Fitbit Charge 2 review: Towards a healthier you

Gadgets and era assist us in doing just about everything better and staying have compatibility isn't any exception. Whether you're a long-term health buff or just getting started on the trail of having into shape, a health tracker is likely one of the easiest devices one can get. These wrist-worn (usually) devices can not best observe human frame's essential signs like middle rate, but in addition log fitness-related data akin to step count, energy burnt, sleep job and more. This data may also be then used to create personalised health objectives and vitamin plans, thus resulting in a more fit way of life.

When it comes to health trackers, Fitbit is a name that needs no creation. The corporate lately introduced two new products - Charge 2 and Flex 2. Of these, the dearer Charge 2 is an upgrade to the Fitbit Charge HR, which is now virtually two years previous.

We tested the Fitbit Charge 2 for a couple of days, the usage of it for tracking everything from snoozing patterns to day-to-day walks. So, is the Fitbit Charge 2 and its promise of a more fit way of life any just right, particularly at an asking value of Rs 14,999? Let's find out.



Design and construct high quality

Fitbit Charge 2 is largely contains two components - tracker module and wrist band. The wrist band is comprised of a versatile elastomer material and springs with a stainless steel buckle for fastening the Charge 2 around the wrist. The outer side of the band is textured, whilst the bottom is smooth. The wrist band is detachable and may also be swapped with one of the crucial many designer bands, which should be purchased separately. Since it is sweat evidence, the wrist band doesn't irritate the surface even if the Charge 2 is worn on the wrist for an extended time frame.

As for the tracker module itself, its body is comprised of chrome steel. On the highest rests a quite curved black glass, under which hides a big (no less than as compared to the Charge HR) OLED display. The left and right aspects of the body are chamfered and a navigation button lies on the left, the one button on the Fitbit Charge 2.



Flip the Charge 2 and you spot the optical middle rate tracker with two flashing LEDs (one each and every at the top and bottom of the tracking chip). There also are three charging contacts at the bottom, which work through making touch with the pins on the clip-on charger. Other essential components come with a Three-axis accelerometer, an altimeter and a vibration motor.

Overall, we discovered the design and construct high quality of the Fitbit Charge 2 to be truly just right. While the tracker module is rather cast, the wrist band is flexible but robust enough to withstand day-to-day wear and tear.

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Display and navigation

Fitbit Charge 2 comes with a touch-capable OLED screen that robotically turns on when the wearer flicks the wrist, even supposing this functionality may also be disabled in the Fitbit app. The display will also be became on with a double-tap or through urgent the navigation button on the side.

Though the display presentations time and date through default, users additionally give you the option to choose from the more than a few types available. To change the display style, merely select it from the 'Clock Display' possibility in the Fitbit app and sync the tracker with the app. The display may also be single-tapped many times to flip via day-to-day job stats like energy burnt and flooring climbed.



As for the navigation, urgent the navigation button on the left many times strikes via more than a few menu options (e.g. Heart Rate, Stopwatch). While a menu item is active, its linked options may also be cycled via through tapping the display. Lastly, long-pressing the side navigation button starts/stops the serve as associated with a menu item (e.g. Run).

Interestingly, on-screen options will also be shuffled via through tapping any place on the wristband.

Tracking efficiency and significant other app

Fitbit Charge 2 works in tandem with the Fitbit app (available on all platforms). You additionally wish to create a loose Fitbit account (if you do not have already got one) to login to the app. The account/profile creation comprises coming into essential frame statistics like weight and top, as these are required for putting in personalised meal plans and weight objectives.

Once you login together with your Fitbit account, it is usually simple to pair the Charge 2 with the smartphone over Bluetooth the usage of the app. But infrequently, the tracker does take a bit of of a trial-and-error to get paired up. After pairing, you'll merely wear the Charge 2 on the wrist (it may be worn on either of the wrists) and it'll get started doing its thing. The tracker syncs with the smartphone over Bluetooth each and every time the app is introduced. It may also be manually synchronized as nicely. Also, the smartphone that Fitbit Charge 2 is paired with must be attached to a community in order that logged data may also be synchronized for your Fitbit account .



The 'Dashboard' is the default landing segment of the app. It presentations a summarized list of all the metrics which are tracked through Fitbit Charge 2, including steps walked, energy burnt, flooring climbed and sleep job. Tapping on any logged parameter offers its logged values for the previous days, with the final week's data arranged in the type of a bar graph.

The primary day-to-day purpose is ready to steps through default, however may also be modified by way of the tracker settings in the app. All data logs reset robotically originally of the next day (00:00 hrs).

During our extensive testing spanning over the direction of almost every week (which integrated wearing the tool virtually 24x7), we discovered the Fitbit Charge 2 to be truly just right at logging different parameters. It detects actions like snoozing robotically and middle rate tracking is reliably accurate. Moreover, step logging is almost real-time.

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Fitbit Charge 2 comes with 'guided breathing classes' (2min or 5min in length) feature. It permits you to observe at ease breathing through guiding you via inhale and exhale movements. This is one thing we favored a lot.

There's additionally multi-sport tracking built-in. It can observe job when you are lifting weights, working on the treadmill, biking and even working out usually. All this knowledge is then synced to the significant other app . In our testing, multi-sport tracking worked as expected.

One feature we might like to speak about is 'move reminders'. To allow you to keep via all of the day, Fitbit Charge 2 vibrates on an hourly foundation, encouraging you to take no less than 250 steps (roughly equivalent to a couple of minutes of walking). Of direction, the reminders may also be custom designed from the tracker's settings in the app.



Fitbit Charge 2's 'attached GPS' functionality uses the GPS to your smartphone (supplied it is the similar the tracker is paired with) to trace your route, thus serving to in getting real-time statistics like distance travelled. During our testing, the feature worked rather nicely. That stated, how accurate it is is dependent upon a lot of elements akin to the quality of GPS satellite tv for pc lock-in and the relationship between the smartphone and tracker.

If any of your friends uses a Fitbit health tracker, you'll compare your health stats and participate in demanding situations together. However, we were not able to test this selection out.

A truly useful feature of the Fitbit Charge 2 is smartphone notifications. These come with indicators about calls, text messages (SMS, WhatsApp and Hangouts) and calendar events. In our testing, notifications worked exceptionally nicely. Consequently, we had to check our smartphone much less steadily. But even with that, we discovered the indicators functionality to be limited. Competing products just like the Garmin vivosmart HR are a lot better on this regard, providing now not best e mail and social media indicators, but in addition the facility to keep an eye on track playback and a few different devices.

Coming to the battery existence, we discovered it to be truly just right. Fitbit claims that the Charge 2 can last as long as five days on a single price and indeed, the battery lasted about four and a half days (even with 24x7 tracking) earlier than desiring to be recharged.




Verdict


The new Fitbit Charge 2 ticks just about all the right bins. It's comfy for wearing all-day, helps real-time tracking of a lot of actions and the notification indicators are all just right. But there are a couple of negatives too, such as the steadily inconsistent Bluetooth syncing and the loss of track keep an eye on functionality.


At Rs 14,999, we might say that Fitbit Charge 2 is a pretty cast and well-rounded health tracker and undoubtedly advisable. For those taking a look at choices, the Garmin vivosmart HR is a brilliant possibility.
Fitbit Charge 2 review: Towards a healthier you Fitbit Charge 2 review: Towards a healthier you Reviewed by Kailash on October 22, 2017 Rating: 5
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