Fitbit Charge 4 Advanced Fitness Tracker with GPS, Swim
Fitbit Charge 4 Advanced Fitness Tracker with GPS, Swim Tracking & Up To 7 Day Battery
| Weight: | 0.25 Kilograms |
| Size: | one |
| Dimensions: | 24.7 x 2.88 x 1.25 cm; 100 Grams |
| Brand: | Fitbit |
| Model: | FB417BKBK |
| Colour: | Black |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 C batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | Fitbit |
| Age: | Youth |
| Department: | Unisex |
| Dimensions: | 24.7 x 2.88 x 1.25 cm; 100 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | one |
Watch has a habit of displaying on the screen even though it is set not to do so, Also, it frequently vibrates when it is not supposed to do so. Apart from these two minor issues it’s fine.
Seems to be working ok, does what I need it to do.
This is the 3rd step tracker watch I’ve bought. This is by far the best. It tracks steps, sleep, oxygen in blood, and heart bpm to name a few of the features.
I was hesitant to pay 80 in case it was a waste of money like the last 2 I bought but at the end of the day you get what you pay for. It really is worth every penny.
If you’re considering buying a 30 step tracker don’t! Pay the extra and get a far better device.
Easy to read clock face, accurate, simple stylish design and very easy to pair with my Android phone via Bluetooth.
I am really pleased with it and highly recommend
Bought as a replacement for my old one which suddenly stopped working. Disappointed this one doesn’t have the sleep feature on it unless you pay for Premium.
I have been in touch with Fitbit, and they are sending me a replacement even though the watch is over year old.
One thing i like about it is that it is lightweight and i dont even realise im wearing it half the time lol. However mine did come with a scratch across the screen which obviously doesnt go away, but that doesn’t bother me much, other than that the product is good i mean all fitbits are generally good.
I am happy with this purchase. This wristband works very good for me and constantly reminds me if I am being inactive. It vibrates , which is reminder for me to go and grab a coffee or just walk around.
Earning budges also sort of motivation, and I noticed that personally for me I do pay attention that I got every day goal on 10 000 steps and to complete my 22 active mins. Sometimes even after gym, I do some walk to hit lack of steps it is definitely helps and motivates me.
just an update2023: Used this about an every day, (probably about a year). Really like ulit and there never happened any issues. Unfortunately, my strap was torn. I called Fitbit support line, and they replaced all wristband for the Wristband 5, because there were no more previous model.
So I just wanted to say that their support line is brilliant. It was an easy process and very supportive.
Therefore my trust towards Fitbit is 100%.
I hope this feedback will help someone.
I bought this to replace my faithful Fitbit Alta, which didn’t have a lot of “bells and whistles”. I was at first overwhelmed with all the features of Charge 4, but I quickly began to appreciate the accuracy of the heart monitor, as I am a cardiac patient. Also, the sleep tracker is brilliant, although, it often thinks I am asleep when I’ve been reading in bed for a while, before I drift off. So, it might be a bit too sensitive. However, after having it for several months, it popped of my wrist one day, and it broke off one of the parts that attaches it to the strap. I was prepared to pay to fix it, it’s that good. But as I logged in to see when I purchased it, I found the warranty and began the process to return it, which consisted of a couple of clicks and a bit of typing, packing it up, printing out a lable, and sending it off. A few weeks later, I recieved a brand new Fitbit, as apparently, they were unable to repair mine. (Although, they never said that…they just sent me a new one.) In fairness, I realised, when I read the instructions on the new one, I’d been wearing it too tight…so that may be why it broke. (shhh..lol) Overall, I’m well impressed with the whole purchase and the product. I think I’m a Fitbit lifer now.
I find this really great for getting me moving during the day, to get my steps beyond 10,000, and for keeping an eye on my heart rate etc. I did try it as a gps runners watch, but that wasn’t so successful, as it is too fiddly to get the screen to work when you are trying to run as well. So what I do is wear my Garmin running watch on one wrist for distance and this fitbit on the other to record my total steps for the day.
Works for me!
The main drawback would be the painful wrists I got with the original strap for the fitbit. I think it has been the tendons, the strap seems to press on just the wrong place and could just be my physiology. Things are now ok as I have swapped to a stretchy strap.
So all in all, a good buy but maybe not for the serious runner.
generally good and i love that the app has built in meditations. I’ve been having issues with my heart after receiving my covid jab and this has helped me keep an eye on my heart rate and spo2 so i can have extra ammo for the doctor in addition to blood pressure/ecgs etc so they can try and figure out what’s wrong with me.
