Anyone love their Sense? (debating to purchase)

[kfitz29]

Hi.  I currently have a versa 2 that I love.  However, after many years of everyday use, it is starting to have issues charging so I plan to upgrade.  The sense is on sale for almost the same price as Versa 3 ($20 difference) but I keep on reading negative concerns with the sense.  If you could redo, would you still buy the sense?  I mostly use my fitbit for counting swim laps and walking.  I also have an iphone that I would like to connect with it.  Thanks!

Moderator edit: format. 

[kcordiano]

Personally I really like my Sense. I've had it since September 2020 and no issues. I have had Android phones since 2011 so never had an Apple Watch. The health metrics I find a really informative and easy to read/understand. (Skin Temperature I really like a lot). Only thing I wish was on demand SPO2 but maybe that will come down the road eventually or introduced in a new model. $199.99 on sale is worth the price to at least try it. I think you'll really like it especially coming from a prior Versa watch. 

[FitbitUser331]

We have two Fitbit Sense watches, and both have the same problems. Excercise (biking) is not auto detected correctly,  as soon as you start heading up the hill and your speed drops to 5mph, Sense decides that the biking session is done and over with. 

HRV measurement is suspect, and differs drastically from other devices. SpO2 is not very accurate either. Can't get my ECG to work reliably..... and now their customer service is bad as well 😞

[Clove6060]

I’ve had mine since 11/20 and really like it. 
It has not been problematic like others. 
I use mine mainly for the health metrics, sleep data, on wrist calls, and notifications. 

I use this clock face: 

 

[Tgisele]

Read all the threads about the Sense. The heart rate is inaccurate which makes most other stats inaccurate, i.e. calorie burn, exercise zone minutes, etc. I wish, I had read all the threads before purchasing my Sense. I have been a Fitbit user since 2008 or 09 and have always been a big fan, but the customer service is non existent now. They are aware of the heart rate issue and have been for over a year, all that is said is, "We are working on it."

[Phteve]

I don’t really recommend Fitbit anymore even though they do seem to have some great features, I been using them for many years now and owned 4 different versions, latest being the Sense which has been good but after about 7 months of trouble free use the battery went from lasting 5 or 6 days to less than 2 days and now seems to be always going flat on me, as it just suddenly went like it I suspect it was after a software update and I was hoping this latest update might fix it however after getting 90% through the update it failed and now it’s stuffed, can’t get it to connect to complete the update, also had some pretty nasty experiences with the previous Fitbit’s I’ve owned too so I think it’s time for me to try something else. 

[Newtripley]

Hello 

I absolutely love my sense it's worked perfectly from day one

Beautiful display 

Great insights into everything from sleep to skin temperature 

Great battery life 

In my opinion the best fitbit device so far

I don't have an iPhone mine is Samsung s20

However as far as I'm aware sense should work with IOS fine

[DramaQueenDiva]

So far, it's my favorite one.  I have 13 Fitbit trackers and my top 3 so far are the Sense, Luxe, and Charge 5.  The Sense does everything I need it to and more!  The Luxe, while simplistic, is fantastic if you want to wear a tracker but not make it obvious that you're wearing a tracker.  The Charge 5 is just plain comfortable!

The one in question, the Sense, hasn't given me any problems and I've had it since release day.

[t.parker]

I owned two Sense watches. First one I sent back for full refund. The second one I borrowed and the owner doesn't want it back so I use it for experiments. It depends what you are looking for. The problems I have experienced with both units are:

- very inaccurate heart rate

- GPS sometimes works, other times doesn't

- I hate the button (mostlu because I need to reboot the watch in order to sync after workouts)

- sync issues (but reboot seems to help)

- no water lock (except swim) so don't shower with Sense (Ionic had same problem)

This is an activity tracker which tries to be a smartwatch. As much as it does work as activity tracker, for me it is a poor smartwatch (and removing storage for own music made it only "dumber", I used "smarter" devices). I don't consider it a sports tracker (or if so, then it's very primitive one). It carries over the same tracking features known to me since old Charge 2 and barely adds anything new (no new metrics, always 20/21 modes etc.). It is just yet another iteration of very same features known from older Fitbit devices. I don't use ECG, SpO2 (no on-demand reading), HRV (can't verify accuracy, no on-demand or during workout). My opinion is that it's just expensive toy, too simple and too unreliable to justify the price.

[sanman202]

If you are from the Apple ecosystem then this can't hold much to an Apple Watch. I've never even used an Apple watch and i know that's leaps above this with features. Sure, they like all tech items have bugs and if you go to their forums you'll see the complaints, but just like on here it's probably not the majority. I've had my Sense about a year now and the SP02 sensor is inconsistent and you can't do it on the fly. There are mornings it says it couldn't read the sensor. You have to reboot the watch and then it usually fixes it for the following night. Once it doesn't get a reading from the previous night it will never appear even after a reboot. The last two nights it failed to read. Not having on the fly readings is disappointing. As for exercising as some have mentioned there have been some issues with heart rate readings. The ongoing Bluetooth saga that's been going for years with Fitbit's seems to be a bit better but beware if you get a Pixel 6, that will probably have the same issues the 4XL and 5 had with Bluetooth but we can hope that's not the case as maybe after all of these years they have figured a 2007 technology out. Some Pros are it's a good looking watch with nice face options, the heart rate seems to be accurate when up against pulse oximeter with heart rate. I've done those tests to see. The other issue is the inaccurate step readings. I don't know where these inflated numbers come from. The sleep monitoring seems to be generally accurate but others have caught up in this area and Fitbit may not be as far ahead with this technology now. I would probably wait until the next device to be honest or look at something else. It's a nice device but it has too many shortcomings. It's definitely not a full featured smart watch if that's what you're looking for. It's a good heart rate monitor, step tracker, sleep monitor, which you can get from other devices including other Fitbits. 

[Loran3]

I’ve had mine 5 months. The charge kept getting shorter and shorter then just stopped charging. Customer service sent me a replacement watch that ALSO wont charge. I’m so disgusted.

[lablover55]

Might be the charger that is the issue.. Anyway, I give my sense a 5.5 out of 10. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi, after nearly one year with no breathing rate data and other minor bugs I would not purchase it again. Pity cause i like it but at this point it's now annoying. It looks to me like Fitbit prefers to launch new items rather than fixing previous devices. I don't think the new firmware will fix the issues. If it does, I will change idea about the purchase, but not about the Fitbit's policy

[Gram23]

Whereabouts did you purchase your fitbit Sense.  Looking to buy but want it on sale also. Thanks

[Gram23]

Thank you, I am thinking of buying the Sense for my daughter.  Hopefully she won't have problems.  Would you buy from FitBit site or Best Buy???

[SunsetRunner]

@Gram23 hi, was the question for me? 

[Gram23]

Yes, if you don't mind?

[SunsetRunner]

@Gram23 no problem, I simply asked cause was not clear if the question was for me. I bought it at Argos, assuming you live in UK like me. Few months later Fitbit sent me a new one, but with the same problem. So it's a guess really, some users may have no problem at all. It's not where you buy it, it's what you buy, and maybe a Versa although older than Sense it's better. I used an HR for years, I changed it cause I thought the Sense had more features, but it they don't work it's a waste of money. 

[Icnvnu2]

I am on my second Sense, since my first one had the same battery issues. Very very disappointed with Fitbit customer service for not allow time to swap to Versa 3. They know the sense is issues, they need to allow us to swap.

[Icnvnu2]

I feel the same, except my Sense battery issues started on day 1. Time to look at other options for watches