Fitbit Charge 2 - Large

First time ever to purchase a FitBit of any kind. I decided after researching I wanted a larger screen and switchable straps and easy to use. BEWARE THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT SIZES STRAP (SMALL WRIST TO LARGE WRIST) I have smaller wrist so I have the smaller size. Doesn't matter which smartphone or PC uses. I used my Android and Laptop to view, adjust and do whatever I want. You can chose which wrist you want it on on the setting. Your Dominant arm I chose the right arm. Some chose the left. I bought a screen protector due to easy to scratch (Illumishield 2ct) (There are much more varieties of screen protectors and lot more than 2 ct go with what customer are saying positive reviews). Once you get it you have to charge it first than first time I use it I had to turn the watch to the bottom of my wrist due to the size of it & can be uncomfortable first time wearer. Only have it to 6 notch on my strap. On my Android I can change whatever I want. I did try to wear it while I slept and it was tight therefore I got a swelling on the bottom of my wrist just because I had it too tight. 6 notch so I took it off a the whole day break from using it and the next day my wrist was back to normal. I now just wear it to 5th notch and I do not care to monitor my sleeping pattern ( If you plan on monitoring your sleep pattern lighten notches from the strap Its pretty cool features tells u how many times I am restless and wakeup ). It is now much more comfortable wearing it on the top of my wrist and no longer get the swelling. So don't freak out that just allergic reaction to having it too tight . Some people have gotten rashes of because of the plastic strap I haven't had that yet because I am not allergic to plastic. They do say to take care of it clean it and give your wrist a break and not wear it all day long also if you feel your not going to be active one day just don't wear it at all (mostly due to bad weather or too sick). There a charger that charge to your Laptop or some sort of plug in you. need to buy separate in order for it to charge. The screen protector that sometime you see when you first get this you don't need to get that one I got one that was low affordable(Illumishield 2ct) had a lot of positive reviews and only two surface protection screen and very easy to put on by watching youtube video. I enjoy the GPS feature in which you can setup walking, Running or hiking and Just click go and the exercise I don't watch it just put it in my pocket and when I come back from my walk I stop it and tells me how long and mapped out where and also maps your pace and how many calories burn it's a cool feature. You can manual put in your walking strides or if you are like me just let the Fitbit Charge 2 do it for you because my walking changes especially if you are in the winter season and the roads/ woods aren't too great. I love the different cardio but I wish they had the Stairmaster selection so I put that under workout because basically it does your heart. I also timed myself at weights and any other cardio workout at the gym it tells me everything from heart rate to how much I burn and so much more. You can chose how many days you want to workout and how many steps and water intake ( water couldn't figure that one out had to check other site to find out how much water I was to take in) and food intake and heart rate, weigh in and how much you want to weigh and so much more. I get plenty of fun badges that tells me I succeeded in making it to 10,000 steps and other successful achievement. They offered Friends challenge and FB other social Platform to show off your success I don't participate that. They offered workout video on your smartphone I have yet to use that feature. There a relax mode you can chose to do 5 or 2 mins breathing inhale and exhale for those who are stress out. Also notification for your texting on your phone. Your fitbit charge 2 will let u see incoming text you can shut it off. Touch screen is very easy to use I watched Youtube and witness a lot of people showing how to use and what you can get out of it. Very interesting and I do not regret my purchase. Another thing on Prime its cheaper than in the local store and if you have Amazon Reward card and rack up a lot of points you can use that and gets lower price than ever. Of course gift-cards you get works too.. I didn't bother with warranty I read other people's comments about it and found the warranty not worth it there already a one year on it and I can just go on to the fitbit site and extend it a little longer. It arrive on time came in a box and protective. I chose black because it matches everything. I can switch it down the road to whatever I want and they offered leather for those who want to take it classier or just causal and many other different colors. This watch isn't water proof but that fine I don't wear watches in the water anyways & protective by my sleeves of my jacket. U can adjust to making u move all the time I don't let it control me yet so I decided when I want to move take it off and I do try to get 10,000 steps ( adjust the steps to less or more) even though it winter time and like 19 or low digit degree out there I just walk inside go to the gym and go up my many different stairs.. Good luck to those who are interested in buying first time wearer or upgrading to something different you will not regret it!! So far I only had it beginning of this year Jan 2nd 2017 and now this is my 9th 2nd week of use. I am so far very happy with the progress. I am still learning everyday about what my fitbit charge 2 can do for me.

