This is not the first time you hear this sentiment from me about the Fitbit Inspire 2, but it might well be the last.
Now the Fitbit Inspire 3 is out and on shelves (and currently in our testing lab at the moment, as our writer puts it through its paces), the old Inspire 2, which currently tops our best cheap fitness tracker list, is being put out to pasture. It's been quietly removed from Fitbit’s website, and prices are lowering elsewhere to sell off remaining units.
It was a good tracker, with an impressive 10 days of battery life, Fitbit’s Active Zone Minutes and sleep tracking functionalities, and a small PMOLED touchscreen display. It was an effective minimalist device and great value for money.
One of the best things about it, however, was that it included a code for one year’s worth of Fitbit Premium for free. Fitbit Premium usually costs $9.99 per month in the US, £7.99 in the UK, and AU$15.99 in Australia. All the other, more expensive devices only came with six months of the service free, so the little Inspire 2 was packing a lot more value than most people realized.
That’s now changed. The Inspire 3, as well as being a slightly pricier handset, only comes with six months of Premium included. The Inspire 3 is shaping up to be a great tracker in its own right, with improvements to the screen, SpO2 blood oxygen montoring, plus it has the ability to detach completely from the band and be worn on your clothes with a clip.
However, the removal of that extra six months of Fitbit Premium means you’ll be paying around $60, £40, or AU$90 more for the device if you choose to stick with a Premium subscription.
If you don’t subscribe to Premium, Fitbit locks some of its best features behind an arbitrary paywall. Sleep tracking becomes more basic, you lose the ability to see your historic data laid out in graphs, so you can’t recognize patterns in your exercise and sleep history as easily. You don’t get your Daily Readiness score. You don’t get access to Fitbit’s entire stable of workout and meditation content.
What you end up with is a device that counts your steps, calories, heart rate and gives you basic sleep and activity information.
Naturally, Fitbit has worked out it’s going to make more money if they start everyone on Premium six months earlier than they would otherwise do, which is why the Inspire 3’s free trial period has been shortened in line with the other devices.
However, you can still get an Inspire 2 from third-party retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart and Amazon in the US, and Amazon, Curry’s PC World and Argos in the UK, and other retailers. They’re also at shockingly low prices as retailers attempt to clear excess stock to make room for the Inspire 3 - which is why I’m writing this article.
Want a great Fitbit at a knock-down price, with the longest free Fitbit Premium trial you’ll find anywhere else? Pick up an Inspire 2, before it’s too late.
