Likes and Dislikes

[rbittman]

I like some things about the Sense a lot:

1. The look. It’s smaller, lighter, and the screen is bright and attractive. The tiles work for me. 

2.the somewhat faster UI is great

3. The physical button. I like it a lot. 
4. battery life. 6 days!

Dislikes:

1. HR tracking is not improved over other fitbits. Very disappointing 

2. GPS shows too many drop off places. Not accurate. 
3. I’m hesitant about sleep accuracy now. For some reason this watch indicates virtually no deep sleep for me. That can’t be right. What changed?

Those are my main beefs. The following bother other people more than me:

1. No snore report. I don’t snore so I always turned this off as it drained the battery 

2. no on board music. I carry my phone everywhere, so it doesn’t matter

3. no third party apps. I don’t care,  though many do

4. released without Google maps.  Honestly, this feature seems silly to me due to the screen size. But maybe it’s cool?

5. no Google Assistant. Not a concern since I like Alexa just fine. 

What did I miss? Fitbit staff, are you listening?

[rbittman]

One more dislike:

I have purchased dozens of Watch faces off Fitface over time (for the Versa 3).  They will load onto the Sense 2, but most are broken in some way. Data missing, colors wrong, etc. This is very disappointing because all the Fitface pages claim their faces work on the Sense 2. 😞

[RonaldM]

I was able to exchange a broken Sense for a new Sense 2 (great service from my online retailer). If I didn't visit the forums regularly my first impressions would be fine. When you keep reading all the different complaints it feels like you can't even say you like it 🫣

As a health watch it's still loaded with sensors (skin temp, cEDA, etc) and the continuous AFib monitoring. The new software works fine, but misses some features the Sense had like, turn of the screen by covering the screen briefly with your hand and switching watchfaces on the device itself. And yes, I can't use the watchfaces I paid for. 

The biggest issue here is managing the expectations by Fitbit when introduced as a Sense 2.

You expect the Sense + extra's, not something different. 

[t.parker]

@RonaldM because Sense 2 wouldn't be a bad device if not for somebody who decided to name it "Sense 2". On its own, as a middle-range Fitbit wearable, a kind of cross-over between a smartwatch look and a fitness tracker it could probably defend itself. Nobody would point out that the features have been taken away because they weren't there in the first place, there would be no predecessor. Of course, the GPS and HR issues would be still there, too. With a decent price point, it could be a good transition device between the Charge 5 line into something more "smartwatchy" but without all the features of Sense (so the price would need to go below the original Sense). But Fitbit's vision was different and that seemed to backfire. I wrote in a different thread that when upgrading my Garmin from Fenix6Pro to Fenix7 my only concern was whether there were enough of the new features to justify the purchase, not whether any features have been taken away. This is the level of expectations when upgrading from an older model to a newer one.

[t.parker]

@rbittman here are my likes and dislikes based on the current usage:

Likes:

- physical button, this is indeed a good upgrade

- screen quality, well visible in the outdoors, looking just good

- Not many sync issues (had to restart Sense 2 just once to fix it when it happened)

- 6-7 days of battery life for basic usage (no GPS, no SpO2 but with cEDA)

- cEDA doesn't drain much battery

Dislikes:

- HR is horribly inaccurate (although yesterday's run was the first time I actually got results I can tell they were accurate, just one time from many)

- GPS can take time to connect (sometimes 3-5 seconds, other times minutes), experiences weird drifts

- Laggy, unresponsive UI, mostly an issue when selecting between activities, it happened to tap the wrong one because the screen refreshed too late.

- Still, no water lock (how hard can it be to implement it), when showering with Sense 2 the watch lives its own life randomly navigating the UI.

