Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools

Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools

Buy Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools, Sleep Tracking, 24/7 Heart Rate and More, Black/Graphite, One Size (S &L Bands Included) on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS : Fitbit charge 5 + premium connects the dots between your activity, sleep and stress so you can make the best decisions for your body, mind and health. It all starts with your 6-month premium membership and daily readiness, a score based on activity, sleep and heart rate variability (hrv) that helps you optimize your workout routine. And you’ll always have motivation to reach new goals with hundreds of guided workouts, a gallery of refreshing mindfulness sessions plus the fitness features you know and love like active zone minutes and built-in gps. Fitbit is part of the google family. Requires use of fitbit app with compatible iphone or android devices. A google account will be required.

What are fitbit charge 5 advanced fitness & health tracker with built-in gps features?

  • Optimize your workout routine with a daily readiness score that reveals if you’re ready to exercise or should focus on recovery (requires fitbit premium membership).band size : small: fits wrist 5.1″ – 6.7″ in circumference. Large: fits wrist 6.7″ – 8.3″ in circumference
  • Get a daily stress management score showing your body’s response to stress and take steps to improve your levels with an on-wrist eda sensor mindfulness session
  • With the health metrics dashboard, track spo2, heart rate variability, skin temperature variation and more (not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and should not be relied on for any medical purposes. It is intended to provide information that can help you manage your well-being)
  • See your real-time pace & distance without your phone using built-in gps during outdoor activity, then see a map of your workout route in the fitbit app
  • Includes a 6-month premium membership complete with personalized insights, advanced analytics, guided programs and more (new & returning premium users only. Valid payment method required. Content and features may change)
  • Your stats come to life on a new color touchscreen that’s two times brighter than charge 4 in daylight, all with up to 7-day battery (varies with use and other factors)
  • Track calorie burn and optimize workouts with 24/7 heart rate tracking and active zone minutes, which guide you toward your desired intensity level
  • Get a better understanding of your sleep quality with a daily sleep score and graphs of your time in light, deep and rem sleep—then see how you can improve your sleep and wake up feeling energized
  • Use the 20 exercise modes to set personal goals for runs, rides, strength training and more, then get real-time stats to help you keep the pace or maintain your target heart rate zone

Follow your body not a schedule

Optimize your routine with Daily Readiness’, a personalized score available with your 6-month Premium membership.*** Daily Readiness uses insights from your activity, sleep and heart rate variability (HRV) and lets you know if you’re ready for a workout or need to prioritize recovery.
Daily Readiness requires a Fitbit Premium membership. Premium content recommendations are not available in all locales and may be in English only.

Stress Management Find your calm

Understand how your body reacts to stress with a daily Stress Management Score and measure your body’s in-the-moment physical response with an on-wrist EDA Scan app. Plus, find your calm with expanded mindfulness tools and a detailed breakdown of your Stress Management Score included with your 6-month Premium membership.

Focus on your heart

Keep an eye on the muscle that moves you with a compatible ECG app that assesses your heart for atrial fibrillation—an irregular heart rhythm. Also, get heart rate notifications that let you know when you’re above or below your threshold.

Photos: amazon.com
Categories: Sports & Outdoors

Fitbit charge 5 advanced fitness & health tracker with built-in gps details:

Product dimensions ‏ : ‎

1.45 x 0.9 x 0.44 inches; 1.02 ounces

Item model number ‏ : ‎

810038855868

Batteries ‏ : ‎

1 lithium ion batteries required. (included)

Manufacturer ‏ : ‎

Fitbit inc

Product guides and documents

Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools AMAZON

Buy Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools, Sleep Tracking, 24/7 Heart Rate and More, Black/Graphite, One Size (S &L Bands Included) on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

Looking for specific info?

What happens when the membership runs out will you still be able to get the numbers or do you have to have the membership

Per amazon review i saw under ‘most helpful negative review’ : ‘if you have no plans on paying for the fitbit premium subscription then do not buy this as they are very careful not to tell you that half the features of the watch don’t work without it. The health metrics dashboard is part of the subscription so without that you don’t get spo2 monitoring, heart rate variability, skin temperature variation, breathing rate during sleep or 14 out of the supposed 20 exercise routines. There is more outside of the withheld features like not being able to turn off gps(the options are dynamic, using the gps built into the watch and just your phone), location services, being auto enrolled into some social club, fitbit selling the data they collect even though it’s not a free product(you must agree to this in order to setup the watch) and by default having the watch set to send you all sorts of emails but i guess i get upset about that more than other people these days.’