Ok, so at first I was really, REALLY hesitant about buying the Charge 2 because you never know what problems can arise with new, hot off the press tech. However, I've had wonderful experiences with Fitbit customer service in the past (as in "Hey, my thing stopped working" and they were all like "Sorry about that, here's a new thing- no charge!"), so I feel confident that if anything does go awry, Fitbit will take care of their customers. So, I took the plunge and ordered it.It came today in the mail and I scurried off with it like Gollum and his ring...My precioussssssss!Oh where to begin! Let's see- well it came in lovely, easy to open packaging. Opening up the box felt like I was arousing my Charge 2 from his slumber in his comfy, plastic bed. I immediately noticed that the teal color was more vibrant than its predecessor, and the larger screen gave it an all around sleeker look. The band is now longer, so if the large size from the old Charge was a bit big for you- go for the small with the Charge 2; I have tiny wrists myself, and I'm two notches away from the last ring on the inside! EDIT: I just realized my review was placed under the large size...my Charge 2 is a small. But large or small, only the band is different in length, NOT the screen!The charger was completely redesigned; the days of not having your Charge, well, CHARGE due to it slipping out are dead and gone. The new, blissfully longer charger clips onto the Charge itself, and as long as you align the hole in the charger with the button on the side of the Charge, you're good to go (see picture for reference)! Just make sure you clip it from underneath, and not over the screen or else it won't charge...not that I uh, made a silly mistake like that or anything. *cough*Setup could not have been easier. The entire process from taking it out of the box to having it fully synced and functional was less than ten minutes. Whoa. I was setting it up using the app on my Android phone, and I was expecting that it would need to be charged first but nope! It sprung to life and was ready to go! After it was all synced I checked the battery and saw it was at medium power- right out of the freaking box!Onto features...do you like lots of features? I like lots of features and the Charge 2 has ALL the flipping features you could possibly want.I feel like Fitbit has been personally keeping tabs on me and my current interests. I just recently got into breathing meditation and interval training, and when I heard that the Charge 2 was going to include both these features I was pretty much like, "Shut up and take my money!"After playing with the Charge 2 for about 30 seconds, I came to realize that when you want to choose a feature, for example the breathing exercise, after pushing the button on the side to get to that function, you then hold the button for a second to choose to start it. With the breathing exercise, it allows you to choose between a 2 or 5 minute breathing session. It works by having you breath in rhythm with a ring that expands and contracts on the screen, and it shows your breathing in and out at the bottom with a continuous little graph (see picture to clarify if this sounds wonky to you.) If it comes across as confusing don't worry- Charge 2 guides you through it...it's much more talkative (err, textative?) than the old Charge, and I like it!So for once I was actually excited to hit the hall of pain- uh, I mean the gym, so I could test out my new buddy here. First thing I did was the elliptical; in the past I avoided it because my old charge wouldn't count it as steps. Now all you have to do is select the elliptical option from the workout menu on your charge 2, hold the button on the side and voila! Elliptical steps are now counted!Next I tried out the interval workout option! What's extra awesome about this feature is that it's customizable; the folks of Fitbit really outdid themselves with this one in my opinion. By going onto the app on my phone, I was able to set the intervals to one minute of workout, and two minutes of rest for a total of five sets. Then while I was on the treadmill, I went to the workout menu, chose interval training, and it started right away. Once the minute was up, Charge 2 gave me two little buzzes to let me know to switch to rest mode, and after two minutes gave me another two buzzes to pick it up again. The buzzes aren't very strong, but I still felt them just fine.Then I went onto strength training, and selected weights from the menu (this is all via the charge 2, not the app on the phone). Now the way I strength train is 3 sets of 12 reps, and then a minute of rest in-between. I'm honestly not sure if that minute of rest affects the readings or not, but my guess is no- that Charge 2 calculates everything based on pulse readings. And speaking of pulse readings, it feels like they've improved the technology in that department as well!FYI- I have pretty low blood pressure due to hypothyroidism, so the readings below may seem off, but they're accurate in my case. My resting heart rate is usually between 61 and 66 bpm (beats per minute)So that concluded my gym session. Upon looking at my readings later on, it was kind of neat to compare them. Now the weight training session showed that in 27 minutes I burned 99 calories and had 110 average of bpm. Now with the elliptical, I only did it for 10 minutes, burned 62 calories, and had a 130 average bpm going at a fast pace continuously. With the interval training on the treadmill (here's where it gets interesting folks) for 15 minutes I burned 122 calories with a 148 average bpm. Despite having two minute rest periods several times, I still burned more calories and had a higher heart rate than the continuous workout on the elliptical. Interval training all the way! Although...I wonder if you could do interval training on the elliptical and still have the steps count. I'll have to experiment with that... *EDIT* Yes you can in fact do interval training on the eliptical and have steps count!There's still so much to try! The connected GPS looks like a pretty neat feature, and it's a nice extra to include! I'm not much of a runner myself being bite sized, but you can still track location for other things like walking, biking and hiking. Then there's call, text, and calendar notifications (adding the calendar was a great idea). You can also change bands now, so if you wear out your current band (like I did with my old Charge- bubbling issues anyone?) or just want a different look, you can switch them whenever your little heart so desires. Oh! And there's lots of screen options that you can choose from like a dial watch, extra bold print, and having time/date/steps/heart rate all together (which is what I ended up choosing)- and that's just to name a few!*EDIT* So they added a feature which shows your fitness level by going into the heart rate section of the app and then swiping left to get to that screen. I originally thought it was fitness test type thing, but I misunderstood. The app already calculates your fitness level for you based on several factors (resting heart rate, your bpm during exercises, and other information collected from your profile). So sorry for any confusion! No tests for you.Alas, there is but one problem I have encountered so far. I was walking while holding my phone in the hand that my charge 2 was on, and noticed that it didn't count my steps. So after experimenting for a bit (holding up my hands like I was pushing an invisible grocery cart, though it probably looked more like I was pretending to be A zombie) I came to the conclusion that if your hand is held up flat (palm up or palm down) in midair, like when holding a phone...the charge 2 doesn't register steps. However, it should be noted that when I put the charge 2 in workout mode, it DID count some of the steps, even when holding my phone, but it didn't seem to accurately count them all. I guess the solution is don't play on your phone while you walk? Or at least leave the hand with the Charge 2 on it by your side when playing Pokemon Go- you can play with one hand, right?Everything considered, this is truly an amazing piece of technology that is priced extremely fairly for all that it offers, including the best fitness app that is included at no extra charge. Thanks good guy Fitbit!In conclusion...This is the one fitness tracker...TO RULE THEM ALL!UPDATE: 9/20Yes yes, I know what you're all thinking- how could I possibly make this exceedingly long review even better? MAKE IT LONGER!Battery lasted from Wednesday afternoon (after fully charging it) to Monday night. It should be called Fitbit doesn't need to Charge all that often, amiright? Eh?Motivation Man! Every hour (just day hours, or you can customize which hours and days you want in the app) you don't move (or hardly move), Charge 2 gives you a friendly little buzz, and the animated little Motivation Man (as I like to call him) says something cute on the screen like "Take me for a stroll?" or "97 more steps!" (to reach 250). Do it. Don't let Motivation Man down.With the Fitness level tracker, my original score was placed in the good category and I was all happy that I was fitter than I thought. Well, the app suggests that if you want a more accurate reading, that you should go for a ten minute run outside with your Charge 2 synced to your phone for GPS tracking. So although I hate running more than kids who kick your seat continuously on a long flight, I did it. Upon looking at my fitness level thinking that my score was going to shoot up, it dropped down to fair, which is right after poor. Ouch. I mean in all fairness it's accurate but still...ouch. Went from feeling fitter to bitter.What's not accurate, however, is if you're at the gym and your Charge 2 syncs with your phone app for gps tracking. A few times while I was on the treadmill or elliptical, the GPS kicked in and gave me crazy readings. Now don' get me wrong- my step count wasn't affected in any way, the app just showed me a map of the wacky, non-existent trail that went though multiple buildings and over a river. You can just delete it of course, orrrrrr you could show it off to your friends and make stuff up...like I always teleport over rivers when I work out, doesn't everyone?The Fitbit app added a seriously impressive fitness game called Adventure challenge (it's in the challenges section) where your step count is shown on an actual map, like Yosemite Vernal falls to start off with, and the more you walk, the more you travel along the trail. Along the way you come across markers, and when you reach them, it shows you where you are on the trail with gorgeous panoramic pictures (hold up your phone, slowly turn left and right, and the picture pans out either way). There are also random "gems" on the map, and when you click them they either have a fun fact, a health multiple choice quiz, or a health challenge (like do tricep dips on a chair for a minute). You can collect them and earn a badge...or not-completely optional. However, I personally am having a blast with it, and I'm sort of stunned that they're including it in the app for free! It's like having an expensive dinner with Fitbit and when the check comes, Fitbit is all like, "Hey, it's cool. I got this,"...you sure do Fitbit. You sure do.

