Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker with Google apps, Heart Rate on Exercise Equipment, 6-Months Premium Membership Included, GPS, Health Tools and More, Porcelain/Silver, One Size (S & L Bands Included)

Bought January 2024. So, I have had an Apple Watch since 2017. I LOVED it. But I didn’t love the battery time. The things I was interested in, like sleep tracking, I couldn’t do because it needed to charge or I couldn’t use it the next day. My mom has a Fitbit and for years was telling me to get one. After some health issues, I needed to start being more cognizant of my health. I didn’t want to spend another $5-600 on an Apple Watch that at most gets 2 days of battery now. I was interested in the Oura ring, but I have 60 lbs. to lose and those can’t be sized as you lose weight. So I researched and found the Fitbit Charge 6 was my best choice. Mostly pro’s. It is really comfortable. When I fell asleep accidentally with the Apple Watch my wrist was sore after. So far, I’m getting 6-7 days of charge out of it, which is a game changer. I now don’t miss days of tracking because I forgot to charge it. I feel like the screen size is appropriate and it’s well made. I’m not sure about the accuracy, but reviews I’ve watched where people test them they seem close enough. And that’s good enough for me, I want a baseline. You can adjust the haptics for notifications, I have it on the hardest vibration and it’s awesome. It’s easy to read the screen, just 2 taps. It says you can water lock it for swimming/shower but I haven’t utilized that yet. The app… okay so when I purchased this (January 2024) they offered the premium app for 6 months free, then $80 a year. I will be keeping the premium. It still can be used without, but I want ALL the metrics you can get as well as meditations and workouts. It has replaced MyFitnessPal because I can track everything in this app. It also links with my Bluetooth scale. You can track steps, miles, calories, exercise, activity minutes (150 minutes a week as recommended), standing activity by getting up every hour for 250 steps, (it reminds you). SpO2, HRV, skin temp., HR, sleep (including stages). I’m sure I’m forgetting something. I haven’t used the GPS function which I heard drains the battery significantly. Somewhat cons, or things I would appreciate it having. This device is logged in through Google. I do see messages and notifications from my iPhone 13, but are unable to respond which is fine. You can control YouTube music, but not your Apple Music. It’s Just an adjustment from my Apple Watch. I’m also not able to sync it with Apple Maps because I hate Google maps. And I haven’t figured out how to use that between my phone and the Fitbit yet even after watching tutorials. I wish they had more watch faces to choose from, I think there was about 12?. I just felt like the one I picked was as close to what I wanted, but it wasn’t. The time takes up a large portion of the screen which I feel like is unnecessary. What I feel the app is lacking is something to track when you’ve taken your meds. If they did, this app would literally be a one stop shop for my health/fitness tracking. Note: a comment someone made about med tracking was just set an alarm. The problem is that if you are someone like me that is never at the same place everyday, you could turn the alarm off and then forget later whether or not you took them. It’s a really quick fix they could do. I HIGHLY recommend the Charge 6, I wish I had listened to my mom and got it a while ago. The few things I gave up by switching from my Apple Watch is minor. I’m not missing them other than Apple Maps and Music.

This is an absolute game changer for tracking my habits both with sleep and general walking exercises. Don't take the calorie burn seriously though as a fitibit and or smart watches cannot read your calorie burn so I think it's weird that they have that on here. It has clear legible imaging, the fit for the large was spot on but I went for a nylon strap based on comfort preference. It seems mostly durable but I wouldn't go dropping it all the time. Ultimately it's a perfect little device for fitniss tracking. I will note that the charge is quick and effeti efficient. It does disconnect from notifications if you have it off too long while charging.

