*FYI* You can add/swap activity profiles in the app. You get 6 presets (see "exercise shortcuts"). Located from today screen click your avatar in the upper left then -> tap Charge -> Exercise shortcuts -> click "edit" (upper right) -> then delete one of the activities to open one of the 6 preset slots and the hit '+' to bring up a list exercise profiles. When done (tap done) and sync charge 5 with app and the exercise profiles will update.
I love mine, I don't need tons of bells and whistles, mostly I want the GPS tracking for my morning run, and both the stand alone and phone connected GPS are quite accurate. I'm not concerned with steps since my run alone gets me around 9000, however I did use a step counter app today for accuracy comparison to the Charge 5. They came within about 50 steps of each other , with the app actually being higher than the Fitbit. The Charge 5 is very comfortable to wear all the time, and I didn't want some monster watch on my wrist all day.
I returned my Fitbit charge 5 after finding that it couldn't be relied upon to record an activity in wet conditions. Wet weather sends the touchscreen into meltdown prematurely ending or cancelling a run or ride. It's not fit for purpose, so annoying as the watch looks great and has all the features that I want. My old Garmin requires two firm taps on the face which are picked up by the accelerometer to fully unlock the touchscreen.
Fitbit premium is the biggest bs in the industry you already pay over 100 for the device with the premium cost there's barely any advantage to buying a fitbit over a garmin or Samsung tracker
@@ChaseTheSummit Be aware when buying the Premium membership. The second you click the purchase button it becomes non-refundable. It doesn’t matter if you call to cancel immediately, you will not get your money back. You are also automatically enrolled into auto-renew for Premium. If you fail to cancel your membership before the renewal date you will be charged for the full price of the yearly membership and once again, it’s non-refundable. It’s not transparent before purchase. It’s hidden deep in the terms and conditions as paid subscriptions. When they sell a bundled package for the protection plan / premium membership it reads as being able to get a full refund within 45 days. This only applies to the protection plan.
I love the design of mine (had one since right before Christmas), and overall functionality. I’m not a runner, and can’t run due to various issues, but overall I love mine over the Charge 4 I had. I DO hope that Fitbit does fix the issues with new hardware and software this year.
It is a lot more expensive than a Charge 5, but I absolutely LOVE my Oura ring! It is one of the most accurate sleep trackers I own, and overall one of the most durable, too. If you haven’t already, try it out, but I will forewarn you. The step count on it isn’t too accurate, but then again the Charge 4/5 and other Fitbits may be a bit OVERZEALOUS in their step counts. It is thanks to you, and other reviewers, that I got a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. I had just bought a Garmin Venu 2, too, and I think I like the Instinct 2 a bit better. I just wish for the Solar editions, that they had DLC sapphire crystals as an optional upgrade for it.
Thank you for this honest review! I've been using Fitbit for five years. I just got my fourth device. The Charge 4 was awful! The Charge 5 is a gift. This is my last Fitbit. I will invest the money for a better fitness measurement device next time!
There are *dozens* of sports available, it's just that you can only show 6 at a time on the watch. But you can select whichever 6 you want and change them every day if you want.
You forgot about the sleep tracking. It's very good on this device. So it depends on what are your needs to be honest. GPS with phone: Decent. Heart rate: Decent. Sleep tracking: very good. And at the moment, going for $99 at amazon.
I've been wearing the Charge 5 for 5 months. I agree with your assessment in all regards. Why am I still wearing it? Sleep tracking. I use a Garmin Venu 2 (opposite wrist) for activity tracking. The Venu 2 is a dumpster fire for sleep tracking. The Charge 5 came with six months of Premium but I won't be extending it next month. The basic info is sufficient for my needs. For $130., the Charge 5 will get the job done for the casual user. It's not useful as a stand alone appliance for an endurance athlete.
The extra profiles for other activities are available from the phone. You can add them, but are still limited to a total of 6-7 profiles, so you have to delete one to add one.
I am unsure if I get your information wrong, but 1) the watchface can be changed. And different watchface displayed different things. 2) the profiles can be changed, but kept at macimum 6. I have been using yoga, which you said that there isnt any? Go to account , press charge 5. Press exercise shortcuts. You have these profiles: Run, treadmill, Weights, Interval workout, Workout, Elliptical, Stairclimber, Tennis, Spinning, Bootcamp, Circuit training, Kickboxinb, Martial arts, Pilates, Outdoor workout, swim, Yoga, Bike, Walk, Hike.
Yep, watch faces can be changed. I didn't mention it in this video. As for the profiles, I made a mistake by assuming they couldn't be swapped out. Unfortunately, the selection is still pretty limited though. Thanks for watching!
He is also wrong at 6:10 where he says sleep tracking is only duration without Fitbit premium. That is super wrong. It gives great sleep analysis without fitbit premium. It shows the phases of sleep and sleep score, without Fitbit premium. This has been the case since the original Charge. I'm surprised he got this wrong.
I have one. After 7 months of daily use, I can say this: The battery holds for 5 days, the watch is well built, the bracelet of silicone can irritate your skin if not dry...the sleep study is OK. I have Premium. A lot of data about heart variables. The readings are 80% accurate. When you exercise the readings can be higher than normal. The app is well built but it has some sync issues and the heart rate is not moving to the next day after 00:00...but a lot later, maybe 6 hours later. It is not because of my settings. I do not use GPS. Other than that is OK for the money I have paid for.