I’m not trying to monitor my weight so haven’t bothered looking at calorie burning or counting or whatever so can’t comment on that.
Because I have multiple long-lasting physical problems (whiplash, costochondritis, torn SI ligament) on top of my jab messing me up, my sleep and anxiety levels have been really badly affected for the last 6 months and this has been helping me try and regain some peace and control over that and ease back into exercise without triggering my heart so i can take steps to getting my life back on some sort of track.
The silicone strap is absolutely revolting so that got replaced immediately which isn’t a problem.
The main issues I have with it is that quite often the spo2 doesn’t register which is annoying because the main reason I got this device over it’s cheaper brother which seems to have more accurate sleep monitoring is because I wanted that SpO2 measurement. The other thing that bugs me is it undercounts the stairs and WAY overcounts my steps. I can go up and down the stairs a dozen times and it will log 4 if i’m lucky. However if i brush my teeth or type it seems to think i’ve run a marathon and I almost always wake up to about 100 steps logged despite not being a sleepwalker or a fidgeter.
The app is pretty easy to use i’m sure there are ways they could make it more intuitive but once you learn your way round it’s fine.
I’d say this is probably good for people for an all over view of their levels but i’d take it with a pinch of salt in terms of accuracy and not get yourself tied up in too many knots about it.
I originally purchased a Heroband but didn’t think it was tracking accurately so splashed out on a fit bit.
Cons. Can be a little uncomfortable to wear – I don’t really notice it until I knock it then it rubs against my skin and can pinch. Doesn’t measure blood pressure like the heroband (but maybe not a con see below). Doesn’t show steps per hour but linked to the heath app I can get that information. A little hard to read / colour would be nice but you get that with the later version. Some basic instructions when first receiving it would have been helpful as well as it took me over an hour and a live chat to fitbit to resolve simple set up.
Pros. Appears to be more accurate on the step count and will log all sleep and show deep vs light a lot easier. Like that it links to the health app and my fitness pal and calculates your calorie deficit. The best thing for me which the heroband wasn’t doing is recording my heart rate during exercise. Heroband took a moment to ‘catch up’ which meant it wasn’t recording my peak heart rate but fit bit does this and tells you when you are in fat burning mode. The ph notifications also meant I didn’t miss an important call on my phone.
Have used it for aqua and it held up perfectly, continuing to measure everything and it automatically recognised I was swimming and gave me my calories. Every day I’m dining more and more features and stats that I didn’t realise it had.
Also really like the GPS auto feature which means when I go for walks it maps it.
Overall I am glad I spent more for the fitbit as it gives me everything I want plus more – except blood pressure but apparently that cant be 100% accurate without an arm or wrist cuff anyway.
The battery life after 4 days is at 35% but given that its monitoring constantly and I keep checking it I’m OK with that so far. Will just need to remember to charge it when I’m not doing anything i.e. watching TV.
Pretty good overall. Excellent battery life, can last 7 days without charge, though that drops a lot if using GPS to track runs. That means you don’t have to consider when to recharge it every day or two like some other trackers.
Tracks steps as accurately as you can expect from these wristbands, the sleep quality tracking is really interesting and the GPS is reasonable at keeping track of runs, though to keep it low power enough to maintain battery life it samples location less frequently than your phone, so comparing runs in Strava is noticeably less detailed. Not a dealbreaker though. Syncs well with my Vitality account.
Most annoying thing is somehow on 3 or 4 occasions now the screen setting has changed to dim, which is basically useless in outdoor light. Changing it back seems to require navigating to the settings menu on a screen that you can barely see or have to find a dark place to switch it. First time it happened I honestly thought the Fitbit was broken.
Also it needs a tight fit against the skin, which if you are working out and your wrist swells can become annoying as you have to adjust the strap, then remember to readjust later.
Definitely feeling the app is turning into a ‘pay to play’ kind of model though, worried they will do a Strava and start charging for the basic stuff.
I purchased this watch as I really wanted something to track my heart rate and calorie burn and found cheaper alternatives just weren’t accurate.
I’ve tested the heart rate monitor against my actual heart rate and found it to be very accurate.
It’s also been interesting to see just how much I actually do move around and burn in a day.
I really like the notification function, as I generally have my phone on silent its easier to just get a buzz on my wrist rather than having to check my phone constantly, and it’s also easy to choose which apps notify you.
It’s a little unfortunate that the contactless payment is limited to a fairly small amount of banks, as I would have liked to use this feature, I hope they add more mainstream banks in the future.
I’ve found the battery to last the best part of a week, I don’t use the GPS on it so that is why I get a good charge out of it. The charger is a little fiddly to get used to.
