You get quite a bit for the extra money

At the moment, we are still waiting for Fitbit Edge to launch. The word is this should happen later in October. But pretty much all the specs are already known thanks to leaks from Android Headlines and Dealabs.

Based on this, the differences start adding up surprisingly quickly. Our full Fitbit Edge vs Charge 6 comparison currently shows 15 differences across the two trackers.

The display is an obvious one. Edge reportedly uses a 1.34-inch AMOLED touchscreen compared with the 1.04-inch panel on Charge 6. The larger screen should give Edge a little more room for workout data, notifications and navigation.

More surprising is the weight. Fitbit Edge is listed at just 17.7 grams, while Charge 6 comes in at around 30 grams. That is a pretty substantial reduction for a device that actually gets a larger display.

Edge also adds a gyroscope and, importantly, a barometric altimeter. Charge 6 strangely dropped the altimeter found on some earlier Fitbit trackers, so floors climbed never really made it into the equation. Edge appears to bring that back.

GPS remains built in on both devices, so runners and cyclists still will not need to carry a phone just to record a route. ECG, SpO2, skin temperature, heart rate, HRV, sleep tracking, Daily Readiness and Fitbit’s usual activity metrics also appear on both.

Charge 6 has an EDA sensor for electrodermal activity measurements. So far, none of the leaked Edge specs list this. So Charge 6 might have that extra sensor. Whether that matters will depend on how much you actually use Fitbit’s stress tools.

Battery life stays the same but charging improves

Google does not appear to be using the larger Edge body to chase huge battery numbers. Both trackers are rated for up to seven days, which is probably fine considering the amount of hardware packed into them.

Edge is reportedly rated for only two days with the always-on display switched on, so that headline seven-day figure clearly comes with the usual conditions. Charge 6 also takes a battery hit when its always-on display and SpO2 features are used.

Charging looks much better on Edge, though. The leak claims five minutes on the charger can provide around 24 hours of use. Charge 6 takes roughly two hours for a full charge.

There is also the curious claim that Edge will have a user-replaceable battery. If that turns out to mean owners can genuinely swap a worn battery rather than needing a service centre to do it, that could make Edge much easier to keep for several years. We will need Google to explain exactly how that works before getting too carried away with it.

The health features are getting broader too

The core health package remains familiar, but Edge reportedly adds blood pressure trends. The leaked material also refers to insulin resistance trends. These are features Google recently introduced for its Pixel Watches and Fitbit Air.

There is also Gemini-based coaching in the leaked specification, continuing Google’s push to bring its AI tools deeper into Fitbit and Google Health. We have already seen the company move in that direction with its newer health platform, so Edge looks less like an isolated Fitbit product and more like another piece of Google’s broader wearable setup.

That makes the positioning fairly clear. Fitbit Air handles the tiny screenless tracker end of the range, Pixel Watch covers the full smartwatch experience, and Edge appears to sit right between them.

Charge 6 only really fights back when it is discounted

There is one big complication here, and it is already happening. Charge 6 is an older product and Google and retailers discount it regularly.

That changes the calculation quite a bit. During sales, paying substantially less for Charge 6 can still make perfect sense because most of the important health features are already there. You still get built-in GPS, ECG, NFC payments, Google Maps, music controls and seven-day headline battery life.

At its normal price, though, the argument becomes much harder. Paying around £20 or €20 more for Edge looks like the obvious move if you are buying new. The device does not appear to be priced as some expensive new category above Charge 6. It looks much more like Google has built the Charge successor people have been waiting for, changed the name and kept the price gap small.

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So let’s get into the specifics.

The Enduro hardware barely moves

The Enduro 4 still uses a 51 x 51 x 15.7 mm case with a 1.4-inch, 280 x 280 pixel transflective MIP display. Power Sapphire glass remains, as does the titanium bezel, fibre-reinforced polymer case, touchscreen and 10 ATM water resistance.

Battery life is also essentially unchanged. Garmin quotes up to 36 days in smartwatch mode, extending to as much as 90 days with sufficient solar exposure. The longest GPS figure is still up to 320 hours with solar, while maximum-accuracy activity tracking reaches up to 60 hours or 90 hours with solar.

That is hardly a bad thing. Enduro 3 was already built around ridiculous battery life, so chasing an even larger headline number probably would not have changed much in day-to-day use.

There are a couple of physical changes. Enduro 4 comes with Garmin’s ComfortFit strap rather than the ultra-light elastic nylon loop listed for Enduro 3. That pushes the total weight from 63 grams to 66 grams, although the watch body itself remains exactly the same 57 grams.

The bigger hardware upgrade is storage. Garmin has doubled it from 32 GB on Enduro 3 to 64 GB on Enduro 4. That gives considerably more room for maps, music and other downloaded content, which makes sense on a watch aimed at long trips away from a phone.