2 months in with my charge 5 in Australia and I'm happy enough. Built-in GPS is accurate enough, though the HR leaves a bit to be desired during exercise. Sleep tracking seems somewhat gimmicky, used Fitbit pay for the first time today. Screen displays downloadable configurations, some with too much information in small type. Battery is a stable seven days with constant HR monitoring and gesture wake on. All in all decent value for $200AU, about $150 less than the nearest competitor!
I bought the charge 5 to replace my 3 and am happy about it. I don’t really care for extra features and I prefer the charge’s size and weight. I bought a Garmin Tactix Delta, for around 1,500 dollars, and returned it the next day-that thing was miserable to have on my wrist.
It's currently $99 this Xmas season in 2022. I'm really considering. The big issue ive always had with my Charge 3 is the HR sometimes drops or it's about 30 HR off when I get active and the only fix is to use a default activity profile.
I had the charge 5, bought it right when it came out, but it had plenty of issues. Not sure if mine was a dud or not (possible hardware issues since it was one of the earliest releases of the charge 5), but battery life was less than ideal and syncing to the app took literally 10+ minutes. I had my charge 5 within inches of my phone and still took forever to sync. Plus the app had to be open while syncing, if I tried to do anything else on my phone while it was syncing it would stop and I would have to re-initiate the sync. Ultimately, while I liked the form factor of the charge 5, I preferred the charge 4, simple but effective.
I bought the garmin vivo5 and I love it after owning 2 apple watches that never could give me accurate fitness tracking it was worth the $150 it’s a basic simple wearable as w the Fitbit you need to do a paywall for premium like who would want to do a sub🤦🏽♂️
Thanks for the shout-out! And bummer that the issue doesn't seem to be addressed (though, it'd have taken some substantial hardware re-engineering). :-/
I've had this setting here for about 5 months or something. I agree. I don't think it's going to work for your audience but there are some positives for sure. GPS tracking wasn't it's strong point. It seems to always get my distances incorrect (over estimates) when comparing with other devices. I think you're HR data looks a lot better than what I've seen. Maybe you dialed in that fit better than I did. 😬 Great review!
I'm looking for a first watch to track things like steps, heart rate and calories burned. The exercise I do is walking, weights and a little running. Would this be right for me ??
@ChasetheSummit There are more activity profile than the 6 normally displayed on the watch. I just found them but you have to dig in the Fitbit phone settings. Click on the profile picture, Charge 5, last setting at the bottom "exercise shortcuts," swipe left to delete, now you get a + sign on the top left to a new one. You have golf, hike, yoga and maybe 10 more than the watch can display. I don't like how these are hidden but I did change them on my watch.
I've had my Charge 5 since they came out. So far I can say I have enjoyed it. I almost never worry about the GPS because like you said, its inaccurate and it also chugs battery life. I am using it primarily to track sleep, readiness level, and calories burned. It has been a great way to stay motivated to be more active. As prior military I prefer the 24 hour clock which the fitbit 5 has and I use that as well. I like to try and keep my calories burned matched or over the time of day that is displayed. As a smaller female, burning 2,400 + calories a day is a pretty decent goal; about 1,000 over my BMR. I have run into an issue with the fitbit though that irritated me, i got into the habit in the military of wearing my watches and smart watches... upside down (the face is on the inside of my wrist). This makes the fitbit highly inaccurate for heart rate, under estimating by 40 or more beats per minute. After readjusting and wearing it the way it was intended, its far more accurate.
I HAVE RETURNED (March 2022) FOR A FULL REFUND MY NEW CHARGE 5 after Fitbit support acknowledged FITBIT has been working on a software fix to issues affecting battery life. NO ETA is know for the fix to the software. DO NOT BUY THIS watch until FITBIT comes clear about the fix to the batteries issues which can reduce the expected life from 5 days to 1 1/2 day.
I like fitbit for the active zone minutes feature. I think thats the only feature i use. Its a good way of setting and achieving goals especially for normies like me. But only get this one if its on sale. It’s not really worth its original retail price.
I will like the watch more when I get it to sync. I have had a charge 2 and 3. The 3 died and I'm left with the 2. Fitbit said they would both use the app on my Apple watch. The 2 is, the 5 keeps telling me to sync. It should be easier than tis,
I still have some of my all time records on my Charge 3. My 10K happened on a trail run on open trails. Helps that it appears it over estimated my distance by .5-.7 mi. 🙄 this was a phone model but I think it also estimated steps along with the phone GPS. Perhaps this has been improved. I think they are a decent fitness tracker to get active and for very novice activity tracking progress. Once you get past real beginner running it’s time for a real GPS device. After 9 months I definitely out grew it’s downsides.
@@ChaseTheSummit darn rude if you actually go run a race and realize you have and extra 4-6 mins to run to finish. No races were going on so luckily didn’t have that issue
I just returned my Charge 5 because well the sensors are not accurate. and the time to take a measurement its real bad. Plus when you have to wait 3 min and 2:30 in it says inclusive data and you need to restart. Im just sticking with a charger and my apple watch.
I eventually boxed and put my charge 5 away. It had continuous connectivity issues + screen freeze. This is the reason I won't buy charge 6. I use charge 4 under under a sock for steps/miles and rely on Apple 8 for health. Charge was 5 not ready for prime time.
