Beginner questions

[AJA61]

Hello! I'm a newbie with a Charge 5 and Fitbits in general, so I have a few simple questions:

• When I go to the gym, do I need to set anything up on the watch, or does it just start monitoring my workout on its own? In other words, does it know when I start a workout (cardio and/or weights) and the type of workout I'm doing, or do I need to input that info on the watch and then tell it when I'm done with the workout?
• Do I tell the watch when I'm going to bed to start my sleep monitoring, or does it detect that on its own? For example, if I lay in bed and read for an hour, does that count as part of the sleep cycle monitoring?
• What is the best way to clean the back of the watch where the sensors are? Just a cloth with water? 
• I'm sure I'll have more questions as I use it in the coming days, but thanks ahead of time for any suggestions on the questions above.

[charleskn · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the forums @AJA61 

Fitbit can automatically detect some activities, that can be configured in your settings. You can add specific activities to your tracker and start a workout (run, walk, "workout", elliptical, etc) from your tracker.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1935.htm

See this article on sleep. Nothing to do, but wear the tracker to bed, and get a good night's rest. You can set your normal sleep hours, if desired, and get a notification that it's bedtime.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1314.htm?Highlight=sleep

I would use a soft cloth, or a cloth for cleaning glasses. Once or twice a year I remove the watch band from the tracker and use an old toothbrush to clean out the jun that accumulates in the band latching mechanism.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your fitbit.

[AJA61]

Thanks! Appreciate the feedback. 

[azwxguy]

The easiest way I have found to continue to track different exercises that are not automatically detected is to go ahead and start a Workout exercise on your Fitbit, do the exercise, and then stop the Workout. When it loads into your phone app, find the Workout in the Track Your Exercise tab, open it, and select the edit pencil. This will allow you to select what the exercise was from a large pull-down menu and save it. Enjoy!

[AJA61]

Thanks! I used that suggestion for a workout with a rowing machine, since rowing wasn't an exercise option. Did it as a "workout", then changed it to "rowing" under the edit options.