Charge 5 feedback

[philippe_44]

A few days after upgrading from 4 to 5, I have to say it's pretty disappointing:

- Yes, the display is nicer and the shape feels better quality, but the ease of use is not there: there is no good clock face with key parameters on the same screen (time, heartbeat, steps) and you have to tap. I know this can be a question of taste as one is close to that, but at least the 4 had more options.

- Related and more important, the way to switch on the display is *VERY* irritating. Rotating your wrist kind of work, but not all the time and certainly with a lag. So you tend to tap to activate it but if the rotation has activated it, then you move to the next item (I've chosen the clock face where you can tap to alternate between health items). But if you don't tap, quite often it does not activate. The button on the 4 did take care of that in a much user-friendly way. There is no quick and easy way to check the display. And I know there is an always-on option, but then it lasts 2 days and in that case I'd better use my iWatch... (there is a reason why I've kept my fitbit instead of using my iWatch)

- the ECG missing features is like SpO2 for the 4: it's really irritating to advertise a feature only to realize you need to wait N month to get it.

- The NFC/contactless payment is *gone*. That is even more irritating because it's another big downgrade.

So, that's just my opinion but at that point, my answer to the question is 5 worth the upgrade, is definitively a big no, unless it's purely an aesthetic choice and you prefer look to usability.

[Jessica-Rabbit]

Oh really? 😞  Curious about the NFC payment, @philippe_44 

 Any removal of NFC contactless payment is short-sighted, and I wouldn't have purchased this item if I had known. I honestly thought this had Google Pay!  (In this world, reducing NFC payment tech is not a way forward). I've not attempted to use the pay function yet though. 

Agree on usability - it's incredibly frustrating standing and tapping one's wrist numerous times in order to see 1 item, including the time. It's a backwards move from older models. 

I've never had any comfortable success with twisting my wrist to activate the screen on any model. 

Still unable to get any readings for BR, HRV, Skin Temp - with the new gadget fully updated, and more than 3 nights tracked.  

What are the benefits we have paid for?

• Harder to use,activate. 
• NFC removed?
• advertised tech not working.

I wonder if Fitbit/Google will address these concerns?

 

[philippe_44]

I have to take the NFC comment back. For the first few days, I tried to activate it from the iPhone app and it would tell me that payments are unavailable (it used to work with the 4). After reading your response, I tried again knowing that I upgraded to iOS 15 this morning and this time it worked, I was able to add the card I used with the 4. Need to figure out how to use it because obviously the "press the button" help in the app will not work 🙂 and the website does not seem to be updated.

[Wibby]

This isn't very elegant, I'm afraid, but I just copied the relevant bit from the manual for you.  I thought it might be a bit rude to just say look it up...I don't use it myself so can't explain it so here are the pages.

I hope that helps.

[philippe_44]

Thanks - Yes, I already self-corrected myself on NFC, although per my previous post the feature was unaccessible for the first few days. Re manual, yes I have to confess I don't do much RTFM, I was just using online https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/technology/fitbit-pay

[philippe_44]

After another week with the device, I can only confirm that the user experience is very degraded compared to a Fitbit charge 4 and I'll be returning to use the 4 version. The lack of a button together with the inconsistent tap sensitivity is very irritating. To confirm what I said previously:

- most of the time, turning your wrist does not work to switch the display on, or has a very big lag

- double tapping is a hit-and-miss and even single tapping to switch between display items works randomly, with a lot of lag - it is barely usable

- the result is that the alarm is the most irritating thing ever: it wakes you up and you want to switch it off then but you can't: it will keep vibrating and the tap on the "off" icon works ... sometimes