I've had a long history with Fitbit. I think it started around 2012 or 2013. I've been them a while. And a lot of it hasn't been that pleasant. It all began with the Fitbit Flex. Luckily I took out a extended warranty on it when I purchased it through Amazon because it suddenly died when it was just over a year old. In addition, even before that flex died, I had problems. They touted back then that you could shower with the Flex yet the band disintegrated after a few months. My extended warranty hadn't kicked in yet and fitbit's customer service wasn't exactly that friendly about it. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get them to replace that band. Then, when the Fkex completely died, I was able to get a new flex. I figured that it would last a while especially if I didn't get it near any water . But it was just under a year old when it died. I never showered with it or got it around water either. It just didn't hold up. Then, after that I bought the Charge HR. It didn't have a removable band and once again the band begin to disintegrate and it was only around 6 months old when that started happening. I tried to put it back together with Gorilla Glue and it looked so tacky that I was ashamed to wear it - especially at work. Why do have I stayed with Fitbit so long? I'm not really sure. I know that there are a lot of great trackers out there now but I guess because Fitbit was the first tracker I've owned and loved, I stayed with them. They were among the first to introduce technology that really motivated you to get up and move. Whole social networking Community spring up around the Fitbit. And for me personally, it motivated me for the first time in years! When I first got it I was quite overweight and I began getting 10000 plus steps everyday. Even on days when I worked late and I wasn't able to hit the walking trail or the treadmill, if I was close to that step goal I would jog around in my house and go up and down my stairs to hit that goal! I was so stoked when that buzzer would go off on my wrist indicating that I had reached my step goal for the day! And even motivated me to stop looking for the closest parking spot at the grocery store just so that I could get in more steps! It definitely wasn't your mother's old fashioned pedometer. Also, I've been with them since 2012/2013 and I have a history on their app of Lifetime miles and I didn't want to lose that. I guess it's just blind loyalty. That's not my typical style and for all that I've been through with them, it's kind of undeserved. But fast forward to today and I'm kind of glad that I hung in there with them. I love the Charge 2! I love the replaceable bands. I love that you can buy quality bands at a reasonable price that look like jewelry without having to go through the Fitbit company. (Remember back when the Fitbit Flex was new and you could only buy replacement bands from Fitbit that were ridiculously priced and in order to get the basic black, you always had to buy some extra colors that you didn't want in a 3-pack because the price of the black band alone was almost as much as the three pack. Then, other companies started making them and selling them on Amazon in all kinds of cool colors and designs at cheap prices. Unfortunately, as soon as I bought a whole slew of them, the second Fitbit Flex died and I was stuck with them.) I love the new charger style as well. With the Charge hr, sometimes the Fitbit would just fall right off of the charger. I would put it on to charge overnight and wake up thinking my Fitbit was charged and ready to go only to find out that it was dead. With this little clamp, it stays right in place. I love the extended battery life that the Charge 2 has and all of the reminders about getting up to walk. I'm really enjoying it and I'm hoping and praying that this investment holds up. I hope it lasts longer than a year. If it doesn't I will update my review!) So far, I think this is the best version yet!

Updated-July 2019I purchased my first charge 2 Fitbit two years ago. It just died today. I can honestly say for $150 original purchase price, I got my money’s worth. I have worn this thing everyday for nearly two years. Although I didn’t lose any weight, I didn’t gain any either. If I had used the food tracking feature, I think I would have lost more weight. It definitely kept me focused on my activity goals.I loved my first purchase so much I bought one for my brother and his wife a year later. Then when my brother broke his Fitbit, I brought him another one with a warranty.I’m looking forward to purchasing my next Charge 2 as soon as I get paid ( the reviews of the Charge 3 are only so-so). I wish I had brought a warranty for my original purchase because I could have gotten a brand new one.July 9, 2017- I've had this product for 1 month and I love it. If I have time to write a follow up review next year, I will. At first I was reluctant to buy the charge 2 because of the price. It was not on sale and I paid the full $159 for it. But in 4 weeks it has changed the way I eat and think about my exercise. I was already a moderately active person. I go to the gym 5-6 times per week and I like walking. I noticed right away that on the days I went to the gym, I easily made 10K steps. On weekends when I exercise too, I will get as many as 20K steps.Since buying the device I pay a lot more attention to my level of activity each day as well as my calorie intake. If I am close to my 10K steps and its getting near the end of the day, I simply take a walk around the block (something I never did before). Every 1-2 hours it will also remind you to get up from your desk at work and walk around if you've been stagnate.The real gym for me is the calorie counter. I was worried it would not be accurate based on reviews by mainstream news shows like Today. I noticed before getting out of bed in the morning, my app would show I burned 300 calories. But after using this device for a month I believe it is accurate. As long as I eat 500 less than my calories AND stop eating after 6:00 pm, I lose weight. The problem is I eat late at night and snack late at night. So whenever I eat late, I gain weight event if I've eaten less calories than I burned. Because of the calorie counter, I know when I have room to eat more and when I've gone way over for the day.As a former Weight Watchers (WW) member who reached lifetime goal and gained the weight back, this device has been very helpful to me and has a lot of the features of the weight watchers app. You can track how much you eat on the app and it will give you the calories for the food. You can scan a bar code with the app and the app will read the bar code and give you the calories. You can track you weight and your daily water intake. Since the app is free, I feel like I've gotten a whole lot for my money as a much more affordable cost than WW. Right now WW is about $45 for meetings and the online tools. That's over $500 annually. I paid $159 for this device and get all of the same benefits except for the meetings. They even have multiple online communities you can connect with based on your goals and your lifestyle.While I like the instant gratification the Charge 2 gives you with its wide screen (you can read your daily steps and calories just by glancing at your wrist), if you're on a budget definitely buy the less expensive models. There is an app you can download to any iPhone or android device. Most people check their cell phone 100+ times a day anyway. It's very easy to check how many calories you've consumed and how many steps you've walked on your cell phone.The only drawback of the Charge 2 is that it needs to be charged about twice a week. I an wondering if the cheaper models with the smaller screens or no screens need that much charging. I am also curious to see when this thing stops working and needs to be completely replaced. If you have small wrists, get the small band.

