Is the new Fitbit Premium worth it?

[JonDavidL]

I'm a long time Fitbit user who has recently become very frustrated with Fitbit and stopped wearing my Charge 3 last June.  Amazon dropped the Apple Watch Series 3 to $199 and I jumped on it.  I love the Apple Watch, BUT, I've found that it is definitely a "Smart Watch" first and a fitness tracker second.  I miss some of the data I would get from Fitbit and the simplified way it could be accessed.  The one thing that MIGHT bring me back to Fitbit is the new Fitbit Premium Paid Subscription.  So ...

1) Is it worth the monthly or yearly charge?

2) What do you like about Premium?

3) What don't you like about Premium?

4) What do you wish Premium included (feature or data set) but doesn't?

But the big question I'm hoping to get answered is:  Is the extra data worth putting away my Apple Watch and wearing my Charge 3 again?  Thanks! 

[JohnnyRow]

Try it for a week free and find out for yourself.

Nobody can judge its value to you better than you.

[JonDavidL]

Thanks for your input, but I'm really hoping to hear from people who have used the feature for a month now to get a longer term evaluation.  I know there is a week trial, but honestly that is way too short to get a feel for something.  If Fitbit offered the 1st Month free, I'd totally sign up.  They're giving the new Versa 2 purchasers 3 months free, so it's kind of a shame they are only offering loyal Fitbit owners only 1 week, but thanks for replying! 

[JohnnyRow]

I see your point.

Slight clarification: I think it is only with the Versa 2 Special Edition, not the regular Versa 2, that one gets 3 month trial.

Also note: there are supposedly to be more features added to Premium, so in a few months it might seem a better deal than it is now.

[Androidus]

Consider this. For the cost of a Charge 3 plus 3.5 years of Premium you could you get a brand new far superior Apple Watch 5 for similar bucks.  Don’t fall for it.

[JohnnyRow]

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@Androidus wrote:

Consider this. For the cost of a Charge 3 plus 3.5 years of Premium you could you get a brand new far superior Apple Watch 5 for similar bucks.  Don’t fall for it.

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I can certainly understand some people prefer Apple watches, but your response does not apply to original poster's question.  He already has a Charge 3 so adding the Charge 3 cost is irrelevant in this case.

[JamesPhan]

Long-time Fitbit user here too. Long story short, I don't see the point of Premium Subscriptions. Fitbit makes me feel like they're trying too hard to cope with the short-term financial gains by putting a paywall before what the customers are supposed to get with the products. We paid for a "Fitness Tracker", which is supposed to track our fitness activities already, now they want us to pay extra to see my fitness stats?

Other reasons NOT to pay for Premium:

+ The 'Guided Programs' works basing on the stats that Fitbit collects from users, which are not always correct and reliable, to begin with.

+ All "Dynamic Workouts" and video programs can be substituted for free on Youtube; if I want to pay for workout programs I would rather head to other services like bodybuilding.com.

+ Personalized insights and Advanced sleep tools are supposed to come with the tracker, as they are Fitbit's selling points to compete with other products.

In short, no, I would never ever pay for "Premium services".

[JonDavidL]

Thanks for your input! It's kind of the gut feeling I had, but was hoping to hear some positive responses. With the lack of any enthusiastic responses (or really any responses) to this topic I started days ago, I think I will give Premium a pass for now.  

[cyclingmom]

I have been considering upgrading my Versa to a Versa 2 and have been trying to decide between the standard and special edition.  I don't think I care about premium because I already pay $30 a month for semi-private training through the gym at my employer which is already giving me enough workouts and relatively customized advice.

[MarcoSven]

I have been using the Premium subscription now for a month and it helped me tremendously to get "back" into running, that alone made it worth it to me. Not only was I provided a training plan, I also have a way better understanding of the fundamentals now.

Yes to the point there are maybe better or even free options, not sure about apple though I gave mine away an bought the Ionic. But having a personalised coached experience in one ecosystem that so far is getting better by the day is hard to beat for $80.

I am currently spending $90 per month for my gym, which is cheap in my area, and I am about to cancel since the Fitbit Coach app is provinding me a better workout anytime anywhere - seriously I am able to squeeze in 1-3 sessions a day in less time than going to the physical gym 2-3 times per week. For now this is a perfect solution for me and I am glad I found it before the flu season starts.

$250 (for a device) + $80 for the subscription is a great value. I have no time to research free options, create a plan and try to sync it with tracker data etc

[sjm831]

I am a big proponent of Fitbit.  I buy them for people,  I encourage people to use them.  As far as premium,  I would not recommend purchasing it.  I am going to hang in for awhile to see if it gets better.

There are only a few things added which don't really help.  Sleep score.  No idea why I need this.  How about telling me something like I sleep better on workout days or when I hit a certain activity level for a day.  I do like the fitbit coach a bit.  Gives helpful hints while running.  Have not tried other workouts.  As far as personalized information.  Not much.  It tells me each week I am more active on weekends than weekdays and I should try to emulate weekend behavior on weekdays.  Is it suggesting I quit my job?

