Fitbit has two of the best fitness trackers you can buy in 2019 with the brand new Fitbit Inspire and Fitbit Inspire HR.
The Inspire HR is the best Fitbit under $100 and easily the best value for the price of any Fitbit, while the Inspire is the best cheap Fitbit you can buy in 2019.
In this Fitbit Inspire vs Inspire HR comparison, I’ll cover the design, features, specs, and a few alternatives you may want to consider. I’ll also offer some final thoughts based on my personal experience wearing and using the devices in everyday life.
The Fitbit Inspire and the Inspire HR look like your typical fitness tracker wristband and they both have a slim design that can make it feel like you’re wearing more of a bracelet than a fitness tracker (or even make you forget you’re wearing anything on your wrist at all).
As far as interacting with the devices, both the Inspire and the Inspire HR have an easy to use touchscreen as well as a physical button to help you navigate the display.
The only difference between the Inspire and the Inspire HR’s design is the band they come with. The Inspire HR’s band is made of a softer, more flexible material. It also has a more traditional buckle and keeper closure type, which I personally find much easier to use than the buckle and clasp closure type that the Fitbit Inspire has.
Winner: Fitbit Inspire HR (for having a softer, more flexible band that is also easier to put on)
Both the Fitbit Inspire and the Inspire HR have the same easy to use touchscreen display. Neither have a color display, however, they both have a greyscale display.
The greyscale display can help distinguish some of the text on the display as more primary (white) or secondary (grey), however, I have noticed that the grey can be harder to read outside in the sunlight.
Winner: Tie
The Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR both have a respectable battery life of up to 5 days.
Both Fitbit trackers still require a proprietary, non-standard charging cable, but — for the first time ever — the Fitbit Inspire charger is the exact same as the charger for the Fitbit Inspire HR.
The Fitbit Inspire / Inspire HR charger has a typical USB (type A) plug on one end and a magnetic attachment on the other end.
The magnet design makes it easier to attach the Inspire and Inspire HR to the charging cable, however, some care does need to be taken to make sure the magnet doesn’t detach while charging.
Note that the charging cable is quite short and only 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) from end to end.
Winner: Tie
The Inspire and Inspire HR are two of the best fitness trackers you can buy in 2019.
As such, they can both track your all-day activity including your steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes.
However, both the Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR lack an altimeter, so neither can track your floors climbed.
Winner: Tie
Both the Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR are waterproof and have interchangeable bands.
The Fitbit Inspire HR also has 24/7 heart rate tracking and can connect to your phone’s GPS to give you real-time pace and distance during your workout as well as a map of your route that you can view in the app after your workout.
Neither tracker has music storage or playback, payments, or an SpO2 sensor nor can they connect to an external heart rate monitor (like a chest strap).
Winner: Fitbit Inspire HR (for having heart rate and connected GPS)
Both the Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR display the time of day and have a limited selection of clock faces to choose from. They also both have a touchscreen and you can view your current daily total for steps, total calories burned, active minutes, and distance, as well as see your hourly activity.
Neither tracker has the ability to use 3rd party clock faces or have an always-on display. They also don’t have a color display and you cannot adjust the brightness of the display.
Winner: Tie
Both the Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR can automatically detect certain exercises, including pool swimming.
Only the Fitbit Inspire HR can track your heart rate, track multi-sport exercises and show you stats during your workout, and start a workout based on a goal (time, distance, or calories). You can also see post-workout summaries, your minutes in each heart rate zone, and your cardio fitness level estimation.
Neither tracker has customizable alerts during exercise or on-screen workouts, nor can either track open-water swimming.
Winner: Fitbit Inspire HR (for having Multi-sport exercise tracking, Goal-based exercise tracking, Post workout on-screen summaries, Minutes in heart rate zones, and Cardio fitness level, and Heart rate tracking)
Fitbit trackers are easily the best wearables for tracking your sleep and the slim designs of the Inspire and Inspire HR might even make you forget you’re wearing something on your wrist while you sleep.
Both trackers can track your sleep automatically and wake you with a quiet vibration. Additionally, the Fitbit app can help you set a Sleep Schedule, give you a Bedtime Reminder, and provide some basic Sleep Insights.
The Fitbit Inspire HR and its 24/7 continuous heart rate monitoring makes it a much better sleep tracker over the Fitbit Inspire. You’re sleep tracking will be more accurate, you’ll get Sleep Stages, and you can monitor changes to your Resting Heart Rate over time.
Finally, in case you were wondering, neither the Fitbit Inspire nor the Inspire HR have a relative SpO2 sensor.
Winner: Fitbit Inspire HR (for having Sleep Stages, Resting Heart Rate, and more accurate sleep tracking)
With both the Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR you can set a timer or stopwatch, view call, text, and calendar alerts, and see all your smartphone app notifications. However, neither tracker is able to accept or reject phone calls or send quick text replies.
Winner: Tie
You’ll get Reminders to Move on both the Fitbit Inspire and Inspire HR as well as the ability to customize the reminders and see your Hourly Activity history in the Fitbit companion app.