Why buy a Fitbit? I had already started a workout regimen, dietary changes, and a healthier lifestyle before purchasing it, so it wasn't motivation that I was looking for as much as something to help track these things.The help with the things I wanted it for turned out to be immediate, and the unsung part of the device is the Fitbit app for your phone. It's easy to customize, as there are a number of options it tracks that I just didn't care to use (water intake, for example). What I did want is a calorie burn marker, calorie intake tracker, workout and weight lifting monitor, heart rate tracking, sleep tracking, and just a general overview of daily activity.The watch has an option to turn on when starting a weightlifting session, and it measures heart rate max/averages, time, and calorie burn for each session. This has helped me to make sure I'm hitting the same intensity and duration of workout at a steady pace, and keep track of this across different days or over the course of a week as it emails you a weekly summary to measure progress.The app also has a dietary tracker, which has been invaluable as a simple to use weight loss journal. It lets you compare your calorie intake with calorie output, so you more easily measure if what you're eating is a positive or negative effect on weight control; this helps by being a bit more of a personalized number to shoot for rather than just estimating within the generic 1500/2000etc. calorie recommendations. If you honestly log everything you eat and drink throughout the day it is much easier to make smart choices on what you're consuming, and it also helps to train you to look at the actual content of foods you're eating when you start putting together that the hot dog you had for lunch might have been 110 calories, but the bun it was on was 140. At 10pm when you're looking for a snack and you can see the calories you've taken in and used, it can be all the difference between picking up something healthy or not. That kind of discipline is difficult for many, and being able to see the direct result of your choices is fantastic.The sleep tracker is also handy, although I don't know how particularly useful it is for me personally. It does appear to be very accurate, and I apparently sleep like a baby (I wake up every hour throughout the entire night, yay).The watch isn't perfect, even though I gave it 5 stars here. I strongly dislike that it's not waterproof, and that's likely to be the eventual death of mine. The band is functional, but not particularly nice; I'd really recommend looking for a 3rd party replacement that fits your needs more closely. I would also like a setting that makes the watch functionality more constant, as I have zero luck with it registering wrist movements to automatically display the time and often just need to press the button. The text message notification from my phone is also absolutely amazing, but doesn't handle group messages well and it's hard to know who they came from on the watch... but that's just a very minor complaint and not a big issue at all.Those complaints aside, however, I'm extremely happy with it and the companion app. Setting goals has been all about breaking them, and challenging myself to go beyond what I've achieved for a day and pushing boundaries. I don't know that I'd recommend one for someone who's just looking for the motivation to get up and exercise, but for anyone that already is I've found it to be immediately invaluable for getting the most out of what I was doing and tailoring my activity to meet my needs and goals. Three stars as a watch, but Five as an overall fitness tool that helps put together the statistics necessary to understand how your activity is working for you rather than just relying on guesswork.

I've been looking for the right fitness tracker for some time. Need a device that 1) accurate steps/stairs 2) Heart rate on device 3) Notifications where I can see who is calling and read full texts. 4) Not obnoxious size 5) easy to read with 45+ eyes where I dont need to put on my cheaters. 6) fully functions with iPhone 6/ iOS 10 7) Prompts me to move 8) Good app 9) Would like to keep price around $150-$175Quick summary of everything i've tried- Fitbit HR: Like all Fitbits...great on steps, heart, size, app, iphone. This misses on notifications and kept getting rash if worn 30+ hours. Can see who is calling, thats it- Samsung Gear S2 ($220 used): Awesome. Best device I have seen and used. Had to use Alpha version for iPhone app, all worked but calling. If you want a smart watch and have Samsung phone, buy this. Price was too high (paid $200), because of round display, really tough to read with bad eyes unless brightness way up. Took back because not fully iphone ready. But would buy if it ever was.- Garmin Vivofit HR ($129 sale): Loved it all. Kept all notifications until I cleared them and everything else was awesome and even water proof. However, it was too dim. Could not read easily and notifications would only display across wrist and not up/down arm (get it?). So had to always turn my hand to orient my arm to read dim notification. This just was too painful for me to keep device. Vivofit HR+ does all this as I believe but at $200 and has GPS (dont need)- Fitbit Alta ($130): All the fitbit stuff but no HR. Bright notifications made it easy to read without turning wrist. But didnt like device- Fitbit Blaze ($179): Now I get Fitbit's strategy. Always come up short with great device, make modifications for next device so that you will buy it, and then hope it improves with next device. Great model to keep us paying $150-$200 every 1-2 years. Not me. Blaze had everything I wanted and I would have kept it. However, what a crappy form factor. Beezel around actual screen was a real waste of space, making device way bigger than it needed to be. I don't really like the look of a big device, and this was bigger than the 42mm Apple Watch I tried on. Big, bulky, ugly, and waste of usable space. Plus you have to pop out the screen/device to charge and followed same fitbit plan to not have same charger like the others...all to make us keep spending. I full expect a Blaze to to come out with more screen in same form factor and redesigned band/device craddle that does not make it so big. But then I expect it to be $200+ and you might as well buy an old/used Apple Watch. Close, but ugly.Now the Charge 2. Meets all FitBit requirements for fitness, heart, prompting, and great push button display. Text orientation flowed from up arm to hand so easy to read and bright. Battery 4+ days. If you marry the Alta and the Charge, you get the Charge 2. If like either one of those, you will love this. AND you can replace band like Alta. Again, come up short Fitbit...we will buy the next one with the needed improvements. I didn't specifically for reasons1) Rash. Why do these Fitbit bands cause me a rash after 2 days. Wiped it down, switched hands, rash on other wrist. Does sleep monitoring which is neat, but not usefull or accurate. But by next day I had a rash that took a few days to go away.2) Notifications. Could easily read. However, it limited text characters and once displayed...its gone. I would love option to clear texts and read entire text. Here is where it is pain. was driving and text came in. Since my arm was up on wheel I tilted it and text displayed...but of course I could not read. Well, now its gone. And was sitting in meeting when 3 notifications came in (calendar, 2 texts) and I all I could read was last one.In the end I had to return this device. The rash issue was a killer, but maybe if I switched band that would help. But notifications finalized the decision. I really even tried to live with it. Loved the fitness device aspect, but the notifications actually made it painful for me because it was so close to being perfect for what I want. I love the idea of keeping my phone out of my pocket, but that means I need better notifications.I am sure the next device from Fitbit will make this better...but I am already speculating on what will be missing to make me wait for the next next version.I guess with all this trial and error, my next goal is to look at the Apple Watch. Didn't really want the apple watch as I dont like the look of a black square on my wrist, but it promises to deliver everything I am looking for.In short, if you love Fitbit and don't really care about detailed notification handling, and if you love the Alta and Charge HR...this is what you want.

