Fitbit Air Review: $99 Band With a Hallucinating AI Coach

Google launched the Fitbit Air at $99, shipping May 26, and the pitch is simple: a minimalist band that collects data and stays out of your way. Think Whoop 5.0 territory, not Garmin Forerunner. The hardware is genuinely comfortable to wear, and the optical PPG sensor sits flush against the wrist for 24/7 blood volume tracking, the same basic approach you get on a Whoop or a Polar Verity Sense worn all day.

The AI coach is the headline feature and also the biggest problem right now. Early testers are reporting hallucinations, meaning the coach surfaces recommendations that contradict your actual logged data. For an endurance athlete making training load decisions, that is not a minor UI bug. That is a trust problem. Garmin's daily suggested workouts on the Forerunner 965 are rule-based and sometimes frustrating, but they do not invent facts about your sleep or HRV.

The $99 price point is aggressive compared to Whoop, which runs on a subscription model with no upfront hardware cost but locks you into $239 per year. Fitbit Air's model appears to follow a similar data-first playbook, with the hardware functioning as a low-friction entry point. The 5kRunner framed it bluntly: the data is the product, not the band. Worth keeping in mind before you hand over months of recovery, sleep, and heart rate variability readings.

On the hardware side, the band lacks a barometric altimeter, so elevation data is off the table. No GPS onboard either, which puts it squarely in the recovery-and-readiness category alongside Whoop rather than the training-execution category where Coros Pace 3 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 sit. The optical sensor tracks SpO2 via light absorption, standard for this class of device, but without a chest strap pairing option confirmed, workout heart rate accuracy during high-intensity intervals remains an open question.

Garmin is reportedly preparing a twin launch with both the Cirqa and Vivosmart 6, which would land directly in Fitbit Air's market segment. More competition at this price tier is good for athletes. For now, the Fitbit Air is a comfortable, well-priced band with a coaching layer that is not ready to trust. Not perfect. But worth watching.