New Fitbit Charge Wireless Fitness Tracker Bracelet Reviews
Pros
Easy to use
Agile Zone Minutes works nicely
Waterproof to 50m
Cons
Pricey
GPS not the most accurate
Fitbit was the outset big name in activity trackers. This is the visitor that turned step tracking from niche pursuit into a global obsession, a metric – much-derided – that underpins the success of the fitness technology industry today. But times, they are a-irresolute and at that place are now plenty of firms producing Fitbit-style products that do a similar thing for less cash.
So why would y'all buy the new Fitbit Charge 4 in the face of an barrage of cheap rivals from Red china? Fitbit thinks the addition of GPS and a choice of other features is enough to persuade customers abroad from the bargain bin. We'd have to say nosotros agree.
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Fitbit Charge four review: What y'all need to know
The Fitbit Charge four follows a pattern established past the company over the past few years, in that it doesn't look all that different from the model it replaces – the Fitbit Accuse iii, which launched in October 2018. When information technology comes to features, however, at that place are upgrades and they're meaning.
The big news is congenital-in GPS and this makes it the very first of Fitbit'southward fitness bands to have the technology. The only other current Fitbit wear with GPS is the ageing Fitbit Ionic smartwatch; neither of the house'southward more affordable Versa and Versa Lite watches has information technology, nor does the outgoing Fitbit Charge 3 or any of the cheaper fettle trackers.
The Fitbit Charge 4 also adds Fitbit Pay, a feature only previously available on the Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition, comes with the ability to control Spotify playback and adds a new mode to track your fitness: Active Zone Minutes, more on which below.
Fitbit Charge iv review: Price and competition
Then what else is available for the Fitbit Accuse four's asking price of £130? Turns out there'southward quite a lot. If it's a fitness-tracking wristband with GPS yous're afterwards, you have the Huawei Ring 3 Pro or the Huawei Band iv Pro to choose from, both at prices less than one-half that of the Fitbit Accuse iv. Garmin's Vivosport band (£100) is as well considerably cheaper than the Charge 4, although it'south of import to note that it lacks the Fitbit's swim tracking abilities and it has a smaller, fiddlier display.
If you don't listen because a smartwatch every bit well, in that location are farther options available to y'all. The ludicrously good-value Amazfit Verge and Verge Lite both have GPS and commencement at a price of £75; the Laurels MagicWatch ii in its 42mm guise can exist had for £120. The Fitbit Charge 4, then, is at the upper end of the cost scale for a production of this blazon.
Fitbit Charge four review: Key features and blueprint
To re-emphasise, there isn't a huge corporeality new on the blueprint front with the Fitbit Charge 4. As before, it'southward a fitness ring with an inline display – not quite as slimline as the Fitbit Inspire HR only certainly more svelte than the Versa ii or the Versa Lite watches.
Indeed, the size, shape and overall design are identical to the Charge 3. The familiar curved body has a touch-sensitive display, sensors located on the rear and a capacitive "button" on the side which acts every bit a dorsum/pause command. On the one hand, this is a tad deadening; on the other, it means existing Accuse 3 accessories and wristbands remain compatible with the new device. Plus, I recall the Charge is still i of the more bonny wristband trackers out there; information technology'southward certainly much better looking than the Garmin Vivosport.
The Accuse four still has a monochrome OLED touchscreen, too, which is disappointing when both the Versa and Ionic take colour displays. This can be tricky to read in bright sunshine, although it's considerably easier to view in other atmospheric condition, and to navigate, than the display on other wristbands I've used.
The device also retains all the fettle tracking features from the Accuse 3 while adding some new ones every bit well.
Y'all can use it to rails your eye rate, steps, calories burned, sleep and floors climbed. There'due south automatic practice detection, plus modes for running, biking, treadmill, "outdoor conditioning" and walking. The Fitbit Charge 4'southward 50m water resistance ways you can use it for swim tracking, too.
Amongst the new features, Fitbit has added Spotify controls (you can't download tracks to the band itself, however) and Fitbit Pay. Previously, the latter feature was restricted to the Special Edition model. Not that this volition be a large selling betoken in the Britain since the number of banks supporting Fitbit Pay is vanishingly small compared with Google and Apple's equivalent systems.
Information technology volition monitor your blood oxygen levels every bit you slumber, also, and concluding merely non to the lowest degree information technology'southward also worth mentioning the fact that Fitbit is giving away 40 items of premium content in the app in support of users during the COVID-19 pandemic. These can exist constitute under the Notice tab in the app and largely accept the course of video workouts.
In that location'due south also an extended 90-solar day complimentary trial of Fitbit's £8/mth Premium service, which delivers everything from guided fettle programmes and more personalised health "insights" to advanced sleep-tracking tools and thousands of actress workouts.
Fitbit Charge 4 review: What are Active Zone Minutes?
