Fitbit Alta HR fitness band with heart rate monitor, improved sleep tracking announced

Fitbit is upgrading its Alta fitness tracker, with new features and improved battery life. Called Alta HR, the new fitness tracker has inbuilt PurePulse heart rate technology, which can monitor you heart rate continuously for more accurate calorie tracking. Fitbit also claims it to be the world's slimmest fitness tracker. Apart from addition of heart rate sensor, the Alta HR also gets improved sleep monitoring capabilities.

The fitness tracker gets two new sleep-monitoring tools, Sleep Stages and Sleep Insights via the Fitbit app (Android and iOS) that provides deeper insight to your sleep quality. Sleep Stages utilizes heart rate variability to estimate the amount of time you spen in light, deep and REM sleep, as well as time awake each night, to better under stand your sleep quality. Sleep Insights uses Fitbit data to offer personaolized guidance on how to improve sleep quality.

The Sleep Stages and Sleep Insights tool will also be available for other Fitbit devices as well. Sleep Stages will also work with Fitbit Blaze and Charge 2, while the Sleep Insights will be available on all Fitbit devices. The new features will be available globally in Spring 2017.

The new fitness tracker also gets improved battery life promising up to seven days of battery life vs five days offered by Fitbit Alta. 

Besides these new additions, the other functions of Fitbit Alta HR is same as its predecessor. It can track steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, active minutes and motivate to reach goals. It can also provide reminders to move and comes with a feature called SmartTrack to automatically track exercise activities like walking, running, cycling, elliptical, sports and aerobic workouts in the Fitbit app, and gives you credit for reaching your weekly goals.

The Fitbit Alta HR has an OLED display which displays time/date, fitness stats and smartphone notifications. It comes with interchangable bands in multiple colors and premium materials, allowing users to customize the fitness tracker the way they seem fit.

The Fitbit Alta HR will available for pre-order globally soon. In India, the Altra HR is priced at Rs. 14,999, and will be up for pre-order through Amazon India from March 15 to 31, and will go on sale from April 1. From April 16 on-wards it will be available across major retailers in the country including Reliance Digital, Crome, Helios, Jumbo and Vijay Sales. It comes in Black, Blue Gray, Fuchsia and Coral.

There's also a Special Edition Alta HR which comes in Gun Metal and Rose Gold, and carries a price tag of Rs. 16,999. The classic fitness bands are piced at Rs. 2,999 while luxe leather bands, and luxe metal bracelet will set you back by Rs. 5,999 and Rs. 9,999 respectively.

U.S pricing and availability details
The Alt HR is now up for pre-order on Fitbit.com for $149.95. In early April 2017, Alta HR will be available online and in stores worldwide, including major North American retailers such as Amazon.com, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Target, REI and Verizon. The Special Edition Alta HR is priced at $180, while the classic bands, luxe leather bands and luxe metal bracelet are priced $30, $60 and $100 respectively.

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative