Fitbit Charge 6 – Pedometer and Watch Fitness Tracker

After years unused in a drawer, I adopted my wife’s “I really need one of those” Fitbit 5’s. It served me well enough for me to become kind of addicted to the product but it had a few too many visits to my hot tub and died.So this Fitbit 6 was purchased under duress, because I now live and die on my step count. I love my Fitbit. It’s so motivating to see step count. The auto detect for exercise is so much better than the 5. The sleep and readiness is more intuitive. GPS tracking helps me see my bike or walking routes. The expanded exercises are a huge improvement over the 5. Paired instantly with my iPhone so I can get messages. Bonus: I didn’t know they added “find my phone” but it’s priceless for when I set my phone down and forget where.Battery: fully charged Sunday night. Still has 48% after a very busy work week on Friday.Never been a fan of the rubber band, my Fitbit 5 band fits perfectlyI’m a bit sad earning zone minutes is a bit harder (but more accurate and real) but I had to lower my expectations/personal goal.

This is an absolute game changer for tracking my habits both with sleep and general walking exercises. Don't take the calorie burn seriously though as a fitibit and or smart watches cannot read your calorie burn so I think it's weird that they have that on here. It has clear legible imaging, the fit for the large was spot on but I went for a nylon strap based on comfort preference. It seems mostly durable but I wouldn't go dropping it all the time. Ultimately it's a perfect little device for fitniss tracking. I will note that the charge is quick and effeti efficient. It does disconnect from notifications if you have it off too long while charging.

So far, the watch itself is holding up awesome. I dont wear it in water or when im sleeping, so I cant speak to those features. But over all I do like the fit bit app and that fitbit fits in with the healthy choice app for insurance discounts. I really like the look of this decice, however, the band closure is stupid annoying at first. Since I take it off and on every day, I would have appreciated a regular watch band. I got the hang of it quickly but it still irritates me so much I ordered another watch band from another company, and honestly I like that one alot more. The other thing that bugs me is the changing cable that comes with it. the charger attaches to the watch face with a magnet, and you have to be careful to connect it correctly or it will not be changed. The charger cable does not come with an electrical block and the cable is less than 6 inches long. The only way I can reliably charge it, is to connect it to my computer. The whole charging situation is a let down for me.The good parts of this fitness device are the app, being able to customize what the device shows you and how the watch face looks. I feel lost without a device now, and hate working (Healthcare)without it. The step and activity tracker is super cool at keeping a streak going if that's a goal. But even without being crazy obsessed with a sport this device can do a lot for a person who only casually works out.

Bought January 2024. So, I have had an Apple Watch since 2017. I LOVED it. But I didn’t love the battery time. The things I was interested in, like sleep tracking, I couldn’t do because it needed to charge or I couldn’t use it the next day. My mom has a Fitbit and for years was telling me to get one. After some health issues, I needed to start being more cognizant of my health. I didn’t want to spend another $5-600 on an Apple Watch that at most gets 2 days of battery now. I was interested in the Oura ring, but I have 60 lbs. to lose and those can’t be sized as you lose weight. So I researched and found the Fitbit Charge 6 was my best choice.Mostly pro’s.It is really comfortable. When I fell asleep accidentally with the Apple Watch my wrist was sore after. So far, I’m getting 6-7 days of charge out of it, which is a game changer. I now don’t miss days of tracking because I forgot to charge it.I feel like the screen size is appropriate and it’s well made. I’m not sure about the accuracy, but reviews I’ve watched where people test them they seem close enough. And that’s good enough for me, I want a baseline.You can adjust the haptics for notifications, I have it on the hardest vibration and it’s awesome. It’s easy to read the screen, just 2 taps. It says you can water lock it for swimming/shower but I haven’t utilized that yet.The app… okay so when I purchased this (January 2024) they offered the premium app for 6 months free, then $80 a year. I will be keeping the premium. It still can be used without, but I want ALL the metrics you can get as well as meditations and workouts. It has replaced MyFitnessPal because I can track everything in this app. It also links with my Bluetooth scale. You can track steps, miles, calories, exercise, activity minutes (150 minutes a week as recommended), standing activity by getting up every hour for 250 steps, (it reminds you). SpO2, HRV, skin temp., HR, sleep (including stages). I’m sure I’m forgetting something. I haven’t used the GPS function which I heard drains the battery significantly.Somewhat cons, or things I would appreciate it having. This device is logged in through Google. I do see messages and notifications from my iPhone 13, but are unable to respond which is fine. You can control YouTube music, but not your Apple Music. It’s Just an adjustment from my Apple Watch. I’m also not able to sync it with Apple Maps because I hate Google maps. And I haven’t figured out how to use that between my phone and the Fitbit yet even after watching tutorials. I wish they had more watch faces to choose from, I think there was about 12?. I just felt like the one I picked was as close to what I wanted, but it wasn’t. The time takes up a large portion of the screen which I feel like is unnecessary. What I feel the app is lacking is something to track when you’ve taken your meds. If they did, this app would literally be a one stop shop for my health/fitness tracking. Note: a comment someone made about med tracking was just set an alarm. The problem is that if you are someone like me that is never at the same place everyday, you could turn the alarm off and then forget later whether or not you took them. It’s a really quick fix they could do.I HIGHLY recommend the Charge 6, I wish I had listened to my mom and got it a while ago. The few things I gave up by switching from my Apple Watch is minor. I’m not missing them other than Apple Maps and Music.

