The latest offering from Fitbit, the newer Charge 2 has been turning some heads since it’s launch. With new features like “guided breathing”, “sleep recognition” and “cardio-monitoring”, the Fitbit Charge 2 is set to provide real competition to even the smartwatches. So, let’s find out if it’s really worth upgrading to the Charge 2.
Features
Real time heart rate monitoring using the company’s PurePulse technology is a no-brainer feature which does it’s job perfectly. This feature can be of much use for persons with pacemakers and those suffering from cardiac arrhythmia. Just like our heart beats, the Fitbit wristband does it’s job of tracking the heart’s activity in the background all day.
The activity-tracker is on par with most of the smartwatches. You can choose from a range of activities like running, climbing stairs, number of steps, walking etc. The activity tracking has been extended to include myltiple sports like cycling, yoga, kick-boxing, martial-arts, pilates, weight-lifting, elliptical, treadmill, tennis, golf and even football. Even if you forget to turn on the tracking feature for individual sports, the band’s smart-tracking is activated automatically, so that none of your hard worked activity goes untracked.
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Relax, the Fitbit’s guided breathing exercise is similar to the new Apple Watch OS # “Breathe” app. It guides you to take deep breathes to relax your body and to keep a good state of mindfulness. This feature could well be the one that you’re to ignore!
Connected GPS which works with the help of your smartphones’s GPS. It’s useful particularly when you go out for a run, jogging, cycling etc. It gives an accurate distance covered, route and map of the previous exercise. Built-in GPS feature would’ve been a feather in the cap feature, but it’s unfortunately not included.
As seen in other Fitbit devices, the Charge 2 also motivates you with messages like “Wanna Stroll?’ and “Feed me Steps”. It has by default set the goal of 10000 steps, 10 floors, 8 kilometers and which can be adjusted. You can even set “active hours” when you allow the Charge 2 to disturb you and remind you to move and run! The tracker celebrates each achievement of goals with animated fireworks which is quite nice.
The integration with the Fitbit app on your smartphone is quite seamless and easily one of the best UI. Lately, with the introduction of augmented reality, Fitbit is inspiring and motivating more persons to achieve their personal goals. More on the app in a later post, right.
The screen is approximately four times bigger than the original Fitbit Charge. The new design is actually a hybrid version of the Fitbit Surge and Alta. Instead of the single line text scrolling, the new Charge 2 can accommodate up to four lines of text.
The Fitbit Charge 2 can also recognise the time that you’re sleeping, be it at night or day. The time you sleep as identified by the wristband is fairly accurate.
The O-LED display is really bright particularly indoors and suffers massive blow to the readability in full sunlight. The high contrast theme all around the interface is also helpful for easy visibility.
When paired with your smartphone, the Charge 2 displays important notifications like text messages, calls, reminders and calender events.
Likes
Priced at around 150 $, it’s one of the best buy that you can make any time. It’s official online partner in India, Amazon.in has it on sale for INR 14,999. If you’ve freinds or family in the US, ask them to buy one for you and you can save more than 5000 INR.
Battery life easily exceeds the company’s claimed life of 5 days. On an average use, you can get up to 5 days with ease.
Highly accurate activity tracking is impressive considering the price of the gadget. You just need to wear it and the rest is done just like magic.
Going out for a party? Fitbit Charge 2 has easily swappable leather, steel and all other type of straps.
Dislikes
The swing to wake is not that much intuitive as you’d expect. You’ll end up pressing the button manually to wake up the display during workouts.
No built-in GPS, a much needed addition when compared to the smartwatches. Professional athletes will surely miss this feature unless they’re comfortable carrying their phones in the pocket!
The Fitbit Charge 2 is not water proof. Don’t wear it to a pool or during shower unless you want to do a youtube video with the title of “What happens when a Fitbit Charge 2 is immersed in water”
Verdict
The Fitbit Charge is meant to be a wireless activity and fitness tracker and not a smartwatch. And it’s not a surprise that Fitbit has come up with direct successors to it’s Charge and Flex wristbands. Because, at it’s price an average person is getting the real “fitness” part covered and that’s why more persons are shying away from smartwatches in favour of the Fitbits.
The Charge 2 with it’s new features is game on with the other latest and greatest fitness trackers. The Charge was Fitbit’s best selling tracker till the launch of this device. If you’re just looking to keep track of your health and fitness, there’s really no need to shell out 34000 INR on a smartwatch. At less than half that price, Fitbit Charge 2 does the same job in a different way.
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