I’d recommend this watch if you’re looking for a good fitness tracking watch, it is not overly fancy or hard to use, and does what it says.
Bought this Fitbit for my wife and I thought I would give it a month before I gave a review just to see how it was working out.
I was a little bit wary of buying this model after reading some of the reviews and also my wife’s previous experience of Fitbit reliability when she owned a Fitbit One. That model only lasted about 18 months before it packed up.
Fortunately this Fitbit Charge 4 worked straight out of the box, in fact there was not even the need to charge it up first, it came fully charged. The bonus for my wife was that even though she had deleted the Fitbit app when the Fitbit One died, when she re-downloaded the app again it still remembered her details (some might be worried about big brother surveillance here) all she had to do was delete the fb1.
Although my wife likes the inspirational and motivational part of using the Fitbit app, she didn’t feel she wanted another expensive fitness tracker if they don’t seem to last that long so after the fb1 died she bought a cheap wrist watch style fitness tracker from Letscom (23 at the time). This model was ok but had lots of limitations, the main one being that you couldn’t see the screen in all but the cloudiest days, so as a time piece it was pretty useless. Again this watch only lasted a year before it broke (one of the pins for charging snapped off) but again if you are only paying 23 then it’s not the end of the world.
So she decided to go back to a Fitbit. The Fitbit charge 4 has a good screen where she can see the time in daylight, however the symbols for the different exercises are too small to read unless she has her reading glasses. It’s easy to charge up (and less likely to get damaged in doing so) with a charge lasting about two or three days. My wife hasn’t found or used a lot of the features due to the lack of instructions (GPS etc) and the inspirational and motivational parts of the app aren’t so good (she can’t find the “Walking through a USA National Park” feature).
The sleep tracker says she has an average score for someone of her age, she now feels sorry for the rest of the women of her age because she doesn’t feel that her sleep pattern is that good.
To sum up: the Fitbit charge 4 is quite good and is easy to wear and use. We just think it’s a bit expensive for what it is, especially as you don’t know how long it is going to last before it needs replacing.
I do like the fact that I get notifications when I am in an active zone. It tells me if I’m fat burning or if I’m in the cardio zone which I find very useful as sometimes I think I’m working harder than I am so it gives me a nudge to work harder. Very useful.
I do have one thing I should have considered before purchased…… I always swap my straps for the magnetic type, I prefer them, find them more comfortable and think it makes it look more like a watch. My charge 3 was gold colour so I had a gold coloured strap. Before I purchased I checked that I could use the same strap, all good, but I didn’t consider the actual colour of the watch. They don’t do the charge 4 in gold colour, so as you can see in the picture I have a gold strap on a rosewood tracker. It is rather annoying, I wish I’d gone for the black option because they don’t do a rosewood magnetic strap. It’s a small thing, and obviously doesn’t affect the use of the tracker but I do find it very annoying every time I look at it, which is very often!
Overall, the fitbit charge 4 is a good tracker, easy to use, some very useful features and I think the fitbit range will always be my go to for fitness trackers.
In addition to the GPS, I also mainly use this to track calories, steps and sleep.
Calories first…
Again, I think this gives a rough approximation of energy used, but considering the fact that the Charge 4 has no idea of my body composition it should always be taken with a pinch of salt. I also question the accuracy of the HR monitor when engaging in intense exercise. My calorie burns for things like walks and dance workouts (where I’m nowhere near out of breath) seem to me to rate a lot higher than I’d expect, whereas a spin class with phases of maximum effort that leave me gasping for air don’t burn as much as I would have anticipated. I suspect, as I’ve read in other reviews, the Charge 4 can’t manage to keep up with rapid spikes in heart rate, and therefore struggles to analyse very high levels of energy output. Or maybe I just should have been walking all this time instead of doing spin. Who knows? Still, it gives me a guideline and is a motivator. And also at least provides me with the horrifying reality of a sedentary day when compared with how much I eat.
Steps…
Again, take with a pinch of salt. Maybe a spoonful. As I read with pretty much all fitness trackers, the Charge 4 will tell you you’ve taken steps before you got up in the morning, and of course it counts exercise movement as steps too. Why wouldn’t it? If it could discern between the two that would be crazily sophisticated. Again, you can get a rough idea, and I just tell myself to subtract about 3000 just to be sure.
Sleep…
I find this really interesting and I must say I think it’s fairly accurate in terms of periods of time spent awake in the night. I couldn’t comment on the deep/light/REM stages as I obviously have no idea what’s going on. I like the benchmark averages for people of my age, and mostly I am scared that I almost never get 8 hours.