Most of the changes are in the software

Software is where Enduro 4 starts to separate itself. Garmin is putting more emphasis on ultra-running and multi-day events. Grade-adjusted pace workouts can now account for climbs and descents when setting pace targets, while pack weight lets the watch factor the extra load you are carrying into running, hiking and walking activities.

There is also a race planner designed around longer events. You can mark aid stations, checkpoints, cut-off times, notes and planned rest periods. Automatic rest timing can then track time spent at an aid station or checkpoint without requiring quite as much button pressing halfway through an ultra.

Garmin also highlights improved Stamina metrics, more than 100 activity profiles and smoother TopoActive mapping. Dynamic round-trip routing can generate a route for a chosen distance and recalculate another route of similar length if you stray from the original course.

The Garmin comparison page also shows Enduro 4 gaining grade-adjusted pace workouts, rucking workouts and mixed multisport sessions. Garmin has expanded indoor rowing support as well, with metrics including VO2 max, FTP, power curves and lactate threshold when used with compatible equipment.

Garmin Epic makes its debut here

And then we have something called Garmin Epic. The feature is designed for activities that last across several days. Instead of treating each day as an isolated chunk of data, Epic pulls performance and health information together into a single view showing how things developed across the entire event.

Garmin says users can record, review and share that progression, with the idea being to make multi-day races and adventures easier to analyse afterwards.

Enduro 4 also gets several of Garmin’s newer health and everyday features, including Evening Report, Smart Alarm, Health Status, respiratory variations and routine tracking. The core sensor setup remains familiar, with wrist-based heart rate, Pulse Ox, skin temperature, GPS, multi-band GNSS, SatIQ, altimeter, barometer and compass all present.

An Enduro 3.5 in hardware, something more in software

Anyone coming from an Enduro 3 probably will not look at Enduro 4 and immediately feel that their watch has become outdated. The case, screen, solar charging and most of the headline battery figures are unchanged, and even the bare watch body weighs exactly the same.

The 64 GB storage upgrade is useful, but the main reason for Enduro 4 to exist appears to be Garmin bringing its latest endurance, navigation and multi-day activity software together in one watch.

For someone buying into the Enduro line now, that makes the Enduro 4 the obvious current model. Granted, there is a $100 difference between them, with the new model coming in at $900.

For an existing Enduro 3 owner, the decision is much less clear. Unless Garmin Epic, the additional training tools or twice the storage solve a particular problem, the hardware alone gives very little reason to rush into an upgrade.

Check Enduro 4 availability on Garmin’s website in your region.

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Amazon Prime Day has knocked down the prices of a few familiar Fitbit wearables, including Charge 6, Versa 4 and Inspire 3. The newer Fitbit Air has been left out of the discounts for now.

Fitbit’s lineup is in a slightly odd place in 2026. The screenless Fitbit Air has changed the direction of the range, but Google is still selling the Charge 6, Inspire 3, Versa 4 and Sense 2 alongside it. That gives Prime Day shoppers quite a few more options than you might expect from Fitbit’s current product cycle.

The Prime Day pricing makes those older models harder to ignore. Some still offer considerably more hardware than Air, and once the discounts are factored in, the price gap can become pretty small. Unless you specifically want a screenless tracker, it is worth checking the established Fitbit range before deciding.

You can check out other Prime Day deals on this link.

Fitbit Charge 6

The Charge 6 is the standout deal for me. It already occupies a useful middle ground between a basic fitness band and a smartwatch, and the current discount makes that position even stronger.

You get an AMOLED display, built-in GPS, ECG readings, EDA stress measurements, Google Wallet and Google Maps, while battery life can stretch to around seven days. It also has heart rate broadcasting for compatible gym equipment, which gives it a useful workout feature that cheaper Fitbit bands lack.

The comparison with Fitbit Air is particularly interesting. I looked at Fitbit Air vs Charge 6 when Air launched, and the basic trade-off has not changed: Air is smaller and deliberately passive, while Charge 6 gives you far more control from the wrist.

That makes Charge 6 the safer all-round recommendation unless the lack of a screen is actually one of the features you want. It can handle everyday health tracking without giving up proper workout controls, GPS or on-device information, and the discount makes that package harder to overlook.

$132.99, down from $159.95 (check latest price on Amazon)

Fitbit Versa 4

Versa 4 takes a slightly different route. It gives you the larger Fitbit smartwatch design without asking you to pay for all of the additional health hardware found on Sense 2.

You still get built-in GPS, a large AMOLED display, activity and sleep tracking, smartphone notifications and Alexa support on the wrist. What you lose are features such as ECG and the more advanced EDA stress hardware, which is worth remembering because Charge 6 actually includes both.

That leaves Versa 4 in an unusual spot. It is not really the health-feature choice and it is not the compact choice either, but it can still make sense if you simply prefer a larger display for workouts, notifications and everyday use.