Simply Fitbit hasn't stopped there and, in a move that is perhaps more significant than the hardware updates, information technology has chosen the Accuse four to launch its new Active Zone Minutes health metric, which features aslope your step count, calories burned, distance and floors climbed counts on the Fitbit app'south principal screen.
It works a little like those other metrics in that what yous do tots upwards over time. Instead of steps, however, users are given daily and weekly targets for how long they spend in a given heart rate zone. The default is 22 minutes daily and 150 minutes weekly. Zone minutes are also rewarded differently, depending on which zone they spend those minutes in.
Practise a mild, 10-infinitesimal workout generally in your fat-burning heart-rate zone (zone 3, normally), for case, and you'll earn ten Active Zone Minutes towards your daily 30-minute target; up the intensity to your cardio and pinnacle eye rate zones (unremarkably divers every bit zones four and five) and you'll get double credit for any fourth dimension spent in those zones.
Tracking your fettle using eye-rate zones is no new affair. It'south what serious athletes and fitness fanatics have been doing ever since the technology to measure heart rate became widely bachelor. However, counting the "fourth dimension in zone" towards a daily or weekly target in the same style as a stride count is a new thought and looks to be quite a sensible i. It certainly makes more than sense from a general fitness standpoint than the much more capricious stride count measure.
The but things I'd be concerned most is that, first, Agile Zone Minutes as a concept is a lot less simple to comprehend than a footstep count. And, second, that those actress time credits for activities in your cardio and peak zones might encourage people to indulge in too much loftier-intensity practice at the expense of lower intensity exercise when a balance between the two is what you desire to aim for.
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Fitbit Charge four review: Performance
The biggest new characteristic, withal, is the addition of GPS so it'south worth examining how well information technology'southward been implemented. The quick answer to this question is well enough, but information technology's a long way from the best GPS tracking habiliment nosotros've tested here at Practiced Reviews.
I used the Fitbit Charge 4 to monitor several runs and short walks over the course of 5 days. The ane consistent matter I noticed that the track plotted on the map tended to be pretty wobbly. It didn't hug corners particularly well and compared quite poorly with the ageing Garmin Forerunner 630 I had on my other wrist, and this, on average, led to slightly longer distances being recorded. Not past enough to exist too worried about, but if you're running longer distances of 10km plus yous might desire to await at something more than accurate.
Here's an example - notation the tiptop portion of the track, where the Fitbit rounds it off noticeably:
But then, this isn't a serious running sentinel; it'due south a fettle tracker and as long as y'all keep using it it volition provide you with a decent gauge of how you're doing comparatively speaking.
The heart rate monitor is more impressive. Compared with the data gleaned from the aforementioned scout with a Garmin HRM-Run breast fastened, the Fitbit tracked pretty close. Again, it tended to read very slightly higher than the Garmin but not by much. Indeed, over a few runs ranging from 22 minutes to 49 minutes in length, the difference in average centre rate was around 3bpm.
As you tin can see from the example below, the middle-rate traces match quite closely, although oddly, on this run, the Fitbit recorded a lower average heart charge per unit and matched the max heart charge per unit exactly:
Finally, to battery life, which is quoted at seven days without GPS and v hours of continuous GPS apply. My experience and so far is that using the GPS for short bursts of activeness (twenty to 30 minutes) every mean solar day gives around four days of use. That's pretty proficient in my book.
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Fitbit Accuse 4 review: Verdict
The Fitbit Accuse 4 doesn't wait like a big update on the exterior, but GPS is a welcome addition and information technology's good to see Fitbit continuing to innovate with the introduction of Active Zone Minutes – an interesting new take on an existing way of tracking workout intensity over time. It'south certainly prissy to be rewarded for how hard you do rather than just for how many steps you take or how long your workouts last.
The harder question to reply is whether the Fitbit Charge four is worth paying the extra for, given that other trackers are available with similar features for a lot less. I'd say it'due south just virtually worth information technology, mainly considering Fitbit has such a big customs – and partially because the Charge 4 also throws in swim tracking alongside its other capabilities. Information technology's fun to be able to connect with friends for motivation as yous endeavour to keep fit.
Nevertheless, if that doesn't appeal, and all you want is for a device to tell you where you've been, what your eye charge per unit was and how many steps you've taken, then you can get a similar feature ready for a lot less money.
Fitbit Charge 4 specifications | |
| Screen | Monochrome OLED touchscreen with auto-brightness |
| GPS | Yeah |
| Middle rate | Aye |
| SpO2 | Yep |
| Water-resistance | 50m (5ATM) |
| Cadre tracking | Steps, calories, sleep, floors climbed, do, swimming |
| Music | Spotify control (no downloads) |
| NFC payment | Fitbit Pay |
| Battery life | vii days without GPS; 5hrs with continuous GPS use |
Source: https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/fitbit/1411928/fitbit-charge-4-review