How much is premium membership after the 6 month free-trial period? Do you pay through the app?

Don’t enter your credit card info – they will charge you for $79.99 and not give you the 6 month free-trial period (which you paid for in the cost of the watch). They assume that if you give your credit card that you want the month or yearly subscription. And once you get that you are automatically ineligible to get the 6 months. It’s a total scam!!!

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Is anybody else having a problem with the band not holding. The top part of the band keeps releasing? I did replace the band.

The charge 5 band disconnected constantly in the 6 months that the battery didn’t fail. Then in month 7 the charge 5 lost it’s charge completely in 9 hours or less. This product is absolutely garbage and should not even be sold. When i chatted with customer service i found this is an issue across the board in addition to the shoddy band. Don’t even bother with this fitness monitor. I have been with fitbit since they began, and thrre hsve been issues with every model i purchased. I only stayed for the informational platform they provided but a 6 month life pushed me right over the edge. I bought a garmin, now i have no problems at all, and specifically with fitbit junk!

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Will charge 4 band fit

No, they have redesigned the shape so charge 4 bands are not interchangeable.

Will this thing alert me if my pulse rate rate exceeds a set rate while i’m sleeping?

No, not while your sleeping. It will record the pulse rate alert but it won’t wake you if you are asleep

Does this track steps?

Only if the device detects arm movement (arm swing with steps), so if you’re carrying something or looking at your device on your wrist or pushing a stroller, etc. You will not get an accurate step count.

Dos it measure blood oxygen

When i purchased this particular model it failed to register any spo2 estimates at all as it had claimed it would. I went back to using the versa 3 model and it does everything it is supposed to. Amazon did refund my money on the charge 5 even though it is not a returnable item.

Does the charge 5 use the same charger as the charge 4?

The charge 5 charger is not only different, it doesn’t attach as securely. It uses a magnetic contact system that’s similar to the one in the sense.

Will you lose any functionality if you do not continue the premium version after the free trial?

The premium gets your videos/meditation etc. Tracking features are not affected.

Does it track continuous blood oxygen levels through out the day? Or only when asked ?

It’s track only continuous spo2 (mainly at night), not instantly.

Comment below states fitbit charge 5 is not eligible for return, for safety issues, is this true?

Apparently not…..i called amazon based on that comment, and was told the fitbit charge 5 is returnable. She noted by account in case i want to return it, and also sent me an email stating same.

Does this have alexa ?

Nope. No alexa integration.

Trying to decide between the charge and versa . Suggestions?

I prefer charge 5. It has all the information i need. It is less complicated than the versa 2. It is not so big and clunky. More streamline. Band changing with versa 2 is ridiculously complicated. Charge 5 is much better. I will not go back to a smart watch. Tracker is much better for me. Charge 5 has heart tracing and gps. Screen display is nice and readable outside.

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Is the stopwatch easy to use?

It’s very easy to use. Just a couple of taps, and you’re ready to go.

Is charger included??

Just the usb to magnetic charging cable is included, wall adapter is not included.

Can you turn off bluetooth? Can you turn off nfc? Please only respond if you know. Thanks.

On your phone yes you can turn you phone off, but the device no. It will not upload any data any other way.

Does it track blood pressure

It does not track blood pressure.

Does the charge 5 use the same charger as the charge 4?

No. New specific to charge 5

Can this be used in reverse to find my phone? (versa has that app, for example.)

Yes, with the firmware update: 57.200001.171.50

scroll down on the clock face five times to get to the ‘find my phone’ screen. Tap on it, the phone wails if it is near by.

Does this fitbit charge5 have no function of using japanese suica? Suica is not nessesary for me. So i would like to buy the us version.

Not necessary for me… Thank you, kindly

Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools AMAZON

Buy Fitbit Charge 5 Advanced Fitness & Health Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools, Sleep Tracking, 24/7 Heart Rate and More, Black/Graphite, One Size (S &L Bands Included) on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

What are our customers saying?

