Fitbit Charge HR

February 3, 2015 | Lifestyle | No Comments »

I’ve been a Fitbit user for almost 3 years now. I absolutely love my Fitbit! The very first Fitbit I owned was called Fitbit One and it was a tiny tracker that you could clip to your pocket. After that I upgraded to the Flex which was a tracker in the form of a bracelet. I really liked the idea of the bracelet, but the Flex didn’t offer much else. Progress was tracked with a dot. There were 5 dots in total and once you got one dot lit up you achieved that percentage of your daily goal. I was excited when I heard about the Force because I heard you could see your stats in real time. Unfortunately I didn’t get to order one as they were discontinued before I got the chance to. Luckily something better came along. Something much better! Enter the Charge HR!

The Charge HR like the Flex is in the form of a bracelet. It’s a tad bulkier, but not by much. It’s much nicer looking and easier to handle. It straps on like a watch for a more secure fit. One of the things I like most about this? Any vigorous hand movements won’t send my Fitbit into sleep mode. The Charge HR automatically tracks your sleep without having to tap it multiple times. You can still tap your Fitbit to instantly see the time or your steps (you can set that feature in the app) without sending it into sleep mode.

You can also see all of your stats right from your Charge HR! Including the time, steps, miles, calories, stairs, and heart rate. Even better? There’s a new feature that will alert you (vibrate) when someone is calling you on your cell phone! This is especially useful to me because when I’m in the kitchen doing my thing I can’t always hear my phone. Or if I’m out shopping and my phone is tucked away in my purse I can’t tell when I’m getting a call. You can’t exactly miss a vibrating wrist. That’s easily one of my favorite features.

I’ve heard some talk about the lack of battery life. I started using my Charge HR right out of the box and didn’t have to charge it until 4 days later! I usually get about 4-5 days of wear time before having to charge up. I do however have a few tips for lengthening your battery life. If you’re not doing any strenuous exercise, disable the HR feature. I only enable mine when I’m getting into some intense cardio. Otherwise, I really don’t need it on. Also, try not to check the stats so much. I only check the stats from my Charge HR when I’m out and about and don’t feel like reaching for my phone. It really does make a difference. I also charge up once or twice a week around bed time when I know I won’t be active. That way I don’t miss out on logging my activity for the day.

I really don’t have anything bad to say about this new tracker. I guess I could say it’s a tad touchier than the Flex. It seems to pick up an added step or two at times. And when I’m on the elliptical I actually have to use the bars and swing my arms in order for it to track my activity. But those are fairly minor compared to the awesome features and overall performance.

I’d also like to mention that I really dig the new features on the app and website. I love the challenges feature. Boy do those challenges really motivate you! I can’t even tell you how far I have been pushed. Actually I can! Before the challenges my record was about 32k steps. Now? I’m at about 45k steps! I’m aiming for that 50k next! And there’s a shiny badge that goes along with it!

Do you have a Fitbit? Do you have another type of activity tracker?