Getting the product to me 2 days early. The fitness tracker was a challenge to get to work as it took me several hours and searches as product was NOT straightforward to operate. The vendor was not responsible for that. They exceeded my expectations. Thank you

My wife loves the sleep app on the watch.And the “Get moving “ reminder.Sounds great to me!

The tools all work very well on it. The tracking has been great for my sleep and exertion levels and the alerts are not intrusively annoying.The only draw back is that both my daughter and I had reactions to the little buckle nub. It would leave irritation that became a blister. We tried making sure the wrist was dry under the band and switching wrists to no avail. It wasn't the entire band just the one spot for the buckle nub. Eventually. I had to go order the fabric bands. It would be nice if that was upfront option to have it ship with either the fabric band and the regular.

I love the slim size, but it doesn't activate with auto turn on. I struggle with keeping it to stay showing time as it keeps moving to one of the fitness options. I want time to show and then move to one of the options.

I’m a 40 year old male, healthy, athletic build, so I don’t think this should be an issue. I really do enjoy my Fitbit. The only complaint I have with it, is that the heart monitor doesn’t always work consistently. I’ve tried loosing it, tightening it, wiping the underside, and even rotating it to wear it against the inside of my wrist (which I do not like at all). It’s not a huge issue but one of the features I really enjoy, and partly why I bought it. The heart monitor also plays into the sleep monitoring which I also really enjoy. But if it’s not getting my heart rate, then my sleep patterns aren’t properly calculated.I really do like the Fitbit, and I’d still get another one. I just wish I wasn’t constantly having to make sure it’s catching my heart rate.

THE GOOD: very accurate heart rate readings and I love the multiple screen colors and watch face styles that put the primary readings in one place.THE IRRITATING: the touch screen is just too buggy, I can't handle its inexplicable errors, freezing up and unpredictability. Examples: once in swim mode, it won't unlock unless you go home and connect it with the charger, so my swims are sometimes 3 or 4x longer than reality. Sometimes the screen just freezes up, and it takes 10 or 20 aggravating taps to unfreeze. Sometimes it gets stuck on Goggle Wallet and refuses to budge. I set it to rollerblading exercise yesterday (I know I selected it correctly as it now shows up first or second on my exercise list) and it decided to log in a bike ride instead. Although I've reset, ad nauseum, the activity tracking hours to 8-5 pm, it will NEVER actually change to this....it is still stuck on 7-6 pm. I could go on, and while no one flaw is a deal killer, the cumulative bugs cause so much frustration and I can't live with this number of flaws, not when there are so many other brands on the market.