5Expert Score
Works as advertised

I bought this because i take a medication that has a side effect of raising my heart rate so i was interested in knowing what my heart rate was. It does this very accurately. You can just scroll down on the watch and the heart rate is right there, and it tracks it on the app well too.
I thought the sleep measurements were pretty inconsistent on the app. It would say i got three hours of sleep, just because i got up in the middle of the night one night for 20 minutes. It did this a few times. I would take their sleep measurements with a grain of salt.
I also like that it is synced with your phone so if you get a phone call or text the watch buzzes, which is very handy if you don’t have your phone with you all the time. And super nice to dismiss spam calls on the watch. You can even read your texts that come in. But you can’t answer any text or take a call.
I use the timer and alarm on the watch which are both handy.
I don’t use it to track my exercise or health as i’m already a fairly healthy and trim person, and i’m 61 so i don’t work out like i used to. But it would be useful to track your exercise habits if you want to use it for that.

5Expert Score
Working great for 1 month, even better than my last one!

After doing some research, i decided on the charge 5, and at this price it was even better. The software app took the new unit with no problems. The only problem i and many others have come across is with the ‘custom foods’ listing in the app not working with the newer cell phones (mine is an s10 from samsung but the iphones have this problem as well, from what i’ve heard.). This is a problem. The fitbit people are dragging their feet getting their software fixed to correct this without messing up something else.
The charge 5, however, is doing it’s job very well. It’s replacing my old alta hd, so i know what to expect, and it is performing everything i bought it for, … Well, almost anyway (see above). I have no problems ‘working around’ that problem, so this has been a very good purchase for me. With the link bands i purchased, it looks just like my regular watch band, so nobody even knew i had changed it out, until i changed the band from the silver one to the black one (real easy). I might even get the black band with a ‘copper-looking’ link insert. It looks pretty nice, as well, so you can see it’s versatile, too. We’ll see how long it lasts, now.

5Expert Score
I just really like it

What i like most about the fitbit charge 5 is how easily it integrated into my life. I’m pretty active between young kids, 3x/week ice hockey, and regular strength and conditioning work. I’m also what is known as an, ‘aging tryhard.’ at 42, i’ve had to consider things for the first time like sleep quality and rest days. This device gives me insights on what my metrics are telling me in an, ‘explain it to me like i’m 5’, way that allows me to react and plan in about 5 minutes every day. I wear it during my games and, after starting to wear wrist bands to stop my goalie gloves from stopping the workouts, have never had an issue with it. It’s gone in pools, lakes, and oceans with me and nary a problem has popped up.

The only downsides would be it’s a bit lame that the features i like the most are behind a premium pay wall. I’ll pay for it when my trial membership expires, but i’m envious the my wife doesn’t have that issue with her garmin. It also no longer has connectivity with spotify which is annoying, but that’s me just being petty.

If you’re on the fences and don’t want to drop $300 on an apple watch i say go for it. It does what it says and a bit more. Also, it’s not my money. Buy a fancy apple watch if you want, but think of all the apple fritters you could’ve bought with that money instead…

5Expert Score
Worth it vs cheaper alternatives

This fitbit is even more beautiful in person! Classy enough to wear with a nice outfit. I originally bought the amazefit for roughly $30, and this fitbit exceeds the amazefit with flying colors. I’ve had mine on for a week straight (24 hrs a day) and it still has 20% charge left. The screen turns on when you flick your wrist every time. You can easily see different stats from the home screen by tapping (calories burned, steps, hr). You can always see your current heart rate. The app is awesome. You see detailed information about sleep (including different stages of sleep), spo2 while sleeping, you can track water intake, food intake/nutrition, steps taken. I did one trial while running to test the gps function and it was extremely accurate in all aspects of distance, gps, time, heart rate, and pace. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to keep track of their heart rate, steps, activity like running or walking, and sleep as main focuses. The band is very soft and comfortable, and comes with a longer band size if needed. It’s worth the $ versus buying a cheap knockoff (that will waste your time). You’ll love it!

5Expert Score
Great watch

I like everything about this fitness tracker. This is my third fitbit and by far the best. The battery is as good as the other fitbits, i have no problem with them running out during the day. Usually i plug it in when i shower in the am and it is fully charged. The features are great after a time of learning how to read them. Sleep time and other features are nice to have. As far as accuracy it seems to do good enough for me. I really like the watch face as it is easy to read in the daylight and with the colors even my poor old eyes can see the time. Great purchase.

5Expert Score
Love my fitbit!

Let me preface by saying that i’ve owned just about every fitbit the company has made, dating back to at least 2013–maybe earlier—but i can’t recall.

Anyway, the charge 5 is perfect for me. I was actually talked into buying an apple watch, and for about 2 weeks, my c5 stayed on my nightstand. Then i wore both for several months. Now i’m back to the c5 only. This is mainly about battery life. I can go almost a whole week without charging it, and when i do, i can plug it in while in the car and get a lot of battery in a short period of time.