I would therefore choose it based on form factor rather than the spec sheet. If you want something that looks and behaves more like a watch, Versa 4 has an argument; otherwise Charge 6 gives you a stronger mix of health features in a smaller body.

$156.00, down from $199.95 (check latest price on Amazon)

Fitbit Inspire 3

Inspire 3 is the simplest device here, and that is still a perfectly good reason to buy it. Not everyone needs ECG, built-in GPS or another miniature smartwatch strapped to their wrist.

You get a small AMOLED display, heart rate tracking, sleep tracking, activity monitoring and battery life that can stretch to around 10 days. It is also noticeably less intrusive than Sense 2 or Versa 4, which makes it easier to keep on overnight for sleep tracking.

There is no built-in GPS, ECG or EDA hardware, so this is not simply a cheaper Charge 6. Our Charge 6 vs Inspire 3 comparison shows how quickly the differences add up once you move beyond basic activity and sleep tracking.

But that simplicity can work in its favour. If you mainly want Fitbit’s app, sleep data and everyday activity tracking in something small with long battery life, Inspire 3 still covers the basics without much fuss.

$89.90, down from $99.90 (check latest price on Amazon)

What about Fitbit Air?

There is currently no qualifying Fitbit Air deal showing in our Deal Tracker, which makes the discounts on the older models more interesting. It is probably too early to be waiting on some kind of deal on Air. Perhaps in November for the end-year sales, but unlikely before then.

I have spent plenty of time with Air, and its main appeal is how little attention it demands. As I found in my Fitbit Air review, it is tiny, screenless and comfortable enough to disappear into the background while Google Health handles most of the experience.

That approach works if you want passive health and sleep tracking without another display competing for your attention. It is less convincing if you regularly check stats during workouts, want GPS on the device or prefer having health tools such as ECG immediately available from your wrist.

That is why Charge 6 is the model I would look at first while these discounts are running. Inspire 3 remains the straightforward option, Versa 4 and Sense 2 suit people who want the larger watch format, while Air still has the clearest case for anyone specifically looking for a screenless Fitbit.

You can also browse the full Fitbit lineup if you want to compare these models with older devices. The current range spans several very different form factors now, so choosing the right type of Fitbit is arguably more important than simply buying whichever one carries the biggest discount.

The post Amazon Prime Day deals cut prices on Fitbit Versa 4, Charge 6 and more appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

Amazon has finally taken a proper swing at Garmin for October Prime Day. The sale reaches from the Fenix 8 and Enduro 3 down to cheaper Forerunner and Vivoactive models, with some older premium watches suddenly looking a lot more tempting than they did yesterday.

The big discounts are not necessarily on the watches we would normally put at the top of the list. Epix Pro is a good example, because once Amazon cuts it hard enough, buying an older flagship can make more sense than paying extra for something newer.

We’ve gone through the current Garmin offers and pulled out the ones worth your time. Prices can move during October 6 and 7, so the deal boxes below update hourly rather than locking the article to whatever Amazon happens to be charging right now.

You can check out other Prime Day deals on this link.

Garmin Fenix 8

Fenix 9 has only just arrived, so we’re not expecting Amazon to start chopping chunks off that price yet. That makes the Fenix 8 the more realistic Prime Day target, and it is still a seriously capable watch with maps, navigation, Garmin’s deeper training tools and premium hardware.

It is still expensive even during a sale, so the question is whether you value having the current generation. If not, the discounted Fenix E or Epix Pro could make more financial sense.

Garmin Instinct 3

Instinct 3 is a better fit if you care more about ruggedness and battery life than a polished smartwatch design. If that style suits you, there is little reason to pay extra for a Fenix just because it sits higher in Garmin’s range. They overlap in features, but they are aimed at fairly different buyers.

Garmin Fenix E

Fenix E still gives you an AMOLED display and much of the premium Garmin experience. We would simply compare the live prices of both before deciding, because a small gap would still push us towards Fenix 8.

Garmin Epix Pro

Epix Pro is the best deal in terms of the discount you get. Sure it is no longer Garmin’s newest premium AMOLED watch, but you still get offline maps, advanced training tools and most of Garmin’s high-end outdoor features.

That makes it particularly interesting when Amazon cuts the price heavily. If you do not care about owning the latest Fenix, Epix Pro can offer a lot more watch for the money.

Garmin Forerunner 165

Forerunner 165 remains one of Garmin’s better-value running watches. You get AMOLED, solid GPS tracking and Garmin’s core running tools without moving into much more expensive territory.

Our Forerunner 165 vs Forerunner 265 comparison explains what you gain by spending more. During Prime Day, we’d pay particular attention to the price gap between the two.

Garmin Vivoactive 5

Vivoactive 5 makes more sense if you want health tracking, workouts and sleep data without paying for maps and advanced outdoor features. It is smaller and simpler than Garmin’s higher-end watches, while still covering most everyday fitness needs.

