Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Tech Advisor compares the Luna Band (£115/$149) against Fitbit Air, highlighting Luna’s key advantage of offering all features without monthly subscription fees.
- While Fitbit Air requires a mandatory Google Health subscription costing £7.99/$9.99 monthly, Luna provides a one-time purchase alternative with unique LifeOS software.
- The Luna Band features innovative body-calendar tracking and voice-first functionality, making it a compelling budget-friendly option for users avoiding recurring costs.
The Fitbit Air went on sale today and in our review, we called it “the screenless tracker to beat”. There’s loads to love about it but not everyone will be keen on the additional cost of Google Health to make the most out of it.
The new app has replaced the old app as well as the Fitbit Premium subscription. It’s fairly like-for-like in a lot of ways but at £7.99/$9.99 a month or £79.99/$99.99, users might think twice about paying up despite the Fitbit Air’s cheap price.
You’ll need the Premium subscription to unlock some of the main software features of the new Google Health app, such as the Gemini AI-powered Health Coach, which Tom describes in the review as a “game-changer”.
The popular Whoop Strap is a key rival but is even more subscription-based with its model as the band is included.
However, the Luna Band is hitting the scene right on time to offer something better for those on a tight budget.
Thomas Deehan / Foundry
It costs around £115/$149 (final price TBC) and there are no additional fees whatsoever. This gets you the band in a choice of four colours and Luna doesn’t ask for a monthly fee to get all your data or for any advanced features.
Whether the LifeOS software is good enough to compete is another matter, and by Luna’s own description, it has an alternative way of looking at things and therefore potentially appeals to a different market.
A “calendar for your body, built to keep you in peak state”, it will plan your day hour-by-hour based on the data it gets from the Luna Band. It’s also dubbed as a “voice-first wearable”, but this is only available for iPhone users as Siri is needed to unlock voice input without opening the app.
We’ll hopefully be checking out the Luna Band for a full review when it lands – around July – so stay tuned to see if it’s a genuine alternative to the Fitbit Air and Whoop Strap.
