New Fitbit Charge 5 user - more info about its features

[Griffo77]

I'm new to FitBit, coming from years of Garmins so please excuse me if I'm being stupid or missing something obvious.

A) Seeing Heart Rate While Exercise - this does not seem possible? If I start a run, I can see heart rate zones, but not my heart rate. Surely not?? 

B) GPS - this only seems to work if I do built-in GPS, and manually trigger the device to start an exercise. It does not seem to work on auto-exercise, and dynamic mode does not seem to work if I bring a phone. Am i doing something wrong?

c) NFC payments - was designed by someone who isn't used to NFC payments ? It's called "tap and go" locally for a reason locally. If it's under $100, you just tap and go. If it's over, then you need to supply a pin.

On the FitBit, having to go
"Double tap to wake up device"

"Scroll to payments"

"scroll your pin number 1, 2 , 3, 4 times"

"Select card"

"Then you can tap for payment".

to pay for a $2 coffee. UGH! So inefficient. It's easier to bring an old-school card along. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[bluejay123]

I'm a former Garmin vivosmart HR+ user and am wondering - do you find that their is a very annoying lag when you want to check the time?  It drives me crazy.  Sometimes it doesn't even detect my wrist motion so I'm looking at a blank screen.  My old Garmin was waaaay more sensitive than this Charge 5.  

[Griffo77]

Yes that 2 second lag is super annoying.. "Did it register my wrist move, no, oh maybe, yes". 

[Griffo77]

So is there a way to see any other useful information when in exercise mode?

For instance, heart rate and time (as int he clock) when in running mode? 

It seems like the workout tracker screens are so dumbed-down they have actually become useless. I think i'm going to ebay this thing and go back to Garmin. 

[Wibby]

When you're in exercise mode, at least in Run, when you scroll the little number at the bottom of the display, it runs through: calories burned, distance, steps, time, heart rate, current pace, average pace.  There might be more as I'm saying this off the top of my head. 

I'm most interested in heart rate so I keep that as my main screen when I'm jogging.  On that screen, the big number is the heart rate and it also shows the distance in smaller numbers at the top and the elapsed time in smaller numbers at the bottom.

I hope that helps a bit.

[SilviaFitbit]

@Griffo77, @Wibby and @bluejay123 Hi there, and for the ones that are new to the Fitbit Community, welcome. 

Thanks for sharing your information and your experience with Charge 5. Your feedback and comments are appreciated, this helps us to continue improving our services offered. 

When you start tracking an exercise, the stats can be checked by tapping on the screen, you'll be able to see your current heart rate. Learn more about it by checking this article How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device? 

On Fitbit Charge 4, Fitbit Charge 5, Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit Sense, and Fitbit Versa series, the Exercise app opens automatically after a few minutes of running to track your activity with GPS. Learn more about the auto-recognize exercise feature here.

If you're experiencing difficulties with Charge 5 display, let's try restarting your tracker and continue monitoring its functionality. 

Hope this helps.