Fitbit Inspire 2 vs. Inspire HR: Should you upgrade?

Fitbit Inspire HR
Fitbit Inspire HR (Image credit: Daniel Bader / Android Central)

Fitbit Inspire 2

Fitbit Inspire 2 Render

With 24/7 heart rate monitoring and up to 10 days of battery life, the Fitbit Inspire 2 improves on everything that Fitbit has offered in its previous trackers. The latest device to join the Inspire family is also water resistant up to 50 meters, though you will need to let the band dry if it becomes wet or sweaty. There's also no built-in GPS, which means you'll need to connect it to your phone for real-time pace and distance measurements.

Fitbit Inspire 2

Expert tracker

Water resistant up to 50 meters
Monitors heart rate 24/7
Up to 10 days of battery life
20+ exercise modes with SmartTrack
Active Zone Minutes feature
Requires you to remove band and let dry if it becomes wet
No built-in GPS

Fitbit Inspire HR

Fitbit Inspire Hr Image

The Fitbit Inspire HR does everything the Inspire 2 does, but it's older, so you might be able to find it at a discount. The software can be a bit slow sometimes, though, resulting in a sluggish interface and it's still missing built-in GPS. It's still water resistant up to 50 meters, however, and it's an attractive wearable that's good for beginners looking to test the waters.

Fitbit Inspire HR

Tried and true

Water resistant up to 50 meters
All-day tracking
Swimproof and swim tracking
Up to 5 days of battery life
Touchscreen can be sluggish
No built-in GPS
No Active Zone Minutes

If you're looking for a great fitness tracker, then both the Fitbit Inspire 2 and Inspire HR offer excellent features. There are some very small differences between them but the main factor is age. The Inspire HR is older and has been known to have a sluggish interface at times, which the newer software in the Inspire 2 should help alleviate. If you want a stylish tracker that does the job, then the Inspire HR is the perfect fit. If you need extra battery life and want a more recent iteration of the tracker, then the Fitbit Inspire 2 is the best option.

Fitbit Inspire 2 vs. Inspire HR: Similar tracking experiences

If you're looking for the best Fitbit tracker, then both the Fitbit Inspire 2 and Inspire HR are great devices. With the inclusion of 24/7 activity tracking, as well as sleep monitoring, you can see how your body is doing throughout the entire day. If you like to keep a close eye on your calorie intake and burn, then you're going to find the food logging and all-day calorie burn monitoring systems very useful.

The addition of water resistance up to 50 meters and built-in swim tracking also make the Fitbit Inspire 2 and Inspire HR perfect trackers for those who enjoy time in the pool. You can also receive notifications from your Android or iOS device, so long as you've synced the two devices up with each other. If you're looking for built-in integrations like GPS or even Spotify and Fitbit Pay, though, you're going to find that both the Fitbit Inspire 2 and Inspire HR focus more heavily on standard activity tracking than additional features like that.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Fitbit Inspire 2Fitbit Inspire HR
Displaymonochrome OLEDmonochrome OLED
Sensors3-axis accelerometer, optical heart rate sensor3-axis accelerometer, optical heart rate sensor
Battery life10 Days5 Days
Water-resistance50 meters50 meters
Onboard GPSNoNo
Active Zone MinutesYesNo
Female health trackingYesYes
Sleep monitoringYesNo
Guided breathingYesNo
SpotifyNoNo
Fitbit PayNoNo

Fitbit Inspire 2

Source: Fitbit (Image credit: Source: Fitbit)

It's worth noting that he Fitbit Inspire 2 does also track Active Zone Minutes, or time spent in the fat burn, cardio, or peak heart rate zones. Your tracker will add two Active Zone Minutes per each minute you spend in these zones. They're tailored to your fitness level and age, which can be set within your Fitbit's calibration settings. The Fitbit Inspire HR does not have this feature.

Another big thing to keep in mind when choosing between the two is battery life. Both the Fitbit Inspire HR and Inspire 2 charge from 0 - 100% in two hours, though the Inspire HR only gets five days of charge to the Inspire 2's 10-day battery life. The Fitbit Inspire 2 also supports a newer version of Bluetooth with Bluetooth 4.2, while the Inspire HR only supports up to Bluetooth 4.0, which could result in a faster connection between your phone and the tracker. Both trackers are equipped with OLED displays, giving both a crisp and clean appearance.

Fitbit Inspire 2 vs. Inspire HR: Bottom line

Both the Fitbit Inspire 2 and the Inspire HR are basic fitness trackers without any extras. For additional features, you might be looking at the right time to start shopping for a more robust smartwatch. For fitness alone, however, either one of these trackers should do nicely.

Most users probably won't notice much difference between the Fitbit Inspire 2 and the Inspire HR, especially if you charge it every other day or so. Both trackers offer a similar experience at decent prices, although the Inspire 2 offers a couple more fitness features. If you plan to use your tracker a lot, though, it's worth picking up the Inspire 2 for the extra 5 days of battery life. If you don't care about the extra battery life, save some money and pick up the Inspire HR.

Brittany Vincent