The post Amazon just slashed Garmin watches by up to 47% for Prime Day appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

Fourth Frontier has launched the Frontier X3, with much longer battery life, lighter hardware and a bigger focus on training and recovery. Interestingly, the company has removed access to the raw ECG signal, even though ECG still sits at the heart of how the device works.

I have used Fourth Frontier devices for years, including the Frontier X2 and, more recently, the Frontier Zone. The X3 looks like the natural next step at first glance, but this is actually a fairly substantial change in direction.

Battery life takes a huge step forward

A big hardware upgrade is battery life. Fourth Frontier says the X3 can last up to four months if you record around one hour per day, or up to 14 days when recording continuously. So you can, pretty much, forget about charging. These figures put it well ahead of the X2.

Charging has also moved to USB-C, with a full charge taking around an hour. The device weighs 23 grams, around 10% less than the X2, and Fourth Frontier has removed the small display entirely.

That last change probably will not bother many people. I never found the X2 display particularly important, and I said much the same thing when testing the screen-free Frontier Zone. Once the sensor is strapped to your chest, there is not much reason to look at it.

The X3 also moves to Bluetooth 6.0 and supports three simultaneous connections, one phone and two external devices. Fourth Frontier lists compatibility with Garmin, Apple Watch, Zwift, Peloton, Wahoo, Strava and TrainingPeaks, among others. There is still no ANT+ and no built-in GPS, so location data needs to come from another device.

The ECG is still there, but hidden

The Frontier X3 still contains a single-lead ECG sensor and samples the signal internally at 500 Hz. Fourth Frontier uses that electrical signal to calculate heart rate, HRV, breathing rate, Strain and other metrics. But X3 owners cannot see the raw ECG.

That is a notable departure from the Frontier X2, where live ECG viewing and post-workout ECG analysis were a big part of the package. Fourth Frontier says it now wants a clearer separation between its wellness products and medical products, with raw ECG functionality reserved for its Frontier X Plus.

It also produces a slightly odd situation with the cheaper Frontier Zone. Zone still supports continuous ECG recording, with live ECG viewing and ECG exports available through Frontier Premium.

So X3 is not simply a better version of everything that came before it. If you specifically want to inspect your ECG during or after exercise, the X2 or Zone may actually suit you better.

More of a training wearable now

The flip side is that Fourth Frontier is pushing the X3 much harder as a training and recovery device. The device keeps tabs on heart rate, HRV, breathing rate, Strain, Training Load, Body Shock and Cardiac Age, as well as a few other metrics.

There are vibration alerts which can tell you when you move outside selected heart rate, breathing rate or Strain ranges. Those alerts worked well when I tested Frontier Zone. For an easy run, for example, I could adjust my pace from the vibration feedback to stay in Zone 2, without constantly checking my watch.

Frontier Premium also packs VO2 Max analysis, VT1 and VT2 ventilatory threshold zones, Readiness Score and sleep-stage tracking. The latter breaks sleep into Wake, Light, Deep and REM stages, although sleeping every night with a chest strap will probably remain a niche choice compared with a watch or smart ring.

Price and availability

The Frontier X3 costs a rather pricey $649 in the US. However, Fourth Frontier is currently offering 30% off with its LAUNCH30 code.

For existing X2 owners, I would not call this an automatic upgrade. The X3 is lighter, lasts dramatically longer and has better connectivity, but it also gives up one of the features that made the earlier Frontier devices unusual.

For everyone else, the X3 makes more sense due to the upgraded design, much longer battery life and newer connectivity. I’ll be putting that to the test and posting a full review of the X3 in the next few weeks. So keep an eye out for that.

The post Frontier X3 launches as a lighter chest strap with four-month battery life appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

7.8

Design 8.5/10

Health and recovery 7.5/10

Fitness tracking 7.5/10

Speediance app 7.0/10

Value for money 8.5/10

Pros

• – Very light and comfortable
• – Excellent heart-rate accuracy in testing
• – Useful core temperature and thermal features
• – Strong battery life
• – Good value for money

Cons

• – Syncing can be slow
• – Software still feels early in places
• – Connected GPS accuracy issues

The regular Strap and Strap Pro are pretty much the same thing day to day. They track the identical health, sleep, recovery, workouts and estimated core body temperature.

The Pro just feels like the nicer version. You get titanium instead of steel, it is noticeably lighter at 21g, it adds the EDA sensor and you get the upper-arm band in the box.

Design and comfort

The Speediance Strap Pro is basically a put-it-on-and-forget-about-it kind of wearable. I have been testing it on my upper arm rather than my wrist, so that is what this review is based on. And in that position, it has been very easy to live with.