I upgraded from the Charge 5 What I like about the Charge 6: - Great price - Sensors to track body activity are more accurate (I don't have a way to test this but other people in YouTube have and these sensors are really good for a device at this price point with no chest strap) - Same great battery life. I get 6-7 days (I use normal brightness, do not use GPS, have sleep mode programmed, and keep the screen off unless I need to see it). - The home button to return to the time screen is great. - Triple tapping to zoom in is nice - When it works the Google Maps app is really nice. When you launch the phone app it kicks in automatically (need to set it up this way in your Fitbit app) otherwise you have to start the walk on the phone app and then manually connect to the app from your Charge 6. It tells you where to turn and it is nicer/safer than staring at your phone. The connectivity to the Phone app however is unreliable. Lots of retries and fiddling with the bluetooth settings to get it to work. Feels like a beta. I hope this is improved with a future upgrade. I have my Charge device set to 12 hr time format but this app shows 24 hr format at the top which to me is confusing and it may be a bug. I hope this is addressed in a future update. - More exercise modes and more settings/mode - The double tapping for water locking the device seems to work a little better to me than the Charge 5. - The unit's vibration when alarm goes off seems to be more noticeable than in the Charge 5. Less likely to miss it. - Bluetooth integration with gym cardio workout machines is nice however I don't have any equipment to test this. I read that there is an issue with the encryption that Google uses. Just be aware that unless you are at a gym that has bought very recent equipment, the machines aren't likely to support bluetooth. Most hotels I workout in don't have this either. I don't really need this but some people may find it useful. What I don't like: - If you are on iOS you still can't reply to texts (I know there is an iOS security constraint that doesn't allow this but come on Google...time to find a workaround) - Like the Charge 5 the GPS is terrible. It drains the battery and it is very inaccurate. I use my iPhone's GPS tracking synced to my Charge 6 instead and it works great. If you don't have your phone with you then you are out of luck. - The biggest disappointment is the YouTube Music app. Like the Google Maps it is a remote control for the phone app. I'm a YouTube Music subscriber so I was really looking forward to this but the connectivity to the phone app is very unreliable (like the Google Maps app). You can't really see your music library, find an artist, and select Shuffle Play. All you can do is use the playback controls. (which I already have in Siri and on my Powerbeats pro earbuds), see a list of your recently played songs, and a couple of Google created playlists that I don't care to use. I really hope that they improve it in future software upgrades. - Some exercise modes have an Auto Detect and Auto Stop feature. Basically this feature auto starts an exercise mode if the device detects that you are exercising. It sound good but in reality I found it to be more of a nuisance. The device can't tell if I'm just in a hurry or warming up for a workout. If I'm in the middle of a workout and I slow down to catch my breath, the Charge 6 will ask me if I want to stop which means I'm forced to interact with the device when I don't really want to. Luckily you can turn this feature off per mode. - When you reach a new target zone the Charge 6 displays the new target zone and the number like the Charge 5 however Google has changed the number/graphic and made it impossibly small to read without stopping and staring or triple tapping which are tedious while you are moving during your routine. I hope Google improves this in a future software update. - When the device is on exercise mode the screens shows the time at the very top. The Charge 5 I believe showed the total calories burned which is far more useful, Not sure why Google messed with this. If I need t know the time I can scroll to it during my workout or I can ask Siri. - I use the timer a lot...it is still limited to 1 hour. The phone app was cool until Google did a complete redesign which a lot of users are unhappy about. I use the app and the web portal to log my food consumption and my weight. IMHO any fitness tracker is worthless if you don't track both. The app calories data is also broken. The calories left for the day count is incorrect compared to the web portal (there is a difference of hundreds of calories). This to me is unacceptable and It has been broken for months. Not sure what Google is waiting on to fix it. As a workaround if I need to see how many calories I can consume...I just look at the portal on a browser on my mac, iPad or iPhone.. In spite of my dislikes overall I do like the Charge 6 and it is a nice upgrade specially for $100. The more accurate sensors are worth the upgrade. That said if you plan to upgrade because of the GPS or the YouTube Music app you may want to hold off.

