Android Central Sense Review

[datalore]

Here is the first review I've seen of the Sense. He gives it a good review with some minor complaints. Some of his complaints are slightly strange I think, his complaints about stress tracking seemed more philosophical than technical, but it's his opinion. Good read.

https://www.androidcentral.com/fitbit-sense-review

[SteveH]

Thanks for sharing this. I've only had my Sense for a day but I agree with both the positive and negative comments in the review. The hardware is great but the missing "coming soon" features and a slow, buggy set-up spoil the initial impression for me. I think it will be the best fitbit yet but it's not quite there yet.  

[bobby2478]

Most of the complaints are consistent across other reviews, the most concerning of which are:

• choppy animations
• slow performance/lag
• touch screen not always responsive
• button on side you have to fully cover with finger to "press" and doesn't always respond
• SPo2 only works if you select SPo2 watchface (it won't even track the data overnight unless you select this watchface, instead of always logging the data and just not displaying unless you select that watchface)

All of these would at first glance appear to be defects that can be fixed with subsequent firmware updates. My Charge 3 for example has the same button on the side (vitrual button with haptic feedback) and it works fine even if I don't fully cover the button with my finger and is always responsive. The fact the Sense has issues with this same button leads me to believe it's a software issue not a hardware issue. I also highly doubt the slow/choppy performance and response issues being due to an underpowered CPU or issues with the touch screen, again they seem like software issues easily cleaned up by subsequent firmware updates (although that may just be wishful thinking)

[Heather-S]

I have my Sense as of yesterday.  I had ZERO issue setting it up.  It was fast, quick, and had no lag.  It came almost fully charged.  I'm on iOS.

I had an update last night of the device and the update went smoothly and took maybe 10-15 minutes.  Very quick.  Again, no issues.

My screen is super snappy, no lag, touchscreen is responsive, the new device animations are sleek (the new step goal celebration animation and the reminders to move celebration).  The new side "button" takes a little getting used to, but after almost 24 hours with it now, there's not an issue with it for me.  It feels and acts like a premium device, in my opinion.

[bobby2478]

Hopefully this experience carries over to the Android experience as well, it seems all reviewers experienced the same issues perhaps they were reviewing the units on an older firmware version or something.

[SunsetRunner]

In comparison setting up my Sense on Android was a nightmare.  The phone could find the Sense but the watch would not get past the 'download app' screen.  I tried again this morning, skipped the Wifi setup and the Sense then picked up an update which took almost 2 hours to complete.  From then on though it's being absolutely fine, yes the button is a bit finicky but I'm sure it's just a learning curve and slightly annoying that the ECG app won't be available until next month.

[bobby2478]

Hopefully the button improves with another firmware update, the same button on my Charge 3 works perfectly fine. How is the responsiveness of the Sense? Are the animations choppy? Is it responsive and smooth, are opening apps quick or painfully slow like reviewers have mentioned?

[N8teGee]

---

@bobby2478 wrote:

Most of the complaints are consistent across other reviews, the most concerning of which are:

• choppy animations
• slow performance/lag
• touch screen not always responsive
• button on side you have to fully cover with finger to "press" and doesn't always respond
• SPo2 only works if you select SPo2 watchface (it won't even track the data overnight unless you select this watchface, instead of always logging the data and just not displaying unless you select that watchface)

---

I think these are valid complaints, hopefully most of them will be addressed through FW updates though. Overall I'm enjoying the sense and find it to be an interesting device with a lot of potential. Hopefully that potential is realised. 

[TheNightSkyGuy]

Thanks for sharing @N8teGee !  Definitely looking forward to hearing about your experience with Sense. I am especially interested in hearing about the HR accuracy that the Dcrainmaker review pointed out yesterday.  The FitBit community needs to hear from early users so we get an idea if these are  indeed real issues.

[bobby2478]

The HR accuracy is another major issue. It appears based on reviews that it's off by as much as 10-20+ BPM compared to Apple Watch, which was tested for accuracy against a variety of Garmin and Polar chest straps. In fact they just rested the Apple watch on their palm (not strapped on) and the reading was still pretty close to the chest straps while the Sense was off by over 20 BPM.  So it's not just a little off, it's wildly inaccurate.

Hopefully Fitbit acknowledges the problem publicly as well as a statement about when it will be fixed (assuming it's not a design defect).

That's one issue with the embargo against reviews.  Yes I'm sure Fitbit rushed this to market and spent the past month in a frantic push to get as much functionality ready to go for launch, knowing there will be bugs that need to be fixed later. But if these reviews were done a month ago then they'd have had a month's notice to fix the most noticeable bugs that people are likely to see right away and complain about.

[eeyore6802]

Steve, I'm looking to upgrade my fitbit sooner rather than later and the Sense was one I had been looking at.  Now with the mixed reviews etc I'm second guessing myself.  I'd be looking between the sense or versa 3(i notice your signature says you have both.  If I'm looking to get is relatively soon, do you think maybe I'm better off with the Versa 3?  I know some of these 'complaints' may be fixed down the line but my experience with fitbit is that they may not do these things in a fast manner.  Considering the sense is decently pricey, I'd really hate to pay that much if your talking months before things are up and running as they should be.  Although I do have the issue of always second guessing myself 🙂

[bobby2478]

I was assuming since Sense/Versa 3 were so similar that any problems on the Sense likely carried over to the Versa 3 as well. If however the Versa 3 doesn't have many of the issues the Sense does, then since they share so much hardware and software that at least would make me more confident that Fitbit will get the issues with the Sense squared away

[wookietim]

The button strikes me as simply a UI element that would take some getting used to. My question is if the fitbit syncs with the phone reliably. Has that been fixed or is it still buggy?

[Heather-S]

@wookietim I haven't had any problems syncing (on iOS).  

[Jane11]

I received mine yesterday and have had no problems with it. The first time it connected to GPS it took a while but when I did it again later in the day, it was really fast. I'm not experiencing any lag and the HR function seems fairly consistent.

That being said, I am suspect of any wrist worn device for accurate HR, straps are better.

I'm happy so far! And I don't regret my purchase. 

[wookietim]

Let me know if you do. I plan on waiting until Fitbit enables all functions (Specifically ECG and on wrist call answering) before I make a final decision on it. So, basically, next month. I like the Galaxy but truth is, I got slotted into a rather stressful job recently and the EDA sensor would be VERY useful for my life and the Sense seems to be about it on that score. So if you continue with no problems then I have an 80% sure to upgrade.

[wookietim]

Question - does it track HR at least consistently? My Galaxy has a problem with dropping my HR during a workout - in an hours workout it might grab a HR 10 disconnected minutes - is the Sense better at doing it consistently at least?

[Ames23]

I'm going back to my Versa 2 and let the Sense firmware bake a little longer. It's sluggish for sure. It seems to be hung trying to update the COACH app which is making it also not update the clock faces. No amount of restarting and redoing setup is getting it back on track.

[bobby2478]

@Ames23 is that Android or iOS?

[Ames23]

Android Note 20u. Versa 2 is working perfectly with it so I'm going to go back and wait for new firmware.