I don’t know if I should give this product one star or five stars because my husband LITERALLY has not shut up about it since he got it— I know his daily steps (hospital worker so we’re talking 18,000 AVERAGE which he is VERY proud of), how he slept, and his heart rate at any given time of day. I’m totally kidding I LOVE that he’s so excited about it, it has been the BEST gift I have ever given him. It’s also been really nice for me that it has a feature to act as an alarm and vibrate on his wrist instead of his phone alarm waking me up in the morning, so I am SO grateful for that. He also has bragged that it doesn’t lose battery life which is such a plus for him, AND he can pay using Apple Pay with it when he goes to the store; tell me he’s not the COOLEST guy that’s ever lived. The only down side is that he has extremely sensitive skin & the watch band causes eczema flare ups if not taken off when he showers.

I’ve been wearing this for a couple weeks now so I’m pretty used to it. So far I really don’t have much to complain about and I’d recommend it to everyone. I like all of the sleep tracking and cardio load info. I’ve used it on multiple day hikes and it has perfectly mapped my entire hike. The only thing that I wasn’t great was the battery drained insanely fast while on one hike because it was only about 25° and my watch was exposed to the cold. Since that day I make sure it is nicely covered during the cold winter hikes and it doesn’t do the fast battery drain. I know there are some negative reviews about inaccurate calorie count or dead batteries often. That has not been my experience at all. I’ve even used it to connect the Zwift app for my bike for heart rate monitoring. It prompted me to connect to the app and instantly showed my heart rate info on my Zwift app screen without any extra effort. Hopefully it continues to function well because I love it.

This is my second Charge fitness tracker. The first one lasted almost exactly two years, then stopped charging. It took about six weeks of wiggling the tracker on the charger to it to begin charging until it just would not charge at all. (Note: I do clean my charger and tracker connections clean) I tried another charger but the watch still would not charge. The only thing I do NOT like about the tracker is the rubber wrist band. It was an issue with my first tracker, so I knew it would be an issue with this one. The band and nice and all, but it rubs my skin to the point that it's red and rashy. So for the second time, I have had to purchase a non-rubber wrist band to replace on my watch. I wish there was an option for another type of band. Other than that, I do like the Charge 6.

This is the third time I review this watch. First I gave it 2 stars. In the second I gave it 4 stars. Now I just changed to 5 stars. If you use it and work on its design, you are going to like it more and more. I just finish my first workout with it and I saw the data. it is impressive. It contains the graph of your heart rate during the whole time, broken into zones, your average HR, calories... (Even that I wore it only "one finger away" from the wrist, the data seems pretty accurate.Bottom line, If you put some time on it, setting it as you want, you will end up with a fantastic tool for giving you data about your activity, your exercise, your sleep, even your "readiness", "stress" etc.I keep my previous reviews below if you want to read them to see my transition from frustration, to acceptance and finally to happiness.I gave originally 2 stars because I was frustrated with this watch. But I would like to change to 4 stars because it is really an impressive piece of technology and you can do so much with it. If you buy it. be prepared to feel like an immigrant in a strange land. You will have to work a lot to set it up to your likings and erasing so many options you don't want. I used AI a lot (and I mean, a lot) to help me navigate on how to do things and spent a lot of time in it. But, after all this I am happy with the watch that I actually fell I redesigned. Below is a revised version of my first review.However, that you can do so much with it, is in itself a problem. Of course, you can use it very simply like a watch with one or two extra features, but this would be a waste of this watch.I see many problems with this watch. 1) As I already state it, it is very complicated dealing with it. 2) On top of this, it is clogged with commercials and excessive somewhat irrelevant information. It took me a lot of time to set the watch as I wanted and eliminate all the "junk" on it. 3) There is the issue of accuracy. It is supposed to be very accurate but because of the optical reading, the placement of the watch in your arm, the sweat... can change the reading for a good 20% (in strong exercise). It also can spike in its reading giving you very high values, etc.All watches have this problem but I thought this particular new model solved these issues satisfactorily. It did not. It is a big improvement though. I myself, most likely, will return this watch because it felt short in my expectations.The end: I kept it and I am quite happy with it even though, at times, I still have to count till 10.