3/31/19I have had this thing less than a week so I am still on my honeymoon.Here are my first impressions:It appears to work as intended. If one wants to just scamper around the neighbourhood it is perfect. It dutifully counts “every breath you take / every move you make / every bond you break / every step you take”. The heart rate reading matches that of other gadgets I own.I noticed right away that it seems to count not steps but arm movements and converts these into steps by means of a complicated algorithm. First, I spent two days spreading mulch from my truck and hit 14,000 steps each day! Well, it counted each forkful as four steps: into the mulch, out of the mulch, into the barrow, put the fork down. Actually pushing the wheelbarrow to and from the site counted as zero, no matter how far I travelled, as my arms were not swinging. Then a few more ‘step counts’ to unload the wheelbarrow and spread the mulch.The next day I went to the gym (as if my poor old body hadn’t suffered enough). Here I realized that ten “flights” on the stair machine counted for zero as my arms were not swinging and my altitude did not change. I guess the rowing machine and the elliptical trainer will add ‘steps’, but the treadmill and the stationary bike will not. I scored more steps loading and unloading the weights on the barbells than I did actually doing squats or bench presses. A wee bit of research on the interwebs showed me that remarkably few calories are expended in weight training. Something to do with kilograms and meters and joules, oh my.The free Android app gives me some cool charts and graphs but seems to have no way of entering all this sterling work into my daily totals other than just calories. It displays my VO2 score (shampoo?) and tells me I am in pretty good shape for an old man. The free Fitbit Coach app seems stuck in the isometric era and similarly does not enable input of weight training results.It nagged me to enter food intake but provided no way to convert cookies to calories, in a manner of speaking. I checked the Amazon reviews and found that the third-party app MyFitnessPal linked to Fitbit and facilitated the entry of food calories.• I like the way the Fitbit tells me the time when I look at it although I sometimes have to whack it a couple of times to get its attention.• It is cool-looking on my wrist.• I can set my pace length or let it detect it automatically.• The stopwatch function works well and is easier to use than the app in my smart phone.• The sleep monitor also works as expected; giving me information I already knew and didn’t really care about. It could be handy if one has sleep problems• I have not tried all the notification features, such as email, and probably won’t.• Neither have I tried scampering around the neighbourhood as that is not a part of my exercise regimen – yet.• It connects seamlessly with its own Android phone app and the MyFitnessPal app.I purchased the Charge 2 Fitbit as some Amazon reviewers said it was better than the Charge 3. I also bought the three year protection plan, something I rarely do, as reviewers said the device sometimes fails after sixteen months. We shall wait and see how this pans out.I give it five stars because of the reasonable price and that it performs as expected. Time will tell of its reliability.

As a Blaze and original Charge HR owner, figured I'd try my hand at the newest Fitbit Charge 2. Preordered from Fitbit (as well as one from Amazon). Fitbit direct order arrived yesterday, 9/6/16.Breaking the review into two parts:Part One: If you've never owned a FitbitThis is the mid tier product for Fitbit. It replaces the original best selling Charge & Charge HR. Steps, Flights, Heart Rate, Calories Burned, Connected GPS (shows a little map post workout when tied to your phone, and yes, you need to bring your phone with you on walks/runs), and notifications (as of now, just texts, calendar alerts, and displays phone number of incoming calls). Great intro watch/tracker to be your first Fitbit. Does pretty much everything. Yes there are other trackers out there, and some cheaper (in some you get what you pay for). What separates Fitbit is the software and social functions. You won't find a better app with ease of use, not to mention with the largest userbase of trackers it's much easier to find friends and families to participate in challenges. Read on if you want to know some of the features.Part Two: If You've Owned A Charge/Charge HR, and should you upgrade?The Charge watch has been the workhorse of the fitbit line. Worth getting a Charge 2? In a word: YES. Since you're familiar with the Charge already, let's go over some of the issues you may have experienced and highlights/common questions answered:1) Build Quality: The Charge 2 is a far far superior quality than the original Charge. Right out of the box, you'll notice how much sturdier and thicker the band feels.2) Swapping out bands is relatively easy. Once you figure out how to press on the band on each side to release, it's fairly painless. I could see someone elderly struggling with it at first. **If you had problems with your original Charge band bubbling, the ability to swap bands and how the tracker is connected to the bands should eliminate the issues you have experienced ** Obviously way too early to make a call on how the device will hold up, but given my experience with Blaze & Alta, this feels similar in build quality, if not better, and neither of those devices have suffered from bands falling apart on a wide scale.3) Width of the device is nearly identical to the original Charge/HR. The button on the left side of the device is much more pronounced (good thing). You can give it a nice firm click, and it