I have versa 3 ( i believe has the same sensors as Charge 5 ) and used it for everyday life and coros for running, I am super happy with sleep and recovery data, that was the main point I bought it ( Coros is pretty bad at that ). I also find super frustrated that I need to pay monthly to see that extra data :/ I also find that I managed to take 7-8 days of the versa when do not use GPS ( is advertised as up to 6 days )
That's a common issue with touch screens unfortunately. You'll need to dry off your fingers or warm them up for it to register. This is why most dedicated sports watches still utilize buttons.
Just got a Charge 5 and the battery life is horrible. I've uninstalled most apps that I could and turned off GPS everywhere I can find and the battery still goes from 100% charge down to 57% OVERNIGHT (also uninstalled the SP02 app). Anybody else have this problem and if so what did you do? My Fitbit Charge 2 goes a week consistently before it requires a charge. I also bought this for the GPS and now appears I can't use it as it's not accurate AND it is a horrible battery drain. Very frustrating.
That's weird. Not my experience at all. I was going 3-5 days with the Charge 5 pretty easily with out of the box settings. Are you using the always on display mode?
Wow - wish I had seen this before I went out and bought a Charge 5 this week. I'm so far underwhelmed. I found problems on their website (after signing up, it automatically took me to a "page not found" error) and neither the sale kiosk nor the packaging mentioned that it only works with Android 10+ (according to their web site, though a person on the chat line told me it would work with Android 8+ - so, who to believe?). Neither of my Android phones fit the bill, and I am not going to purchase another phone just to get my Charge 5 working (given the other weaknesses revealed in the video). The major flaw in their business model: build it with an unreliable GPS, then suggest that it's no problem, because you can tie in to the phone GPS, but wait, it doesn't support that many phones (v10 + v11 = ~60% market share). Not sure if I should return the Charge 5...
That depends. As discussed in the video, the GPS accuracy isn't very good and I had mixed results with the heart rate sensor. If those aspects aren't critically important to you I'd say it's a good upgrade especially at the current sale price.
Good review of the charge 5 , I have now a suunto peak 9 , I’m amazed how acurate the gps is of suunto , heartrate is also good , I have also the charge 5 , and the heartrate is better than suunto , but somtimes it gives to high, especially when you have done with exercise. Very strange.
3 Times you said in the video EDA we come to that.... you never did. Also a 3 or 5 ish % difference between a Polar Garmin sensor I don't call a bad sensor. Plus GPS isnt a chip or sensor it is an antenna. Get your stuff strait.
Hello there! Great video and I hope you're well. What fitness tracker would you suggest instead? I'm looking more for the fitness side of things and not so much a smart watch (but receiving notifications would be handy) and I would like to use your expertise to make a smarter decision. Kind regards.
Kind of depends on your budget. At $129 like the Charge 5 it's really tough. I'd say the best would be something like the Polar Ignite 2 might offer more for a slightly higher barrier to entry.
Great one as usual man! Fitbit is no longer a good match for most people imho. If you're after fitness and sports tracking Garmin is way better, and if you're after smartwatch features Apple and Samsung make way better watches. The poor HR/GPS accuracy make taking whatever data FitBits collect seriously pretty tough.
Ha! Had one for a week or so? Strapping it down for HR and using connected GPS works fine, basic sleep without detailed sleep phases as well. That's it. My verdict: the hardware is trash, don't buy. maybe get a Charge 4 or Versa...
don’t get charge 4, mine died shortly after warranty expired, at 1 year and 2 months, out of the blue. their solution? gave me discount to buy a new product. not happening, switched to garmin.
I am an active senior woman from Canada and paid much more than 130 US dollars on sale. I purchased it for myself for Christmas. It is not anywhere as nice as you describe. The app options quit at the 6 month mark as I agree with you in that a monthly fee is not what I require and I didn't sign up. Then the options quit. Now the fit bit has gone black. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY.
Most of the clock faces are awful, rather have my charge 3 if it wasn't for the fact that the display goes out on the charge 3 after about two years ( I've had three).
When warranty expires and once you forgot to charge your fitbit about a mos chances are you need to buy new or repair it at your expense 🤪 regardless if still looks new 🤗
Great, Just did so. I will order to Europe (germany). If anyone else (from Germany or Central Europe) wants some merch just drop me a message, so we can order together and save some shipping costs…
Their service department is absolutely horrible. Took mine swimming and it started messing up. So, I sent it to get serviced. No contact with me for 12 days and I finally had to call them. Don't buy it just because if you need to get it serviced and it's under warranty it sucks!
Personally I wouldn't touch Fitbit with a bargepole. Far too many problems/quirks Build quality is poor and not robust Their customer service is appalling. Now they want you to pay a monthly subscription. NO CHANCE‼️
Seriously! I keep thinking a simple Garmin wellness band for around $120 that has body battery, sleep, and wellness tracking would sell like hotcakes especially for people who also own a Fenix 7X or something and want something sleeker for everyday use.
@@ChaseTheSummit Agreed. And not only them. There are a lot of teenagers/adults who want a flashy, colorful band (like Charge 5 or Mi Band 6) that would gladly step into Garmin ecosystem but can't because their only options are ridiculous by today standards Vivofit and Vivosmart bands.
Another issue for me, I don't want to drag my phone around while exercising. So having to use phone for good GPS then it kind of defeats the purpose. No thanks.