- Exercises starting from tile start automatically which makes it useless (pity, because otherwise, it would make a quick exercise shortcut)

- Can't configure double-press shortcuts (mostly, I'd like to disable it, I could on Sense)

- Notifications during activities are annoying, vibrations take way too long, and very distracting when ie. suddenly reaching step goal

- cEDA is a wasted opportunity. I place it in dislikes because it's too intrusive when using notifications. Also, it takes ages to go through the notification screens for cEDA. As a feature, cEDA brings nothing useful (at least for me) so mostly because it is annoying I place it in my dislikes.

- screen fade-in effect, I turn my wrist and instead of seeing the screen instantly, it takes 1-2 seconds to show anything. This is particularly annoying during activities (like seeing pace or HR when running). Moreover, because for the first second after turning the wrist screen is still black it makes an impression that the watch didn't respond to the wrist gesture (and sometimes it doesn't but that adds only to confusion).

The snore report, music and third-party apps were something I never really used on Fitbit so I don't add them to my personal dislikes.

"Honestly, this feature seems silly to me due to the screen size. But maybe it’s cool?" - this is what I was thinking until I started using in-watch navigation. Sense 2 screen is big enough to provide maps. Of course considering it will provide maps, not just text directions. Maps however require internal memory, processing power or at least good bandwidth if used as a tethered feature. Somehow can't see it happening on Sense 2. The feature however could come quite handy. I posted here a photo of me using navigation during my trail race on Fenix6Pro. The screen is slightly larger but I used satnav on smaller watches, too and as long as the map representation and contrast make the whole picture clear it's fine. Nowadays, this is one of the most important features for me (although Google maps may not be as good as proper topo maps).

[t.parker]

One more dislike.

- I can't turn off motivational AZM notifications. The one that says "get pace up" or something similar. I run with a plan, I don't need such distractions during running and it would be great to be able to turn them off. In general, I've been always finding Fitbit too intrusive during activities.

[rbittman]

@t.parker We have similar dislikes, though you focus more on snappy UI than I do (I'm not running with my watch, so that's probably the difference). When I raise my arm, I believe it shows data within less than 1 second, but I have not timed it. Still, I can see the slight lag being a pain if you are doing something fast and need immediate info.

I was looking back at tests of the Sense (Sense 1, that is) by Quantified Scientist, and honestly, the HR tracking was not terrible (when compared to a Polar H10 chest strap). It was pretty dismal for weight lifting, but, with the exception of the Apple watch, most wrist trackers can't deal with quick, anaerobic changes in heart rate, as is true for weight lifting. Since I am not training anymore for events, the HR tracking is actually completely adequate. I think, if I was training, I would go back to the Garmin watches (let's see if the mods delete this post like they usually do when I mention competitors), which I found to be better as an athlete.

Your observations of the water lock (or lack thereof) is fascinating! I don't wear mine in the shower, so I hadn't seen that. Weird!

cEDA. Sigh...I don't know what to say here. I really want this all-day stress feature to be useful, but, like you, I'm not finding it to be so. I dutifully log my feelings each time it pops up, in vain hope that machine learning will make it smarter over time, but I have my serious doubts. If the point is just to alert the user to their own feelings, I don't feel I need that reminder. I may ultimately turn this feature off due to the annoyance factor. Like I said, the jury is still out on whether Fitbit/Google is ultimately going to use cEDA data to give us actual useful information about our health. (Why else provide a sensor that tracks it all day?).

Google maps: Your response is great! I'll remain neutral and try it out. I guess I was disappointed that it's apparently useful mostly in city environments, rather than being able to use Gaia or other track-mapping software to not get lost in the woods. That's where I thought I would mostly use it (and I'm unwilling to buy a Fenix watch for this), but hey, maybe walking in San Francisco will be aided by this too. I definitely use Google maps all the time on my phone, so maybe the little screen will work as well.

By the way, I did start a chat with a Fitbit rep, and shared all of my issues. Since my issues are more comments rather than immediate problems in need of solution, I did not ask for immediate resolution, but repeatedly (he didn't understand my point, otherwise) requested that he bump up the chat to higher levels. He finally stated he would, and provided a chat number for further reference. We will see if this results in anything at all.

