Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Fitbit Charge 6 Review”.
The Fitbit charge 6 has a whole host of new features that make it a great Fitness tracker. The button returns for easier navigation. It lets you broadcast your heart rate data to supported, apps and gym equipment and there’s new Google Integrations that bring maps and wallet to your wrist. Did I mention that fibid also gave it a price cut by $ 20 compared to the charge 5 when it launched and it works with Android and iOS? But yes, there’s always a butt. It’S the first Fitbit that feels way more Google than Fitbit and, if you’re, coming from an older Fitbit that might take some getting used to Let’s dive in so the charge 6.
Is your standard Fitness tracker on the outside? It’S got a small AMOLED display just like the charge 5, but around the side is a new haptic button. You can use to navigate press from any screen to get back to your clock face or, if you’re, in a workout it Scrolls the screen. So you can easily hit pause. I didn’t have too many problems, navigating the buttonless charge 5, but a lot of people really missed the button. So I’m glad Fitbit listen to user feedback. It comes in only one case size, but you get two strap sizes in the Box.
My wrist is 152 mm for reference, so you can get an idea of how it fits it’s comfortable to wear and the idea is you’re going to want to wear it. Almost all the time, because one the battery lasts a lot longer than your average Smartwatch and two it tracks. Sleep really well. Phone notifications, like calls or texts, come through on the charge 6 with quick replies only supported when paired with an Android, magnification and zoom is Now supported.
So you can now see the small screen much more easily with just a few Taps, which is a great accessibility feature in case you missed it. Fitbit was bought by Google a couple years ago and in that time we’ve seen a lot of the Fitbit influence on the pixel watch, but this time fitbit’s the one getting Googled you get support for Google Maps, so you can start a walk bike, ride or driving Directions on your phone, then you’ll see turn BYT navigation pop up on your wrist. It works really well, but you still need to have the phone with you, because the charge 6 doesn’t have built LTE or Standalone. Google Map support. Google Wallet is also there and it replaces Fitbit pay, which I’m very happy to see, but entering a PIN to pay for stuff is still a tedious process. You’Ve got to scroll up and down that number list because of the small screen.
I’D love to see a better way of doing this, like getting rid of the pin altogether. Maybe setting a payment limit from your phone could help we finally get music controls on a Fitbit charge yay, but it’s not all roses. It is through YouTube, music, and you do need to have a YouTube music premium subscription to listen to songs or playlists from your phone. There is a 1mon free trial with the charge six, but after that you do have to pay.
By now, most of us have chosen a streaming service, so I’d much prefer Fitbit have generic music controls that work with any streaming app on your phone. There is also no offline music storage or support for storing your own music on the charge 6. It just acts as a remote control for your phone.
I always love the old Fitbit app for being easy to use, but with the recent redesign, it’s just not as easy to use for me and you do need to convert your old Fitbit account to a Google account to use the charge 6 all right enough. Complaining. Let’S talk about the good stuff Fitness enthusiasts, you have a lot to like about the charge 6, including support for broadcasting live heart rate data from the tracker to supported, gym equipment, but more useful for me is support for sending that same heart rate data to fitness.
Apps such as peleton and straa scroll up and find the heart rate on equipment setting turn it on and then find the charge 6 in your supported app. Here it is on straa. It connects really really quickly and when you’re in a workout, you’ll now get heart rate data, which is great Fitbit, also borrowed some of the heart rate algorithms used on the pixel watch to improve accuracy. The company claims it is now 60 % more accurate than the charge 5 for hit rowing and spinning workout types, but only those workout types, I’m guessing because they don’t use GPS. But I did ask bit bit for comment on this. I compared the charge 6 to a chest, strap for a hit workout, and it was fairly close, though, like the charge 5, it also took a little while to catch up to intense bursts of activity, you’ll be able to find more on heart rate and GPS accuracy In my full text, review Linked In the description, the charge 6 comes with the same great sleep tracking as earlier fitbits, and, thank goodness Fitbit did not change the interface for this, which is, in my opinion, the easiest to understand of all Watchers and trackers.
You also get an ECG with a regular heart rhythm notification and the stress tracking sensor exactly the same as the charge 5. I love that the daily Readiness score takes into account sleep activity and heart rate variability, and it’s super helpful for determining. If I need to take a rest day or I can choose to work out, but that is a Fitbit premium feature and you guessed it it’s another subscription that costs $ 10 a month. But you do get six months free with the purchase of the charge 6.
To be clear, you absolutely do not need to have either a YouTube music premium or a Fitbit premium subscription to use the charge. Six you’re just going to miss out on things like music controls, as well as Fitbit premium perks such as that daily radius, score. More in-depth sleep, metrics and custom workout plans to name a few battery life has always been one of Fitbit strong suits, and it is still good on the charge 6, though, if you are using key features, you’re not going to get close to that 7-Day claim from Fitbit with the always on display active at normal brightness, a GPS, workout, sleep, tracking and call and text notifications, I got two full days out of the charge. Six changing the display to raise to wake will stretch the battery and under the same usage patterns. I was able to get between four and five full days before charging using the live heart rate broadcasting does drain the battery really fast and after about an hour’s workout, my charge six had dropped almost by 20 % and if you used the built-in GPS, rather than Relying on the dynamic mode or using your phone’s GPS that will also affect battery life, so buy it, skip it or try it.
I would say, buy it if this is your first Fitbit and you’re. Looking for robust Fitness features with some added Google smarts, even though it is less expensive than the charge 5 when it launched, you do need to factor in some potential subscriptions to either YouTube music premium Fitbit premium, or maybe both when looking at the total cost of Ownership over the lifetime of the charge 6 thanks so much for watching. As always, if you have any questions that I didn’t answer about, charge 6 feel free to drop me.
A comment find me on your favorite social media platform and make sure to check out my full text review. That’S Linked In the description with so much more on things like sensor accuracy, I’ll see you later .