My first impression with Charge 5

[HypocritePro]

Just got the Charge 5 and to say the least they should have simply renamed it something else all together, like Charge LT or not even Charge.

They’ve dropped the altimeter and it’s not backwards compatible on the chargers or the bands. Just know that if you are new to Fitbit and the Charge lineup, it’s cool. But if you’ve used Fitbit since the Charge lineup’s inception, this is beyond a major let down ‘but with a pretty colourful screen’.

It’s as if they don’t listen to community member feedback, or as if they fire their engineering staff between model inceptions and then start from scratch… “Hey this is how the old one looked. How do we make it look a bit newer, charge more, make it do less, and alienate our loyal longtime users?”

I was excited to think this was an upgrade from the 4, but sadly it is not… I shall be returning it and going back to the 4 until they figure out how to make a legitimate device upgrade. 

As for all the ‘new feature sets’ (ECG and Daily Readiness) just be aware that they are all ‘coming soon’ with no release dates set as of yet. So besides the coloured display, you are much further ahead with the Charge 4 than this model, and the missing altimeter again was a step backwards and/or way off track. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[HypocritePro]

For a further incredible in-depth review, jump over here:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/09/fitbit-charge-5-in-depth-review.html

Then scroll down to the section entitled “GPS & Heart Rate Accuracy” to further learn that the engineering team made a further trade off do to the physical location of the GPS module… so you either wear it super loose to get the GPS to work and sacrifice the heart rate monitoring, or wear it tighter and give up the GPS tracking. 

If this was a (very expensive) loaf of bread… it would definitely need to go back into the oven for a bit. 🤦🏻‍:male_sign:

[jasrot]

FWIW I just received my C5, and can get a GPS signal in my house with the band on tight. I’ll try it out on a walk this evening. 

[SunsetRunner]

I was disappointed too. I had a Versa. Since Charge 5 is the same price as versa 2, I expected at least some music control and an altimeter. The only new things are spO2 and ECG. Both you can get from other brands for less money. I hope this is just Fitbit's strategy to release first and update according to reviews later, else it really is a waste of money.

[fionac]

My first thoughts are a little different. 

I have had Fitbits since being given a Force in 2013 or thereabouts. The Charge 5 is the Fitbit I've been waiting for since then.

I love the solidity of it compared to the rather plastic feel of the 4.  I love that the screen is actually visible in bright sunlight rather than having to find shade.  I like that you can see all your data by tapping the screen.  I like that you can double tap to wake even in sleep mode. 

I don't care about stair counts - it was incredibly inaccurate.  I also don't mind that some options aren't available yet. I wasn't feeling deprived before and I don't feel deprived now. I'd rather they were released when they work.

I won't be using it to track runs. I have a Garmin for that, but am interested to see how it fares on my run tonight. Hopefully, it'll be better than the 4 which rarely automatically picked up runs and never got the map right.

[mikey_pdx]

Agree with you on stairs/floors counting. It was trash on both my Garmin vivosmart devices (3 and 4), and not great on the Charge 3 that I borrowed from my wife to see if I would like it. 

The Charge 5 is the device I have been waiting for since my Microsoft Band 2 died some years back (which did actually do a decent job of stairs/floors tracking). I've only had the Charge 5 a few days, but so far I really like it. Only major gripe is not being able to re-order the apps so that Exercise is first (or last, so it seems first when swiping to the right). It recorded my warmup for soccer on Sunday night, which was kind of cool. I recorded my games and seemed like the GPS was dead-on, even showing the excursions off the pitch to fetch errant shots/passes, haha. 

Now, if Fitbit would just add dark mode to the iOS app... 

[SleepyxEquus]

100% agree to dark mode on app!! I have everything on my phone set up as that. 

[SunsetRunner]

I agree this watch has been an expensive lesson for me. Doesn't keep an accurate heart rate, doesn't even save the inaccurate heart rate, very much a useless product.

[Plunky]

Go vote here. Unless they get enough votes it won't happen.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Dark-Theme-in-Fitbit-App-Android-Win10-and-iOS/i... 

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for taking the time to share this idea, @Plunky! 

Voting for these ideas is always helpful to continue to track popularity and demand over time. 

Have a great day. 😁