Got mine 4 days ago… it is a joke🤦🏼♂️ today running 10 kilometers, and after i was running under 20 meters of bridge it completly lost the gps signal for the rest of the run😂 (4 kilometers) i have been running this route for many years and know exactly when i hit the 10 kilometer mark …Fitbit end result 11,5 km 😂 TOTALLY WORTHLESS🤡 (pardon my english) greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰
How I laughed when I saw Will Smith on the fitbit page with the WHOOP hat. Fitbit has good functions but they are not in sync with each other, for example EDA is just a number it does not explain anything to you and worse if you are not with the premium subscription many of the functions disappear like HRV, sleep data, etc. If they put the possibility of using a separate heart rate sensor, improve the functions and make the subscription cheaper, it could be an option
You don’t need a subscription for hrv,sleepdata , and stress score , the only thing that you get with subscription is , Mondly summaries , but you can see , sleep data, stress score, hrv , breathing rate , and so on , without subscription.
@@grecuccionicola Yes, you need a subscription for Daily Readiness (HRV), if you don't have a premium the Sleepdata it is little... and others functions are very limited.
I wish i knew all the bullshit before I wasted my money…battery life one day if you’ll gonna use it always on screen, limited sports recognition, no ski tracker, 80£ for premium membership.
No more fitbit for me they don’t last. My Charger 2 died just after one year, and the Charge 3 died just three months🤬 replacement died after 9 months. And my charger 4 just died after one year 🤬🤬🤬🤬
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*FYI* You can add/swap activity profiles in the app. You get 6 presets (see "exercise shortcuts"). Located from today screen click your avatar in the upper left then -> tap Charge -> Exercise shortcuts -> click "edit" (upper right) -> then delete one of the activities to open one of the 6 preset slots and the hit '+' to bring up a list exercise profiles. When done (tap done) and sync charge 5 with app and the exercise profiles will update.
Wellp... I should have caught that! Thanks. Oddly, there's still not too many options!
@@ChaseTheSummit Is rowing one of the options?
I love mine, I don't need tons of bells and whistles, mostly I want the GPS tracking for my morning run, and both the stand alone and phone connected GPS are quite accurate. I'm not concerned with steps since my run alone gets me around 9000, however I did use a step counter app today for accuracy comparison to the Charge 5. They came within about 50 steps of each other , with the app actually being higher than the Fitbit. The Charge 5 is very comfortable to wear all the time, and I didn't want some monster watch on my wrist all day.
I returned my Fitbit charge 5 after finding that it couldn't be relied upon to record an activity in wet conditions. Wet weather sends the touchscreen into meltdown prematurely ending or cancelling a run or ride. It's not fit for purpose, so annoying as the watch looks great and has all the features that I want.
My old Garmin requires two firm taps on the face which are picked up by the accelerometer to fully unlock the touchscreen.
Just got a Fitbit Charge 5. Love it. Very easy to use. I don't need reems of unneccessary olympic athlete fitnessdata.
Thanks for sharing.
Fitbit premium is the biggest bs in the industry you already pay over 100 for the device with the premium cost there's barely any advantage to buying a fitbit over a garmin or Samsung tracker
Yeah, I don't love that marketing tactic.
@@ChaseTheSummit Be aware when buying the Premium membership. The second you click the purchase button it becomes non-refundable. It doesn’t matter if you call to cancel immediately, you will not get your money back. You are also automatically enrolled into auto-renew for Premium. If you fail to cancel your membership before the renewal date you will be charged for the full price of the yearly membership and once again, it’s non-refundable. It’s not transparent before purchase. It’s hidden deep in the terms and conditions as paid subscriptions.
When they sell a bundled package for the protection plan / premium membership it reads as being able to get a full refund within 45 days. This only applies to the protection plan.
I love the design of mine (had one since right before Christmas), and overall functionality. I’m not a runner, and can’t run due to various issues, but overall I love mine over the Charge 4 I had. I DO hope that Fitbit does fix the issues with new hardware and software this year.
Glad you're enjoying it!
It is a lot more expensive than a Charge 5, but I absolutely LOVE my Oura ring! It is one of the most accurate sleep trackers I own, and overall one of the most durable, too. If you haven’t already, try it out, but I will forewarn you. The step count on it isn’t too accurate, but then again the Charge 4/5 and other Fitbits may be a bit OVERZEALOUS in their step counts. It is thanks to you, and other reviewers, that I got a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. I had just bought a Garmin Venu 2, too, and I think I like the Instinct 2 a bit better. I just wish for the Solar editions, that they had DLC sapphire crystals as an optional upgrade for it.
Thank you for this honest review! I've been using Fitbit for five years. I just got my fourth device. The Charge 4 was awful! The Charge 5 is a gift. This is my last Fitbit. I will invest the money for a better fitness measurement device next time!
Which one for example?
There are *dozens* of sports available, it's just that you can only show 6 at a time on the watch. But you can select whichever 6 you want and change them every day if you want.
Right, that was a mistake in this video.
You forgot about the sleep tracking. It's very good on this device. So it depends on what are your needs to be honest. GPS with phone: Decent. Heart rate: Decent. Sleep tracking: very good. And at the moment, going for $99 at amazon.
