Hi Forum
some pros and cons after 2 weeks of continued use. As an FYI, I have upgraded a Charge 2 which I truly love(d).
PROS:
1. Design, portability and fit are fantastic. They couldn't be any better than that. Charge 5 is slim, light, with a premium feeling, materials are high quality and the fit is superb, with a strap that is supple and soft. Attachment links to the tracker case seem though a bit fragile, but might be just a feeling...). As per wearability, the non-intruding sensors are a welcome change as the ones of the Charge 2 were digging badly into my arm...
2. Screen is great. Crisp and bright, always visible. Big improvement. sometimes a bit lazy in the responsiveness, but overall good.
3. Good notifications, great to be able to adjust alarms and other stuff directly from the device (i.e. night mode, etc.)
4. App is good and easy as usual, except for the "Premium Wall" which is just difficult to accept...everything should be open and free
5. ECG capability is a fantastic addition. I wish it was more/better integrated in the overall App experience.
CONS
1. Absence of an altimeter is disappointing. Tracking floors and having a floor goal was an enjoyable part of the daily fitness and wellbeing experience. I truly miss that.
2. HR sensor is badly inaccurate under any circumstance. Charge 2 was inaccurate during training, especially and higher intensity, but was spot on under any other use. Charge 5 is just erratic and unpredictable, sometimes pushing my HR to the roof while sitting down and being over sensitive to any movement. My resting heart rate went up 5 beats after the change from Charge 2. just not a reliable tool. I read tons of bad reviews on this, but all focused about biking, HIT, etc. But the resting and normal-activity measurements aren't any better. Just bad.
3. Clock faces are crazily bad. How can this be? This is a fitness tool and all the faces are kind of "Salvador Dali" style...with also too much focus on time (so big and with a weird layout) and active minutes which is such a useless metric especially considering that is driven by random/inaccurate HR measurements...I miss so much the classic clock faces of the Charge 2...and the old way of measuring active minutes...sigh...
4. EDA scan...this is just marketing...3 mins are too long and the results are meaningless...I would trade this for an altimeter any day. App does not integrate the results well and the related insights are poor and useless to me.
5. No 3rd party App or personalisation are available, not even a "find my watch" option which is misleadingly suggested as available i.e. Charge 5 is listed among the devices compatible with this App. Bad...really bad
6. Last but not least, battery life arrives to max 3 days with 1h a day approx. of connected (yes, connected...) GPS and no "Always-on" display, with anything else set to Normal. No way that it can be stretched to one week, just impossible. Not good enough.
Conclusion
All the Pros are on the package/esthetic/wearability, with fitness tracker capabilities being poor. It was a present so I will keep it as it as great personal meaning to me. Would I buy it myself? Nope- unfortunately the lack of an altimeter, HR random results and poor battery life, etc. are just not acceptable at this price point and are a significant step back from prior Charge's.
Cheers