First of all, I have used Fitbit and logged DAILY (never missing) for 14 years. I really want to keep maintaining my data even wearing both a Fitbit Charge (2 and now 6) with another very prominent smartwatch for the features I get from each and to make sure the Fitbit submits my steps and distance data to the cumulative database that now resides with Google. But as much as I loved my Fitbit Charge 2, it was losing battery longevity and I knew I had to upgrade.So, the Charge 6: lots of nice features, including a color screen, similar size to the Charge 2 and visibly pleasing. It was reasonably priced, more waterproof than my Charge 2, fits fine and I have no problem connecting or syncing to my smartphone Fitbit app. It likewise includes built-in GPS.BUT, when I researched the changes in the new(er) Fitbit Charge 6, I did not see that it no longer had an altimeter (in order to allow other Google-related messaging features it appears). Thus, it no longer measures climbing or stair steps nor change in altitude which likewise influences workout intensity. The latter is actually a major issue for many of us in the West living at 5200 ft above sea level or higher (e.g., Denver and elsewhere)--especially when we hike, climb or just exercise at increased altitude. Without an altimeter that aspect is ignored rendering much of the fitness data limited and for many, quite inaccurate. I wore the Fitbit Charge 6 on the same wrist with my full function smartwatch AND my Charge 2 on my nondominant wrist (the latter had been close enough in terms of distance measurements and step detection, including stair steps to compare reasonably favorably to the smartwatch). So, how did the Fitbit Charge 6 fare in comparison (both with and without activating its internal GPS and adjusting measured stride and/or dominant side worn)? Badly. Over two weeks now, I have walked a distance-validated trail around a park every morning as I normally do. The circumference just for this walk is 2.4 miles--likewise accurately detected by my smartwatch. On the Charge 6, no more than 1.7 miles. The step counts are less variable, albeit as much as several hundred less on the Fitbit Charge 6. While HR measurements are fairly close, energy expenditure sans the altimeter is dramatically decreased on the Charge 6 as well. Still my prime issue is distance and step accuracy.To that point, my primary goal for wearing the Fitbit Charge 6 is to accurately register steps and distance since I am (after 14 years) 75% to my goal of the equivalent distance around the world to be completed in the next few years. Sure it is a personal goal and not some World Record, but it is important to me. I wish to keep my cumulative data together on the Fitbit service to reach that goal so I am willing to make some adjustments (since the alternative brand smartwatch data cannot be officially synced to that on Fitbit). But, I feel like the Google/Fitbit move to reduce features for their top-of-the-line fitness tracker by removing the altimeter does not bode well, given there has been a suspension of Fitbit--branded smartwatches as well. But, for others, none of this may be an issue. I just feel some disappointment after 14 years and many past Fitbit purchases.Nonetheless, the Fitbit Charge 6 is a nice device and may well fit the needs of many others. Thus, I give it three-stars.

