Is the Fitbit sense recommended?

[cariebens]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of buying a Fitbit sense to use as heart rate, HRV, sleep, notifications tracking

My question is, how is it going today? I read a lot of complaints about malfunctions, the heart rate measurement is quite bad, etc.

This was fixed or are the problems still?

And I wanted to know how necessary the Premium membership is, does it force you to pay for many functions or is it not so necessary to have it?

[Clove6060]

I have not had any problems with mine per se and 

do not regret my purchase at all. 

Here is some info on Premium vs basic. 
I have premium.

https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/products/services/premium

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2437.htm

[kcordiano]

I had mine since September 2020 and no issues at all. Any minor concerns I had seen (battery drain only) was fixed via a software update prior. Fitbit to me is the best at sleep tracking. Heart rate, HRV, all work for me. I think all smartwatch's have concerns with heart rate measurements to some degree. I can tell you the Sense is the most comfortable watch I have worn yet. 

Premium Service I do like. It gives you your "personal range" after you wear your device after a certain time to learn your ranges. The grey shaded area shown below is part of premium. Personally I like seeing my personal range to see where I am fluctuating day to day. Premium is not needed for the device to work and function. This just gives you a more detailed look. 

[SunsetRunner]

I wouldn’t recommend it based on my experience. HR monitor is highly inaccurate for any activity other than walking or running. It doesn’t recognize my workouts and continuously shows my HR as being below zones (meanwhile I’m huffing and puffing). Very disappointed. 

[scaddenp]

On plus side, notifications works well for me. Best feature.  HR, HRV, Sleep all depend on accurate HR detection which is questionable. For me, it is good enough. I push it up wrist when starting exercise and seem believable to me. I am only casually interested in that.  Premium is over-priced waste of time in my opinion. I struggle to figure out how people see "value" in that so assume it is for people who are too wealthy to care. Got everything I want without it. Premium sleep analysis is fun, but not that much fun and rest of it is just meh.
Dont believe the ads about battery life, but 2-3 days is realistic and well ahead of apple, galaxy.

Annoying in support is the "we are aware of the problem and working to fix it." yeah right! I have had it a year now I think and there has been one update to watch software which in fairness did seem to make the stair count less laughable. Trivial problems like time on SPO2 are still unfixed.

Personally, I would wait for the Sense 2 to see whether they have ironed out problems with the sensors.

[BenBTizMe]

If it weren't for the SP02 issue that has been going on for YEARS I might have recommended the Sense.  This issue has been documented over and over and there have even been promises that it was fixed.....it wasn't.  Not fixing something that many have and are still complaining about for so many years is an indicator that shouldn't be ignored.

[SunsetRunner]

Worst device I’ve ever bought. It’s doesn’t do what Fitbit says it does. Far too many glitches and problems with accuracy. If you do shift work like I do and have to go to bed before 8pm, you’ll never be able to use the stress management feature. Heart monitor is wildly inaccurate if you work out hard. Do yourself a favour and stay away from the sense. People seem to have better luck with the versa. 

[Jdsenter]

When my Ionic got wet and failed, I got the Sense, it has been a good replacement for me. As an Android user (I also have an iPhone for work), there are not many smart watches that are great at everything, but for a fitness tracker, a notification device, some heart related features, the Sense is good.

Some user find it unreliable in sleep tracking, or heart rate, or steps, or floor counting, but for me it has been just as reliable as my Ionic was. 

Your milage may vary, too each their own. 

[Lesmill]

I don’t have any problems with it except for the charger. It is the worst. I have gone through 4 charging cords now. It would have been better if they would have gone wireless charging rather than the 4 probes that tend to break off or otherwise just don’t make contact. 

[Abromo]

I won't recommend it, I had mine for 1 year and 6 months and after using it at the pool I had a problem with the heart rate sensor and after following all the recommendations from the Fitbit customer service it couldn't be fixed and now they're just giving a lousy discount to buy another one, it's a shame that you spend over a 250 dollars to use a watch for only little more than 1 year.  

[froggyfrmga]

Would not recommend the sense have had mine since end of may 2021 and the screen has come loose and most they will do is offer 35 percent off new device reading the comments on the community page is very common issue that is still not fixed