This alleviates the need to remove the watch every night, like the apple watch, and leave it on a charger at night and forget it at home when you leave in the morning. Can you tell this has happened to me—multiple times?? And if you’re like me, it’s a serious addiction to keep these fitness trackers on. So forgetting it causes a lot of anxiety.

Also, i’m not super tech savvy, so i don’t need all the bells and whistles of the versa, the other high end fb, or the apple watch. I can screen my calls, read my texts, and set alarms/reminders. It’s all i need. And i wear it in the shower. I wear it in the pool. It’s been banged up too and it is still going strong. If i decide to use more features, they are there if i need them, which is nice.

Now, only time will tell because i’ve had issues in the past with quality and had to use the warranty with multiple devices. I’ve had the c5 for 6 months maybe. Maybe a year? I can’t remember. But i love that the charger is magnetic and not a clip as almost all the previous fbs are.

Overall, you won’t be disappointed, i promise!

5Expert Score
Upgrade from inspire

I decided to upgrade from the inspire 3 to the charge 5 because i wanted more advanced tracking. I also wanted to use the smartwake alarm, as i have a lot of issues getting up at a reasonable time and feeling well due to my odd shift schedule. My only complaint is that it’s a little clunky to program alarms and such on a tiny touch screen, but i believe that’s the same with all smartwatches/trackers. The battery life meets my needs and it charges very quickly (i charge my tracker while i’m in the shower). I also really like the options to change the main display. The built in gps is a game changer for outdoor runs; i don’t have to bring my phone if i don’t want to.

5Expert Score
Prefer to apple watch

Battery life (and other features) blow away my apple watch! Apple battery lasts less than one day and this fitbit only needs a charge once every few weeks (wearing 24 hrs a day). Health trackers are way more accurate and statistics in app are way easier to evaluate. I found myself going back to my fitbit while the apple watch just sits on my nightstand draining the battery in less than one day even while not being worn. Fitbit app features are great. Tracking steps, food log, exercise, stress, sleep, etc all in one concise spot. Texts / calls and other app notifications on your wrist are super convenient.

5Expert Score
Nice features

This was my first tracker and i really like it. I appreciate the heart rate monitoring information and the many exercise tracking options. I did not sign up for the premium apps, but there’s more than enough included apps for me. It seems to hold a charge pretty well; i just do a partial charge now and then to more or less top it off. Seems to charge quickly. Is comfortable to wear and i like the wake up alarm feature. Also lets me know if i need to get up and moving and gives me the guilts when it lets me know i’m behind on getting enough days of exercise. No real complaints so far other than some info is only seen for example through the app on my phone vs being able to get it from the tracker itself. No big deal though. Liked it well enough to order one for my husband to replace his fitbit 2.

5Expert Score
Good upgrade

This is a replacement for my old, basic fitbit. I’m 72 and i appreciate the large, multicolored display. It came with a limited subscription to their premium service, which i continued. I appreciate the step counter‐a senior woman doesn’t need 10000 steps per reliable sources- and you can set your goal and change it! The sleep monitor is helping me learn to sleep better. I get analysis of how many minutes in each sleep zone, and suggestions to improve sleep habits. You can record what you eat, how you exercise, your weight goal and progress
the best thing about it is that i shared with my insurance company and earned money to use for co-pays otc meds or to.pay for my prescriptions!
And i can shower or swim without taking it off!

4Expert Score
A nice step up for the charge series

Update may 2022: i’m still a big fan of this product and have made a few updates to my initial review(s), but the bottom line is that it’s held up to initial impressions. I ended up knocking off a star just because there are a few improvements that can be made, but it’s still very solid.

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i purchased the fitbit charge 5 as an upgrade from my charge 3. I skipped the charge 4 since i didn’t really need/want the new features of that model, but the allure of a color display with the same lengthy, weeklong battery life was enough to make me upgrade to the charge 5. I won’t cover all the features of the charge 5 since there are plenty of other places that go into great detail, and i may update this review after i get more use out of it.

Who should buy a fitbit charge?
The fitbit charge is great if your primary use is as a lightweight fitness tracker. I prefer the fitbit charge over the apple watch and other smartwatches due to its lightweight nature, weeklong battery life, and my lack of need for fancier smartwatch functionality. If you like the extra bells & whistles of a smartwatch and don’t mind a heavier watch that needs to be charged every day or three, then you may want to skip the fitbit charge. Also, if you’re a die-hard apple user who needs integration with the apple health app, then you’ll also need to look elsewhere because there’s no data flowing between the apps in either direction; thankfully, the fitbit app is quite good and does integrate with a number of other apps.