I don’t use the community or reminder aspects of the Charge 4. I like it as an analytical tool but don’t want it to rule my life, nor do I want to get messages or control Spotify from it, so I can’t comment on any of these things.
My gut instinct is that if I hadn’t been bothered about GPS (which I rarely use) I would have been happy enough with the HR Inspire as well. That said, I don’t regret the purchase and I think it’s basically given me the things I was looking for.
Oh, you probably want to know about appearance and comfort. Honestly, I think it’s less attractive than the Inspire, but as a person with abnormally skinny wrists I don’t think it looks too ridiculously bulky. The strap is comfortable (you’re supposed to tighten it before starting exercise so I’ve just learned which setting to default to) and after a couple of months the strap doesn’t look particularly worn/dirty/greasy/stained. I keep meaning to buy another one for during the day, to save the original one for sweaty exercise, but haven’t been bothered yet so I guess that tells you it’s comfortable and looks fine.
Having recently had a pacemaker fitted I thought it might be an idea to get something like this and as I can’t justify the price of an iWatch this seemed to be a good alternative. It measures things like heart beats per minute; calories burned; distance travelled, steps taken; sleep patterns and blood oxygen measured. Which are fine if those are the things that you want to keep track of, and the stats seem to be accurate – up to point! The most inaccurate stat is one that I found the least useful and that is how many flights of stairs you go up in the course of the day! Why would you want to know this? As long as it records steps taken then you don’t really need to know how high you are!
There is an altimeter built in but like most of these small, inexpensive bits of kit it is totally inaccurate and many of the posts put on the comments section of the Dashboard would hold this to be true. For instance, mine would register going up and down stairs perhaps 6-8 times when, in fact, the number would be around 15-16, and the opposite would occur also!
However, the biggest problem I found was due to the Tracker’s design. On the back of the Tracker there are what look like 4 sensors (some of which emit coloured light) and 3 contacts that are used to recharge the device. The sensors are contained in a “bulge” on the back next to the skin and the contacts are in what I can only describe as a small “pit” at the end of the row of sensors. With a snug fit on the wrist so that the sensors can do their work the bulge presses into the skin but because of the pressure generated by this action, skin is pressed up into the pit! After wearing this for some time when I took it off I found that the skin under the sensors was turning Red and a small lump was formed by the skin being pressed into the pit.
I advised Fitbit of this and they said that they were concerned about this and I could return the Tracker for a full refund if I was not happy. I said I would persevere with it but 3-4 days later the irritation on my skin was getting worse so I have now finally returned it! My skin is still not back to normal but it is slowly getting there!
I am not saying that this would happen to everybody and if the spec of the Charge 4 is what you are looking for then give it a try, at this price you can’t lose, as long as you accept its’ limitations – check the spec carefully to see if it does, indeed, give you what you want; those with sensitive skin, however, might also want to take that into account!
I gifted my wife the Fitbit for her birthday and this was her review below:
I thought the Fitbit is just a step counter and a watch and I wasn’t exposed to the extensive functions and benefits of this gadget.
I spent the last year complaining about my weight and my husband gifted me the Fitbit for my birthday. This device is a great starting point for anyone embarking on a fitness journey. It’s a safe space to input your habits and lifestyle while the app and watch guide you on how to improve your overall health and mental wellness. Fitbit includes a menstrual tracker which is extremely useful depending on your fertility goals.
It includes meditation and other guided workouts to incorporate as part of your wellness regime at home.I can work out in a safe space from the comfort of my home.
You can keep track of your weight BMI and heartrate with this watch as well.
The watch tracks your sleep patterns and provides analysis on the quality of your sleep and heart rate. Bonus it includes a light vibration alarm if your not into noisey alarms.
Something I never expected from the watch is message and call notifications when synced with my phone. I can read my text messages without touching my phone.
This watch exceeded my expectations and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to embark on a wellness journey.
I am a first time FitBit user, and have had my Rosewood Charge 4 for about a month now. I am overall very happy with my purchase.
First, the positives:
– it has made a real difference to my motivation to exercise and meditate more regularly. N.B. I use it for cardio circuits and strength training. I have not yet tested the GPS properly on a run.
– heart rate analysis in general is great, especially during exercise. The different heart rate zones (fat burn, cardio, peak) are useful indicators. I cannot however comment on how accurate this is, as I have not used it in conjunction with a heart rate monitor.
– sleep analysis is great. The sleep score and bedtime reminders have made me a lot more strict about getting to bed on time.
– SmartWake alarm feature has made a real difference to how well rested I feel when I wake up. I no longer rely on my phone alarm, and instead wake up gently at my lightest stage of sleep which is great.