[rbittman]

@RonaldM: I mostly agree with you. Many of the complaints stem from disappointment at the loss of features that the Sense (and Versa 3) had, that are now gone. People hate it when things are taken away. There is always a cohort that really liked a feature, like say the snore report. The snore report ate battery life like crazy, and after a few nights I turned it off. However, I found that don't snore anyway, so it was not helpful to me. I am sure many snorers did find it useful though.

The loss of watchfaces is also a disappointment, especially when I was told by Fitface that all would be well with the Sense 2 (I asked before I ordered!).

So, yes, you are correct that expectations are part of the issue here. We DID expect the Sense 2 to be the Sense+Extras. The main "extra" is the cEDA all-day readings, and many of us are baffled as to how this helps us. I am trying to be patient to see if that new sensor ultimately results in helpful health advice, but am disappointed so far. That disappointment stems from me feeling invaded and annoyed by the feature because it simply asks me to reflect, without giving me outside health advice or information. I would like to be convinced though, so maybe in the future?

[t.parker]

@rbittman the UI is actually important for quick looking at the metrics. I know I could use an always-on display but like today, 1-hour run consumed 15% of the battery with GPS on, if I add Always-On it will eat even more. In previous watches (not only Sense) the data appears instantly and this is quite important as I run mostly trails so I want to spend very little time staring at the watch and more time looking at what's under my feet 🙂 So that fading in is absolutely unnecessary.

The missing water lock is an issue of (almost) all Fitbits. Only (if I'm correct) Luxe and Charge 5 have a system-wide water lock. It's not only the shower. If I want to do open water swimming with GPS (regardless of GPS quality when swimming, just for example) I might try using Outdoor Workout but in this case, I can't because there is no water lock for anything else but Swim. Swim on the other hand turns off HR tracking (again, Fitbit doesn't give it even as an option to enable it). I could just track my swimming differently with Workout or anything else that doesn't disable HR but again - no water lock so activity may pause or end in the water. Water lock (or touch screen lock) is in fact one of the basic features of all wearables with touch screens.

I do agree about Google Maps purpose. Indeed, it will lack lots of trails in rural/non-urban areas. In the UK lots of paths are mapped but still, plenty is not there so topo maps on Garmin are much better in such use cases. Btw. I didn't buy a Fenix watch just for this 🙂 I have a lot more than that like using external sensors (not just HR, bike trainers, power meters, foot pods, cycling speed/cadence and even connecting directly to the Concept2 rowing machine or eBike battery, I even tested it with smart golf clubs - cool feature but I so suck at golf 🙂 ), strength/weight exercises recognition (counts reps and sets) so in the end, I get a body map of affected muscles, structured training (structured intervals), lots of water activities (SUP, kayaking which includes sports specific metrics). Maps add a few side features. For example, when I cycle and a sharp bend comes in I get a warning, or when I get close to a steep uphill it will warn me, too. So it's more a package of features and that includes long battery life (longer than Sense 2, today run used 15% on Sense 2 and 3% on Fenix 7). But my expectations towards Fitbit products are quite simple - if they implement a feature implement it fully not half-baked and don't remove features which already work. I know Fitbit won't become as rich as Garmin when it comes to sports tracking but they could at least do the basics right and deliver a solid product that does well what's on paper 🙂

[Killroy-TM]

Been following your two's comments here in the forum and and thank you very much for your contributions and insights. I am trying to come to a consensus of whether to keep and return my Sense 2. I pre-ordered the Sense 2 because my Versa 2 was down to having to recharge the battery every 18 hours and at this point I am leaning towards keeping it.

For me the important things are Walk, Bike and Swimming exercises don't need GPS with it as I use the MyTrails app on my phone for hiking. In addition I am very keen on my heart data, so cEDA, AFib and Sp02 are enabled and so far I am OK with what I get as feedback even though not very intuitive especially the stress management and I can see where this could become an annoyance.

