If you prefer using the always-on display – after all, it's nice to be able to see the watch face without having to move your arm– you'll find that it cuts the battery life to about half. Where the original Versa had three buttons on the chassis – two on the left and one on the right – the Versa 2 sports just a single button on the left and serves as both the ‘select’ and the ‘back’ button. They're available on the companion app, although most of them are paid options, with only a few free watch faces available. However, a new firmware update has now added plenty of third-party always-on faces, some of which can be customized. In fact, I would argue that the Fitbit color varients are just a little darker, more muted versions of the Apple Watch colors.

These colors are roughly analogous to the space grey, silver, and (previously available) rose gold offerings on the Apple Watch. The Versa 2 is squarely aimed at users keen on fitness rather than those seeking productivity from a wearable, making it an extension of Fitbit’s excellent fitness tracker range, but one that comes with some extra perks. Jeramy is proud to help *Keep Austin Weird* and loves hiking in the hill country of central Texas with a breakfast taco in each hand. When she's not testing camera kits or the latest in e-paper tablets, she's discovering the joys and foibles of smart home gizmos. New features like the Smart Alarm and additional always-on watch faces didn't seem enough for the company, so the latest update brings an oxygen level monitor that monitors blood oxygen levels while you sleep.The fitness brand has taken everything that made the original a compelling budget smartwatch, improves on those features, adds a somewhat fiddly voice assistant, and spits out a near-perfect fitness tracker that comes with some smartwatch perks.

This means you’re never more than a press or two away from the feature you need to access, while any other navigation you need to perform is done via the touchscreen.Also, any bands that you previously purchased for your first generation Versa will fit a new Versa 2 just fine. With the Versa 2, Fitbit has again proved that you don’t necessarily need top-notch features to make a terrific fitness watch, and it doesn’t need to burn a hole in your wallet.