– Battery life is amazing. Once charge lasts me at least 5-7 days.
– No issues with syncing so far (although a different story when it comes to text/WhatsApp notifications – see below).
The negatives:
– The screen display sometimes doesn’t light up when you tilt the watch towards you. It often takes a more exaggerated gesture / button press to light it up.
– Text/WhatsApp notifications are EXTREMELY temperamental. Multiple times a week I find that my FitBit has not synced to display my phone notifications, and find a message on the app stating “Notification service not running. A phone restart is required to re-enable notifications on your tracker”. What’s even more frustrating is that a restart doesn’t resolve this issue. Instead, the only solution appears to be going into my phone settings, clearing data for the FitBit app, and then logging into the app again and enabling notifications. I think this is a wider issue with FitBit compatibility with Android phones, and is not Charge 4-specific. I am currently using a Huawei P20 Pro.
– The Spotify feature occasionally disconnects and unlikely to be of much use. It’s more like having a remote on your wrist – useful if you’re playing Spotify from your phone without your phone nearby and want to pause/skip a track. The only real use I’ve found for this feature is when I’m listening to music in the shower!
– The Charge 4’s strap is quite bulky on smaller wrists and the rubber is pretty inflexible (see picture). My wrists are very small – around 5ish inches – and this means there is a lot of space left when I tighten the strap as far as it can go (for me, the third hole from the smallest). I bought a woven strap separately to try and remedy this, and it does look better but hasn’t completely resolved the issue due to the width of the device and strap connectors. If this likely to bother you, get a different FitBit watch.
– The rubber on the Charge 4 strap does wear slightly with use (giving it a grey-ish tint).
None of the above are dealbreakers though. If you’re a first time fitness tracker user you are likely to still be very happy with your purchase!
Having said all that, once set up it worked OK, until I was out walking wearing long sleeves. The normal way to check the time is to slide the sleeve slightly up the wrist to see the watch face. That is OK unless you touch (even lightly) the face, at which point the screen slides left onto “Exercise/Agenda”. You cannot then simply slide the screen back, instead you have to press the button on the side in order to bring back the clock face. Perhaps Fitbit assume this will be used only in a gym context, where bare arms are the norm. However it is also a timepiece which is available to the user all day and night, when dressed in normal outdoor clothes!
I would have thought it would be simple electronically to have a screen lock (say three taps?) so the screen stayed fixed and you could not accidentally scroll past the clock face (which is what most people will use the device for most of the time.) It is the lack of such an obvious function that made this four rather than five stars.
I chose this Fitbit because it featured GPS connection so I could go out without necessarily having to use my mobile phone. I was also looking to be able to measure my VO2max score, but found that the cardiac fitness score recorded on the accompanying app provides good feedback on fitness.
I’ve been impressed with the features in the app; I like the mindfulness meditations, and the sleep tracking features in particular. The tracker also has a morning wake-up alarm that can be set to buzz you during a light sleep phase. I haven’t strictly tested the tracker’s accuracy – it seems pretty accurate. It provides plenty of feedback on a whole range of things, from water intake, and food/calorie records, to steps taken, and work-outs completed. I noticed that there were some negative reports about Fitbit – that it doesn’t reliably sync with the app, but with a couple of links on my screen to Fitbit help pages, I’ve been easily able to re-connect the tracker to the app on the rare occasions that it won’t synch; it nearly always synchs and refreshes like clockwork. With all its features it is worth the money. The mindfulness sessions that are included in the basic set up (i.e not the Premium package ones) are very helpful – I might not even get all this from a gym membership! The tracker is comfortable to wear too.
I started doing long walks and the standard app on my phone never seemed that accurate to me so I bought the fitbit charge 4.
The step tracker seems very accurate and only counts a small percentage of arm movements as steps.
The distance tracker is also very accurate when compared to walks I’ve done looking at OS map distances.
The heart rate tracker is very responsive and updates quickly. The ‘oxygen sensor’ that works during sleep provides a graph you can view using the app, I’m not quite sure how useful this function is. With no underlying health issues I’ve seen minimal change detected so I don’t really use this function.
The main reason to pick the charge 4 over other fitbit varieties is the GPS tracker. The charge 4 can be used to map your route and is relatively accurate (the map produced shows slight variations off of paths so it does look like you ran through someones house).
The app is very good, with a barcode scanner for making food logging very easy and accurate. I would say some foods are difficult to find and when you create your own input, your macro tracker doesn’t work effectively.
The sleep tracker is accurate although your “sleep score” is hugely effected by how tight you wear the fitbit (tighter = higher score).
