Fitbit's Charge 5 is a revamped fitness tracker on the inside and out.
Fitbit's Charge 5 is a revampedfitness tracker on the inside and out
Last year's Fitbit Charge 4 came with some fairly incremental upgrades, and if you've been tired of the same old design, the new Charge 5 might be worth the investment. It brings along some new features and a new look.
For starters, the Charge 5 has a far more high-end design look this time around. The shiny, slim aluminum case looks more similar to the stylish Fitbit Luxe than any of its predecessors.
You'll have the choice between Platinum (with a Steel Blue silicone band), Graphite (with a black silicone band), and Gold (with a Lunar White silicone band). Fitbit also offers a variety of additional bands for purchase (which range from $30 to 50 depending on the style) including, Horween leather bands, sport bands, and more
On the front is a color AMOLED screen, which is a nice change from the greyscale OLED display we've seen on the Charge lineup in the past. It's also the first fitness tracker to include always-on display mode.
As usual, the Charge 5 packs a heart-rate monitor, SPO2 sensor, and built-in GPS to track milage on your runs, walks, and biking sessions. It also comes with 20 different exercise modes, and tracks your sleep throughout the night.
Of course, you'll also receive smartphone notifications to the tracker including calls, text messages, and other alerts.
You'll also have access to Active Zone Minutes, a feature that was first introduced on the Charge 4 last year. It uses your heart-rate to track effort throughout your workouts, and pushes you toward different heart-rate zones (e.g., fat burn, cardio, and peak).
The Charge 5 features workout intensity maps, too. Whenever you use GPS to track a workout and sync the tracker to the Fitbit app, you'll see a heat map of how intense your workout was based on your heart-rate zones.
But the company also pulled inspiration for from its Fitbit Sense, by including both an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor and an electrocardiogram (ECG) app.
Using the EDA sensor, the Charge 5 can measure minor changes in your skin to help determine your stress levels. Meanwhile, the ECG app uses electrical sensors built into the the tracker to help detect signs of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib).
It's worth noting, however, that the ECG app won't be available at launch. Fitbit says it's coming soon, but has yet to give an exact date.
Fitbit also announced a new feature to its Fitbit Premium subscription service, called Daily Readiness. As with the ECG app, it's a feature that's coming soon. It will be available on the Fitbit Sense, Verse 2, Versa 3, and Luxe, and Inspire 2 as well.
Based on activity (fitness fatigue), heart-rate variability, and sleep quality tracked on the Charge 5, you'll receive a Daily Readiness score each morning. Depending on how high or low the score is, you'll know whether you should workout that day or allow your body to rest.
And if you're wondering whether all these sensors compromise battery, Fitbit managed to keep the same seven day battery life as seen on the previous version. Of course, that depends on usage.
As for price and availability, the Charge 5 will start at $179.95 and is currently available for pre-order via Fitbit's site. It'll start shipping in late September.
At the end of the day, longevity is the thing I wonder about the most. I already have a Charge 4, but it is sitting in a drawer – the display was slowly dying and got to the point where it was so dim as to be unusable. If it weren’t for that, I would still be wearing the thing.
ReplyDeleteMy wife has gone through several fitness trackers (varying brands), and those have died early deaths as well. Sometimes an inability to charge the battery. Sometimes something else – I don’t remember.
I might *sort* of be interested in a Charge 5, but if it has issues, I might take a pass on that as well.
I love the simplicity and interface of Fitbits, and they’re all the tracking functionality that 90% of the world needs. But the thin tracker form factor just looks so outdated at this point. Every time seeing a Fitbit in the wild I do a double take.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I’d want to be whoop. The strain & recovery angles are pretty copyable — before getting into the sensor accuracy. $30/month to use the darn thing is steeeep.
If I were whoop I’d keep investing in athlete endorsements for user acquisition. Pay the Katie Ledecky’s of the world to wear in every interview.
Garmin needs to offer you a boat load of money to come give them direction on how their app needs to be laid out. They have so much more and better data then Whoop, yet they suck at delivering a meaningful view.
ReplyDeleteCurious – it’s been ages since Garmin released a vivosmart/fit band. At this point are they effectively saying “sod that we’ll sell a smart watch instead”.
DeleteWith whoop coming do you see Garmin giving bands a re-visit for people who still like a classic watch?
Fitbit has confirmed that Charge 5 doesn’t have an altimeter, hence doesn’t count steps
ReplyDeletelink to community.fitbit.com
Fitbit has confirmed that Charge 5 doesn’t have an altimeter, hence doesn’t count floors climbed (correction)
ReplyDeletelink to community.fitbit.com
I still don’t understand why someone would need to pay to access their own accumulated data in long term (Fitbit premium), when you can access all that for free on Polar or Garmin for example
ReplyDeleteThe other major issue with Garmin is just how damn uncomfortable it is to wear the watch 24/7 vs whoop strap and their charging system. It’s crying out for someone to just join it all up in the right way. Oura is a nice sleep tracker and that’s about it but by far the best form factor, it does seem that nearly anything towards the end of your arm is not going to be super consistent (I actually find the whoop with the bicep strap to be tolerably accurate, at least until I can drop it for something that finally pushes all the buttons)
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading the full review.
