13th January 2022
John P. | Author
FITNESS
Fitbit Charge 5 Review
By now you have either heard of fitness trackers because a friend or family member has bought one or you have had a previous experience with one but are looking to upgrade and see what the latest technology in fitness trackers and watches can help you with. Whatever your experience with technology or health and fitness is, we have got you covered.
As part of our new year’s resolutions and a healthier January, we got our hands on the extremely popular Fitbit trackers Sense and Charge 5. What does that mean? Expect a full, honest, and detailed review, over a period of one week, while we take you with us from unboxing to a variety of activities like hiking, yoga, and everything in between. And by the end if this review hasn’t helped you decide between fitness devices or at least given you inspiration to start your wellness journey then we don’t know what will.
Key features of Fitbit Charge 5
Let’s start with some key specs and show them in action as we go along.
- State-of-the-art stress management
- Sleep tracking and analysis
- 24/7 Heart rate tracking
- ECG scanner to access your heart for atrial fibrillation
- Built-in GPS
- Contactless Payments
Design
The Charge 5 is a step up in looks from its predecessor, introducing a new luxury feel thanks to a redesigned stainless-steel case replacing the out going plastic shell that was used on the Charge 4. There are three colours to choose from: black with graphite (pictured in this review), lunar white with gold, and blue with platinum. Personally, I think the redesign offers the fitness tracker a very sleek and modern style which meant that I was able to wear it everywhere from lunch with friends to a night out.
Performance
With built-in GPS, the Charge 5 offers reliable location feedback to enhance your ability to always map your runs without the overreliance on a perfect Bluetooth connection to your smartphone. The 24/7 heart rate monitor appears to have been improved on this latest Fitbit, with an accurate read of your BPM, no matter the activity you are taking on.
I found it refreshing that I could get a reliable read of my heart rate throughout the day without the need to have the band on too tight; a problem I have found with several other fitness trackers. This meant that I could comfortably wear my Charge 5 at night to make use of the sleep score feature and could wear it whilst at the gym without my wrist becoming sweaty.
Tracking
An impressive feature offered by the Charge 5 is that you can track the trends that impact your wellness. Through EDA scans for stress management, further tracking of skin temperature variation, Sp02 levels and much more, you can quickly develop an understanding of how your daily routine effects your overall wellness, using the health metrics dashboard within the Fitbit app.
Reading about all the data gathering and tracking that the Charge 5 offers was daunting at first, but my fear of what the data would show faded really quickly. Fitbit have simplified the whole process by offering the information to you with scores. For example, the sleep score feature rates your quality of sleep from 0 to 100, meaning you can get an understanding of how your night went with just a quick glance. But for those of you who want the slightly more time-consuming option of picking apart a timeline of the whole night, you can still become a geek about it and dive into the detail of it all. This geek, for one, was surprised to find out that he is often awaken by his housemate going out the front door at 6.15 every morning.
Fun things to do at the gym
The Charge 5 is incredibly good at picking up automatically when you begin to exercise, and will even detail your performance for you, in the Fitbit app. But if you want to add context to your gym routine, then simply select what type of work out you are doing, beforehand, and you’ll even be able to accurately track your calorie burn, if that’s something you care about.
My first time using the workout feature was at the gym, when I deemed it far too cold and wet to go running outside. I selected the Treadmill option, pressed start, and I was off: it was incredibly simple, and my band even vibrated to let me know when I entered different levels of exercise such as fat burn and cardio. The moment that really stood out to me though was when it accurately tracked my steps whilst on the treadmill, something that fitness trackers I’ve used in the past have never been able to get even remotely right. It was even accurate (within 0.1 of a mile) when tracking how far I’d ran, which felt like pure wizardry to me.
Final Thoughts
The Fitbit Charge 5 is a powerful fitness tracker that collates some of the best features from across the Fitbit range. Including the slim AMOLED screen of the Fitbit Luxe, and the stress-measuring of the Fitbit Sense. Overall, it’s a huge upgrade of 2020’s Charge 4, and if you’re someone who is starting to get serious about your fitness, this is an excellent option.
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