Fitbit Charge 3 review
Our Verdict
A swim-proof design, improved touchscreen and potential for deeper sleep insights make the Fitbit Charge iii the best accommodating fettle tracker for the money.
For
- vii-day battery life
- Touchscreen display
- SpO2 sensor'due south sleep analysis potential
- Swim-proof
Confronting
- No automatic run-pausing at launch
- No on-board GPS
- Not the near accurate center rate
Tom's Guide Verdict
A swim-proof pattern, improved touchscreen and potential for deeper slumber insights make the Fitbit Charge 3 the best accommodating fettle tracker for the money.
Pros
- +
7-mean solar day battery life
- +
Touchscreen display
- +
SpO2 sensor's sleep assay potential
- +
Swim-proof
Cons
- -
No automatic run-pausing at launch
- -
No on-lath GPS
- -
Not the most authentic center rate
When it comes to the hardware, the $150 Fitbit Charge 3 is a solid upgrade from its predecessor and capable culling to its successor. The pattern isn't radically different, but a larger display with an actual touchscreen that responds instantly to swipes and taps is a huge improvement. The new band is swim-proof and offers a new swim workout fashion, which makes it more than useful for people who enjoy a variety of exercises.
Only that's not the most important characteristic. Fitbit's efforts in slumber make the Charge 3, which has an SpO2 sensor that could potentially exist used to diagnose sleep apnea, more heady than other affordable fitness trackers on the market.
Similar Apple, Fitbit is thinking beyond bones activity-tracking and notifications to give you deeper insights into your wellness. The Charge 3 is a footstep in that direction, although the health features with biggest potential aren't quite ready for primetime.
If y'all're thinking of picking upwardly the Fitbit Accuse 3, you may want to consider the Fitbit Accuse 4, which costs $150, but too has GPS congenital in, better sleep tracking, and the ability to control Spotify playback from your wrist. Read our total Fitbit Charge 4 review (and Fitbit Versa 2 vs. Fitbit Charge iv confront-off) to come across why it supplanted the Charge three every bit the best fettle tracker.
If y'all ain a Fitbit Charge iii, Charge iv, Inspire HR, Ionic, Versa, Versa two, or Versa Low-cal, yous tin enroll in Fitbit's new heart written report, and the company will notify you if your device detects an irregular middle rhythm that indicates AFib. Fitbit will also connect y'all with a md for a gratuitous consultation. The Fitbit Middle Written report, open to U.S. residents 22 years or older, is being conducted to decide how accurate its devices are in detecting atrial fibrillation, every bit the first step to receiving FDA approval. Hither's how to sign upwards for the Fitbit Centre Study.
Fitbit Charge 3 cheat sheet: What's new
- Bigger touchscreen display: The Accuse 3'southward responsive screen is 30 pct bigger than the Charge 2'southward, which makes viewing information a lot easier.
- seven-mean solar day battery life: You can easily sail through a week on a charge, even with daily workouts.
- Swim-tracking arrives: The Charge 3 is water-resistant, different its predecessors, so it can track pool workouts.
- Connected GPS: The Charge 3 speedily latches on to your phone'south GPS, but built-in antennas would be more user-friendly.
- New sensor for sleep insights: An SpO2 sensor will be used to alarm users enrolled in the Fitbit Sleep Score Beta programme if they feel breathing disturbances. That program starts in November.
Price and availability
The Fitbit Accuse iii is available to buy at present for $149.95. You lot can gild the fitness tracker straight through Fitbit's website or from a variety of third-party retailers, including Amazon and Best Purchase.
Design: Subtle but meaningful changes
Fitbit isn't reinventing the wheel with the Charge 3, which looks identical to the Accuse two at first glance.
The biggest modify on closer inspection is the display, which is 30 percent larger than its predecessor'due south. The visitor's goal is to put more data on your wrist at a glance, which is a expert thing. But the taller screen makes some of Fitbit's accessory bands, like the Horween leather strap I tested, sit awkwardly on my arm. The sporty bands are thicker than the leather options but too fit more comfortably around my wrist.
If you're upgrading from the Charge 2, you'll notice that the side button is no longer a mechanical piece that depresses when you impact it. Fitbit engineered an inductive push that responds with haptic feedback when you utilize it to toggle through the menu or pause a workout. The new push creates a sleeker look, and also makes the Charge iii's design swimproof.
I like the new look, and I also appreciate the feel of the haptic feedback, which is a slight, subtle vibration that radiates throughout the device.
The biggest change is the touchscreen display, which is 30 pct larger than its predecessor's.
Like the Accuse 2, y'all tin easily bandy in bands made of different materials to switch up your look. The band pieces attach easily — information technology takes simply seconds to remove ane piece and slide in another.
Display: Larger touchscreen makes a difference
Fitbit's larger screen definitely comes in handy. Now you tin can read entire letters and notifications without having to follow side-scrolling text, and view multiple apps on the screen at the same fourth dimension. (Just 2, but that's an improvement.)
But more importantly, the Accuse three's display is now fully touchscreen. The Accuse 2 was more of a tap-screen — you lot had to jab at the brandish with your finger to view stats such as mileage covered and calories burned. Now you can just swipe upwardly on the home screen to view all of those metrics and quickly scroll through them.