doesn't feel loose or cheap as some of the Charge buttons were prone to.4) SIZING: The band itself is much longer than the original. I have always worn small in fitbit products, and found myself almost on the last hole. Something to keep in mind if you think you are on the cusp of small/large. Small likely the way to go.5) Display is nice, 4x larger than the original Charge. The font is displayed crystal clear, and is very bright. Can see it extremely well, even in bright sunlight. It is NOT a color screen. The font is a bright offwhite, as opposed to the original Charge that had a soft almost blue to it. Texts when incoming scroll across the screen.6) Overall look is sharp. Much better looking than the original. Very sleek and elegant. Actually looks better than the Blaze given thinner profile.7) Has a breathing/relaxation function. Have only dabbled with this. It actually monitors as you inhale and exhale and prompts you when to take deep breaths, etc. More of a gimmick to me, but some may find this useful.8) Navigation is relatively easy. When selecting specific workouts (you can customize the list in app), you hit the button on the side to get to the workout screen, then tap to cycle through them (run, weights, treadmill, elliptical, etc). Hold the button and your workout starts. During the workout you can cycle through metrics specific to your activity such as calories burned, heart rate, etc. Some activities will display steps, pace,calories burned, etc.9) Menu items start with your clock face, then by pressing the button will display Heart Rate, Exercise, Stopwatch, Relax, and Alarm.10) Clock Faces: There are seven to choose from. Some display day & date, and most have option to where when you tap the display it will cycle through stats (may display heart rate, date, steps taken, how far you are in your goals, your hourly movement reminders, etc). BUT DOES IT HAVE SECONDS? Yes, two of the watch faces are digital (numbers display, not hands) and have seconds displayed. There is only one "classic" watch face with the hands, and no that one does not display a second hand.11) Notifications: You get basic texts (no pictures of course), both SMS & iMessage. Incoming calls will display the contact and/or phone number. And you get calendar alerts. There is no 3rd party support at this time such as facebook, instagram, etc (The Blaze watch will be offering these soon in next software upgrade, so I guess there is hope the Charge 2 will get those as well).12) Reminders to Move: Sit on your butt too long and it will thump you with a vibe (250 steps per hour).Today I put it through its first paces with a workout. I use it mostly for light cardio and weights. Heart rate was spot on as it usually was with original Charge HR & my Blaze. No issues with step counting on the elliptical I used to warm it up. I have not used the watch for 24 hours yet, so have not been able to judge the VOX/Cardio Fitness Level rating new to this device.PROS:- It is worth upgrading alone from the Charge/HR simply due to build quality. Pictures do not do it justice. As another poster on a forum where we discuss fitbit devices said, it has that "Apple" quality feel to it. It no longer feels like a cheap rubber tracker. The ability to swap to leather, metal, or other colored bands means you can wear this unit for any occasion if style is your thing. It really does look great.- Monitoring of heart rate using optical sensors has never been a problem for me, and this one seems to be no different. Obviously some folks have trouble with them due to body hair and whatnot, but the sensors on Charge HR, Blaze, and now Charge 2 seem to be spot on. An issue I had with the original Charge was it getting "lost" when I hit higher cardio levels. This doesn't appear to be as much of an issue this time around. That said, this isn't a medical device, so I expect it to not be 100% all of the time. Use it as a tool in your overall fitness profile.- The charger itself is a new clip style (looks like a staple remover), and fits over the sides of the tracker. Fits nice and snug and snaps in. It won't fall out of the charge (actually think that's impossible given the design). No more worrying about it not snapping on and falling off or getting it just right. Big improvement.CONS:- vibration is notably weaker than the original Charge. May be an issue for some using it as an alarm if you're a heavy sleeper. That said, I wore it very tight to bed last night, and it was able to wake me this morning (something I've had problems with on the Blaze from time to time).- text notifications are neat if you've never had them. However I have a Blaze, where you can see the whole message at once. The Charge HR slowly scrolls texts and notifications to you, which can be annoying if you're used to the Blaze. They serve their purpose well though, and I can't ding it for this as it's a step up from the original Charge.VERDICT:I reviewed it as if I were upgrading from the Charge/HR to this device. It is a no-brainer if you've held on to your Charge/HR and not upgraded yet to the Alta or Blaze for whatever reason. I'd rank the Charge 2 ahead of the Alta. If money is no object, spend the extra $50 to get the Blaze simply due to the color display and easier navigation (not to mention ability to see full texts as they come in). Otherwise, for $150, you'll be very happy to have move up from other Fitbit products. The Blaze is their high end product at the moment, but the Charge 2 is a very close second.I'll happily answer questions as I did for when I originally reviewed the Blaze out of the gate, and edit this review to reflect common questions or any issues I face as I put the device through its paces in the coming days.

