The Fitbit Luxe is the latest fitness tracker in the wearable maker’s line up, but how does it compare to the Fitbit Sense?
The Luxe is a tracker that sits just below the Charge 4 in Fitbit’s range. It features a slim colour display and fashionable bands, along with a long list of fitness and health tracking capabilities.
The Sense, on the other hand, is a premium smartwatch that focuses primarily on health tracking with a larger colour display, and plenty of fitness tracking tools too.
We’ve already examined how the Luxe compares to the Fitbit Charge 4, but how does it stand up next to the pricier Sense. Read on to discover what the two wearables have in common and what sets them apart.
Pricing and availability
When it comes to cost, the Sense is definitely the more expensive of the two Fitbits.
The Luxe is priced at £129.99/$149.95/€149.95, with a special edition available for £179.99. The Sense costs £279.99/$299.95/€299.95.
That means you’ll be spending between £100 and £150 more for the Sense, depending on whether you’re considering the standard or the special edition Luxe.
Design and display
The Luxe is a slim fashion-forward fitness tracker, while the Sense features a square display and a wider band.
The screen on the Luxe is an AMOLED colour display. It comes in a 36mm stainless steel case (36.30mm x 17.62mm x 10.05mm) with a choice of small and large bands in four colours. These include Lunar White/Soft Gold, Black/Graphite, Orchid/Platinum and the special edition Gorjana Soft Gold Parker Link bracelet.
The Sense features a taller and much wider AMOLED colour display in a 40mm stainless steel case (40.48mm x 40.48mm x 12.35mm) and also comes with a choice of small and large bands. The Sense comes in two colours: Carbon/Graphite Stainless Steel and Lunar White/Soft Gold.
Both the Luxe and the Sense are water resistant up to 50 metres and come with a charging cable.
Specs
The Sense has the more impressive specs of the two fitness trackers.
The Luxe and the Sense both include a 3-axis accelerometer to track movement, a vibration motor, an optical heart rate monitor to track your heart and red and infrared sensors to record blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels.
However, the Luxe misses out on the Sense’s multipurpose electrical sensors for taking ECG and EDA measurements to monitor your heart rhythm and stress levels. The Luxe also misses out on the more expensive tracker’s gyroscope, altimeter to track elevation and floors climbed, NFC for Fitbit Pay contactless payments and built-in GPS.
That said, you do have the option to hook the Luxe up to your phone’s GPS, so there is a workaround for the latter as long as you’re happy to take your phone out with you.
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Health and fitness tracking
The more advanced specs also give the Sense an edge over the Luxe when it comes to health and fitness tracking and both trackers focus more on health.
Both the Luxe and the Sense include 20 exercise modes with SmartTrack, swim tracking, all-day activity tracking, sleep tracking, SpO2 monitoring, 24/7 heart rate monitoring and Active Zone Minutes, which notifies you when you’re in your target heart rate zone.
The Sense can also monitor how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed and track real-time pace and distance without connecting to another device’s GPS.
Both bands are also excellent for health tracking, offering tools to monitor breathing and heart rate variability to spot early signs of stress and illness, as well as stress management tools and menstrual health tracking.
The Sense also features additional health tracking tools, including the Fitbit EDA Scan app which detects electrodermal activity and highlights stress, and the ECG app which accesses your heart for atrial fibrillation, or heart rhythm irregularity.
You can also access more insights and guided programmes on both with a Fitbit Premium membership.
Smartwatch features
Fitbit actually categorises the Sense as a smartwatch on its website and it isn’t hard to see why considering the wide variety of smart features the wearable packs.
Both the Sense and the Luxe feature timers, alarms, do not disturb mode, sleep mode and smartphone notifications from third-party apps.
The Sense also includes support for Deezer and Spotify, Fitbit Pay and hundreds of apps, as well as an always-on display mode, the ability to make calls from your wrist and Google Assistant and Alexa built-in, making it the better equipped of the two.
Battery life
The Sense has the longer battery life of the two, offering up to six days to the Luxe’s five. The Luxe can charge from 0 to 100% in two hours, while the Sense can offer a full day’s battery in just 12 minutes.
Verdict
When it comes to these two four star fitness trackers, the Fitbit Sense is the clear winner.
The Sense offers a more advanced list of specs, a higher number of health and fitness tracking features, better smartwatch capabilities and a longer battery life. That said, the Luxe is a great option if you want something slimmer that covers all the basics and costs a lot less.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
