Fitbit Charge 2 review: Towards a healthier you

Gadgets and technology assist us in doing just about the entirety higher and staying have compatibility is not any exception. Whether you’re a long-term fitness buff or simply getting started on the trail of getting into form, a fitness tracker is without doubt one of the best possible units one can get. These wrist-worn (typically) gadgets can not handiest track human frame’s essential signs like heart charge, but also log fitness-related information similar to step rely, energy burnt, sleep job and extra. This information may also be then used to create personalised fitness objectives and vitamin plans, thus leading to a healthier lifestyle.

When it comes to fitness trackers, Fitbit is a name that wishes no creation. The corporate just lately launched two new products – Charge 2 and Flex 2. Of these, the costlier Charge 2 is an improve to the Fitbit Charge HR, which is now almost two years outdated.

We examined the Fitbit Charge 2 for a few days, the usage of it for tracking the entirety from napping patterns to daily walks. So, is the Fitbit Charge 2 and its promise of a healthier lifestyle any just right, especially at an asking worth of Rs 14,999? Let’s find out.



Design and construct quality

Fitbit Charge 2 is essentially comprises two parts – tracker module and wrist band. The wrist band is produced from a flexible elastomer material and is derived with a chrome steel buckle for fastening the Charge 2 across the wrist. The outer side of the band is textured, whilst the bottom is easy. The wrist band is detachable and may also be swapped with probably the most many fashion designer bands, which must be purchased one at a time. Since it’s sweat proof, the wrist band doesn’t irritate the outside even if the Charge 2 is worn on the wrist for an extended period of time.

As for the tracker module itself, its body is produced from stainless steel. On the highest rests a somewhat curved black glass, under which hides a large (a minimum of as compared to the Charge HR) OLED show. The left and proper sides of the body are chamfered and a navigation button lies on the left, the only button on the Fitbit Charge 2.



Flip the Charge 2 and you spot the optical heart charge tracker with two flashing LEDs (one every at the best and bottom of the tracking chip). There are also 3 charging contacts at the bottom, which paintings via making contact with the pins on the clip-on charger. Other necessary parts come with a 3-axis accelerometer, an altimeter and a vibration motor.

Overall, we discovered the design and construct quality of the Fitbit Charge 2 to be really just right. While the tracker module is slightly solid, the wrist band is flexible yet strong enough to resist daily put on and tear.

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Display and navigation

Fitbit Charge 2 comes with a touch-capable OLED display that automatically activates when the wearer flicks the wrist, even if this functionality may also be disabled in the Fitbit app. The show may also be grew to become on with a double-tap or via pressing the navigation button on the side.

Though the show presentations time and date via default, customers also have the option to choose from the various types available. To trade the show style, simply make a selection it from the ‘Clock Display’ possibility in the Fitbit app and sync the tracker with the app. The show may also be single-tapped time and again to flip through daily job stats like energy burnt and flooring climbed.



As for the navigation, pressing the navigation button on the left time and again moves through various menu choices (e.g. Heart Rate, Stopwatch). While a menu merchandise is active, its linked choices may also be cycled through via tapping the show. Lastly, long-pressing the side navigation button begins/stops the serve as associated with a menu merchandise (e.g. Run).

Interestingly, on-screen choices may also be shuffled through via tapping anywhere on the wristband.

Tracking performance and significant other app

Fitbit Charge 2 works in tandem with the Fitbit app (available on all platforms). You also need to create a loose Fitbit account (when you don’t have already got one) to login to the app. The account/profile advent includes entering very important frame statistics like weight and peak, as these are required for putting in place personalised meal plans and weight objectives.

Once you login along with your Fitbit account, it’s typically easy to pair the Charge 2 with the smartphone over Bluetooth the usage of the app. But occasionally, the tracker does take somewhat of a trial-and-error to get paired up. After pairing, you can simply put on the Charge 2 on the wrist (it can be worn on both of the wrists) and it'll get started doing its thing. The tracker syncs with the smartphone over Bluetooth each time the app is launched. It may also be manually synchronized as properly. Also, the smartphone that Fitbit Charge 2 is paired with needs to be hooked up to a community so that logged information may also be synchronized for your Fitbit account .



The ‘Dashboard’ is the default touchdown phase of the app. It shows a summarized record of all the metrics which might be tracked via Fitbit Charge 2, together with steps walked, energy burnt, flooring climbed and sleep job. Tapping on any logged parameter offers its logged values for the previous days, with the last week’s information organized in the type of a bar graph.

The number one daily function is about to steps via default, but may also be changed via the tracker settings in the app. All information logs reset automatically originally of day after today (00:00 hrs).

During our extensive checking out spanning over the course of just about a week (which integrated wearing the instrument almost 24x7), we discovered the Fitbit Charge 2 to be really just right at logging different parameters. It detects actions like napping automatically and heart charge tracking is reliably accurate. Moreover, step logging is sort of real-time.

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Fitbit Charge 2 comes with ‘guided breathing periods’ (2min or 5min in duration) feature. It lets you practice comfortable breathing via guiding you through inhale and exhale movements. This is one thing we favored so much.

There’s also multi-sport tracking integrated. It can track job when you’re lifting weights, working on the treadmill, cycling or even figuring out typically. All this information is then synced to the significant other app . In our checking out, multi-sport tracking labored as expected.

One feature we’d like to discuss is ‘move reminders’. To mean you can stay through the entire day, Fitbit Charge 2 vibrates on an hourly foundation, encouraging you to take a minimum of 250 steps (kind of similar to a few mins of walking). Of course, the reminders may also be custom designed from the tracker’s settings in the app.



Fitbit Charge 2’s ‘hooked up GPS’ functionality uses the GPS to your smartphone (provided it’s the same the tracker is paired with) to trace your path, thus serving to in getting real-time statistics like distance travelled. During our checking out, the feature labored slightly properly. That said, how accurate it's is determined by numerous factors similar to the quality of GPS satellite tv for pc lock-in and the relationship between the smartphone and tracker.

If any of your folks uses a Fitbit fitness tracker, you can evaluate your fitness stats and take part in challenges in combination. However, we weren’t in a position to test this selection out.

A really useful feature of the Fitbit Charge 2 is smartphone notifications. These come with indicators about calls, textual content messages (SMS, WhatsApp and Hangouts) and calendar occasions. In our checking out, notifications labored exceptionally properly. Consequently, we had to test our smartphone much less incessantly. But even with that, we discovered the indicators functionality to be limited. Competing products like the Garmin vivosmart HR are significantly better on this regard, offering now not handiest email and social media indicators, but also the facility to keep an eye on music playback and a few different gadgets.

Coming to the battery life, we discovered it to be really just right. Fitbit claims that the Charge 2 can last up to five days on a single price and certainly, the battery lasted about 4 and a half days (even with 24x7 tracking) sooner than desiring to be recharged.




Verdict


The new Fitbit Charge 2 ticks just about all the proper bins. It’s at ease for wearing all-day, helps real-time tracking of numerous actions and the notification indicators are all just right. But there are a few negatives too, such because the incessantly inconsistent Bluetooth syncing and the lack of music keep an eye on functionality.


At Rs 14,999, we’d say that Fitbit Charge 2 is a sexy solid and well-rounded fitness tracker and definitely advisable. For the ones having a look at possible 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 March 07, 2018 Rating: 5
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