Let me start by saying that I am first time Fitbit and Apple watch user. I couldn't find a lot of reviews comparing the two, so I decided to purchase both and return one of them. Which one is better? Well that depends on what you're using it for.A little about me: I'm a 29 year old guy who works out 3-5 days a week with weights and runs 2-4 miles a day at an 8:30-9:00 minute pace. I work as a Resident Physician in a busy ER and originally wanted a pedometer see how much I walk in a given work day.Appearance and build quality: Winner- AppleFirst up was the Fitbit charge 2. The packaging was great, very "Apple" like, but the build quality of the device left something to be desired. The band is made of a comfortable silicone and the display appears to be a "cheap" appearing plastic. While the device won't impress on looks, it is somewhat low profile and and comfortable on the wrist. The screen itself isn't the most responsive, but it works well enough. The display is bright and easily visible. I did not have trouble seeing the screen outdoors.The apple watch was everything you'd expect from an Apple product. Sleek, responsive, and user friendly. I'd stop short of calling it "stylish", but it feels noticeably more polished than the FitbitFitness: Winner- FitbitHere's where the two products completely diverge. I found the Fitbit to be an incredible fitness device compared to the Apple watch. Everything is streamlined for fitness with the Fitbit, while the apple watch is cluttered and optimized as a "smart watch". With a quick glance on the fitbit I can see the time, my steps taken, and heart rate. It takes just seconds to set up a workout and scroll the the menus. The beauty of fitbit lies in it's simplicity. The apple watch can also show steps taken, and heart rate, but does not give you continuous monitoring of heart rate like the fitbit. The fitbit can also track sleep, and give you an estimate of your cardio fitness score (V02 Max).Other features: Clearly the fitbit is not a smart watch, but the text and call notifications are great when you're working out and don't have quick access to your phone. Yes, you can't see the whole text, but i'm not using this feature to replace my phone, I'm using it to screen for important texts or calls that I would need to stop my workout for. The apple watch on the other hand can text, call, and use many of the same apps as your iPhone. If you have apple music you can also listen to music on Bluetooth headphones. The built in GPS and waterproofing are great features as well.Accuracy: TieI have no idea what the negative reviews are talking about (Maybe they received a defective device or have exceptionally hairy arms?). The fitbit is impressively accurate with resting and active heart rate. I've compared manual hearts and treadmill measurements with a variation of +/- 5 while active and +/- 2 at rest. I don't care if my real heart is 155 or 158 while I workout, I just want to know what zone i'm in. My run this morning was within .03 miles of my phone GPS, and the pace was spot on. Good enough for me, but i'm not a competitive runner. The apple watch is slightly more accurate when it comes to distance, and probably more suited for someone who runs at a competitive pace. Steps taken? I give the edge to fitbit. Apple watch skipped a lot of my steps and took a while to update. Yes, the fitbit adds 20-30 steps while I sleep, and another 20-30 while I drive. But I do these things every day, so who cares? I care about the trends. I'm not a competitive walker. Sleep seems accurate as well and is excellent for trending. I can tell when I have a restless night and the fitbit is great for quantifying that. You cannot track sleep with the Apple watch. No idea if the calories burned are accurate for either product, but again, trends.The App: Winner- FitbitI think this where the fitbit completely shines as a fitness product. The app is so user friendly, so streamlined, and generally fun to play around with. I love watching my cardio fitness score change and keeping an eye on my resting heart rate overnight. Apple has a ton of 3rd party apps which are great, but it lacks the complete integration of the fitbit.Final thoughts:The reality is that these are completely different products used for completely different reasons. I haven't decided which one I will be keeping yet, but if I were basing my decision on fitness alone, at a non competitive level, I would choose the fitbit hands down. There are other useful features that make the Apple watch appealing in my line of work, so I'll have to weigh those into my decision.Overall, the fitbit makes fitness fun. It's packed with so many cool features, and really is a motivator for daily movement. It is perfect for someone who wants to streamline their fitness goals and keep track of their life. It is a wear all day and all night product.The apple watch doesn't have the same coolness factor with regard to fitness, and really doesn't motivate me to workout anymore than my iPhone would. It is perfect for someone who doesn't care about tracking fitness goals, but wants to leave their phone at home during a workout. The ability to stream music, track distance with a built in GPS, and respond to text messages are wonderful. This is a take off during the day and never wear at night product. I would use this primarily as a smart watch with the added bonus of being incredibly useful for running.If you do decide on the fitbit, be careful with sizing! I have a 7 inch wrist and the large band fits me on the last 2-4 holes (keep it loose when not working out). In other words, the band runs pretty large.For reference, the Apple watch is 38 mm in grey.Hopefully that helps!

Update 10/23/2016 after having worn it daily for a month----------------------------------------------------------------------------I've worn the Fitbit Charge 2 daily for about a month now. Below are my observations and some more tips:Heart rate monitor:The device seems to lose my heart rate every now and then. I have to reposition it on my wrist and/or wait and then it comes back after a bit. This is true both when I'm exercising and when I'm not, but it occurs more frequently when I'm exercising and perspiring. I still like the fact that it is constantly monitoring my heat rate (every 5 seconds) as opposed to every 10 minutes on the Apple Watch, so this is not a deal breaker for me.Calorie tracking:My primary reason for getting the Fitbit Charge 2 was that I wanted a more accurate picture of how many calories I am burning each day. I figured a device that constantly measures my heart rate (even with it losing my heart rate every so often) would give me a fairly accurate enough number that I can rely on it to manage my weight. The proof is in the pudding, so I have been very strict about counting my calories each day to see if I can trust the number-of-calores-burnt that the Fitbit is giving me. And I can say that it's accurate enough for my use case as I have lost 6 pounds since I started wearing it.Weight loss plan (TIP):My plan was to lose 1 pound a week, but when the Fitbit asked me how aggressive I wanted to be with my weight loss plan, I chose 1.5 pounds per week. My rationale was that I wanted some margin of error in case I over ate or happened to underestimate the calories because there are many instances when I cannot readily obtain the nutritional data. I must have done a pretty good job estimating my calories because I have lost 6 pounds in a month, which is exactly 1.5 pounds per week. I just count calories and do not limit what I eat. I eat ice cream, pizza, chicken wings, drink beer, whatever, but I am strict about entering all the calories which stops me from over eating. Before I had the Fitbit, I always assumed I needed around 2,000 calories a day, but I was surprised to see that I was burning around 2,800 calories a day. Which means I am eating more now with the Fitbit than previously when I was counting calories without the Fitbit. Like right now, it says I can eat 500 more calories so I'm going upstairs to grab some chocolate cookies packed with calories!My original review below stands, and this is still a solid 4 star product. I doubt that I can purchase a better device for the money that can do what the Fitbit Charge 2 does.As an Apple fanboy and an Apple Watch owner since its launch in 2015, I think the key question you need to ask yourself is, "Do I want a smart watch or a fitness tracker?" If your answer is that you are