How Do Fitbit's Versa, Ace Stack Up Against Competitors?

Time is up for Apple Inc. AAPL and Garmin Ltd. GRMN’s reign over the smartwatch market.

Fitbit Inc FIT’s new Versa and Ace are expected to begin poaching share when they hit shelves this spring.

Fitbit’s Latest Play

Fitbit’s waterproof Versa is said to be the lightest smartwatch on the U.S. market and provides four-plus days of battery life, heart rate tracking, sport-specific workouts, automatic sleep tracking, Android texting capabilities, cross-platform mobile compatibility, Fitbit Pay, smartphone notifications, app downloads, music storage and offline Deezer syncing.

The slender product also offers “female health tracking,” including a menstrual-cycle tracker and a holistic health breakdown.

Meanwhile, Fitbit’s new Ace for youth consumers offers five days of battery life; automatic tracking of steps, sleep and active minutes; and parental settings.

Versa debuts in April, while Ace begins shipping in the second quarter.

Where It Ranks

The new products are expected to compete well against those of Apple and Garmin.

The Versa, which targets a female consumer with a sleeker wristband and gender-specific apps, has an Apple Watch-esque face with a more affordable price. The product starts at $199 against Apple Watch Series 1’s $249 and Garmin’s $269 Vivoactive 3.

Notbaly, though, it lacks the GPS capabilities available on competing models, which means that while it tracks heart rate and motion, it does not accurately record distance, speed or pace.

At $100, the child-marketed Ace is $20 more expensive than Garmin’s brand-band Vivofit Jr. 2.

The Ace, although moisture proof, doesn't support deeper dives like the Vivofit, and it requires charging while the battery of the Garmin equivalent lasts up to a year. However, it boasts an edge in its seven-day detailed data storage, its calorie and distance tracker, and its smartphone notifications.

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