I am considering buying the Sense and am looking for feedback about them. Appreciate any thoughts?

[kinsley01]

Please give me feedback on purchasing a sense?

[kinsley01]

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone

[TommyIzzo]

@kinsley01 If you're an actual workout person, might want to read the heart rate thread before buying. 

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @kinsley01, welcome, you will find here many comments on these devices and the Fitbit app which is only right in an open forum. If you are concerned about Fitbit's returns and warranty policy buy your Fitbit from Amazon to get the generous returns policy they have in place. Battery life depends on use, some features on the "Sense" drain the reserve such as "snore report", I get a 25% per day drain by swimming 90 minutes, walking a couple of miles and usual daily activities (without the Snore report) It's not difficult to monitor the battery reserve and recharging rarely takes long.

Customer support can be reached here I recommend you use the chat facility or phone for a prompt response. Inevitably there are occasional manufacturing faults thrown up though in my experience these are few and are resolved promptly by Fitbit.

I do not feel any obligation to defend Fitbit.

In my experience the "Sense" is a good device, you do need to immerse yourself in the manual (these are sophisticated devices) and the help forum is very active and responds to inquiries. This last is the main reason I got a Fitbit.

I hope this helps you move forward.

Cheers

[scaddenp]

I would have a really, really careful read of this forum before purchasing. (Wish I had). Make sure that the features that attracted you to Sense actually work in any useful way. ( Eg note the lengthy topic on heart rate issues, intermittent syncing of SpO2 (when it works at all), stairs are a joke, etc)

[TommyIzzo]

I haven't cracked a screen or had a face come off, but have seen complaints on here that people got the 35% off offer past warranty for the face coming off. I don't think Fitbit considers it a manufacturing fault. It has been suggested that the tracker seals don't like hot water and can weaken like if you shower with them. Or the seal can just wear out over time. If it comes off past warranty, hope you got good people skills. 

[Guitarplayer]

Simply put I think Sense/Versa 3 is the worst tracker made by Fitbit as it is plagued by huge problems that apparently Fitbit is "unable" to solve.

If you are a runner also please consider that running session distance is not measured via GPS but via steps multiplied by stride. 

If you do sports of any type please be aware that HR sensor is very faulty (and this is objective, not subjective).

Still Fitbit is still a very good brand for generic fitness oriented people and it is my brand of choice for such people. However, because of the issues, I would recommended a much more reliable Versa 2.

Finally please consider that soon Google/Fitbit will release a new Wear OS smartwatch that will have pros and cons (cons: limited battery autonomy, pros: it will be a real smartwatch) so it is likely Fitbit will abandon support for its previous smartwatches.

[SunsetRunner]

@kinsley01 , buying a Fitbit Sense is a bit like playing in a casino: you may be lucky... or not. My opinion is that most users are unlucky, but that's just my opinion based on the posts in this forum and other publications elsewhere on the net.

I think both @scaddenp  and @Gr4ndp4  give you particularly good advices, together with other users replies to your question.

If you are thinking of buying a Sense because you take your fitness seriously, better go looking somewhere else.

If you are here because you take your health seriously, think twice. Sense can actually be bad for your health, by giving you wrong impressions. For me, the ECG graphs are the only quite safe and good feature, but to share with your cardiologist and let him/her interpret the ECG, certainly better than the Sense's ECG auto-interpretation, which seems only safe when it gives you either Normal Sinus Rythm, or Atrial Fibrilation. The third possible response, Inconclusive, can mean anything, including just a bad reading with too much background noise, or a not so obvious Afib, or other heart problems or issues (major or minor), easily identified by a cardiologist on an Sense ECG or a clinical one.

Both on the Fitness and the Health fronts, heart rate is a major issue on Sense. Because you can never trust it 90%-100% when you are moving (and too often you can not trust it at all) and several other features depend on them (Calories, Active Zone Minutes and health and fitness in general). Heart rate can be quite accurate when you are still or sleeping, though. You can find a long and very enlightening thread on this topic ( here , here  or  here , for instance), including very useful posts from long time and knowledgeable Fitbit users. As you can see, it comes since October last year and it is still going, though Fitbit Moderators consider it "Solved". It is not.

Unless you are one of the very lucky ones, don't expect every health and fitness feature to work ok. Some work terribly, but that seems to vary from user to user. Just browse this forum and you will see what I mean.

Here  you can find many useful posts with evaluations after the last OS update, in October-November.

As @Gr4ndp4  pointed out, if you buy a Sense, you better be prepared to read carefully its manual and/or the web Fitbit Help pages, as the Sense can be a complex and quite sensitive device. It can take you several weeks, even a couple of months, to master all its features and learn which ones you can trust and how much.

Good luck!