1) Running using inbuilt GPS (no phone with me though I can do this if needed)
2) Sleep time tracking
On point 1 I have had some issues with getting the inbuilt GPS to work at times. It seems that when you are done you should turn it off (even though you aren’t exercising at this point and its not in use) and turn it back on when you need to exercise again. Also as other reviewers have pointed out it may take a minute to connect to the GPS especially so with cloud cover but this does not bother me so much given it is a small device – how powerful can it be? I also have low power mode turned on to help with the battery so that probably explains some of it as well.
I have seen several complaints about battery life when using the inbuilt GPS but it made it over 5 days including a 4.5 mile run and a 3 mile run which I thought was good/in line with expectations. For reference these are the GPS settings I use:
– GPS mode = dynamic
– GLONASS = On
– GPS low power mode = On
The sleep time tracking has been very useful for me and has worked seamlessly.
The device itself is very comfortable to wear and very small and light – easy to forget it’s there sometimes compared to the Blaze I used to own.
The other feature I did not buy it for but use is the notifications – I have found this really quite useful and user friendly so far. For work when I need to remote log in I get a text message with a code and now it pops straight on to my Fitbit without me having to touch the phone.
As you can probably tell I have not used all the features on it but what I need it for has worked excellently so far and I would recommend it.
I’ve burnt more calories and been more conscious of my sleep since buying this Fitbit. The SE band looks awesome and contemporary too. I love the fat burning zones that allow me to push my walks a little more.
Overall, this is my daily wear. I recommend the Charge 4 And think the price is OK for what you get.
Nevertheless, there are problems. You must raise your wrist to glance at the time, making glancing at the time awkward. When the face does illuminate, the clock faces are mostly irritating. I wish Fitbit would design a handful of good looking watch faces that aren’t centred around fitness stats.
Fitbit pay doesn’t work. I have a ‘supported’ bank, yet it never works when I try and pay for it. Apple Pay on Apple Watch is, however, perfect.
Fitbit’s tie in with Spotify is annoying if you’re not subscribed to Spotify. You can only control Spotify music instead of your phone’s music player, meaning you cannot play/ pause all other ways of listening to music. This is weird as the cheap Xiaomi Band (26) has a generic Bluetooth music controller built in.
The Fitbit is good looking enough, but you need a proper diver, field, or dress watch to have style. The Fitbit’s look is for the daily wear, as long as you don’t care about looking stylish or sophisticated. Amazon’s strap accessories are universally rubbish, while Fitbit’s official straps are attractive but expensive.
Battery: I have it for more than 2 weeks now and the battery life is very good. It all depends on the GPS of course, but if you run 30 minutes a day with GPS on you will have it lasting 3 days. It always takes a little less than 2 hours to charge, it doesn’t matter if you use a super charger or your computer USB port.
UPDATE: Now you can use “Dynamics GPS”, meaning it’ll use your phone GPS when available, saving battery and increasing precision.
GPS: the accuracy is okay, it syncs quite fast, you can stretch while waiting. But I don’t think you gain much from it. Apart from a bit more accurate distance measurement and fancy looking maps (route) in the app, there’s no gain. I recommend you turn it off and increase your battery life and you still are gonna get all the metrics that really matter.
Heart Rate Monitor: my readings are very accurate! Some people have reviewed this Fitbit and warned about its inaccuracy, but I think they are either wrong or have some issue with their “setup”. I have thick veins, easy to read, maybe that helps. I don’t even wear it tight.
Features: I don’t use the Spotify app, that gladly can be removed, and I noticed that by enabling the notifications (at least with Android) I get all the smart actions for each notification, that includes media control over YouTube and Google play music that I happen to use. That also means quick replies on WhatsApp and alikes.
Fitbit Pay: works nice with AIB in Ireland, no need to have your phone nearby, and the PIN unlocks it for 30 minutes or so, so you don’t have to enter it all the time. I’m currently trying to add a second card from TransferWise and having difficulties so I’m in contact with 2nd level support to try and make it work, it looks like it’s gonna work eventually.
UPDATE: TransferWise card added and working!
Waterproof: I wore it all the time, under the rain, washing hands, taking shower, soap everywhere, under hot water in a filled bathtub. So far so good. I’ll try it in sea water soon to have a final view on this subject.
Finishing: the straps really don’t connect that we’ll to the body leaving a gap that fills with dust every day. Once a day I take it off and clean it, not a big deal to me, but that’s really a downside, even if a small one.
