Fitbit Charge 5 officially presented: Up to 7 days of battery now
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Fitbit has just made its fitness and health tracker Fitbit Charge 5 official. For $180, the tracker will be offered starting today.
TL;DR
- Fitbit Charge 5 comes with 6 months of Fitbit Premium included.
- New, rounder design.
- Brighter display.
- Up to 7 days battery life.
Fitbit has a very good reputation in the sports community and is looking to improve on that with the newly unveiled Fitbit Charge 5. The company, which has belonged to Google for some time, has improved both visually and functionally with the new tracker.
New design, brighter display
It was already apparent from the leaks of the last few days that the fitness tracker series wants to score with a fresh design. The Fitbit Charge 5 comes with a rounder, more modern look, which I immediately like much better than the rather angular predecessor. Overall, the tracker is 10% slimmer and, for the first time on a Fitbit fitness tracker, gives us an "always-on" display. The display is twice as bright as the predecessor and should thus be perfectly readable even in the sun.
Furthermore, Fitbit refers to 20 colored watch faces from which you can choose. You can also make sure that the wristbands have a more individual look. You have the choice between "Infinity" bands made of silicone, breathable sports bands, nylon bands with Velcro and finally leather variants.
The battery is now supposed to last up to seven days, which of course still depends on the degree of your use. In testing the Fitbit Charge 4, we came up with a battery life of five days. But with a new fitness tracker, it's only partly about the look and hardware innovations. Rather, it's about the features on offer, so let's look at that too.
Sweat smart, avoid stress
The new fitness tracker explicitly sees itself as a health tracker as well. In its press release, Fitbit refers to the last few months and the fact that we have had to deal a lot with stress, illness, changes in sleeping, eating and exercise habits. Accordingly, the new model also starts right there and provides us with functions to help us avoid stress and give us the rest our bodies need.
Something new is the Daily Readiness, which will also be available on the other models Sense, Versa 3, Versa 2, Luxe and Inspire 2. This will help you learn when your body is ready for a workout and when it's time to rest. For this, there will be a new assessment every morning based on your fitness fatigue, heart rate variability and sleep cycles.
As is often the case with Fitbit, the Daily Readiness will only be available to those who pay for the Fitbit Premium subscription. Unfortunately, this also applies to some features.
You will benefit from the integrated GPS, 20 training modes, an automatic training recognition and the estimation of the VO2 max, but the countless training units are again only available for premium customers.
Also new to the Charge 5 is the EDA sensor, which measures the body's reaction to stress via tiny changes in the sweat glands of the fingers and which we already know from Fitbit watches. Further, there's a stress management index in the Fitbit app, the ECG app will be available in the future, and your heart rate will be constantly monitored. Breathing, skin temperature fluctuations, SpO2, and more will keep you in the know with the health dashboard.
Available for pre-order today for just under US$180
Fitbit also refers to the premium subscriptions again for many other features like the detailed sleep analysis or premium partnerships like the one with the wellbeing service "Calm". This actually spoils the fun of the new fitness tracker a little, which is anything but cheap with a price of $179.95. At least you enjoy when buying the Fitbit Charge 5 this premium membership for six months for free.
If the premium downer isn't enough for you, I've got another one: While you can pre-order now via Fitbit's site, the product won't be available until the fall, though Fitbit hasn't given us an exact date yet. So at first glance, the Fitbit Charge 5 is a very strong and handsome fitness tracker, but it's also pricey and doesn't reveal many of its features until you dig deeper into your pocket. Decide for yourself if that's worth the fun.
Until we can provide you with a detailed review, you might want to take a look at the alternatives that the current fitness tracker market has to offer - and feel free to write us in the comments what you think of the new model.