I've been wearing the Charge 5 for 5 months. I agree with your assessment in all regards. Why am I still wearing it? Sleep tracking. I use a Garmin Venu 2 (opposite wrist) for activity tracking. The Venu 2 is a dumpster fire for sleep tracking. The Charge 5 came with six months of Premium but I won't be extending it next month. The basic info is sufficient for my needs. For $130., the Charge 5 will get the job done for the casual user. It's not useful as a stand alone appliance for an endurance athlete.
Thanks for sharing!
That is exactly what i needed to know! My needs are step tracking and sleep tracking.
Tough review to do for sure, and I appreciate the effort. Thank you Dave.
Thanks!
The extra profiles for other activities are available from the phone. You can add them, but are still limited to a total of 6-7 profiles, so you have to delete one to add one.
I am unsure if I get your information wrong, but
1) the watchface can be changed. And different watchface displayed different things.
2) the profiles can be changed, but kept at macimum 6. I have been using yoga, which you said that there isnt any? Go to account , press charge 5. Press exercise shortcuts. You have these profiles: Run, treadmill, Weights, Interval workout, Workout, Elliptical, Stairclimber, Tennis, Spinning, Bootcamp, Circuit training, Kickboxinb, Martial arts, Pilates, Outdoor workout, swim, Yoga, Bike, Walk, Hike.
Yep, watch faces can be changed. I didn't mention it in this video. As for the profiles, I made a mistake by assuming they couldn't be swapped out. Unfortunately, the selection is still pretty limited though. Thanks for watching!
He is also wrong at 6:10 where he says sleep tracking is only duration without Fitbit premium. That is super wrong. It gives great sleep analysis without fitbit premium. It shows the phases of sleep and sleep score, without Fitbit premium. This has been the case since the original Charge. I'm surprised he got this wrong.
I have one. After 7 months of daily use, I can say this: The battery holds for 5 days, the watch is well built, the bracelet of silicone can irritate your skin if not dry...the sleep study is OK. I have Premium. A lot of data about heart variables. The readings are 80% accurate. When you exercise the readings can be higher than normal. The app is well built but it has some sync issues and the heart rate is not moving to the next day after 00:00...but a lot later, maybe 6 hours later. It is not because of my settings. I do not use GPS. Other than that is OK for the money I have paid for.
2 months in with my charge 5 in Australia and I'm happy enough. Built-in GPS is accurate enough, though the HR leaves a bit to be desired during exercise. Sleep tracking seems somewhat gimmicky, used Fitbit pay for the first time today. Screen displays downloadable configurations, some with too much information in small type. Battery is a stable seven days with constant HR monitoring and gesture wake on.
All in all decent value for $200AU, about $150 less than the nearest competitor!
Glad to hear you're enjoying it!
Good video. Since I don't need GPS, it has a decent ECG and it's on sale during Amazon Prime Days, $99, I took your advice and bought it. Thanks!
huge fan of the Charge 5. Better and less expensive then whoop
I bought the charge 5 to replace my 3 and am happy about it. I don’t really care for extra features and I prefer the charge’s size and weight. I bought a Garmin Tactix Delta, for around 1,500 dollars, and returned it the next day-that thing was miserable to have on my wrist.
Thanks for sharing!
It's currently $99 this Xmas season in 2022. I'm really considering. The big issue ive always had with my Charge 3 is the HR sometimes drops or it's about 30 HR off when I get active and the only fix is to use a default activity profile.
I had the charge 5, bought it right when it came out, but it had plenty of issues. Not sure if mine was a dud or not (possible hardware issues since it was one of the earliest releases of the charge 5), but battery life was less than ideal and syncing to the app took literally 10+ minutes. I had my charge 5 within inches of my phone and still took forever to sync. Plus the app had to be open while syncing, if I tried to do anything else on my phone while it was syncing it would stop and I would have to re-initiate the sync. Ultimately, while I liked the form factor of the charge 5, I preferred the charge 4, simple but effective.
Bummer! Sorry to hear your Charge 5 didn't meet your expectations.
Hoping it works as well as my Inspire2 which I recently lost. I could never see that watch in sunlight so worth the additional 15$.
It doesn't 🙄😤
You mentioned that it showed "Floors Climbed". Mine does not have that because there is no altitude meter built in.
Does the Wil Smith version come with a slap counter?
lol
I bought the garmin vivo5 and I love it after owning 2 apple watches that never could give me accurate fitness tracking it was worth the $150 it’s a basic simple wearable as w the Fitbit you need to do a paywall for premium like who would want to do a sub🤦🏽♂️
Thanks for the shout-out! And bummer that the issue doesn't seem to be addressed (though, it'd have taken some substantial hardware re-engineering). :-/
Yep, this is a weird one. It seems like they would have been better off leaving it as a "connected GPS" device 🤷♂️
I've had this setting here for about 5 months or something. I agree. I don't think it's going to work for your audience but there are some positives for sure. GPS tracking wasn't it's strong point. It seems to always get my distances incorrect (over estimates) when comparing with other devices. I think you're HR data looks a lot better than what I've seen. Maybe you dialed in that fit better than I did. 😬 Great review!
The HR data was super finicky but I got some good results here and there. Thanks Matt!
I'm looking for a first watch to track things like steps, heart rate and calories burned. The exercise I do is walking, weights and a little running. Would this be right for me ??
Very helpful. Helped me decide between the Charge 5 and Inspire 3. (Decided on Inspire 3.)