The app for both trackers also allows you to log your food, water, and weight.
Additionally, females can use the Fitbit app to track periods, record symptoms, see a predicted ovulation calendar and more.
Guided Breathing sessions, however, are only available on the Fitbit Inspire HR.
Winner: Fitbit Inspire HR (for having Guided Breathing)
The Fitbit companion app for both the Inspire and Inspire HR allows you to add friends and compare your step counts in a rolling 7-day leaderboard. You can also create challenges with some or all of your friends to see who can take the most steps in a day, workweek, or weekend.
If you want some extra motivation you can try Fitbit’s Adventures and take a virtual hike with your daily steps, or discover like-minded people through topic-specific communities with Fitbit Groups. Fitbit even has their own Feed where you can see updates from your friends and groups.
Winner: Tie
Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire | |
Price (i)Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price | $99 | $69 |
Battery Life (i) | Up to 5 days | Up to 5 days |
Compatibility (i) | View Devices | View Devices |
Release Date | March 2019 | March 2019 |
Predecessor | Fitbit Alta HR | Fitbit Alta |
Successor | — | — |
Body | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Style | Wristband | Wristband |
Interchangeable Bands | ||
Water Resistant (i) | Yes, up to 50 meters | Yes, up to 50 meters |
Display | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Type | OLED | OLED |
Color | ||
Touchscreen | ||
Adjustable Brightness | ||
Always-on Display | ||
Sleep Mode (i) | ||
Watch Face | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
3rd Party Watch Faces | ||
Customizable Watch Faces | ||
Sensors | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Optical Heart Rate Monitor | ||
Built-in GPS | ||
Altimeter (i) | ||
Pulse Oximeter (SpO2) (i) | ||
All-Day Activity | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Steps | ||
Distance | ||
Floors Climbed | ||
Calories Burned | ||
Activity Minutes | ||
Reminders to Move | ||
Exercise | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Automatic Exercise Detection | ||
Multi-Sport Exercise Modes | ||
Goal-Based Exercise (i) | ||
Customizable Data Fields | ||
Built-in GPS | ||
Connected GPS (i) | ||
VO2 Max (i) | ||
Swim Tracking | ||
Sleep | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Hours Slept | ||
Sleep Stages | ||
Sleep Score | ||
Resting Heart Rate | ||
Silent Alarms | ||
Smart Wake | ||
Wellness | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Guided Breathing | ||
Female Health Tracking | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Weight Logging | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Water Logging | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Food Logging | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Social | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Friends | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Challenges | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Groups | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Adventures | Yes, in app | Yes, in app |
Notifications | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Call Notifications | ||
Accept/Reject Calls | ||
Text Notifications | ||
Quick Text Replies | ||
Email Notifications | ||
Calender Notifications | ||
All Smartphone Notifications | ||
Apps | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Alarms | ||
Timer | ||
Stopwatch | ||
Weather | ||
3rd Party Apps | ||
Music | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Smartphone Playback Control | ||
Music Storage and Playback | ||
Payments & Transit | Fitbit Inspire HR | Fitbit Inspire |
Contactless Payments | ||
Pay for Transit |
MSRP: $149
Release Date: October 2018
Smartphone Compatibility: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Battery Life: Up to 7 days
The Fitbit Charge 3 has a few extra tricks up its sleeve compared to the Inspire HR.
These include an altimeter (to track floors climbed and elevation gain), adjustable display brightness, the ability to accept or reject calls on the display, quick text replies (Android only), a Weather app, an NFC chip (to make payments with your tracker; only available on special editions), and a relative SpO2 sensor (which isn’t currently providing any user-facing data).
Pros:
Cons:
The Fitbit Inspire HR is an impressive upgrade from the Alta HR, especially considering that it’s being offered at a significantly cheaper price. It’s also easily Fitbit’s best fitness tracker under $100 and is a great, cheaper alternative to the Fitbit Charge 3 if you don’t need the extra features.
If you don’t need heart rate tracking and don’t care to see stats about your exercise while you’re exercising and you want to save even more money, the Fitbit Inspire is the best cheap Fitbit you can buy in 2019.
I am happy with my purchase and really like the Fitbit Inspire HR for its slim design and having a quite full feature set for a great price. The Fitbit Inspire is a great fitness tracker also, but not having the ability to start a workout from my tracker and see stats like current heart rate and elapsed time is a deal-breaker for me.
Best Fitbit Fitness Tracker Under $100
If you’re on a budget or you prefer the look of a fitness tracker to a smartwatch, it’s hard to go wrong with the Fitbit Inspire HR. You’ll get a slim, swim-proof tracker that can optionally display your smartphone app notifications directly on your wrist.
Best Cheap Fitbit
If you want the best cheap Fitbit, it’s hard to go wrong with the Fitbit Inspire. You’ll get a slim, swim-proof tracker that can optionally display your smartphone app notifications directly on your wrist.