The whole thing feels really light. The Pro weighs 21g with the band, and on the upper arm I barely notice it is there. It sits flat against the skin, stays firmly in place and does not bounce around during exercise. I have not had any gaps in the data from poor skin contact either, which is always one of the things I watch for with this kind of device.

Sleep has been just as easy. No pressure points or digging in and no need to loosen it before bed. I can wear it all night without thinking about it, which is exactly what you want from something that is supposed to collect recovery and sleep data around the clock.

The general design is quite similar to WHOOP. There is no screen, buttons or LEDs flashing away at you. I have worn WHOOP for years, and more recently Fitbit Air, so this feels very familiar. You put it on and leave it alone.

The titanium body helps give the Pro a more premium feel than you might expect from a screenless band. I’d say, the whole thing feels nicely put together.

The strap itself also feels good. With the Pro you get both a wrist and upper arm band. The only difference between them is the length. But the quality of the strap is good. It handles sweat well, feels secure and is easy to put on and take off.

So what you get essentially is your run-of-the-mill screenless band. A perfectly nice design. The look and feel is slightly different than the other options I have tried. But the idea is the same. Wear it, forget about it, check the app later.

The Speediance app and everyday use

The Speediance Strap has only just launched, so this is very much first-generation software. At first glance, though, the app does not really feel that way. It looks polished and there is a lot going on. Spend more time with it and a few rough edges start to show, but most of these feel like the sort of things Speediance should be able to sort out with updates.

First off, the app itself is nicely designed. You get all the usual stuff, heart rate, resting heart rate, HRV, SpO2, respiratory rate, stress, steps, sleep, recovery and more. There are also a few less common metrics thrown in that I have not really come across elsewhere. But more about these alter.

Speediance Strap

Available in standard and Strap Pro versions.

View on Speediance website

The good news is that the sensor side seems solid. The readings I have been getting look very much in line with my other devices, and nothing has jumped out as obviously wrong with heart rate, HRV or steps. There are small differences, of course, but nothing wildly different from the WHOOP and Fitbit Air I have also been wearing.

The home screen gives you the big-picture scores, while the Wellness Monitor lets you dig into the individual readings. There is plenty of data here, but it is laid out well and does not feel overwhelming. You can open the app and pretty quickly see if something looks out of whack.

There is also a Wellness Age, which estimates whether your fitness age is older or younger than your actual age. It takes things like VO2 max, sleep, resting heart rate and activity data into account, and there is also a pace-of-aging chart. It is nice to be told I am nine years younger than my actual age. But I have seen enough of these metrics over the years to take them with a fairly large pinch of salt.

Recovery is handled in a pretty familiar way. You get a daily score built around sleep, HRV, resting heart rate, stress and recent training load. Cardio Load sits alongside that to show how much strain you have been putting on yourself, and there is also a Load Balance view comparing your 7-day and 28-day cardio load. So Speediance gives you quite a bit more than just a single green or red number each morning.

Sleep is where I have had more problems. On some nights, the Strap has decided I went to sleep an hour or two before I actually did. That would not be a huge problem if you could simply correct it afterwards, but right now there is no option to edit the sleep start or wake time. It also does not always pick up naps, so once the algorithm gets something wrong, you are basically stuck with it.

To be fair, I do run into similar sleep issues with WHOOP from time to time. The difference is that WHOOP lets you edit the data afterwards. A simple edit option in the Speediance app would fix a lot of this.

Syncing can also be pretty slow at times. Sometimes you open the app and just have to wait while everything catches up. It is not a deal-breaker, but it does add to the feeling that some parts of the software are still a little early.

Now don’t get me wrong. The hardware and sensors seem good, and Speediance is collecting a lot of useful data. The app is ambitious too, with recovery, stress, cardio load, sleep scoring, Wellness Age and plenty more packed in. But it still needs a bit more polish.

I would much rather have a wearable that occasionally gets sleep wrong but lets me fix it than one that simply locks the result in place. Speediance already seems to have the harder part sorted, which is a solid sensor package and plenty of useful metrics. Now the software just needs to catch up a little.

Core temperature and thermal features

As mentioned, there are a few more unusual metrics that can be found here. And this is probably my favourite part of the Speediance experience.

The Strap does not just track skin temperature and leave it at that. It also estimates core body temperature by combining skin temperature with heat-flow sensing, ambient conditions and physiological modelling. That extra heat-flow sensor is the key difference, because skin temperature alone is too easily affected by things like room temperature, sweat and blood flow to reliably estimate what is happening deeper inside the body.

The number itself is less interesting than what Speediance does with it. You can see how your core temperature is moving relative to your normal range, and the app also folds that data into things like sleep timing and daily guidance. I like that approach because it feels like the temperature sensor is there for a reason, rather than just adding another graph to scroll through.

Then you get Peak Window, Warm-Up Readiness and Heat Load Monitoring.