Watch faces I found one that is similar to the Statistics I used on my Versa 2 and it works as expected with no errors. It is the watch face Night Time by Richard Gee all the different screens show what is expected.

What I like to see in the future is the promised Google Maps & Pay as well as answering phone calls with a voice feedback while sitting on the throne with the phone in Bluetooth range.

What I like to see and where I voted for in the feature part of the forum is, WiFi plus some 3rd party apps. I wholeheartedly agree with what I read in the comments some place that this release of the Sense 2 feels more like a contractual obligation then a planned release.

[rbittman]

@t.parker: Regarding the swiftness of the watch to show you information while running trails, I would highly recommend biting that Always On bullet, and avoid the tripping and falling that could otherwise result. After all, the watch recharges to 99% in like 12 minutes, so it's only the inconvenience of having to plug it in an extra time during the day. Personally, I tend to plug it in while in the shower and eating breakfast (every day), and once it's at 100%, it lasts all day for me, including GPS use (cEDA is on; Brightness is Max; always on is OFF) for 6 miles. By the end of the day, my battery is typically at 84%, which is exactly what I noticed on the Versa 3.

That water lock feature sounds nice. I agree the Sense 2 should have it for swimmers.

You've got me kind of looking forward to trying out the Google maps feature on the watch now!

[rbittman]

@Killroy-TM: Glad it helped! I agree with you and am leaning towards keeping my Sense 2 as well. I appreciate the health tracking abilities as well, and, in addition, I want the superior Sleep Tracking that Fitbit offers. I'm a regular watcher of the Quantified Scientist, and his testing consistently put Fitbits in the highest category of accuracy regarding tracking sleep stages. Basically, the sleep tracking and the battery life keep me coming back.

We can always turn off cEDA if it gets annoying and the benefit seems minimal; this remains to be seen for me.

Thank you for the recommendation of the watch face Night Time; I may download that one! I was addicted to also having cute weather animations, but those are broken now on third party faces, so I'm done on that I guess. In addition, Fitbit's weather app is MUCH improved over the past, since they merged Dark Sky weather with Accuweather, so I don't need the cute animations as much anymore.

Can someone please explain to me why WiFi is useful on this watch? Why not just depend on Bluetooth? What will WiFi give you that you don't have now? (thank you in advance; this question is because I am rather ignorant about the 2 techs).

[Killroy-TM]

WiFi will give you two things that the Sense 2 does not have at the moment and you and I may be able to live without one of them.

1. WiFi speeds up any Firm Ware updates as it is much quicker in transferring the packages.

2. Those who want music on their watches use WiFi to download from their storage devices, tracks of their music. Never did that with my Versa 2 as I have my wife walking, biking or swimming with me. I be in deep sh*t if I would wear earbuds to listen to music.

[t.parker]

@Killroy-TM bone conduction headphones. Your ears stay open. You can hear your wife and everything else around as your ears stay open and you can still listen to music or podcasts etc. I do that when I run (metronome + podcast). Of course you won't get quality of sound like when using closed ear headset but it's good alternative which doesn't compromise your safety.

[t.parker]

@rbittman with so frequent charging you will quickly reduce those 6 days on a single charge. One of the perks of longer battery life on single charge is a longer battery life span. Each charging cycle decreases that. It also depends on other factors like battery quality but I have lots of doubts about quality of components Fitbits are made of. This will bite Pixel Watch with its 24 hours battery life. Frequent charging will reduce that time.

[Killroy-TM]

I have been getting this error when posting messages which is very weird:

"This message body contains (numerical 18 - numerical 24 which is not permitted in this community" had to spell that out in case it is being flagged when scanning the post for content

Back to the to the topic of Dislikes, there is now a crowded market in the smart / fitness watches with announcements of different vendors now coming touting the Wear OS-3 running and the Google assistant doesn't run on them like the Fossil 6 Wellness.