Apart from that there really isnt much of a change from previous versions in terms of functionality. Steps work ok and theres a bit more flexibility on the app – the sleep function is useful and for me seems to work better than the 2 ever did – but apart from that no real surprises. Theres no option to have an always on display, one of the top requested software updates – personally I dont find it a problem but for some users I can see why it would be an issue. (Update – latest firmware update has implemented a longer display time option so Fitbit does listen and added one star) Battery life is pretty good and I charge up about every three days (and its quick anyway)
Charge 4 uses the same strap system as 3 so you can use the old straps or keep as backups – the strap system is definitely an improvement over 2.
The really annoying thing and what you need to check is fitbit pay – unless you bank with one well known UK bank none of the others is supported – unless you happen to bank with ones that no-one else has heard of. The list as of June 2020 doesnt have banks such as Barclays, Firstdirect, Halifax etc – so if you do bank with them fitbit pay just isnt available. The fitbit forum has been full of posts from UK users for a couple of years now asking for their bank to be added – Fitbit just ignores them (aka ‘under consideration’) or asks people to contact their bank to request it (yep that is really going to work isnt it). Compare the USA list of supported banks to the UK one and you can see where Fitbits priorities are. Very frustrating and not good enough. If cars were sold like this you would think the salesman was a bit dodgy – somehow tech gets away with it.
So overall its sort of ok, but frustrating that some changes could be made that would definitely make this a winner – and this could be done with the existing hardware, either by software changes or more importantly Fitbit doing their bit to make changes happen faster. Until then I would suggest other competitors are worth looking at before you decide.
Today I have received the second one. It did turn on and device registered ok but unfortunately there were 2 issues:
1. I subscribed to the premium service through the Fitbit app, after initial “successful” message, the premium service turn inactive. The subscription still show as acive on my Google playstores subscription section, and was confirmed by the Fitbit customer care agent, but none of the services, including the programs on the Fitbit Coach app are active. The agent promised to try to sort it out.
2. Another big issue is the poor build quality of the tracker itself, when I noticed defects on the plastic casing around the screen (seen on the photo). There are 2 notches on the top and another rough prominent area on the right side, unpleasant to touch when you swipe your finger on the touch screen. Overall, very disappointing first and second experiences with Fitbit. I suspect, since the launch was during COVID-19 pandemic, it was rushed without proper quality control.
Thankfully the customer service was quick to access, and hopefully the return process through Amazon goes smoothly (it is a hustle to return items during lockdown). Fitbit has a lot of work to do to convince the customers about the quality of its products because there are more and more competitors in the market.
I waited for years for a product that ticks many of the boxes for me , so I will give Fitbit one last chance.
UPDATE:
1. After using it for the last 1+ month I am very happy with it, very reliable, no defects
2. Battery life has been amazing. Usually need to recharge once a week if I leave the GPS off. After recent update running 5K with GPS on used less than 10% of battery
3. GPS is reliable, I compare with the GPS tracker on my phone using a different app and it’s a close match. With GPS off it usually overestimates around 10% compared to the phones GPS tracker
4. Screen can be difficult to see during the run, especially on a sunny day hence 4 stars.
Very happy overall, glad I gave it another chance! Thank you Fitbit and Amazon for no hassle replacements.
One thing I wish was a bit better is the battery life. It only lasts a couple of days and although to be fair it is quick and easy to charge.
I like the options to start tracking your workouts although haven’t used them that much yet. Would love to see how accurate it is for swimming but obviously with lockdown currently I haven’t had the chance to try that.
Overall I am really pleased with the product. Love the option to see phone messages on the watch as with running round after a 2 year old I don’t often have time to see my phone but I can see it on the watch quickly to see if it is something important that I need to answer right away.
Like the product and looking forward to using it more. It is comfortable to wear and sleep with. Always interesting to see details on sleep and heart rate.
To begin with it was not straight forward to set up and like all fitbits it is not good if your internet bandwidth is low especially as all support is online! There is no way to manually set the time (which I have found an issue when travelling through different time zones in the past)
It took a while to get the charger working (no smiley face) initially but I think it is just because the battery was so low to start with.
The charging cable is uselessly short especially as a lot of the set up needs to be done whilst plugged in which resulted in my crouched on the floor under the side table! The charger is a much better design than previous models as you do not have to remove the strap and it has a clip to lock the watch into place, which is great once you get it working!
Over the course of the first week there were daily firmware updates which were a bit annoying but I do now have the advertised functions ( I didn’t use Spotify, payment or any of the premium features and I did miss being able to control the music stored on my phone ( I am old fashioned that way)).
The itself strap comes with 2 alternative sizes which is useful but only one has the band to keep the free end in which is a bit of an oversight. the strap itself is very plastic-y and not very comfortable. A softer silicone material would be nicer, but I suspect this will be more hardwearing. The strap attachment mechanism is much stronger than previous models.
