Fitbit Charge 6 Review: Refreshed Yet Familiar

Worth When Reviewed

$159.95

Finest Costs Immediately: Fitbit Cost 6

$99.95

$159.95

With Google now firmly taking the reins, how does the Fitbit Cost 6 construct on the popularity of its previous-gen wearable?

We put the Cost 6 to activity over a variety of weeks and delved into its efficiency throughout exercises, the way it fared day-to-day, and what it revealed when sleeping.

Design & Show

• Vibrant 1.04-inch AMOLED display screen
• Snug and light-weight with a bevy of bands to enhance
• Button for swift navigation returns

Should you liked the look of the Fitbit Cost 5, you’ll be comfortable to know that the Cost 6 is nearly an identical in look. It has the identical glossy aluminum case in three colour choices and a snug silicone band in two sizes. Excellent news, as this implies you should use your current bands and charger with this new iteration.

Having spent every week on my wrist I liked how mild and straightforward the Cost 6 was to put on. Come bedtime, you’ll nearly neglect you’re even carrying it because of the graceful edges and light-weight design

I additionally have to name out one main enchancment that makes the Cost 6 rather more user-friendly than its predecessor: specifically, the bodily button on the aspect.

Matt Farrington-Smith / Foundry

The Cost 5’s button-less design was irritating and unreliable, so I’m glad to see the button make a welcome return on the Cost 6. Navigation continues to be largely achieved by a sequence of faucets and swipes, however the pleasing haptic button aids the expertise in the primary.

The Cost 6 can also be waterproof as much as 50 meters (that’s a 5ATM score) so you’ll be able to safely put on it within the bathe or for a dip in your native lido. The one draw back is that it doesn’t observe open-water swims, in order that’s dangerous information for the triathletes or sea-faring swimmers amongst you.

On the entrance, you’ll discover the identical 1.04-inch full-color AMOLED panel that was launched final time round. As a result of small stature, it’s finest suited to displaying the time, your metrics, and notifications – so long as you don’t go anticipating a smartwatch-like expertise this shouldn’t come as a disappointment.

You possibly can nonetheless utilise the tilt-to-wake gesture to show the display screen on, however sadly, responsiveness stays considerably unreliable in follow.

Health & Well being

• Syncs with most gymnasium gear
• ECG and EDA present added perception
• Now with assist for 40 train modes

The inclusion of a brand new AI-powered heart-rate sensor makes it probably the most superior Fitbit tracker to-date. This tricked-out sensor is able to syncing with appropriate gymnasium gear and offers you with personalised suggestions on the fly.

It will possibly measure how calm or tense you might be by checking your coronary heart fee variability, and it additionally retains observe of your coronary heart fee, respiratory fee, modifications in pores and skin temperature, plus assist for monitoring menstrual cycles through the app. It’s a bit like having a private wellness coach in your wrist.

Fortunately, the ECG (electrocardiogram) makes a welcome return, so that you’re nonetheless capable of assess your coronary heart rhythm for indicators of atrial fibrillation. As I’ve at all times been fascinated by my coronary heart well being, when in comparison with Apple’s ECG app, the outcomes from the Cost 6 evaluate favourably.

Matt Farrington-Smith / Foundry

The EDA Scan additionally makes a reappearance – this tracks modifications in your coronary heart fee and tiny electrical modifications in your pores and skin, to present you an concept of how your physique reacts beneath stress.

When it comes to health, this time round there are greater than 40 train modes to select from. These embody 20 new choices like HIIT (high-intensity interval coaching), power coaching and even snowboarding, although sadly my schedule didn’t enable for testing on the slopes.

Sleep monitoring additionally makes a welcome return. The Cost 6’s SpO2 pulse oximeter sensor tracks your REM, mild, and deep sleep levels which assist shine a light-weight in your nocturnal habits.

If you wish to dig into extra in-depth stuff like sleeping coronary heart fee, and restlessness, you’ll have to cough up for Fitbit Premium, which is a disgrace. You get six months of the subscription included however then have you ever pay a price – extra on this under.

Matt Farrington-Smith / Foundry

A minimum of, that’s the way it ought to work in idea… in my expertise, it wasn’t all clean crusing. At roughly 12:54am my Cost 6 died, and are available morning I struggled to breathe life again into it.

I used to be solely capable of carry it again to life utilizing the tried and examined delicate reset process (find and maintain the button on the charger 3 times for one-second intervals inside a ten-second interval). Trying on the restricted sleep knowledge it managed to document, I may see it drained from 97% – 2% in 1hr 52 minutes. On my subsequent try the Cost 6 gave up after 1hr 18 minutes of recording.

I concede we will need to have a defective unit, as this isn’t the same old excessive commonplace we’ve come to anticipate from Google. All the identical, if it occurred to me, it may occur to you too.