With such a crowded market in the 18 hour to 24 hour battery life market, taking your point on battery life being reduced by frequent charging, therefore for me 4 day is a minimum with a preferred 6+ day before recgarging.

[rbittman]

I got that error too, when I tried to offer a range of numbers in a sentence. Must be a bug. 

I have an anecdote re: Battery life. I had the Versa 3 for two years and I charged it daily, every morning , during that period. It always showed the same level at charging time, suggesting it did not lose power over the two years. Still, I hear what t.Parker is saying and I’ll adjust my routine accordingly!

[t.parker]

@rbittman it depends on battery quality and the way you use your watch. These are just general rules. One thing I am curious is why for the Sense 2 the 35% is considered as low battery (at 35% Fitbit sends notification). This is strange as 35% is almost half-full 🤔 could be typo when coding or something done on purpose. Well, we won't know that and Fitbit will never tell. In general, devices which require frequent charging will get battery of better quality, lasting more charging cycles (at least that's a practice of companies like Apple). So Pixel Watch may also be at this end of battery quality as it's expected to be charged daily (even twice a day). Battery will age slower despite frequent charging. However, devices like Fitbits may not be in that group. I may be wrong but even Fitbit advised to recharge when battery drops around 20% (but not let it go empty). This assumes charging every few days (I believe for Sense 2 the worst case scenario is 3-4 days). Then, many people change watches every 2-3 years so battery age may not be that visible yet. It all depends but it's just good to know what best practices are if one wants to keep electronics alive for longer.

I used to joke about Apple Watch and its need for frequent charging that this at least builds a habit of carrying charger around. That was a joke until I realized I didn't take charger for my Ionic when went for 2 weeks business trip to Korea 🤭 Charger was one problem. Another was that the strap broke and nowhere to buy any spares. After a few days the Ionic died (not permanently, just discharged). I fixed strap (permanently, glued for good 🤣) with super glue but without charger couldn't do lot more for it. If it was Apple Watch I'm sure I would remember to take charger with me out of habit (or could buy a spare one pretty much everywhere).

I realize that Sense 2 battery life is quite good. I believe that I'm spoiled knowing there are devices lasting twice long and even longer with much better battery optimization. I charge Fenix every 10 - 14 days and that is using GPS and many other features (10 days is minimum when I use some 3rd party apps which are more powerhungry, for example AKConcept2 app drains battery faster). Despite of that, I placed Sense 2 battery life in "likes" 🙂 I guess appetite comes with eating.

[rbittman]

Re: battery life on the Pixel watch. I was in a thread on You tube (in Mike O'Brien's channel) about the Pixel watch. Here is a comment I extracted from there, just fyi:

"With always on off, I took my Pixel watch off charger at 4AM. It is 8 Pm now and I'm at 19%. Not impressed. ECG rarely works, crashes a lot and the watch looks tiny on my small man wrists. Pixel watch does have a nice screen and LTE is reliable when using, GPS gets signal fast. Interface is also fast. The crown is small and hard to manipulate. Fitbit Sense 2 still has a lot going for it in my opinion, it just needs faster Gps acquisition and offline syncing to be a winner in my book."

[t.parker]

@rbittman offline syncing isn't going to happen (and I don't think it's a common feature nowadays although if Fitbit did that, it would be a bonus). I'm thinking to return my Sense 2 and go back to Sense. I tested what I needed to test and I see no reason to keep this watch any longer of original Sense does pretty much the same and more. Testing cEDA shows me that I definitely don't need that feature and there is nothing else. I'm also going to acquire Pixel Watch to test it mostly as a sports tracker. I'm wondering whether it's possible to install SportyGo! app which is probably one of best sports tracking apps for WearOS. It works on the Galaxy Watch 5 like a charm (I can pair external HR monitor, my foot pod, bike trainer) but I have heard worrying things that Pixel Watch didn't allow to do as much since it would be bypassing Fitbit ecosystem.