The display is black and white and it is very difficult to read in direct sunlight especially as the default display time is so low (the auto hibernate kicks in after about 5 secs which isn’t enough time for my eyes to adjust to the display) and there is no always on option or ability to delay the auto hibernate. The wake action of raising your wrist needs to be done quite firmly and often fails. (It was a pain when trying to take the photo!
The screen itself is an ok size and the swipe/ button functionality take a bit to get used to. I found all the buzzing a little annoying and difficult to stop an activity once it was in progress as it would keep going through a loop of pausing then telling me to press to finish but when I did I got the DND/sleep mode options. I think it just takes a bit of getting used to.
So on to some of the functionality…
Workouts
The fitbit has inbuilt GPS so there is no need to take your phone and do not get the same connectivity loss. It auto detects workouts and you can track six activities on the device, but you can edit in the app/dashboard for example I can change the outdoor activity to horseback riding but it didn’t do anything to modify the stats which would have been nice. If you do autodetect though GPS is not turned on, so you won’t get a map. Various activities log different data but I was quite happy with the heartrate zones, energy burned distance & elevation. GPS does drain the battery
As well as counting steps you record Active Zone Minutes which basically ranks your activity so that a higher intensity workout in the cardio heart rate zone is worth double a lower intensity work out with heart rate in the fat burning zone. It has a daily target of 22 an average of 7 days divided by 150 minutes of weekly exercise. You can customize all your targets in the app.
Sleep & O2- Fitbit gives you an overall score for your sleep, showing awake, light REM and deep sleep periods. I tend to find the less deep sleep I get the more tired I am, and it all seems to be at the start of the night! It estimated my O2 fluctuations, but I am not sure for me this is especially useful, I think the just like to play with the sensor!
Female tracking and food and water intake I just can’t be bothered with as its too much data input for me and my fluid comes not just from water! I did try to use it to log alcohol consumption though as it made me think about how much and when!
Notifications can be enabled for calls and text messages, calendar updates but not WhatsApp messages ????
Overall it does what it says on the tin and has a reasonably easy interface. Battery life and screen needs improvement but am I happy? YES!
+ Battery life is excellent (when not using the GPS mode).
+ The standard strap is fairly comfortable – it is not necessary to wear the device too tightly.
+ The clock faces and general user interfaces are pleasing to look at and intuitive to use.
+ Enjoyed all of the various insight the device can give in tandem with the Fitbit App. The step count and calorie count seem as accurate as can be expected. Very helpful in tracking calories and macros within a reasonable level of error.
– The Spotify App is a useless gimmick as no music is stored on the device and I can switch songs easily using my earphones anyway. So unfortunately if the user wishes to exercise whilst listening to music, they may still have to do so with their phone swinging around in their pocket.
– No smart sleep alarm feature as of yet.
– Have experienced occasional crashing when using the running exercise mode (even after the most recent firmware update). This is frustrating, especially when having to interrupt my run to restart the feature. However this has only happened on two occasions whilst utilising the GPS feature.
A decent expansion for the price but needs more features to be a true upgrade for the charge series.
Initial set up frustrating appeared to be stuck on set up screen, but what I realised was to return to home screen, (watch face) you need to gently hold either side of the screen — this is also the key for everything else — if you are in one of the menus just hold both sides of the screen and you go back one level in the menu — finally getting back to the main screen
Easy setup, multiple display options, easy to use, GPS appears to be as accurate as apps such as ‘Map My Walk’ using the phones GPS
If using the auto detect activity the GPS does not activate, (so if you want a map, which is why I got it), you do need to manually select the activity you are doing
Display easy to read, depending on watch face and your eyesight, even in sunlight, rapid menus and intuitive once you get over the initial ‘how do I get back to the watch face’ GENTLY HOLD BOTH SIDES OF THE SCREEN.
Battery after two days is down to 56%, but that is probably down to me playing with it constantly finding all the bits and pieces it can do.
Overall delighted with it, (so much so just bought the wife one as well)
Nice neat device, has extra apps, including the contactless payment which was a doddle to set up, that I may or may not use in the future but does everything I hoped and would recommend
Have now had the charge 4 for a few weeks, still delighted with it, but have noticed a couple of things, if using the GPS for long periods (like a 4 hour walk), this does seem to drain the battery quickly and needs charging every couple of days
Also a couple of times after starting the exercise going the tracking has switched off, but I think this was due to me having the strap too tight so when putting my hand into a press up position, I was touching both sides of the screen, and it was going back to main screen.