Is it worth upgrading from the charge 3/4?
It mainly depends on how much you value a better, color display. The msrp on a charge 5 is $180 (though, i’m sure the sale price will drop during the holiday season), while the msrp on a charge 4 is $150; though, at this point, everyone’s selling the charge 4 (and 3) well below msrp, especially if you buy refurbished.

Impressions:
– initial setup was fairly smooth. I had to connect it to the charger to get it started up. Transitioning from my charge 3 to the charge 5 in the app was easy enough. There was a firmware update notice (the firmware enables the eda sensor), and that update was a little buggy & required a few attempts before it succeeded (at one point, i needed to reboot my fitbit).
– ecg monitor became available via firmware update 11/9/2021. I had some connection issues while trying to run it but got it to work eventually. I don’t have any arrhythmia issues, so while it’s a nifty feature, it’s ultimately useless for me.
– the daily readiness score also became available 11/9/2021. It’s only available for premium subscribers.
It takes 4 days before it starts functioning & a couple weeks to ‘tune’. Overall, i’d say this is not terribly useful. If you work out on a consistent basis & get a decent amount of sleep, then it’s always a great day to work out! That is, you’ll remain in the good to excellent range (30 & above). For reference, i typically work out 4-5 days/week spending 30-40 min on cardio & 30-40 min on weights, which ends up being 110-160 zone minutes on those days when combined with whatever other zone minutes i rack up when not working out. But if you take a week off or so & return to working out, then you may dip below 30 into the low score range where it says you should prioritize recovery. I also noticed that if you forget to wear your fitbit to bed, it can throw off your score; it sent my score plummeting for no good reason otherwise.
Also, perhaps not surprisingly, the readiness score seems to be primarily reflective of your cardio workout. It will classify my ‘activity’ as ‘light’ on some days when i spend a fair amount of time on weight training that doesn’t really sustain an elevated heart rate (and less on cardio).
– there’s no longer a ‘home’ button on the side of the display to ‘return’ or access additional menus. This took a little time to adjust to, but i’m generally okay with it, especially since the touchscreen is noticeably more responsive than the charge 3. Now, you must swipe right to return to the prior screen, and you can also double-tap in most cases to return to the home screen; though, the double-tap can be finicky. Would i prefer to have a ‘home’ button again? Yes. (now, the sides of the device used for the eda sensor & ecg monitor).
– the display is much, much better than the charge 3/4. Brighter with much higher resolution. And of course, color.
– the display has 3 brightness settings; however, the difference between dim, normal, and max is rather subtle; they’re all pretty bright, and this is unfortunate because it’s a little too bright for dark rooms in my opinion. I liked the dim, auto, and normal settings on my charge 3 much better. Hopefully, this is something that will be fixed in a future firmware update (assuming, the charge 5 still has the sensor that allows for an ‘auto’ setting).
– the ‘up to 7 days’ battery life is not a lie. The battery life lasts me about a week with my brightness set to ‘normal’, which is the same as my old charge 3. I do not use the built-in gps nor the always-on display (both of which are a significant drains on the battery), but i do average 6-8 hours/week of active exercise time. And, since the ‘dim’ brightness setting is bright enough for me, i use it all the time, which translates to even better battery life. Pretty amazing considering the brighter, color display.
– the charge 5 does a better job of automatically turning the display on at the turn of the wrist. My charge 3 wouldn’t always turn on or would require me to turn my wrist more than what felt natural. The apple watch is still superior with regard to automatically turning on when looking since there is a slight delay with the charge 5 after turning your wrist (and, it still doesn’t always turn on).
– the wrist band that’s included is a nicer feeling silicone material instead of the plastic one that came with the charge 3/4. The ‘small’ strap on the charge 5 band is also smaller than the ‘small’ on the charge 3/4. On the charge 5, i use the last or next to last notch on the band (i.e. The strap is basically at its largest, most expanded size), but with the charge 3 strap, i still had 3 or 4 empty notches to work with. Not a big deal since they include small & large bands, but something to consider if you purchase additional bands. I did end up purchasing the sport band, which does have more notches to work with. Be sure to use fitbit’s sizing tool on their website before purchasing extra wrist bands since they do vary based on which one you get.
– the heart rate monitoring is nice & accurate like the charge 3. I run on a treadmill with a tickr x (1st gen) chest strap, and after the first few minutes of running when my heart rate is more stable, the readings between the charge 5 & tickr x are either the same or only off by a bpm or two. It’s less accurate when doing sprints/hiit since it tends to lag behind the tickr x, but it’s still in the ballpark (albeit, delayed).
– the eda sensor seems like a waste for me. Along the lines of the guided breathing exercises in the charge 3, it’s just something that i don’t care to use, and i question its accuracy/validity anyway.
– i’m not sure if this was introduced with the charge 4, but there’s a daily stress management score now. The number seems fairly meaningless, since it’s somewhat of a mystery as to how it’s calculated. Yes, fitbit tells you what the general parameters are (heart rate, sleep, activity) & premium members get to see how the sub-scores feed into the overall score (see below), but in the end, it just seems pretty meaningless to me.
– i think this may have changed with the charge 4, but it no longer tracks the number of floors you’ve climbed (no big deal as it was wildly inaccurate), and it counts active zone minutes instead of active minutes now. Fitbit’s website has more details on active minutes vs active zone minutes.
– there’s 23 clock faces to choose from. Most of them only display one stat (e.g. Hr, steps, etc.) at a time (though, you can usually cycle through them all by tapping the screen), which is unfortunate. Hopefully, they’ll add more data-rich clock faces, but overall, it’s nice to see them making use of the colorful, higher resolution display.
– the charging cable functions a lot better since it magnetically clips to the fitbit (like an apple watch does to its charger). I believe it’s the same charging cable as the fitbit luxe.
– my charge 5 somewhat regularly (once every day or two) has trouble syncing with the app. It has gotten better over time & usually just requires me to refresh the app (by dragging down at the top of the screen of the phone app). At worst, i’ll need to restart the app, and once i had to restart my fitbit device itself. Overall, not a big deal. Just an occasional annoyance.

