How is Charge 6 different from the Charge 5?

[Victamon]

What has improved from the Charge 5 (and Charge 4, for this matter)?,  and when will it become availed for purchase at what what full‑retail price? Will its sale through manufacturerer include a 1yr subscription of Fitbit Premium membership? What functionalities of the Charge 6 (including if none) will be behind said pay wall?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[N8teGee]

Hi @Victamon

From what I can see. 

• It has a button
• Improved heart rate accuracy (although that is yet to be proven) 
• Ability to broadcast heart rate to gym equipment (like treadmill or peloton)
• Google apps (YouTube music controls, Google wallet and Google maps).

There's more information here.

[MarkStone]

@Victamon If first impressions mean anything, it looks like a Charge 5 with added Google software. I read through the Charge 6 sales page at fitbit dot com and didn’t see anything new as far as functionality - other than the statement that the HR monitor is more accurate. I’ll just keep using my 5 for now thankyouverymuch 😊

[Victamon]

Apparently they have removed the Charge5 from "compare" list of Fitbit-authorized wearable devices. Comparing thr Charge6 to instead thr Sense2 and PixelWatch1 w/  WiFi, two  things strike me. Among the features absent is 

Floors climbed 

Automatically track floors climbed whether you're taking the stairs or walking up an incline.

and among those included is

 Heart rate on exercise equipment 

Connect to your favorite compatible exercise machine and see your real-time heart rate directly on the display.²

²Compatible with workout machines that support the Bluetooth Heart Rate Profile.

Does that portion look sameness as the Charge5?

[N8teGee]

Yeah it's disappointing that we can't have a (new) tracker type device with floor tracking, and are instead forced to the smart watches if we want that. 

[Triletics]

Seems like barometer/altimeter is gone for good from Charge line. Not mentioned in sensors.

Broadcasting HR is one good feature but of limited use with most of gym equipment. Gym equipment usually uses ANT+ connectivity so there is no need to pair via BT (if watch supports ANT+ just stand on the machine and HR appears instantly). Can't imagine pairing watch with every single cardio machine I want to use (not mentioning that BT connectivity often is blocked by the gym staff). However, it will connect to PC and mobile phones/tablets so finally, Fitbit can be used with Zwift, Rouvy and other fitness apps (which was requested many times). One feature that is indeed improvement and some users will find it useful (although I'd rather be able to connect chest strap to Fitbit but that is just a wishful thinking).

[Dragongirl1978]

The only thing that even moderately piques my interest was the button lol! I freaking hate that there’s no button on the charge five but I agree I don’t need YouTube and all the Google **ahem** on my steps monitor. 

[N8teGee]

If you read the Google press release, it mentions "Haptic button" though. So to me it sounds like the fake button the Charge 3 had, but perhaps raised instead of an indent.

 

[N8teGee]

@Triletics Yes being able to pair a chest strap would be a much better option. That way you could pair the chest strap to the Fitbit and the Gym equipment at the same time (Polar H10 allows two BT connections) and enjoy far superior HR accuracy. 

[Tennant]

Massive missed opportunity in my view. A fitness tracker surely needs altimeter for stairs/inclines. 

If you want music control and Google apps you buy a smart watch. A tracker should focus on the core health features (including sleep monitoring) and have extremely long battery life (at least 10 days). The Charge 4 remains more fit for purpose in that respect.

[Dopovo]

The problem is that Fitbit adds always half baked functions, in this case not even a fully baked music control rather a simpler YouTube music controller that even require YouTube Premium to work.

[dz1234]

I have to add that the thought of someone trying to use the fitbit GPS to navigate via Google Maps makes me laugh. My charge 5 GPS is garbage. It drops frequently and has difficulty finding a signal (not to mention that it rapidly drains the battery). It doesn't even work well in dynamic mode and even if it did, I would need my phone anyway. Since "improved GPS" does not seem to be among the new features, I'm going to assume that the charge 6 GPS is going to be worthless as well.

[Dopovo]

Speaking of navigation feature (assuming GPS is good), in the promotional video by Fitbit you can see that navigation feature is being used while exercising. On Sense 2 you can't use navigation app at the same time while tracking an exercise, does this mean on Charge 6 now we have multitasking? (personal opinion: no, it's just false advertising)

[Steve667]

Well hopefully the firmware works better that the horrible Charge 5 experience 😀

[Widdershins]

It looks to me as if they put better firmware on the Charge 5 then they wouldn't need the 6 anyway. I feel it's just another chance to give them more money. Well that ain't happening with me after the new Android app.