Peak Window tries to identify the part of the day when your circadian rhythm and temperature trend may line up better with harder training. For me, it’s usually between 5 and 8pm.

Warm-Up Readiness is also very useful. Just before you start an exercise, it looks at your reading. If it is too low, it tells you that you need to warm up more. I am guilty of almost never warming up properly before running – so something like this is great.

And finally, once you start exercising you get Heat Load Monitoring. This watches how much thermal strain is building up during a session.

I have not personally come across another wearable that packages temperature data in quite this way. Plenty of devices track skin temperature overnight, but Speediance is trying to turn thermal data into something you can actually use around training and recovery. That makes it feel a bit fresher than the usual sleep score, recovery score and HRV combination.

You also see some of this spill over into sleep. The app plots your sleep timing alongside your lowest core temperature point and uses that to help build a suggested bedtime window. Again, I would not treat any of this as gospel, but I like the direction Speediance is taking here.

EDA and stress tracking

Both the Pro and non-Pro models track stress, using heart rate and HRV as part of the picture. The Pro goes a step further with a real-time Stress Score dashboard and minute-by-minute tracking, and it also has the extra EDA sensor. This sensor is still unusual in the screenless band market, and most of Speediance’s direct rivals do not currently offer it.

Speediance does not show you raw EDA data, though. It sits in the background rather than giving you another graph to obsess over. So far, the stress readings have looked sensible enough, but I see this more as a trend to follow than something to take too literally.

Exercise and heart-rate accuracy

Exercise tracking has been a bit of a mixed bag, but the heart-rate side has impressed me. A good example is a 10K outdoor run where I wore the Speediance Strap Pro on my upper arm and used a Garmin paired with a Frontier X2 chest strap as the reference. The numbers were extremely close.

Speediance recorded an average heart rate of 136 bpm and a maximum of 155 bpm. The Frontier X2 came in at 138 bpm average and 156 bpm max. That is about as close as I could reasonably expect from an optical sensor, particularly over a run lasting close to an hour.

The heart-rate graph looks good too. Wearing it on the upper arm probably helps here, as that position tends to give optical sensors an easier time than the wrist.

Some of the running dynamics lined up well too. Both systems recorded an average cadence of 175 spm and a maximum of 186 spm. Speediance estimated average stride length at 91cm, compared with 98cm from Garmin, so there was a bit more difference there.

GPS is where things went off track. Garmin recorded 10.01km in 58:05 at an average pace of 5:48/km. Speediance recorded 9.38km in 58:28, giving me an average pace of 6:13/km. That is roughly a 6% difference in distance, which is too large to ignore.

The explanation is likely the GPS setup. Speediance does not have GPS built into the band, so outdoor tracking relies on connected GPS from your phone. Garmin was using its own GPS hardware. And this result is consistent with other runs I tracked – for the most part the Speediance Strap underestimated the distance.

The workout reports gives you plenty to look through afterwards. Along with heart rate, pace and cadence, Speediance estimates VO2 max and provides cardio load and other training metrics. My latest VO2 max estimate was 38.7 ml/kg/min. However it did swing wildly in the space of one week. Most wearables give you the estimate after a few weeks of testing – Speediance does this much earlier which may be part of the problem.

So there are still some software rough edges around workouts as well. But purely on heart-rate accuracy, my testing was very encouraging.

Battery life

Battery life has been pretty much as advertised. You can easily get more than a week with everything switched on. I have been wearing the Strap Pro 24/7, including overnight and during workouts, and I have not had to think about charging at all.

In practice, I have just been topping it up every few days, usually whenever it is convenient. It has never been close to empty when I have done that, so I have not really had the chance to push it all the way to zero. Based on what I have seen so far, though, the quoted battery life looks realistic.

Charging is simple and pretty quick. The charger needs to be plugged in, then you just rest the Strap Pro on top and leave it there. I have not had any charging glitches, strange battery drops or percentage readings that looked obviously wrong.

The biggest difference compared with WHOOP is the charging setup. WHOOP uses its portable battery pack, so you can charge the device while still wearing it. Speediance is more conventional. You have to take the Strap Pro off and put it on the charger.

That has not really bothered me. The battery lasts long enough that charging feels occasional rather than something you need to plan around. And in my use so far, battery life itself actually feels better than WHOOP.

Subscription and what you get for free

One of the best things about the Speediance Strap is that you can just buy it and use it. There is no mandatory subscription sitting in the background waiting for you.

Speediance Strap

Available in standard and Strap Pro versions.

View on Speediance website

The main stuff stays available without paying extra. That includes sleep tracking, recovery, heart rate, HRV, stress, workouts and the temperature features. So you are not buying the hardware and then finding out a few months later that half the useful data lives behind another paywall.

Speediance does include a year of Wellness Go, which adds more personalised guidance and coaching on top. But that is the extra layer, not the basic wearable experience. If you decide not to continue with it, the Strap still keeps doing the things you bought it for.