@ChasetheSummit There are more activity profile than the 6 normally displayed on the watch. I just found them but you have to dig in the Fitbit phone settings. Click on the profile picture, Charge 5, last setting at the bottom "exercise shortcuts," swipe left to delete, now you get a + sign on the top left to a new one. You have golf, hike, yoga and maybe 10 more than the watch can display. I don't like how these are hidden but I did change them on my watch.
Yep! I found that after posting this... DOH. Still not a lot to choose from but it's good to see additional options.
I've had my Charge 5 since they came out. So far I can say I have enjoyed it. I almost never worry about the GPS because like you said, its inaccurate and it also chugs battery life. I am using it primarily to track sleep, readiness level, and calories burned. It has been a great way to stay motivated to be more active.
As prior military I prefer the 24 hour clock which the fitbit 5 has and I use that as well. I like to try and keep my calories burned matched or over the time of day that is displayed. As a smaller female, burning 2,400 + calories a day is a pretty decent goal; about 1,000 over my BMR.
I have run into an issue with the fitbit though that irritated me, i got into the habit in the military of wearing my watches and smart watches... upside down (the face is on the inside of my wrist). This makes the fitbit highly inaccurate for heart rate, under estimating by 40 or more beats per minute. After readjusting and wearing it the way it was intended, its far more accurate.
Thanks for sharing your use!
Do you have issues with the bands disconnecting?
Nobody cares about ur life story cut it short soldier
Yeah I use it for calorie tracking during activity whilst using my phone's GPS on Strava for the routes.
Still a good option?
How do you turn the GPS on to work? Mine is on dynamic but it doesn’t work :/
Loving my Fitbit charge 5 ❤️
Durability has always been a concern with fitbits.If a fitbit lasts more than a year,consider yourself lucky.
For sure, then again at $130 bucks it's hard to ask for a super robust build quality.
I HAVE RETURNED (March 2022) FOR A FULL REFUND MY NEW CHARGE 5 after Fitbit support acknowledged FITBIT has been working on a software fix to issues affecting battery life. NO ETA is know for the fix to the software. DO NOT BUY THIS watch until FITBIT comes clear about the fix to the batteries issues which can reduce the expected life from 5 days to 1 1/2 day.
Thanks for sharing.
Starting on the 14th Costco has them on sale for 89.00. I think I will get one. Thanks for the info
I like fitbit for the active zone minutes feature. I think thats the only feature i use. Its a good way of setting and achieving goals especially for normies like me. But only get this one if its on sale. It’s not really worth its original retail price.
I will like the watch more when I get it to sync. I have had a charge 2 and 3. The 3 died and I'm left with the 2. Fitbit said they would both use the app on my Apple watch. The 2 is, the 5 keeps telling me to sync. It should be easier than tis,
Sorry to hear that!
Great in-depth review! 👍🏻 Thanks. Still considering buying the Charge 5…
Thanks! It’s not a bad device as long as you know what you’re getting into. For the price particularly!
I still have some of my all time records on my Charge 3. My 10K happened on a trail run on open trails. Helps that it appears it over estimated my distance by .5-.7 mi. 🙄 this was a phone model but I think it also estimated steps along with the phone GPS. Perhaps this has been improved.
I think they are a decent fitness tracker to get active and for very novice activity tracking progress. Once you get past real beginner running it’s time for a real GPS device. After 9 months I definitely out grew it’s downsides.
Lol nice! Maybe it’s by design to make beginners think they’re faster! Thanks for sharing!
So what did you upgrade to eventually?
@@seuncoker I got a Fenix 5 plus on sale. Would have probably gone with the Forerunner 245 if this wasn’t just an extra $50 for the older Fenix model
@@ChaseTheSummit darn rude if you actually go run a race and realize you have and extra 4-6 mins to run to finish. No races were going on so luckily didn’t have that issue
Does it still work if you wear it on the ankle instead of wrist?
It might, but it won't be very accurate.
I just returned my Charge 5 because well the sensors are not accurate. and the time to take a measurement its real bad. Plus when you have to wait 3 min and 2:30 in it says inclusive data and you need to restart. Im just sticking with a charger and my apple watch.
Thanks for sharing!
Try the Athytic App for Apple watch, this change the watch in something like a garmin+Whoop
I eventually boxed and put my charge 5 away. It had continuous connectivity
issues + screen freeze. This is the reason I won't buy charge 6. I use charge 4 under
under a sock for steps/miles and rely on Apple 8 for health. Charge was 5 not ready for prime time.
I have versa 3 ( i believe has the same sensors as Charge 5 ) and used it for everyday life and coros for running, I am super happy with sleep and recovery data, that was the main point I bought it ( Coros is pretty bad at that ). I also find super frustrated that I need to pay monthly to see that extra data :/ I also find that I managed to take 7-8 days of the versa when do not use GPS ( is advertised as up to 6 days )
Thanks for sharing! That's a good combo between COROS and FitBit!
I have a problem with the touch screen, which does not respond to my wet and cold finger well after I ran in the rain.
That's a common issue with touch screens unfortunately. You'll need to dry off your fingers or warm them up for it to register. This is why most dedicated sports watches still utilize buttons.
Ahhh - so I see the Epix is currently beating out the 7S or 7X! Good choice. And great summary!
For now lol.
@@ChaseTheSummit yea yea it’ll be on your wrist until they do some sort of 955 w AMOLED - you’re not fooling anyone :-)
What would be a better alternative for a similar size band? Thanks
Maybe the Garmin Vivosmart 5. Though I haven’t tested that yet!
