my gym sessions. I take it off before showering, although you don’t have to. It just seems like it would be nasty to wear a wet band all evening. You should also remove it before using a hot sauna since it can overheat.
Color and battery life:
The Fitbit is hard to come by, so I grabbed the Lavender color. It looks more like a light blue than lavender to me. I find the color attractive and inoffensive.
The battery life is great! It can easily last a week and recharges fast. I think it takes well under an hour to recharge. The package comes with the charging cable but not the wall plug. You’ll need a box that is compatible with USB-C.
Sleep and fitness tracking:
With one exception (see below), I love the sleep tracking. In fact, I find it much better than the Oura Ring 4. The Fitbit generates a (seemingly) accurate and easy-to-read graph of your sleep stages throughout the night. Once you play around with the app for a few minutes, you’ll find the sleep data for the day, week, and month easy to track and understand. I like how, for example, I can see how much time I spent in REM last night and how that compares to previous nights. The app shows sleep data numerically and in convenient tables.
The AI Coach (more below) summarizes your sleep information into a narrative format, incorporating your activity the previous day, how long it took to fall asleep, and how the night compares with your history. I fall asleep quickly (in under 5 minutes), and the app accurately reflects that.
The one thing I don’t like about the Fitbit’s sleep tracking is its composite sleep score. It’s trash. My sleep quality changes dramatically from day to day due to travel, alcohol, time in bed, stress, etc, and my sleep score always stays in a narrow range. The sleep score theoretically runs from 1 to 100, and I’ve existed entirely within a band of 7 points. In other words, my best and worst nights of sleep were only separated by 7 points out of 100. Doubtful. Useless. The composite sleep score is one area in which the Oura Ring 4 clearly outshines the Fitbit Air.
The Fitbit seems to outshine the Oura Ring 4 for fitness tracking. In my hands, it does a better job of identifying the exercise I’m doing. Even better, the AI coach makes it simple to log my workouts. Plus, since the Fitbit is on my wrist rather than my finger, it’s not a problem when I’m lifting weights. I think both wearables are similar for step count and likely superior to the iPhone’s native step count feature. This is particularly true because the Fitbit measures heart rate while you walk to gauge your exercise intensity.
Atlanta concierge longevity physician reviews the Google Fitbit Air
AI Coach:
The Fitbit Air app automatically includes a 3-month trial of Google Health Premium, which unlocks the Gemini-powered Google Health Coach. I feared that the AI coach would be a gimmick, but I must admit that I’m enjoying it so far. Since it works with natural language (rather than the help features from apps of yesteryear), it answers your questions about how to use the app. For example, my app didn’t initially show me my oxygen saturation. I asked the AI coach why, and it correctly informed me that I needed to wait a few days. Note: after the free trial ends, you'll need to pay to continue using the AI coach and advanced health features.
The AI coach makes it easy to log workouts, sauna sessions, and more. It provides helpful daily summaries of sleep, fitness, and performance. While I don’t personally need this, the coach gently nudges you to reach your goals. For example, my coach keeps pushing me to use the sauna, hit my step count, and get in my week’s strength-training sessions.
Longevity:
Will the Fitbit Air improve your longevity? As a concierge longevity and lifestyle medicine physician in Atlanta, I’ve given this question a lot of thought. I believe the answer is yes. Two of the greatest drivers of longevity and healthspan are sleep and exercise. The Fitbit undoubtedly nudges you to exercise more. It holds you accountable to your goals.
I believe it also improves sleep if used correctly. I help my concierge patients track their daily habits and see how individual choices, such as consuming alcohol, staying up late, using the sauna, or drinking coffee later in the day, impact sleep quality. Candidly, you’ll get more out of it if you work with a doctor or coach than solo, unless you’re really motivated.
In summary, I highly recommend the new Google Fitbit Air. It is lightweight, comfortable, and stylish. It’s a great sleep tracker and includes a cool AI coach. Aside from the composite sleep and readiness scores, I prefer the Fitbit to the Oura Ring 4. However, I think both are better than skipping a wearable altogether.
Want to live longer and boost your performance? Understand your health.
Dr. Gregory Charlop here. As the leading longevity and lifestyle concierge medicine physician in Buckhead. We use lifestyle medicine (which combines exercise, sleep, nutrition, deep social relationships, and select medications) to help our executive patients look and feel better.
Do you live in the Atlanta, Buckhead, or Alpharetta area and have questions about wellness and concierge medicine? Let’s chat. We also serve patients in California and Texas via telemedicine.