Fitbit premium membership:
i generally dislike paying for subscriptions since the cost of them can add up to something pretty substantial over time. The fitbit premium membership isn’t exactly cheap at $10/month or $80/year; though, you get 6 months for free with the purchase of your charge 5. If you actually use many/all of its features, then it may be worthwhile, but for me, it isn’t (i.e. I won’t be paying for membership when my free trial runs out in a week or so). The daily readiness score & health metrics dashboard are the only premium features i routinely looked at, but i question their overall usefulness/practicality. Here’s a rundown of what you get for your money:
– daily readiness score: see comments above in impressions section – in short, not terribly useful.
– health metrics dashboard (see attached pic): graphs/data for breathing rate, heart rate variability (hrv), skin temperature, oxygen saturation (spo2), resting heart rate (rhr). The rhr data is already available for non-premium users & you can view you most recent spo2 reading on the device, but the rest of the stats appear to only be available to premium members. The graphs are actually kinda crummy; there’s two types: 1) one graph allows you to vary the time scale to view 7, 30, or 90 days, but you have to visually line up the dot with the values on the y-axis to determine the actual reading for each dot, and 2) another type of graph shows 7 days at a time with individual readings on the graph, but you can’t change the time frame/scale of this graph. It would be a lot nicer if they made these graphs larger & interactive (so you could change the time scale on the fly & tap on the data points to see the reading).
– wellness report: you can generate a pdf wellness report to be emailed. While it provides a summary of hr, weight, activity, & sleep trends over the course of 1, 3, 6, & 12 months, it’s lame that you can’t just view this directly in the app.
– stress management score details (see attached pic): extra details on your score including the sub-scores that feed into it: responsiveness, exertion balance, & sleep patterns…. Still not sure how meaningful any of this is.
– sleep score details (see attached pic): there’s a different detailed view of your sleep score; you get sub-scores for time asleep, deep and rem, and restoration, but i believe all the graphs are the same for non-premium users, so i’m not sure that this offers much more insight that the non-premium view does; i suppose you get to see how much each sub-score accounts for the overall score.
– instructional stuff: there are various workout routines, guided meditations, food programs, & sleep programs you can look up & do.
– games & challenges: you can participate in various fitness games/challenges, which might motivate you to work out more.

Overall, i think the charge 5 is a nice upgrade from my beloved charge 3, and for me, it was worth paying the extra bucks.

4Expert Score
Finally a daylight readable display!

This is the third fitbit i’ve owned. I started with a fitbit charge 2, then charge 3, and now the charge 5.