Just got a Charge 5 and the battery life is horrible. I've uninstalled most apps that I could and turned off GPS everywhere I can find and the battery still goes from 100% charge down to 57% OVERNIGHT (also uninstalled the SP02 app). Anybody else have this problem and if so what did you do? My Fitbit Charge 2 goes a week consistently before it requires a charge. I also bought this for the GPS and now appears I can't use it as it's not accurate AND it is a horrible battery drain. Very frustrating.
That's weird. Not my experience at all. I was going 3-5 days with the Charge 5 pretty easily with out of the box settings. Are you using the always on display mode?
Do you think that a software update will help the gps and ekg?
Possibly.
Wow - wish I had seen this before I went out and bought a Charge 5 this week. I'm so far underwhelmed. I found problems on their website (after signing up, it automatically took me to a "page not found" error) and neither the sale kiosk nor the packaging mentioned that it only works with Android 10+ (according to their web site, though a person on the chat line told me it would work with Android 8+ - so, who to believe?). Neither of my Android phones fit the bill, and I am not going to purchase another phone just to get my Charge 5 working (given the other weaknesses revealed in the video). The major flaw in their business model: build it with an unreliable GPS, then suggest that it's no problem, because you can tie in to the phone GPS, but wait, it doesn't support that many phones (v10 + v11 = ~60% market share). Not sure if I should return the Charge 5...
Sorry to hear your frustrations!
Do you know if you can turn off the heart rate light? If it's on all the time it sun burns my skin...
Hmm... I can't remember if there was a setting to disable it.
@@ChaseTheSummit I found it on another video thanks!!
Says there is no lag. Proceeds to change screens with observant built in transition lag...🤔
It's a bit exaggerated in the video due to camera frame rates. It's really pretty responsive.
Hi, would you recommed this as an upgrade over the chage 4? Thanks
That depends. As discussed in the video, the GPS accuracy isn't very good and I had mixed results with the heart rate sensor. If those aspects aren't critically important to you I'd say it's a good upgrade especially at the current sale price.
@@ChaseTheSummit Thanks, Yeah I use the 4 for it's GPS, so I will stick with the 4 for now.
Thank you for information. I will explore a purchase
Good review of the charge 5 , I have now a suunto peak 9 , I’m amazed how acurate the gps is of suunto , heartrate is also good , I have also the charge 5 , and the heartrate is better than suunto , but somtimes it gives to high, especially when you have done with exercise. Very strange.
Thanks for sharing!
3 Times you said in the video EDA we come to that.... you never did. Also a 3 or 5 ish % difference between a Polar Garmin sensor I don't call a bad sensor. Plus GPS isnt a chip or sensor it is an antenna. Get your stuff strait.
Hello there! Great video and I hope you're well. What fitness tracker would you suggest instead? I'm looking more for the fitness side of things and not so much a smart watch (but receiving notifications would be handy) and I would like to use your expertise to make a smarter decision.
Kind regards.
Kind of depends on your budget. At $129 like the Charge 5 it's really tough. I'd say the best would be something like the Polar Ignite 2 might offer more for a slightly higher barrier to entry.
@@ChaseTheSummit ok great, thank you for your time kind Sir, it's much appreciated.
Thanks for the info. I think I will get it I'm just going to use as a wellness tracker its on sale for AU$199 at the moment.👍🏻👍🏻🙃🙃
Nice!
So can I use this just for walking and recording my steps and see my heart rate?
Sure!
Does it count calories burned throughout the day?
In the app yes.
I think the emoji on the cover photo says it all!
Basically lol.
I agree, I have subscriptions.
They certainly add up!
Great one as usual man! Fitbit is no longer a good match for most people imho. If you're after fitness and sports tracking Garmin is way better, and if you're after smartwatch features Apple and Samsung make way better watches. The poor HR/GPS accuracy make taking whatever data FitBits collect seriously pretty tough.
With the cost of premium I'd take samsung bands over fitbit at this point
@@BC21beats well this is based on no data mate... Fitbit has best sleep tracker and smokes 99% of garmin stuff on wrist in almost everything
@@peteriddqd this is based on no data..
Ha! Had one for a week or so? Strapping it down for HR and using connected GPS works fine, basic sleep without detailed sleep phases as well. That's it. My verdict: the hardware is trash, don't buy. maybe get a Charge 4 or Versa...
Thanks for sharing.
don’t get charge 4, mine died shortly after warranty expired, at 1 year and 2 months, out of the blue. their solution? gave me discount to buy a new product. not happening, switched to garmin.
Do. You find that it loses pairing often?
In my use, I didn't have issues with my iPhone 13 Pro.
Great review man thanks
I am an active senior woman from Canada and paid much more than 130 US dollars on sale. I purchased it for myself for Christmas. It is not anywhere as nice as you describe. The app options quit at the 6 month mark as I agree with you in that a monthly fee is not what I require and I didn't sign up. Then the options quit. Now the fit bit has gone black. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with it!
thanks for the review
$118.99 US on Amazon on 9/5/2022.
Dang! The price continues to drop!
12:43 👍👏
Thanks for watching!
Most of the clock faces are awful, rather have my charge 3 if it wasn't for the fact that the display goes out on the charge 3 after about two years ( I've had three).
