Fitbit Charge 5 Activity Tracker with 6-months Premium

I was unsure whether to buy another fitbit as they rarely last much past the warranty period.
My partner has a Charge5 and it does have many functions and a bright colour display. My previous fitbit a Charge3 was very poor in sunlight, this Charge5 is far better.
It also has many health sensors, such as irregular heart rate and O2 monitoring.
Hopefully it will be reliable, if not I’ll update this review.

Bought this to replace a clunky fitbit Versa. It is light and confortable, the screen is bright and easy to see in bright sunlight.
The battery drained very quickly, but after a restart and factory reset the battery has been fine.

If you are going to look at a Fitbit and get the most out of it, then the Premier membership is a must! It is only with the membership do you get all the functionality that turns this from a simple tracker to a personal focused health device. The premier membership comes with a whole range of services. If it is a simple tracker then there are cheaper alternatives; pays your money, takes your choice! The Charge 5 is a great upgrade to my Inspire HR and a worthy replacement albeit with the known issue with the watch strap clip issue!!!!!!!!! If you are not aware the ‘pebble’ is attached to the strap by a very tiny spring loaded clip which seemingly, with not much more than a tug comes away! Very, very easy to loose as it so small and there are no Fitbit replacements for it! There are couple of online companies that sell a replacement but the reviews are very mixed! You can buy a pebble holding watch strap which is what people buy that have the issue, stopping you throwing it away. It seems a very small complaint but it is a significant design flaw, have a look at the Fitbit community page. Anyway mine came away as above but I have managed with a watch making toolset managed to fix (for the time being) the issue. Now the aesthetics & functionality. It sits great on my wrist and looks the business. I swapped the original silicon strap as it doesn’t breathe. I have ended up with a rash underneath as it captures, soap, body lotion, water and what ever ends up in a swimming pool! I bought an adjustable nylon strap on Amazon and it works a treat. Three weeks no rash! The increased functionality of the Inspire HR is great, allowing me to train smarter (with a Readiness score) which works! The more you train, the greater the physical stress the lower the scoring and a suitable training recommendations are made. I love the Fitbit app and is very comprehensive and detailed and is easy to follow. The screen on the Charge 5 is excellent and the glass
is scratch resistant. It is light, smooth and unobtrusive, and therefore there is no issue wearing 24×7; capturing all nocturnal activity!!!!!!! If you are going to invest in your health this is a great tracker. I am sure there are other equally as excellent trackers out there but you won’t have wasted your money, especially if you pick it up at one the Amazon sale days or buy a second hand one from the buy options.

I was still using my trusty Fitbit Charge 2 but my boyfriend decided I needed a treat so bought me this.
As a female one of my fave features is how easy it is to change straps. I like to alternate per day / outfit etc. Another handy feature is getting notifications for texts, messenger & WhatsApp and phone call alerts via this model.
1 feature I’m not keen on is the display faces. You can’t design your own. You pick from a selection then some let you change info displayed.

Not going to go overboard on this as I only use it for steps, exercises and telling the time so this is not a review for all the lycra gym bunnies. It replaces a Charge 2 so obviously it’s all different and in glorious technicolour but to my mind some of it is a backward step, some graphics are so small they render them pointless if you’re at the gym sweating your nuts off and want to see at a quick glance how you’re doing – don’t expect to have to put my glasses on The battery life icon is especially ridiculously small to read. Don’t get me wrong, it does the fitness bit but all this added on stuff- pay for your coffee, receive texts etc not relevant. But there again I’ll no doubt get used it!!!

I have been a regular Fitbit user for years now, and my Fitbit of choice has always been the Fitbit Charge series. I got this one as an update from my Fitbit Charge 4.

I usually get an upgrade because the strap breaks. That has been one constant about all Fitbit Charges, the hardware is robust and keeps on working. But it is the strap or the strap hinges that break.

The Charge 4 had plastic hinges for the strap, and once they had gone it was time for a new Fitbit.

Thankfully the Charge 5 has metal hinges for the strap, so that issue should not affect this model. But the soft plastic straps usually last between one and two years, and then you need to buy a new strap.

Previous Fitbit Charges have always had monochrome displays, so moving to a colour display on the Charge 5 is a huge deal. It is so much better. It is also a touch screen now, and you swipe left, right, up or down to navigate. No more pressing the button on the side to navigate. So the navigation is really easy now.

The Charge 5 also has the EDA Scan and the ECG. The EDA Scan measures your stress levels, you need to pinch the metal contacts on either side on the Fitbit for three minutes with your fingers, and then report how calm you feel, and the score shows up in the app on your phone.

The ECG is similar, again you need to pinch the metal contacts on the Fitbit for 30 seconds, and then it reports your heart health. Normal sinus rhythm means good. You can then see the results on your phone.

I had to do a firmware update on the Fitbit Charge 5 before the ECG appeared as an option on the Fitbit.

Overall I am really happy with my upgrade to a Fitbit Charge 5, the colour screen makes it look great. The navigation is now easy via the touch screen. It has EDA and ECG scans built in.

It is the best Fitbit Charge I have had so far.

I used to use Fitbit, but have had an Apple Watch for the last 4 years. It had finally had it, so I opted for this Fitbit as a replacement. It’s a great tracker, and does the basics very well (superior to Apple Watch in terms of activity and sleep tracking).

Knocked off one star as it would be great if it had a side button to activate/deactivate screen, as the double tap thing can be a bit annoying at times.

I bought the Charge 5 at launch, so I was a bit concerned by the reviews about poor GPS tracking as that was one of the key reasons I wanted it (that and the colour screen). I’ve found it to be comfortable, it does everything it is supposed to and my experience of the GPS tracking is that it is very good. Battery life is excellent, it obviously depends on how you use it but I get about a week between charging up. I’m using the free 6 months trial of Fitbit Premium at the moment, I doubt I will continue with that as it seems to offer very little that I need above normal functionality – but it’s a free trial so I can’t knock it.

Pros:

Functionality is good, has all the features I need.
GPS tracking, heart rate tracking, step count, all seem accurate.
OEM strap is comfortable to wear all the time – I haven’t felt I needed to try other straps yet.
Great battery life

Cons:

The screen, while colour, isn’t as large or as bright as my old Samsung Gear Fit 2 (from 2016).
Related to the above, the watch faces aren’t as vibrant or detailed as I would like.
The device has frozen a couple of times, needed to be resurrected from the app.

I’d give it 4 1/2 stars if I could due to the cons above, but if you want a good all round tracker then the Charge 5 is a great option and I would recommend it.