Pros: the best thing about the fitbit charge 5 is its display. It’s the first fitbit i’ve owned where the display can be read in even the brightest daylight. I don’t care whatsoever that it’s a color display. I’m simply happy to be able to use my watch to tell time again outdoors.

The next best thing about it (and all of the fitbits) is the mobile app and website. I find these both to be well-designed and intuitive.

While other reviewers seem to disagree, i’ve found most of the basic measurements (steps, heart rate, sleep tracking, and minutes of exercise) seem to be accurate and consistent with other devices i own.

The ecg seems accurate as well. Though, here i have no other device with which to compare it.

I get about 8 days of battery life. However, this is with gps disabled (out of privacy concerns).

All of the above reasons (and mostly the display) are why i’ve given it four stars.

Cons: first, the four-star rating is based on what matters most to me. A rating that includes things that matter less would drop this device to a three-star or even two-star rating.

The worst thing about this device is the lack of a physical button (or even a capacitive button) on the side of the watch. Because of this, you are limited to wrist rotation that works most of the time, swipes that often work, and taps that are often unreliable.

Allegedly, the watch is supposed to return to your chosen clock face with two rapid taps. In my experience, this works infrequently. I’ve literally sat there tapping the watch dozens of times without it doing so. This is far and away the most irritating thing about this watch.

Notifications on this watch are hit or (mostly) miss. About 25% of the time i get a phone call or text the watch correctly notifies me. The other 75% of the time these notifications are lost in the ether 🙂

the watch band that it comes with is horrible. Regrettably, the selection of replacement bands is only slightly better. I found one i can live with, but don’t like. Also, the latching mechanism for the bands is far less secure than on previous versions of the fitbit charge. Even with the factory original band, i have some degree of difficulty getting it to latch. With at least one third-party band, it would not latch at all.

When i first received this watch, the ecg feature would not work. It kept requesting i (bluetooth) pair my device with my phone (which was already done). After an annoying call with fitbit customer service, i was informed that i needed to wait 72 hours before the ecg would work. I don’t mind the 72-hour wait. I do mind that this is not documented anywhere and that the error message says nothing about waiting.

The eda scan gives me a number. The number may be accurate. It may not. Since there is no quantitative description of what numbers are good or bad, it seems somewhat useless to me.

The few clock faces (24) that are available are mostly terrible. They waste the limited real estate available on the face of the watch and distract with ill-chosen, poorly matching colors. Unlike the crisp, clean presentation of the website and mobile app, these clock faces seem designed by a three-year-old, with a short attention span, and a poor sense of color.

If you’ve come to rely on the stair counting from previous fitbit charge devices, this is gone. With the charge 2, i previously like this feature. It gave a somewhat accurate count of stairs. With charge 3, the number was so inaccurate, that it would sometimes register stairs as i walked across a flat room. I’m guessing rather than fix this bug, they decided to simply jettison the feature,

final thoughts: overall, i’m comparatively happy with this watch. I desperately wish they would bring back the button on the side (or make the ecg/eda sensors serve double duty as a capacitive button). Failing that, i hope that a future firmware update fixes the double-tapping gesture so that it actually works. I really hope that fitbit hires a competent graphics designer for future clock faces. The current crop of faces (with one or two exceptions) is laughably bad. That, and it might be nice if they better documented the newer features (ecg/eda) instead of leaving their users guessing.

4Expert Score
Charge 5

This is my third fitbit charge. I like them because they are smaller, have bells and whistles and don’t carry the price tag of a smart watch.

The downside is that they are 5 star for a few months and then it’s constantly having to charge it and then at about the 18-20 month mark they start becoming another thing to pollute the earth with.

The latest one will hold a charge for days on end. But i don’t have messages or gps, etc turned on. Maybe that’s why it’s currently holding a nice charge.

If you want to take some vitals it’s a manual process not automated.

So far i like it, but the charging is very hit and miss at least on mine. Even though the magnet connects at the pins as intended it may or may not have a connection. So far i can’t tell if it’s actually charging unless i pop it off the charger.

For the charger i give that a 3. The rest 4 stars. Not a 5 star because they did take the floors counted feature off to replace with other features like the ekg.

4Expert Score
Nice fitness tracker; allstate’s extended warranty is a scam

I bought this fitbit charge 5 based on positive experiences with earlier models. Though the earlier ones worked great, i’m fairly active and “tore them up” within a year or two. Consequently, i purchased the extended warranty.