A family member had recently raved about her FitBit and I had a very old Apple Watch which needed replacing (due to terrible battery life) so I was convinced to give it a try. Unfortunately, my experience has been quite awful and I want others to be informed before they buy.My main reasons for using a smart watch are the health functions such as exercise logging, step counting, heart rate etc. So if these things are important to you please read further:1st disappointment: Inability to sync FitBit to Fitness app on iPhone. I had a pretty impressive streak in my Fitness app and it was a huge motivator for me to exercise daily (something I have always struggled with). It was QUITE the blow to see all my progress completely wiped away. (No more 200+day streak for me! I guess).Fitbit does have a free app to collect new data but I’m still disappointed that they cannot combine all your progress from both somehow.2nd disappointment: SEVERE Inaccuracy on distance. I head to the gym for my first workout with the Fitbit. I get on the elliptical and select the “elliptical workout” option on the watch and press start. As I’m warming up I notice the watch does little vibrations as my heart rate increases to different levels “light” “moderate” and then “vigorous” - which I think is a nice touch. When I get 1 Mile (on the machine) into my run I decide to check my progress (on the watch) but to my HORROR it says only 0.3 miles… How did it miss 70% of my workout!?! I cannot express how devastated I was to see that. I’m working so hard to change my life and watching the miles stack up day after day is my only reward so far. I’ve done lots of googling to solve this problem and tried manually adjusting the stride length to every length there was but nothing fixes it and I’ve read plenty from other people who report the same exact problem so I’m convinced it’s just their terrible calibration.3rd disappointment: Major exaggeration of calories burned. As I mentioned I have an Apple Watch I used every day for quite some time. I am very familiar with my typical calories burned daily. I also follow the amount on my exercise equipment as well. For some reason the FitBit consistently shows an abnormally high number for calories burned. For instance something that should burn about 200 calories suddenly burns 2 THOUSAND…?? This all makes EVEN LESS sense when you consider the aforementioned distance tracking issue; claiming I burned 2,000 calories by running 0.3 miles??? Ridiculous.This combination of discouragement from the “it won’t matter anyway” distance tracking, to the absurd number of calories I’ve “already burned” today is a recipe for disaster for me. Un-motivating my workouts and encouraging my laziness.Please DO NOT rely on this watch for your health goals.The final straw for me is the terrible battery life. To be completely clear - I have had this device for 4 days and I have already charged it 4 times. So please do not be mislead by claims of charging “once a week” or “once every other week”. NOT true. And, yes, I’ve tried all the different display settings.I hope someone takes the time to read this like I did not do. If Amazon returns weren’t such a headache I would’ve sent it back after that first workout. I’m actually stunned at HOW awful it is. There are many more issues I did not get into because they are mainly aesthetic and I wanted to focus on the ones that could genuinely cause someone harm but I’d be glad to elaborate on those other issues as well if anyone is curious.

I use to have the fitbit 3 se and loved it for 3 years and i tried the samsung 4 for all the bells and whistles but the charge lasted a day which to me is counterproductive. I decided to go back to my fitbit since I also enjoyed the platform more for recording all my data such as food ect. I missed the barcode feature when putting in your meals. I use mine more strictly for steps, 24 heart rate, sleep analysis, contactless payments and tracking all my workouts. I'm not a runner anymore so I haven't used the built in GPS but based on technical reviews I didn't miss out. It's a fairly new concept which needs more software updates to be fully functional and not drain the battery life to oblivion. My fitbit actually lasts me a little over 8 days this is with turning the always on display off, txt message notifications off ( I don't see a need for this since I'm not one to utilize too many short message replies). And having the display brightness set to dim and even in full sun I can still see the display very crisply. The contactless payments uses Google pay which if you are already an android user with a Google pay wallet set up was easy and I like that for security reasons it only is set for 24 hour use after putting in your 4 digit code before having to reinput your code. Now the code input is trivial to me I don't like the setup for it. The water resistance is good I haven't showered with the device but the waterlock works well when I wash my hands multiple times a day being a nurse. I have not tested it swimming for the 50 meter water resistance claim. The workout options have improved with more options and now I'm able keep track of my active zone minutes. The heart rate tracking during exercises is said to be more accurate than the charge 5 based on tech data analysis reviews that I researched before hand. The downside is Spotify was removed and replaces with YouTube music in which you will need a subscription for. The 1.4 inch amoled size is perfect if you aren't a huge fan of having a bulky tracker on your wrist. You also now have the option of syncing your device with other heart rate monitoring equipment/workout machines including peloton but for me isn't useful. It has a haptic side button now that was seen in older models which i prefer. Another great feature is the addition of Google maps for those are are runners but again you may compromise the battery life. Since Google bought fitbit there will be more Google geared software. For more health features you now have the eda and ecd scan no BP monitor like on my samsung 4 to my knowledge has pased fda as of yet. You also have a skin temperature sensor like in the fitbit sense how accurate I'm unsure it would need to be tested against something like a NTC thermistor. The sleep analysis data seems overall accurate. I also do use a cpap machine. Overall for the price I think it's a more than suitable tracking device with its more updated hr monitoring compared to other apple watches, garmins and huawei. Still room for improvement such as the built in GPS. I think the GPS should just be mirrored on your phone which is still an option on the charge 6 you can chose dynamic, built in or phone. I would stick with phone to preserve battery but in all I recommend this product.