looking for a fitness tracker, then I can, without hesitation, recommend the Fitbit Charge 2 over the Apple Watch.Reason 1: Frequency of the heart rate monitorThe Apple Watch measures the heart rate too infrequently (every 10 mins). Unless you specifically tell it to measure your heart rate or you start a workout activity. However, this drains the battery pretty quickly. I just to want raise my wrist and see my heart rate, which I can do with the Fitbit. The Fitbit also constantly monitors your heart rate every 5 seconds while maintaining great battery life compared to the Apple Watch.Reason 2: Battery lifeThe Fitbit lasts me 4-5 days before I have to charge it. I have to charge the Apple Watch daily. This is with raise-wrist-to-turn-on feature enabled, and All-Day Sync disabled (which I would recommend you do, too). Both devices charge pretty fast plugged into the computer's USB port.Reason 3: Sleep trackingI could not find a full featured app for the Apple Watch to track my sleep. A big part of this limitation is because of the battery life. If you wear the Apple Watch to bed, your battery will be drained by the time you wake up. Which means you will have to charge it to continue wearing it for the rest of the day. The Fitbit wins hands down here. On the Fitbit, you don't have to press a button or tell the app that you are going to bed. Just go to bed wearing the Fitbit and it will automatically track when you go to bed and when you wake up. And from my experience, it's pretty accurate.Reason 4: Weight lifting trackingThe Workout app on the Apple Watch does not even have weight lifting as an activity. The Fitbit Charge 2 has a dedicated weight lifting activity. The calories burned while weight lifting seems reasonably accurate enough to be useful (it is in line with what various sites on the net say).Reason 5: Comfort levelThe Apple Watch was pretty comfortable, but it was fairly heavy (at least the 42mm Stainless Steel one that I had) and bulky as an "always on my wrist" fitness tracker. The Fitbit Charge 2 is more unassuming, much more comfortable and much lighter.As a Fitness tracker, I would definitely recommend the Fitbit Charge 2 over the Apple Watch. That is, unless you are an avid runner or a swimmer, then the built in GPS and the 50m water proof rating on the new Apple Watch 2 may tip the scale in Apple's favor. However, you also need to consider the price.WISH LIST----------------------------------------------------------------Here are some improvements on my wish list.1. The screen is not a touch screen. To interact with it, you tap on the screen and it uses the accelerometer to sense that it has been tapped. This is fine except I have noticed the screen inadvertently changing views (you tap the screen to change to a different view) when it is jolted while lift weights (I was dumbbell pressing and the two dumbbells collided, which changed the view). I would have preferred the touch screen to avoid this issue.2. The raise to wake the screen works well, but it would be awesome if the screen could be constantly on. I realize the battery life considerations.3. When running, lift wrist to wake screen does not work well. This gets annoying because you have to modify your stride or stop completely to quickly check the screen. This was never a problem on the Apple Watch. If Amazon would let me, I would deduct half a star for this problem.4. I noticed that the Fitbit Charge 2 loses my heart rate when I perspire. When I wipe the sweat away and reposition the Fitbit, it picks it up again.The issues above aren't show stoppers though, and I feel that this is a solid 4.5 star product and that it is the best Fitness tracker on the market right now in its price range. After I purchased one for myself, I liked it so much that I purchased two more for my in-laws. They were both Jawbone UP24 user and loves being able to easily check their heart rate and step count on the device. We've all added each other as friends, so we can do challenges together as well as competing with each other (pretty fun!).SOME USEFUL TIPS-----------------------------------------------------------------TIP 1 (reboot it every time you charge):You may discover issues like sync taking longer than usual, not receiving notifications, etc. One of the first things you should try is to reboot your Fitbit. Rebooting it doesn't delete any data -- it just turns it off and back on again. It only takes a few seconds and is easy to do, so I do it whenever I charge. To reboot your Fitbit, attach the charger and wait for the battery icon to appear. While still attached to the charger, press the side button to wake it up, and then hold the side button down (approximately 4 seconds) until you see the Fitbit logo and it vibrates (may not vibrate if you have vibrate turned off).TIP 2 (how to avoid fingerprints on the screen):The screen is not a touch screen. So you do not have to tap the screen itself to change the views. If you hate getting fingerprints all over the screen, you can just tap the band right below the screen. In fact, I find that it works better than tapping the screen itself.TIP 3 (sizing):If you go to Fitbit's site, there is a document that you can print out to measure your wrist size. If you are fall between a small and a large, buy the small. My wrist size is 6.75 inches and the small is plenty big (there are still 5 notches remaining on the band if I want to make it bigger).TIP 4 (Sedentary vs Personalized Daily Calorie Estimate Setting):The Fitbit app shows you how much calories you are allowed to consume per day under the "Food" module. You will see that one of the things it tells you is the amount of calories you can consume that day. It will say something like, "300 calories left for the day." What was confusing was that the calories left for the day continued to decrease throughout the day even as my calories expenditure increased, and I thought, "How come even though I am burning more calories each minute, it keeps telling me that I should eat less when I haven't eaten anything all day?!"The answer was because my Daily Calorie Estimate Setting was set to Personalized. When set to Personalized, Fitbit uses your past activity history to estimate your calorie burn for the day and increases or decreases if you're more or less active than usual. This means Fitbit may initially tell you that you can consume 2000 calories based on your past activities on previous days, but if you are not consistent with your activities on a day to day basis, this number will continue to slowly decrease throughout the day as Fitbit realizes that you are not being active on average as the previous days. This is a good setting if you know that you will be consistent with your activities on a day to day basis. This is the default setting.When set to Sedentary, you have to "earn" your calories. So the calories left remaining will start out low each day, but it will increase throughout the day depending on how much calories you burn. This setting may make more sense and is probably less dangerous if you are worried about going over your daily allowed calories.What makes it even more confusing was that I could not find the place to change this setting on the Fitbit mobile app. You had to change it on the Fitbit web site where it was well hidden. On the Fitbit web site, the option to change this is under "Log" (one of the links across top), then under the "Food Plan" section you should see a little settings icon (image of a gear) on the upper right corner.THE FITBIT MOBILE APP (Update 10/2/2016)--------------------------------------------------------------------I really like the Fitbit mobile app. I have lost 3 pounds since I've been wearing the Fitbit. A big part of this is due to the convenience of being able to track my calories directly in the Fitbit app. It has a large food database as well a feature to add your own custom food. The Fitbit considers the calories from the food when it calculates whether you are within your daily caloric goal for your target weight. I've used calorie tracking apps before, but it being directly integrated into the Fitbit app makes it so much more convenient. And as a result, I use it more.Another thing I like is that when you leave the app running in the foreground, you can see the number of steps and heart rate changing in real time. I suspect this will drain the battery faster on both your phone and the Fitbit, but I like watching it when I'm running or walking on my treadmill.