Don’t purchase this plan! Several months after purchasing the extended warranty, i received an email indicating my plan had been transferred to the new device owner. Because i still owned the device and it worked great, i suspected someone fraudulently tried transferring the warrant and filing a claim. After calling allstate’s number, i was told someone in my household likely sold it, and the new owner had indeed filed a claim. I explained i lived alone, still used the device, and had not authorized a transfer of the warranty to another person. Thereafter, allstate’s representative explained she’d transferred the warranty back into my name and cancelled the claim.

Fast forward…four months later my fitbit “died”, so i called to file a claim. The allstate representative told me the plan had been cancelled and the purchase price refunded to me months ago. In response, i explained i had not cancelled the warranty or received a refund. Additionally i asked for proof of payment. Thereafter, the representative placed me on hold, then came and indicated they would send me a check for the purchase price.

4Expert Score
Great tracker… But there are units with faulty batteries out there

The battery on the first unit i received only lasted 1-2 days even with gps turned off. I returned that and got another, and this one lasts well over 7 days. I can only assume that first unit had a faulty battery, and they are not able to test that before shipping. As with my fitbit charge 2, the accuracy of the heart rate is not great, +/- 10 bps compared to a polar strap, but arguably better than nothing. The display is very bright and much more visible in the sun than the charge 2 was, although the only clock face that has all the info available is ‘slashed’, which chooses to cut off the bottom of the time digits at an angle. The ekg feature is nice, while it is not as detailed as what the kardia device produces you can still read it, and you don’t need to carry around another gadget. The strap is nice and won’t suddenly undo itself leaving your fitbit on the pavement, but the locking mechanism seems more flimsy and harder to use than the charge 2 system. Navigation between apps and modes is through both vertical swipes and horizontal swipes from the home screen – not the most intuitive system. Overall it is a great upgrade over the charge 2 but i took off a star for the faulty battery and strange ui choices made.

4Expert Score
Good health tracker, pedometer is sensative

Wife loves the sleep tracker and heart rate reader. The biggest issue is the pedometer (step tracker). It is extremely sensative and detects any slight movement as a step. We’ve changed the sensativity to low and even when you take a drink or even hit a bump while driving, it tracks it as a step. Developers say it’s perfectly calculated, but it’s very off. Not a bad thing, just kind of annoying considering it’s supposed to be a selling point for the fitbit.

4Expert Score
Heart rate tends to read higher than actual

It is important to remember this is not a medical grade device and if you have heart issues it may not register hr (heart rate) accurately which can also be affected by how you wear the fitbit. It will give you a relative sense of your heart rate. The sleep function is also interesting. I noticed when i sit in my lounger after dinner to watch television it will often thinks i am asleep granted i don’t move around much after dinner with wine! I will say it is accurate for steps and mileage when i go out for a walk after adjusting my stride length on the fitbit web site. The ecg function in interesting to use but as i expected in my case the results were inconclusive. It also thinks when i am riding my john deere lawn mover that i am riding a bike and gives me credit of calories burned.

4Expert Score
Great tracker, bad wrist band

The fitbit charge 5 is a great value. It’s comfortable, tracks activity and sleep consistently, and has a bright colorful screen that’s easy to see even in bright sunlight. It doesn’t have an altimeter, but that’s a fair trade off for the sensors it does have. And, as with all fitbits, the batter life is excellent.

The only reason this isn’t a 5 star review is that the band that comes with the tracker is pretty unreliable. I’ve had the watch for a little under 3 months and the plastic peg that fastens the strap together has already fallen out of the silicone strap. Fortunately, replacement straps are pretty cheap (i got 3 third party straps for $9 her on amazon). Disappointing, but easy to resolve.

4Expert Score
Wish it had elevation tracking

Overall this is a very nice product that works well and does everything that it says it does. However, i wish i knew going in that it did not track elevation changes. I just assumed that it does, because other fitbits do and that seems like a very standard thing for a fitness tracker to track, but it does not. Yes, you can on the website get estimates of elevation change from maps data, but that isn’t nearly as useful as tracking flights of stairs or terrain changes on the device itself. So, very good device, it just doesn’t have a feature that i pretty reasonably assumed it would and so in hindsight i wish i had bought something else.

4Expert Score
Gps seems to be off a little bit in the mountains.

I replaced my old fitbit with this. The gps works great when you’re out in the open, but where i hike (yellow fork canyon) it adds extra miles to a normal 4 mile hike. And the gps really uses up the battery a lot quicker. But other than that, the sleep, the heart rate, and other items are great!

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