ReplyDeleteI already have a Fenix 6 Pro on my left wrist and Apple Watch on my right. If I also wanted to utilize the fitbit ecosystem, is there another place I could wear the Charge 5 and still get good HR data e.g. ankle or further up the arm.
My whoop subscription expires next month and I’ve been researching everywhere trying to find a replacement that works and delivers accurate data, something whoop doesn’t do. Fitbit and another subscription service doesn’t interest me in the least
ReplyDeleteWill likely go with garmin Venu 2 + garmin hr strap or polar vantage v2 + polar h10, can’t decide which has better recovery metrics. The subscription model sucks, and it’s disheartening to see all these companies moving towards it.
I have a Versa 2.
ReplyDeleteI use the timers constantly on this thing - to remind me about something in the oven, to water the plants, etc.
I also really use the “Relax” app, and it’s nice being notified of text messages on it.
Really like the look of it. Could potentially be worn with a mechanical wrist watch on the other arm without looking too crazy :D
ReplyDeleteTrying to go after Whoop, I see... Still different focus than Whoop though so doubt it will sway wanna-be-pro-athletes...
ReplyDeleteI binned my Charge 3 when I couldn't handle Google's appraisal of charlatan Deepak Chopra.
ReplyDeleteAm I overreacting?
Followed shortly thereafter by Google "canceling" them.
ReplyDeleteI just bought a charge 4, too bad as I might have waited. This looks nice!
ReplyDeleteI had bought the Withings HR and liked it, but broke the crystal about 3 months in and they screwed me on the warranty. Sent in broken watch but replacement never came. Likely will just get the Apple Watch 7 if it drops in Sept though.
We had ShitBits…
ReplyDelete…and now have Withings. Big improvement. Software is very good, hardware line is broader.
We got the BP cuff and the scale as well, so a good overall ecosystem that works well with our healthcare providers systems.
The Fitbits we had just fell apart. Cheap junk at premium prices.
Feel the same way and it NEVER tracked my biking correctly. Went in the trash after like a month.
DeleteSorry for your experience. So far mine have held up. Only had an inspire 2 since this winter. My wife has had a couple and my in-laws several over the years. No issues other than the screen scratches pretty easily. I should have been getting protector for mine.
DeleteI abuse the ever loving PISS out of mine. I do a significant amount of home renovation, wearing it most of the time. Along with a lot of activities like cutting and splitting logs on my 4 1/2 acres of mostly wooded property. So it gets smashed in to things on the regular. Still works fine other than a few scratches.
I am more concerned about Google owning Fitbit and the total lack of privacy that implies. Makes me more interested in an Apple watch, but Fitbits do work really well on activity tracking compared to at least earlier Apple watches (I have not looked at the last two gens of Apple watch) and the battery life is...lacking for Apple watches. At least for what I want.
I see up to 18hrs based on Apple's specs and I see claims of around 2 days if you don't use it a TON (IE no GPS, mostly using it as an actual watch and fitness tracker). I need at least 4 days, minimum. A week is better. I will not charge it every night. I do want sleep tracking. I will charge it when I hop in the shower, but that could be every 1-3 days depending on what's going on...and probably only 15-20 minutes of charging that often.
I don't want to HAVE to bring a charger if I am going camping for a couple of days. It would be nice if I forget a charger on a few day vacation that my watch isn't going to die halfway through. Especially if I didn't think to charger it right before I left. So a week+ is ideal, I could probably find a way to cope with 5 days. I don't think I could manage less than that without a serious PITA.
Does anyone know if the higher-end fitbits can detect HR when your hand is clenched?
ReplyDeleteI use a rowing erg a bunch, and it's always annoying to be collapsed from exhaustion after a 30-minute row, and the fitbit belatedly buzzes "congrats, you just hit HR 100!"
Currently using inspire 2. One of my friends that has looked into the optical HR sensors says it's probably a limitation of the tech since there's not actually much bloodflow while your hand is clenched.
No wrist based HR works well on rowing/weights or similar. I gave in and bought a cheap chest strap from eBay which is far better (assuming your watch can link to one)
DeleteI have a lot of trepidation around Fitbit "Coming soon!" features considering my Charge 3 never got the SpO2 sensing that was "Coming soon!" when I bought it a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteSnore detection is very useful. I don't need a watch for it, though. I have a wife.
ReplyDeleteGoogle's M.O. in this realm is well-established:
ReplyDelete1. Promote X, heavily
2. Lose interest in X
3. Shit-bin X
4. Move on to something else
5. Repeat
FitBit should be wary.