Fitbit Surge

I debated getting the Surge for several months. I was really excited when I heard about it before it went on sale. I loved my FitBit One, and I also loved my Polar. What I didn't love is the disconnect between the two, the fact that Polar wouldn't sync with MyFitnessPal, or the fact that I had to wear a chest strap. Since I take hourly breaks from my desk job to do the stairs or walk, the chest strap was a pain to don and then doff. I was so geared up to buy Surge as soon as it came out. Then I read the reviews. The primary feature I wanted it for, the Heart Rate Monitor, was getting some bad press. Reviewers said that it didn't work during rigorous exercise. Many reviewers. For several months I was certain I wouldn't get Surge. I'll hold off until technology improves. Meanwhile, I was using my One and Polar, chest strap, manually entering in workouts, wishing that the Surge performed as it was supposed to. Then my employer started a fitness campaign and I received a $110 credit to purchase a fitness monitor. Since I already had the One, and I read a few more favorable reviews about how to actually use the Surge to make the HRM accurate; I decided I would try out the Surge for myself, knowing that half of it would be on the company dime and I could return it within 30 days if I didn't like it. When it arrived, I opened it immediately and set it up. I read the instructions but I didn't need to really. It was very intuitive and user-friendly. Right away I noticed how even though the watch has a large face, it seemed to be designed just so that I hardly noticed it was on my wrist. It was very comfortable. I liked everything about it so far, I don't really use the music or text notifications features, but they seemed to work fine when I tested them. The big issue was the heart rate monitor. Would it preform? I strapped my chest piece on and put my Polar on my right wrist. It was time to put Surge and Polar head to head. I followed the directions in the FitBit booklet and moved the Surge about three finger lengths up on my forearm and made sure it was snug but not too snug. Then I proceeded to climb up and down my stairs for 10 minutes. To my delight, the Surge worked great! There is a small delay compared to the Polar, but that's to be expected. You have one measuring capillaries on your wrist, the other directly above your heart. Of course the Polar strap over your heart will be a little faster. But once I got going, the FitBit and Polar were almost identical and stayed that way for the duration of my workout. Then I tested it on a run. I enabled the GPS, moved the Surge up on to my forearm, turned on my Polar and ran 5k. Same results. The Surge took a tinsy bit longer than the Polar to register an increase in my heart rate, but it had no trouble once I topped out around 160 (I was running steep hills). It kept the pace with the Polar every step of the way. I did more workouts all week. I did some in the gym, some on my stairs, and several runs. I finally put aside the Polar because I knew the Surge was reliable. I gave the Polar and my One to my husband. I'm SO happy I decided to take a chance on the Surge, it met or exceeded my expectations. I love that continuous HRM, I love that I don't have to wear a chest strap. I love that it syncs to MFP and I love the variety of workouts I select. It's much more comfortable to sleep with, so I actually do have sleep data (I never used that feature with my One). And the best part is, you don't have to set it, it just *knows* when you've slept. I love that the GPS tracks my runs and I can see them on a map in my FitBit app. I just love the Surge. I'm not sure why some people have problems with the HRM feature. Maybe the issues were taken care of in a software update, or maybe they didn't read the instructions, but I did not have those problems and Surge has been a lifesaver for me. I know that some people feel the iPhone health app can replace activity monitors such as Surge, but I say no way. I love the continuous HRM feature, I love the FitBit customer support - try getting support from Apple and when you're finished banging your head on your desk, I'll be here running laps with my FitBit. I love that it's all in one place right on my wrist. I LOVE SURGE! So will you love it? I hope so! It's hard to say why it works fine for me and not others. Maybe there's another variable like body density, difference in capillaries or something of that nature that makes it work well for one person and not another. But with FitBit's amazing customer support and Amazon's generous return policy, give it a try. If it doesn't work for you, send it back. You have nothing to lose but excess weight! Edit: After a few more weeks of use, I'M STILL IN LOVE! This thing works fantastically! I've used it for stairclimber workouts, weight lifting, spinning, yoga and hiking. I love it so much! I periodically check my heart rate on the fitness machines and compare it to the Surge. It's spot on. And I don't have to move it up on my arm 3 inches, it reads my heart rate just fine in the 1 inch spot. Love! Second Edit (7/14/15): Sadly, my love affair has come to an end. Yes, the watch still works. The problem is Fitbit's customer service is not what I had come to expect after all these years. Shortly after my review, Fitbit released a firmware update that rendered this product little more than a watch unless you are in exercise mode (which takes away most of the battery life in a few hours). I used to be able to dock the watch on my heart rate (the primary reason I purchased this product) but with the new firmware update, all of the additional features snap back to clock after 15 seconds. I wish they would have given us more choices, not less, when it comes to product development. Why can't we decide which screen is the default screen after 15 seconds? No matter, I thought, I'll just tell Fitbit this, and surely they'll work on a patch for their next update. First, they directed me to this thread: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/Surge-Touchscreen-Lock/idc-p/866964#M25478 and told me to leave my complaint there. Months have gone by, and many people have complained of the same issue. Fitbit has done nothing to help us. We spent $250 on a product we now can't use effectively. I've contacted Fitbit multiple times, and they always brush me off with this sort of semi-optimistic PR nonsense about how they're working on it but have no plans. So basically they don't care that they've rendered a $250 product useless to many users. That was my main worry when I was weighing this product over the Apple watch, and the reason I went with Surge. Fitbit had always been so helpful and responsive! Not any more. So I'm assuming Apple will release a new watch this fall, and I'll sever my ties with Fitbit forever then. I can't wait. I have never in my life been so soured on a company so quickly, and I had to change my 5-Star review to a 1-Star review. Fitbit doesn't seem to care. So, where does that leave you, the consumer? I feel like I've been betrayed by Fitbit. I've been baited and switched into getting a watch that I thought I could leave on heart rate all day, without going into the battery draining and options-limiting exercise mode. And I had this for a little under a month before Fitbit pulled the rug out and left many customers holding the $250 bag. If you don't mind this kind of behavior from a company, and you don't mind either having to use battery draining alternate modes to get the data that you want, or having the data you want to see disappear every 15 seconds, then my original review still stands. But personally, there are many companies on the market that make this kind of product and actually care about their customers without putting them out to pasture on some placating thread that the company never intends to even monitor. Fitbit has lost a loyal customer, and I will never buy another product again. I can't wait to get rid of this expensive watch.