We’re invtestigating this challenge with Google and can replace the evaluate accordingly.

Options & Efficiency

• Added Google Pay and Maps
• Subpar GPS expertise
• No Spotify assist, tied to YouTube Music

Fitbit needs you to depart your cellphone at dwelling – the built-in GPS ought to let you simply observe your distance. Now, Fitbit has considerably of a spotty popularity on this space so it got here as little shock that when once more the worldwide positioning service frustratingly let me down in actuality.

The built-in GPS proved painfully sluggish to attach, and typically it didn’t even work in any respect.

Matt Farrington-Smith / Foundry

When taking the brand new dynamic GPS mode for a spin, it disconnected throughout my out of doors exercise and switched to the much less exact monitoring primarily based on the accelerometer. Taken collectively, each infer that Fitbit hasn’t actually discovered from its errors on the Cost 5.

Because the Cost 6 indicators whole assimilation into the Google ecosystem, you’ll additionally discover Google Maps integration inbuilt. Clearly, the small stature of the display screen limits this expertise considerably – it solely offers you with turn-by-turn navigation nevertheless it may show helpful when exploring an unfamiliar space and never having to achieve to your cellphone.

On that very same Google notice, in the event you have been hoping to crank out your jams throughout your excursions you’d higher have an energetic YouTube Music subscription as Spotify has been usurped as lord of the dance this time round.

The assist for Google Pay scores greater on the usefulness entrance, nonetheless, so my opinion is split with regards to Google’s tighter leash round app assist.

Battery Life & Charging

• Seven-day battery life isn’t unrealistic
• Totally cost within two hours

Sleep monitoring bug apart, with average day by day use I eked out a full 5 days earlier than I acquired jittery and ideas turned to recharging. That quantities to a tough 20% drain per day – nevertheless it ought to be famous when making an attempt GPS use this peaked within the 30% area.

Clearly, enabling the always-on show will put an added pressure on issues too (however it is rather eye-catching!) Should you’re desirous about selecting up the Fitbit and have related designs on utilization then that is actually one thing to keep in mind.

I discovered it took just below two hours to revive the Cost 6 to 100% cost following full depletion.

Matt Farrington-Smith / Foundry

Worth & Availability

The Fitbit Cost 6 arrives in three fashionable colours — black, champagne gold/coral, and silver/white. To mark the discharge, Fitbit has introduced an abundance of latest bands that embody the premium Horween Leather-based, Hook & Loop, and Woven designs.

The Fitbit Cost 6 comes with a better price ticket than its predecessor. It prices $159.95/£139.99, whereas the Cost 5 continues to be obtainable for £129.99 on Fitbit’s personal web site.

You should purchase it from Fitbit and Google shops in addition to retailers similar to Currys, Amazon and Argos within the UK whereas Finest Purchase, Lenovo and Amazon have it within the US.

One factor to additionally be mindful is that you simply’ll want a Fitbit Premium subscription to entry a few of the finest options of the Cost 6. This contains Day by day Readiness, superior sleep monitoring and long-term well being and knowledge traits. Fitbit Premium prices $9.99 / £7.99 per thirty days or $79.99 / £79.99 per 12 months.

When it comes to competitors, the Xiaomi Mi Band 8 is available in at $40/£30 cheaper, sports activities the same AMOLED show, and boasts blood oxygen monitoring which the Cost 6 lacks.

Take a look at our chart of the very best health trackers, finest Fitbit and finest smartwatches for extra choices.

Must you purchase the Fitbit Cost 6?

I discovered the Cost 6 does a whole lot of issues proper.

The construct high quality is great, robust heart-sensor smarts, and added Google companies ought to certainly attraction to each the Fitbit trustworthy and newcomers alike.

It’s only a disgrace that, even at this worth, the GPS is flaky.

Specs

• Full-colour 1.04in AMOLED always-on show, 450 nits brightness
• Chrome steel physique
• Interchangeable straps
• 40 train modes + Smarttrack
• EDA sensor + Scan app for stress administration
• Excessive and low coronary heart fee notifications
• ECG app for AFib (irregular heartbeat) detection
• SpO2 (bloody oxygen saturation) monitoring
• Constructed-in GPS
• PurePulse 2.0 steady coronary heart fee monitoring
• Water-resistant as much as 50m
• Energetic Zone Minutes
• As much as seven-day battery life
• Paired cellphone notifications
• Google Pay assist (through NFC)
• Google Maps navigation
• YouTube Music controls
• Sleep monitoring
• 37.64 grams
• Colors: Metal Obsidian/Black Aluminum, Porcelain/Silver Aluminum, Coral/Champagne Gold Aluminum