I also have aria scale.  Has not made one comment regarding weight.  Like hey bud you should improve your diet since your activity level is high and you are not losing weight.

Or resting heart rate - hey that's good/bad whatever for your age and weight/activity whatever you get my point.

[JonDavidL]

Thanks for your feedback!

[Elle-Jay]

I bought the Fitbit Versa 1 year ago and also purchased the Fitbit Coach annual premium at £29.99 (a fair price I felt). Now, they have dropped the Fitbit coach premium (adding the coach workouts to the full premium of £79.99 annually). 

That’s almost THREE times the cost to receive the coach workouts!! Am I subscribed? NO WAY - I feel totally ripped off. More so as I bought a Fitbit Versa Lite for my mum in October as I had raved so much about the Versa. No longer singing the praises of Fitbit 😏

[SunsetRunner]

I like it a lot! I jumped on the Apple Watch 3 as well this past holiday season... but I am still wearing my Fitbit! As for Premium/Coach, I like what I have used so far... pretty new and (honestly) out of shape, so haven't used all of the Coach features, but I have my go to exercises, have used several of the programs exclusive to the premium app, I use Fitstar Yoga, etc... admittedly, I jumped in on the offer when it was $40 a year, but I don't think I would have any issue with paying the monthly fee, especially since any similar app for the Apple Watch would cost as much as well...

[Sunny12]

It may be or may not be worth the money to a user, which is a personal matter. 

If Fitbit makes and sells a world class premium subscription service, it is a commercial decision but withholding sleep analysis data from fitbit owners and forcing them to pay subscription is ransom.

Fitbit is not correct in asking for subscription from the watch/wearable inbuilt features as consumer has purchased the product for its features. 

[alex-w]

The Premium subscription is outrageously expensive.   The meditations offered are terrible with the exemption of Andrew’s ones and his are free mainly

I purchased a $500 sense watch and now Fiitbit expect sme to pay extra to see the data it a generate.

The Apple Watch applications are catching up to FitBit and the watch sensors are also upgrading.   Soon I’ll be able to replace the sense with an Apple Watch and see all my data without rip off subscriptions.

Ii would not pay more than AU$40 yearly and even that s an unfair imposition on customers especially pensioners and students.

I am a long time customer bought the first FitBit watch and I like the app although it is now greatly limited because of greed.

Shame on you FitBit no wonder you were going broke before Google bought you out.

in short the subscription is a total rip off, after the free trial I will cancel.

[alex-w]

The Premium subscription is outrageously expensive.   The meditations offered are terrible with the exemption of Andrew’s ones and his are free mainly

I purchased a $500 sense watch and now they expect me to pay extra to see the data that it generates?   How Is that a fair deal for the consumer.?

The Apple Watch applications are catching up to FitBit and the watch sensors are also upgrading.   Soon I’ll be able to replace the sense with an Apple Watch and see all my data without rip off subscriptions.

I  would not pay more than AU$40 yearly and even that s an unfair imposition on customers especially pensioners and students.

I am a long time customer bought the first FitBit watch and I like the app although it is now greatly limited because of greed.  No wonder they were gong broke before Google bought them.

in short he Premium subscription is not worth it.

[SunsetRunner]

Recently got the sense last month and upgraded from the original Versa. I'm mainly in the Apple ecosystem yet decided to go with fitbit since the versa was reliable and lasted 2 years with no issues. Reason for upgrading to the sense was the stress measurements, ECG, and build in GPS. Getting an Apple was a tough sell with the battery needing to be charged daily. I need to get enough sleep to reduce the chances of my SVT acting up. Sleep and stress were the main causes of me developing SVT (heart condition).

My experience, subscribing to fitbit premium enhances the Sense's functionality tremendously. You can monitor your sleep scores, heart rate variability, SPO2...etc etc....

Tried using fitbit coach's guided programs and it helps to motivate getting outside and exercising. Been using it for 2 weeks now and I think it serves its purpose. Also tried the meditations included in fitbit premium. I think the variety of meditations is welcome since I've been a Headspace subscriber for 2 years and have been meditating almost daily with Headspace. Having different meditations in fitbit premium gives other options that may be beneficial to the subscriber. 

Since you're in the forum, pretty sure that you've seen lots of posts, be it negative/positive. All are opinions, including mine. I've also resigned to the fact that no platform is ever perfect, It would all depend on the user's specific needs and situation. 

Hope this post helps you decide in your future with fitbit. 

[Sunny12]

Hi

If the exercise programmes and mediation programmes or any other enhanced
programmes are charged; people can decide to pay for those
optional enhancements or not, depending upon their needs and preferences.

However, my objection is more about forcing the buyer to pay for premium
content where the features of the weable band itself are given in detail.

If one buys a band for its ability to count steps, it is not done to pay
for a premium monthly plan to know the step count. Similarly, if a sleep
analysis is sold as a feature of the model, it is not done to make
availability of data only after payment of premium plan.

Hope that I have made myself clear.

[Neverness]

Too expensive. I used it for a whole 6 months. Garmin is more accurate and free