This is the third time I review this watch. First I gave it 2 stars. In the second I gave it 4 stars. Now I just changed to 5 stars. If you use it and work on its design, you are going to like it more and more. I just finish my first workout with it and I saw the data. it is impressive. It contains the graph of your heart rate during the whole time, broken into zones, your average HR, calories... (Even that I wore it only "one finger away" from the wrist, the data seems pretty accurate. Bottom line, If you put some time on it, setting it as you want, you will end up with a fantastic tool for giving you data about your activity, your exercise, your sleep, even your "readiness", "stress" etc. I keep my previous reviews below if you want to read them to see my transition from frustration, to acceptance and finally to happiness. I gave originally 2 stars because I was frustrated with this watch. But I would like to change to 4 stars because it is really an impressive piece of technology and you can do so much with it. If you buy it. be prepared to feel like an immigrant in a strange land. You will have to work a lot to set it up to your likings and erasing so many options you don't want. I used AI a lot (and I mean, a lot) to help me navigate on how to do things and spent a lot of time in it. But, after all this I am happy with the watch that I actually fell I redesigned. Below is a revised version of my first review. However, that you can do so much with it, is in itself a problem. Of course, you can use it very simply like a watch with one or two extra features, but this would be a waste of this watch. I see many problems with this watch. 1) As I already state it, it is very complicated dealing with it. 2) On top of this, it is clogged with commercials and excessive somewhat irrelevant information. It took me a lot of time to set the watch as I wanted and eliminate all the "junk" on it. 3) There is the issue of accuracy. It is supposed to be very accurate but because of the optical reading, the placement of the watch in your arm, the sweat... can change the reading for a good 20% (in strong exercise). It also can spike in its reading giving you very high values, etc. All watches have this problem but I thought this particular new model solved these issues satisfactorily. It did not. It is a big improvement though. I myself, most likely, will return this watch because it felt short in my expectations. The end: I kept it and I am quite happy with it even though, at times, I still have to count till 10.

A family member had recently raved about her FitBit and I had a very old Apple Watch which needed replacing (due to terrible battery life) so I was convinced to give it a try. Unfortunately, my experience has been quite awful and I want others to be informed before they buy. My main reasons for using a smart watch are the health functions such as exercise logging, step counting, heart rate etc. So if these things are important to you please read further: 1st disappointment: Inability to sync FitBit to Fitness app on iPhone. I had a pretty impressive streak in my Fitness app and it was a huge motivator for me to exercise daily (something I have always struggled with). It was QUITE the blow to see all my progress completely wiped away. (No more 200+day streak for me! I guess). Fitbit does have a free app to collect new data but I’m still disappointed that they cannot combine all your progress from both somehow. 2nd disappointment: SEVERE Inaccuracy on distance. I head to the gym for my first workout with the Fitbit. I get on the elliptical and select the “elliptical workout” option on the watch and press start. As I’m warming up I notice the watch does little vibrations as my heart rate increases to different levels “light” “moderate” and then “vigorous” - which I think is a nice touch. When I get 1 Mile (on the machine) into my run I decide to check my progress (on the watch) but to my HORROR it says only 0.3 miles… How did it miss 70% of my workout!?! I cannot express how devastated I was to see that. I’m working so hard to change my life and watching the miles stack up day after day is my only reward so far. I’ve done lots of googling to solve this problem and tried manually adjusting the stride length to every length there was but nothing fixes it and I’ve read plenty from other people who report the same exact problem so I’m convinced it’s just their terrible calibration. 3rd disappointment: Major exaggeration of calories burned. As I mentioned I have an Apple Watch I used every day for quite some time. I am very familiar with my typical calories burned daily. I also follow the amount on my exercise equipment as well. For some reason the FitBit consistently shows an abnormally high number for calories burned. For instance something that should burn about 200 calories suddenly burns 2 THOUSAND…?? This all makes EVEN LESS sense when you consider the aforementioned distance tracking issue; claiming I burned 2,000 calories by running 0.3 miles??? Ridiculous. This combination of discouragement from the “it won’t matter anyway” distance tracking, to the absurd number of calories I’ve “already burned” today is a recipe for disaster for me. Un-motivating my workouts and encouraging my laziness. Please DO NOT rely on this watch for your health goals. The final straw for me is the terrible battery life. To be completely clear - I have had this device for 4 days and I have already charged it 4 times. So please do not be mislead by claims of charging “once a week” or “once every other week”. NOT true. And, yes, I’ve tried all the different display settings. I hope someone takes the time to read this like I did not do. If Amazon returns weren’t such a headache I would’ve sent it back after that first workout. I’m actually stunned at HOW awful it is. There are many more issues I did not get into because they are mainly aesthetic and I wanted to focus on the ones that could genuinely cause someone harm but I’d be glad to elaborate on those other issues as well if anyone is curious.

