When it comes to fitness trackers, Fitbit rules the roost. However, Amazon’s Halo View might compel you to think again. We were skeptical about the Halo View, to begin with, but the fitness tracker did grow on us as we started digging deeper.
Let’s begin by taking a brief history lesson on Amazon’s journey with Halo. Amazon entered the fitness tracker market in 2020 with the first version of Halo. It had a simple design and many wellness features, but it was marred with controversies. The voice tracking and fat scanning features created quite the stir for possible wrong reasons.
Amazon is trying to make amends with the Halo View by retaining what people liked about the original Halo and adding new features that give it legs to stand amongst the big boys.
The Halo uses a point system to track your activities over a week and puts out a score, similar to the Fitbit app.
In this Halo View review, we will dig deep and try to compare it with one of the most popular brands — Fitbit.
Halo View: Design and Build
Amazon has not shied away from copying the design aesthetics of Fitbit. The resemblance of the Halo View with the Fitbit series of trackers is uncanny. We are not saying that it is necessarily a bad thing, but it does feel like Amazon copied Fitbit here.
During our Halo View review, we found the band to be quite comfortable to wear. Although due to a chunkier design, the Halo looks a bit boxier compared to the Fitbit Charge 5.
In the look and design department, the battle between Fitbit vs. Halo results in a tie.
Hardware
The Halo View fitness tracker comes with a 1-inch AMOLED display that is very bright and visible even in direct sunlight. The tracker has an optical heart rate sensor, skin temperature sensor, and a pulse oximeter. In our Halo View review, we found the battery life to be 6-7 days, which is not bad.
The Halo fitness tracker is also 50-meter water-resistant, which means you can swim with it.
Fitness Tracking
Although Amazon is quite new to the fitness industry, the Halo app is surprisingly polished and stands on its own compared to the Fitbit app. The Halo uses a point system to track your activities over a week and puts out a score, similar to the Fitbit app. You can follow all the common health metrics like steps, calories burnt, heart rate, etc.
The one thing that we found was a huge misstep from Amazon’s side was the omission of a built-in GPS. The Halo View does not have a GPS and relies on your phone to track your location. If you don’t carry your cellphone with you while running or biking, the Halo won’t be able to show distance and pace.
Regarding fitness tracking, you got to pick Fitbit in the Fitbit vs. Halo battle.
Sleep Tracking
The Halo View fitness tracker is surprisingly good at tracking your sleep throughout the night. It calculates a sleep score that includes the time spent in deep sleep and your REM cycles. The band can also track temperature while you sleep to know whether it plays a role in your sleep.
Additional Features
The Halo View fitness tracker seamlessly integrates with Amazon’s Halo Fitness ecosystem. Similar to Apple’s iFit, Halo Fitness is a subscription service with a ton of on-demand video workouts with professional trainers. You can choose between yoga, cardio, and strength training.
Thankfully, the creepier features like voice analysis and photo-based body fat assessment are gone. Although the fat analysis feature is still there, Amazon has reportedly worked on improving the accuracy. What’s more, you can switch it off. You can also turn off the data sharing with Amazon, although it is on by default.
The membership of the Halo Fitness app will set you back $3.99 a month. However, it is a good service and costs significantly less than Fitbit’s or Apple’s similar service.
Is Halo View a good alternative to Fitbit?
The answer to this question is both yes and no. If you are looking for a cheaper version of the Fitbit that packs in a similar feature set but is okay sacrificing the GPS, Halo can be a great alternative.
Our Halo View review found the fitness band to be very accurate and comfortable. If you are okay with not having GPS built-in and don’t mind Amazon snooping on your health data, the Halo View is a great alternative to Fitbit Charge 5.