The new tracker doesn't have a full-color display; instead, its text and animations come in xvi shades of grey. Colour would be a nice affect, especially when running outside. The reflective screen can be tough to see in the morning light, even without a direct glare. Red or yellow text would be easier to glance at.
Some other minor complaint: Fitbit should minimize the bezels on its fitness ring displays. Everyone can tell you're wearing a Fitbit; there's really no need to take up valuable real manor with a logo on the chin.
Workouts: Improved, but non perfect
The Accuse 3 can now withstand h2o submersion, so swimmers can runway their laps with the new band by activating the new Swim workout. On your wrist, you'll be able to see time elapsed and calories burned, then view total workout stats when yous sync the Charge three to the Fitbit app.
This is a big bargain for swimmers who don't want to splurge on a waterproof swim-tracker such as the $199 Versa or the $279 Apple Sentinel Series 3.
Fitbit now has simply one fitness tracker with on-board GPS, the Ionic, which ane of the visitor's worst-designed devices. I was hoping the Charge 3 would amend upon the Accuse 2 past calculation GPS, but unfortunately, the new band has to connect to your telephone's GPS to accurately track workouts instead. The good news: The Accuse iii locks onto your phone's GPS within a second (literally). The band also tracked one 3.18-mile run fairly accurately even without GPS activated — it logged the run as 3.24 miles.
I tested the Charge 3 confronting a Polar H10 chest strap, the gilded standard for consumer-grade centre charge per unit-monitoring, and plant that the band accurately measured my BPM while resting, but wasn't spot on while running. After a 3+-mile run, the Polar breast strap calculated that my average heart charge per unit was 163; the Charge 3 estimated the average was 158 BPM. The Charge calculated my max center charge per unit at 173, while the Polar reported 180 BPM. The Charge likewise lagged behind the Polar by more than than a minute in the first of my run when my heart charge per unit jumped upward to 156.
This isn't a huge deal in terms of activity-tracking, because heart rate is more useful to gauge trends and overall fitness level. But as Fitbit prepares to move into health diagnostics (more on that subsequently), accuracy will become essential.
The redesigned touchscreen display makes information technology easier to swipe through metrics while running, but I'd adopt to run across more stats on-screen at the same time rather than having to swipe with sweaty fingers to encounter current footstep, average pace, centre rate and time.
MORE: Fitness Tracker Buying Guide
The Charge 3 didn't automatically track runs at launch, but Fitbit fixed that with an update in Dec.
Sensors and sleep: Serious potential
Similar Fitbit'due south Versa and Ionic smartwatches, the Charge 3 has an SpO2 sensor for measuring blood oxygenation levels. With that information, Fitbit can tell if you feel animate disruptions while you sleep. Or it will shortly.
In Nov, Fitbit is opening up a Sleep Score Beta plan to qualifying Fitbit users that will use the Charge 3's SpO2 and center rate sensors to assess your sleep quality and rate information technology out of 100. (If you lot own a Fitbit without an SpO2 sensor, you can still participate in the beta, but yous won't go alerts about breathing disruptions.)
Fitbit volition soon let Charge 3 users leverage the SpO2 and heart rate sensors to assess your sleep quality and rate it out of 100.
Fitbit could as well use the SpO2 sensor to diagnose sleep apnea with clearance from the U.South. Food and Drug Assistants, though it'due south unclear equally to how far forth in that process Fitbit is. Apple tree just received FDA clearance for ii Apple Spotter features, 1 an electrocardiogram app that uses the Serial 4's electrical heart rate sensor to diagnose atrial fibrillation, or irregular middle rhythm. The other is a watchOS feature, not sectional to the Series 4, that alerts users if they experience five instances of irregular middle rhythm.
MORE: All-time Running Apps for iOS and Android
Fitbit is as well working on atrial fibrillation, but has already differentiated itself with in-depth sleep analysis, which the Apple tree Watch doesn't offer. With an SpO2 sensor, the Charge three (alongside the Versa and Ionic) could requite Sleep Score Beta participants life-irresolute wellness data. The potential is huge.
Battery Life: As proficient every bit promised
Where Fitbit routinely pulls ahead of the contest is battery life, and the Charge three delivers upwardly to a week of fitness-tracking and notifications on a charge. After 3 days and three workouts, the band was still chugging along at 68 pct. That'south impressive, because I was also using the ring to bank check notifications, the weather and playing with settings with the brightness on auto (as opposed to dim or normal, which would conserve battery).
Fitbit makes trade-offs to keep battery life lengthy, but for many people, week-long battery life would be a great reason to buy this band.
Bottom Line
Fitbit'south most loftier-profile new devices accept been smartwatches, but the company hasn't forgotten that its acknowledged product is the Charge 2. The Charge 3 is an obvious upgrade if you're a swimmer who wants in-depth sleep assay in a device that can last a calendar week on a accuse.
The Charge 3 doesn't bonfire any trails — at least not yet. I'yard curious to see what Fitbit does with the Sleep Score Beta data, which could inform medical-grade software features down the line.
Fitbit still hasn't made the perfect fitness tracker. But the Accuse 3 is 1 footstep closer.
Credit: Tom's Guide
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/fitbit-charge-3,review-5818.html
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