I’ve been wearing this for a couple weeks now so I’m pretty used to it. So far I really don’t have much to complain about and I’d recommend it to everyone. I like all of the sleep tracking and cardio load info. I’ve used it on multiple day hikes and it has perfectly mapped my entire hike. The only thing that I wasn’t great was the battery drained insanely fast while on one hike because it was only about 25° and my watch was exposed to the cold. Since that day I make sure it is nicely covered during the cold winter hikes and it doesn’t do the fast battery drain. I know there are some negative reviews about inaccurate calorie count or dead batteries often. That has not been my experience at all. I’ve even used it to connect the Zwift app for my bike for heart rate monitoring. It prompted me to connect to the app and instantly showed my heart rate info on my Zwift app screen without any extra effort. Hopefully it continues to function well because I love it.

I use to have the fitbit 3 se and loved it for 3 years and i tried the samsung 4 for all the bells and whistles but the charge lasted a day which to me is counterproductive. I decided to go back to my fitbit since I also enjoyed the platform more for recording all my data such as food ect. I missed the barcode feature when putting in your meals. I use mine more strictly for steps, 24 heart rate, sleep analysis, contactless payments and tracking all my workouts. I'm not a runner anymore so I haven't used the built in GPS but based on technical reviews I didn't miss out. It's a fairly new concept which needs more software updates to be fully functional and not drain the battery life to oblivion. My fitbit actually lasts me a little over 8 days this is with turning the always on display off, txt message notifications off ( I don't see a need for this since I'm not one to utilize too many short message replies). And having the display brightness set to dim and even in full sun I can still see the display very crisply. The contactless payments uses Google pay which if you are already an android user with a Google pay wallet set up was easy and I like that for security reasons it only is set for 24 hour use after putting in your 4 digit code before having to reinput your code. Now the code input is trivial to me I don't like the setup for it. The water resistance is good I haven't showered with the device but the waterlock works well when I wash my hands multiple times a day being a nurse. I have not tested it swimming for the 50 meter water resistance claim. The workout options have improved with more options and now I'm able keep track of my active zone minutes. The heart rate tracking during exercises is said to be more accurate than the charge 5 based on tech data analysis reviews that I researched before hand. The downside is Spotify was removed and replaces with YouTube music in which you will need a subscription for. The 1.4 inch amoled size is perfect if you aren't a huge fan of having a bulky tracker on your wrist. You also now have the option of syncing your device with other heart rate monitoring equipment/workout machines including peloton but for me isn't useful. It has a haptic side button now that was seen in older models which i prefer. Another great feature is the addition of Google maps for those are are runners but again you may compromise the battery life. Since Google bought fitbit there will be more Google geared software. For more health features you now have the eda and ecd scan no BP monitor like on my samsung 4 to my knowledge has pased fda as of yet. You also have a skin temperature sensor like in the fitbit sense how accurate I'm unsure it would need to be tested against something like a NTC thermistor. The sleep analysis data seems overall accurate. I also do use a cpap machine. Overall for the price I think it's a more than suitable tracking device with its more updated hr monitoring compared to other apple watches, garmins and huawei. Still room for improvement such as the built in GPS. I think the GPS should just be mirrored on your phone which is still an option on the charge 6 you can chose dynamic, built in or phone. I would stick with phone to preserve battery but in all I recommend this product.

THE GOOD: very accurate heart rate readings and I love the multiple screen colors and watch face styles that put the primary readings in one place. THE IRRITATING: the touch screen is just too buggy, I can't handle its inexplicable errors, freezing up and unpredictability. Examples: once in swim mode, it won't unlock unless you go home and connect it with the charger, so my swims are sometimes 3 or 4x longer than reality. Sometimes the screen just freezes up, and it takes 10 or 20 aggravating taps to unfreeze. Sometimes it gets stuck on Goggle Wallet and refuses to budge. I set it to rollerblading exercise yesterday (I know I selected it correctly as it now shows up first or second on my exercise list) and it decided to log in a bike ride instead. Although I've reset, ad nauseum, the activity tracking hours to 8-5 pm, it will NEVER actually change to this....it is still stuck on 7-6 pm. I could go on, and while no one flaw is a deal killer, the cumulative bugs cause so much frustration and I can't live with this number of flaws, not when there are so many other brands on the market.