That is a pretty big difference compared with WHOOP. WHOOP is built around the membership, while Speediance feels much more like buying a normal wearable and getting on with it.

The only slightly confusing part is the naming around Wellness Go and Wellness+. Speediance has a few different services in the mix, and it could explain the whole thing more clearly. But the important bit is simple enough. You do not need an ongoing subscription to keep using the core Strap features.

The post Speediance Strap Pro review: A fresh take on temperature and recovery appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.

Fall detection today is fairly reactive. Your watch detects the motion associated with a hard fall, checks whether you respond and can then call for help, which is essentially how Pixel Watch Fall Detection already works. A newly published Google patent goes a step earlier.

Your watch would know when to be more cautious

The basic idea is straightforward. Rather than using the same fall detection sensitivity all day, the wearable could recognise a higher-risk situation and temporarily lower the threshold required to trigger fall detection.

Google gives walking while looking at a smartphone as one example. The phone could recognise that its screen is being viewed while the person is moving, then send that information to the wearable so it knows the user is in a potentially riskier situation. 

Carrying something is another example. Motion sensors could recognise that a person’s arms are not swinging normally while walking, potentially indicating that they are carrying a box, drink or another object. The watch could then alter its fall detection threshold while that activity continues. 

Google also proposes using machine learning rather than relying on one fixed rule. Accelerometer, gyroscope and barometer data could feed into a model that determines an adjusted threshold, with different sensors potentially getting their own thresholds. 

Sleep is where it gets more unusual

The most distinctive part of the patent involves what happens just after waking up. Google proposes combining sleep information with the wearer’s first steps after a sleep event. The watch could take into account how long someone slept, how deeply they slept, how soon they started walking and even how quickly those first steps were taken. US-

The filing suggests, for example, that someone walking immediately after waking may warrant a lower fall-detection threshold than someone who waits before getting up. It also discusses treating a person differently after a long sleep compared with a short nap, and potentially distinguishing waking from deeper REM sleep from waking during lighter sleep. 

Walking pace could matter too. Google describes making fall detection more sensitive if someone starts walking quickly immediately after waking, while a slower pace could indicate less risk.

Exercise gets similar treatment. The system could consider how long someone has exercised and what type of exercise they were doing, then temporarily adjust fall detection because fatigue may change their likelihood of falling. 

More context before the fall

Today, devices such as Pixel Watch largely react after a fall-like movement has already happened. Google’s patent adds context before that point, allowing the wearable to become more sensitive when the circumstances suggest greater risk.

There is no indication this is definitely coming to Pixel Watch. The patent covers wearable devices more broadly and dates back to earlier Google work, even though this application was published on October 1, 2026. 

Still, the direction is clear. Fall detection could eventually become less about a fixed impact threshold and more about understanding what the wearer is doing before the fall happens.

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Back in August, we reported on a unidentified fitness tracker hiding in Google’s own Pixel 11 advertising. Now Android Headlines says the device is actually called Fitbit Edge, and has published what appear to be proper product renders along with a much clearer picture of where it fits in Google’s wearable lineup.

Fitbit Edge looks like the Charge successor we expected

The basic formula is very Fitbit Charge.

Edge reportedly has a colour display, notifications, built-in GPS, an altimeter and automatic activity recognition. Battery life is listed at up to seven days.

There are also a few Google extras. The leaked comparison material lists Google Maps, media and music controls and Find My Phone, although this is clearly not being positioned as a mini Pixel Watch with a full app ecosystem.

To remind, Google Pixel Watch 5 gets Wi-Fi, LTE, satellite connectivity, Gemini and the broader Google Play Store, while Edge appears deliberately simpler. It keeps the screen and some smart features without going all the way to Wear OS.

Fitbit Air sits at the other end. It has no screen and is built around passive tracking, while Edge adds the display, notifications and more on-wrist interaction without giving up the week-long battery life.

In other words, Google now appears to have a fairly obvious three-level wearable lineup. Air is the discreet screenless tracker, Edge is the conventional fitness band, and Pixel Watch handles the full smartwatch side.

We may have already seen this device at the FCC

There is another piece of this that makes the leak more convincing. Last month, we found Google model G8BL6 in an FCC filing. The paperwork pointed to a wrist-worn device with straps, a screen, Bluetooth LE, GNSS and a charging base, but no Wi-Fi or cellular radio.

A few days later, an IMDA listing confirmed that G8BL6 is a Google device. At that point, the obvious question was whether it was connected to the mystery tracker from Google’s advertising. Fitbit Edge now looks like a very plausible answer. The leaked feature set lines up well with what we saw in those filings.

Price and launch timing are still guesses

The leaked colors include black, green and orange, apparently matching the Obsidian, Olive and Canyon finishes used elsewhere in Google’s Pixel lineup. The design also includes elongated side buttons and a removable band mechanism on the back.

