Everything old is new again with Fitbit Edge

Last week, I sank into my living room couch and watched a disheveled, nihilistic Matthew McConaughey puff on a cigarette on season 1 of real detective. “You know, someone once told me that time is a flat circle. Everything we have done or will do, we will do over and over again.” I guess most people don’t think about fitness trackers or devices while watching that scene. But at that moment, I couldn’t help but think of the Fitbit Edge on my wrist.

The $179.99 Edge is a modernized version of the 2014 to 2020 era of fitness bands: your Charges, your Altas, your Inspires. If you’ve ever owned one, you already know the vast majority of what the Edge is like. It’s light. Swipe over a small screen that shows basic health and fitness metrics. It lasts about a week on a charge, although that drops to about a day and a half with the always-on display enabled. It is a device that does not pretend to be much more than what it is.

The difference is that the Edge feels more refined on the wrist. While the Fitbit Charge 6’s screen appeared square, the Edge is completely rounded, giving it a smoother feel. The straps are interchangeable, but with a simpler button release system. The metal link bracelet gives it a more jewelry-like feel, although it costs almost as much as the Edge itself: $150. I’m partial to the $60 magnetic strap, which imitates leather despite being made of silicone. The widgets are largely based on the Material 3 Expressive redesign of the Pixel Watch. Although to be clear, this is a proprietary Fitbit OS, not a Wear OS. Some of the new dials are stylish, though others highlight the Edge’s large black bezels. (Some things never really change.)

Functionally, it’s also a step above the Fitbit Air. It has built-in GPS to track walks and runs without your phone. You can have alarms, see notifications and control music. You can’t take calls on your wrist: there are no microphones or speakers. Contactless payments are also prohibited. Andy Abramson, head of product at Google Health, says this is because “less than one percent [of Charge 6 owners] used the feature” and that Google instead prioritized a “sleek design, altimeter, and one-week battery.” That takes back some of the advancements that have come to the Charge line over the years, but if you want to put a silver lining in that, narrow the focus of the Edge. This is a fitness tracker. There is some visible information, but there is absolutely No The smart watch crawls here.

The big software change is the disappearance of the Fitbit app as we knew it. Now it’s Google Health, with an AI coach if you pay the annual subscription. (You get three months free with purchase; otherwise, it’s $10 monthly.) I wrote about the overall experience in my Fitbit Air review. The general lines are the same, although in the months since, Google has spent a lot of time tweaking and iterating on it. In particular, the company has strengthened automatic activity tracking.

To test this, I traced some runs on Edge without officially start an activity. I then compared it to one tracked by an Apple Watch Ultra 4 and the Runna app on my iPhone. I was surprised, but I noticed limitations. For example, on a 2.4-mile run with a warm-up walk and a five-minute cool down, Edge correctly identified the exact moment when my warm-up transitioned to a legitimate run and then back to a walk. The estimated distance was also pretty decent: 2.55 miles. It wasn’t so good for measuring my running speed. It recorded me running at a pace of 10’49” miles, while my actual pace according to the Apple Watch and my phone was 11’38”. This pattern was pretty typical in my testing, so it’s more of a clever way to “get credit” if you forget to keep track of an activity.

Otherwise, the AI ​​coach is still a Chatty Cathy and requires weekly hand-holding to get the most out of it. I’ll say it again: The Google Health app can seem cluttered, and I find myself searching for information that used to be easy to find, like past workouts. However, if you’re new to fitness and want guidance in creating and following a personalized AI-generated routine, this is still the best experience I’ve had so far. The bar is in hell, and be careful what you initially share with the coach. I regret telling you that I used to get shin splints, as I remain convinced that my perfectly fine shins are in danger of disintegrating with every run.

I wish I could tell you about the Health Guardian features, which should allow Fitbit Edge users to see non-invasive insulin resistance and blood pressure trends. Unfortunately, the way my testing schedule worked out, I have to wait until November 1st to get my initial results.

All in all, I enjoyed the Fitbit Edge as a discreet tracker. This will appeal to people who just want the basics, but aren’t willing to commit to a screen-free life. I’m thinking about him Vergecast listeners who write in from time to time, wondering what happened to simple fitness bracelets, tired of the smartwatch agenda that has taken over the last few years. The only complaint I really have is that $179.99 seems a little expensive for what you get. Especially since the Fitbit Air is only $99, and for iPhone users, the Apple Watch SE 3 starts at $249. Brands like Xiaomi and Amazfit also offer much cheaper display trackers, even if they aren’t as stylish on the wrist.

You have to admit: it’s funny that in 2026 we have come full circle and are back to this particular form factor. During the last two weeks of testing, I felt like I had been taken back to what I thought was a bygone era in my career. My bet remains that smartwatches will be the dominant wearable device on the wrist in the coming years. However, this renewed desire for simpler trackers seems significant at a time when AI health and fitness coaches are demanding more data in increasingly invasive ways. There’s a growing fatigue that can’t be ignored, and yet for many of us, it’s not entirely practical to truly unplug with a screenless device. So if that’s you, Edge is here because, hey, time really is flat. circle.