The Fitbit Ionic smartwatch is finally appealing at a discounted price of $170

The Fitbit Ionic smartwatch is finally appealing at a discounted price of $170: After years of inexplicable hesitation, Fitbit finally took a risk on a full-fledged smartwatch in 2017, branching out from merely selling humble but popular activity trackers.

The Fitbit Ionic wasn’t exactly a smash hit, paving the way however for a much more successful Versa this year. What you may not have realized is the two wearable devices are extremely similar in terms of capabilities.

All the Fitbit Versa has going on that the Ionic doesn’t is an arguably sleeker design and a lower price point. Meanwhile, the Fitbit Ionic comes with built-in GPS technology for location tracking independent of a smartphone connection.

That might make it a significantly more appealing purchase at a heavily discounted price of $169.95 right now. That’s down from a $300 MSRP and a frequently reduced $250 tag. The “catch” is you need to be fine with buying the Fitbit Ionic in refurbished condition.

A4C promises the Charcoal/Smoke Gray units on special offer today will work “perfectly”, merely presenting “minor scratches and/or slight cosmetic defects due to prior usage.”

You get a 90-day replacement warranty for your peace of mind, as well as free standard shipping nationwide. In addition to the aforementioned GPS chip, the Fitbit Ionic also features NFC for wrist payments, a Pure Pulse heart rate monitor for continuous health tracking, a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, altimeter, ambient light sensor, vibration motor, and Wi-Fi antenna.

That’s a pretty great list of sensors for such an affordable smartwatch also boasting a battery life of “4+ days”, water resistance up to 50 meters, and a touchscreen color LCD. It’s also worth remembering that the Fitbit Ionic runs a proprietary software platform, playing nice with both Android and iOS handsets.

Also: Fitbit Ionic review

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