Android Headlines expects Fitbit Edge to launch this month, but Google has not announced a date. The suggested $149 to $199 price range is also an estimate based on previous Charge pricing rather than leaked pricing information.

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For those not in the know, Bluetooth is one of the slower parts of the modern smartwatch experience. Watches have become much more capable, but moving large amounts of data between a phone and wrist can still take surprisingly long.

Bluetooth High Data Throughput, or HDT, is designed to address that. The Bluetooth SIG revealed the technology earlier this year and expects it to be adopted into the Bluetooth Core Specification in late 2026.

The maximum Bluetooth LE data rate would rise from 2 Mbps to 7.5 Mbps. That is nearly four times faster on paper, although real-world transfer speeds will be lower and depend on the hardware and connection conditions.

Faster updates, maps and music

The most obvious benefit for smartwatches is quicker file transfers. Bluetooth SIG says a multi-megabyte transfer that takes around 16 seconds using current Bluetooth LE technology could take roughly four seconds with HDT.

Firmware updates are an obvious use case. We already see manufacturers recommending Wi-Fi for larger watch updates, because Bluetooth alone can be slow.

Offline maps should benefit as well. Garmin, Amazfit, Suunto and other brands increasingly let users store maps and routes directly on the watch, and those files can be much larger than the small amounts of data Bluetooth LE traditionally handles well.

The same applies to offline music and larger workout histories. Faster Bluetooth would not transform these features, but it could remove some of the waiting that still makes syncing a watch feel slower than it should.

Wi-Fi may matter a little less

HDT could also reduce the need for Wi-Fi on some wearables. Wi-Fi will remain much faster, but Bluetooth at 7.5 Mbps becomes good enough for more jobs that currently push manufacturers towards a second wireless connection.

That could be useful on smaller trackers and screenless devices where space and battery capacity are limited. Avoiding Wi-Fi can simplify the hardware, while faster Bluetooth transfers also mean the radio can finish its work sooner and return to a lower-power state.

HDT will not simply run at maximum speed all the time. It supports several data rates, including 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.5 Mbps, allowing devices to adjust depending on signal quality.

Current watches probably won’t get it

The catch is that this is not something manufacturers can simply enable on today’s watches with a firmware update. HDT changes the physical radio layer, so compatible Bluetooth hardware will be required on both sides of the connection.

That means the benefits are more likely to appear in future watches, phones and chipsets. Bluetooth SIG expects HDT to enter the Core Specification in late 2026, with compatible consumer hardware following afterwards.

Smartwatches are handling larger firmware packages, offline maps, music and increasingly complex health data, while Bluetooth LE has remained comparatively slow. Raising the ceiling from 2 Mbps to 7.5 Mbps will give wearable makers considerably more room to work with.

Source: Bluetooth SIG

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Version 23.39 was supposed to tidy up a number of problems and introduce some new features. However, for some Fenix 8 owners things didn’t go as planned.

The reports are not all identical, but the basic symptom is. Owners describe the green and red optical sensor LEDs going completely dark after the update, followed by the disappearance of heart-rate readings. That also knocks out measurements that depend on the optical sensor, including Pulse Ox and overnight HRV, while some users have reported missing sleep and Body Battery data as a result.

Restarting the watch may help, but not always

There is no clean fix at the moment. Some owners have managed to bring the sensors back to life by completely switching off the watch, leaving it off for at least 90 seconds and then restarting it.

A factory reset has also worked in a few cases. Although that is obviously not something most people will want to try as a troubleshooting step. Others say reinstalling the firmware or performing the extended shutdown made no difference.

There such reports from Fenix 8 owners, but the problem does not appear to be restricted to that model. Tactix 8 owners, for example, are also affected.

It is also worth pointing out that 23.39 may not be where the problem actually began. Similar complaints appeared with software 23.31 earlier in September. Garmin has acknowledged receiving reports of problems with 23.31 and had been recommending 23.39 as the newer software version to install.

This has been a messy run of Fenix 8 updates

Software 23.39 itself is a reasonably substantial release. It adds the “OK Garmin” voice wake phrase, a quick suggested running workout, indoor XC skiing and several Garmin Coach changes. It also fixes pace and speed dropouts, strength activity resets, Spotify problems and several other bugs.

We recently covered the broader Garmin feature update. That software brought hands-free voice controls and other additions to the Fenix 8 family. Garmin has also had to deal with several corrective Fenix releases this year. This includes software 22.44 following display complaints and an earlier Fenix 8 Pro update aimed at battery drain.

For now, there is not enough evidence to suggest owners should avoid 23.39 altogether. Garmin has completed the rollout and plenty of watches appear to be running it normally. But anyone who installs it and suddenly loses wrist heart rate should probably treat it as a software problem first rather than assuming the optical sensor has physically failed.

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