Should I buy a Fitbit?

[ebe_paul]

Ok, I've been planning on buying a smartwatch to track my heart rate while working out. Didn't want a fitness tracker alone. After reading some of the threads on this community, I'm second guessing my purchase decision. Is Fitbit shutting down or something? They seem to be downgrading services and deliberately sabotaging a successful product. Also, any suggestions on alternatives with reliable heart rate monitoring? I'm on Android btw.

Thanks a ton! 

[t.parker]

@ebe_paul if you want to track HR during your workouts then Fitbit is rather poor choice. Not because it's inaccurate for higher intensity effort (lots of watches have limited accuracy) but because it doesn't give alternative to improve accuracy with using external HR sensor (like chest strap or arm band). For me, this is a "must have" feature and Fitbit doesn't even have it in plans.

[KB9WNS]

FitBits are great for casual workouts and step counting. Easy to use, decent battery life, compact, inexpensive and a self intuitive app.  If you are doing serious hard-core workouts then the Fitbits are a bad choice as they don't support external devices such as chest strap monitors, cycle power meters etc. The Fitbits does not track/record heart rate during swimming.  Accuracy of the optical HR sensor is not good under intense exercise regardless of brand.  Any sort of high intensity interval training requires an accurate, fast responding sensor such as a chest strap which uses the electrical EKG directly from your heart.  The optical sensors (all brands) have too much averaging and time lag to quickly respond to sudden changes in your heart rate.  The smartwatches that market to the hardcore athletes do cost a bit more then the FitBits.  Again, what level of performance do you need?

[jfb9301]

No.

Of course that answer is too short. Based on their bait and switch tactics for the sense 2, and revoking features that were selling points of other watches, I cannot in good faith continue to recommend doing business with Fitbit as a company.

[Offbeatmammal]

I'd say ... NO. I got one a few days ago and the bugs and annoyances are crazy... I'm close to putting it back in the box and returning it and getting a Withings ScanSwatch (the only reason I switched from my previous Withings was I damaged it well outside of warranty and the repair didn't seem worthwhile).

good HR tracking, on-demand sp02, 25+ day battery life.... sure it doesn't have the built in GPS and you can't use it to try and reply to a text but ... 

[Denitra]

6 months ago I would have said yes. With the current “downgrade” of the Sense 2 and too many changes that are coming down to the Fitbit platform (no more challenges, etc.) I am quite concerned of the future of Fitbit.  They have upset much of their loyal customer base.  I think Fitbit has hit its peak and is now on its way down as a company.