I suppose thats a matter of opinion. Sorry to hear your Charge 3 has failed so many times!
Yep. Had my charge 3 for 3.5 years and the display finally went out.. Lol.. Looking for a replacement now.
First World Problem.. 😂
hi can i pair my H10 to fitbit charge 5?
Nope
When warranty expires and once you forgot to charge your fitbit about a mos chances are you need to buy new or repair it at your expense 🤪 regardless if still looks new 🤗
bummer! Sorry to hear that.
Bit of topic: any idea when the Trucker Hat will be available again?? ;)
They’re on order! I should have them within a couple of weeks. Stay tuned, and sign up for the wait list on the website!
Great, Just did so. I will order to Europe (germany). If anyone else (from Germany or Central Europe) wants some merch just drop me a message, so we can order together and save some shipping costs…
Their service department is absolutely horrible. Took mine swimming and it started messing up. So, I sent it to get serviced. No contact with me for 12 days and I finally had to call them. Don't buy it just because if you need to get it serviced and it's under warranty it sucks!
Yikes! Sorry to hear that!
Thanks Dave! You’ve saved me a lot of 💵😅 Btw have you tried the G-Shock GBD-200?
Haven't tried the GBD-200 yet. I'll have to check it out.
@@ChaseTheSummit would be stoked if you can review it too! it seems to have great feedback for such a low price and tech
Great video mate, thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Personally I wouldn't touch Fitbit with a bargepole.
Far too many problems/quirks
Build quality is poor and not robust
Their customer service is appalling.
Now they want you to pay a monthly subscription.
NO CHANCE‼️
The monthly sub isn't absolutely required but yeah... kind of annoying. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Damn! Too bad Garmin stopped producing GPS fitness bands :/
Seriously! I keep thinking a simple Garmin wellness band for around $120 that has body battery, sleep, and wellness tracking would sell like hotcakes especially for people who also own a Fenix 7X or something and want something sleeker for everyday use.
@@ChaseTheSummit Agreed. And not only them. There are a lot of teenagers/adults who want a flashy, colorful band (like Charge 5 or Mi Band 6) that would gladly step into Garmin ecosystem but can't because their only options are ridiculous by today standards Vivofit and Vivosmart bands.
Hey Dave, do you know if the charge 4 has a better heart sensor than the charge 5 ?
In my experience both were pretty meh... I wouldn't say one is better than the other.
Another issue for me, I don't want to drag my phone around while exercising. So having to use phone for good GPS then it kind of defeats the purpose. No thanks.
Had this less than 3 months and it wont charge/power on. I have done the recommended fix for this problem and no go. Wont buy another.
oof. Sorry to hear that!
My biggest gripe about this device...you cannot turn it off. 😫
Yeah that's super annoying.
Got mine 4 days ago… it is a joke🤦🏼♂️ today running 10 kilometers, and after i was running under 20 meters of bridge it completly lost the gps signal for the rest of the run😂 (4 kilometers) i have been running this route for many years and know exactly when i hit the 10 kilometer mark …Fitbit end result 11,5 km 😂 TOTALLY WORTHLESS🤡 (pardon my english) greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰
Hope you purchased from somewhere with a return policy.
If the FITBIT people read these...ADD ROWING (both on and off the water) to the activities!
I wonder if they read these 🤔
👍
Sam's club has it for $109
Pretty good deal!
Biggest drawback on the charge 5 is it doesn't count floors. If you do floors it isn't for you
Yep, no altimeter
Wait until month 13 when it completely shits on you and if you are lucky, it will brick itself and just in time for the warranty to expire!
How I laughed when I saw Will Smith on the fitbit page with the WHOOP hat.
Fitbit has good functions but they are not in sync with each other, for example EDA is just a number it does not explain anything to you and worse if you are not with the premium subscription many of the functions disappear like HRV, sleep data, etc.
If they put the possibility of using a separate heart rate sensor, improve the functions and make the subscription cheaper, it could be an option
For sure, thanks for your input!
You don’t need a subscription for hrv,sleepdata , and stress score , the only thing that you get with subscription is , Mondly summaries , but you can see , sleep data, stress score, hrv , breathing rate , and so on , without subscription.
@@grecuccionicola Yes, you need a subscription for Daily Readiness (HRV), if you don't have a premium the Sleepdata it is little... and others functions are very limited.
@@francobellomo9979 for daily readiness , it’s true , you need a subscription, but not for hrv , I without subscription see my hrv every day .
It’s a $130.. for the value it gets the job done.
Sure, I just wish it offered a little more accuracy. Something like the COROS Pace 2 seems like a better value.
@@ChaseTheSummit I’ll check out the coros pace
I wish i knew all the bullshit before I wasted my money…battery life one day if you’ll gonna use it always on screen, limited sports recognition, no ski tracker, 80£ for premium membership.
Good
good review
Thanks!
No more fitbit for me they don’t last. My Charger 2 died just after one year, and the Charge 3 died just three months🤬 replacement died after 9 months. And my charger 4 just died after one year 🤬🤬🤬🤬
Sorry to hear that!
my charge 5 died after 4 months
Are you in a hurry or so?
Hmm?
Avoid. Mine broke 2 times in 4 months
It doesn't have walking??? 😂
i buy is for 110 dollars
A hard pass for me....thanks...nothing sexy about it!
Thanks for sharing
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Thanks for reaching out.