If it’s worn looser, as Fitbit suggests for general wear, heart rate accuracy is poor. If the strap is done up too tight, the watch loses its location signal. He writes that the Fitbit Charge 5 makes you trade off heart rate accuracy for GPS. It took two minutes for the Charge 5 to catch up to the strap's readings at the start of every run that I did though, so hopefully a software update can address that,” the review reads.ĭC Rainmaker, who performs some of the most in-depth tracking of all, found a serious issue, though. “I did test the heart-rate sensor against a chest strap, which is considered the gold standard in consumer heart-rate tracking, and was pleasantly surprised at how well the Charge 5 matched up overall. Reviewers are split on its exercise-tracking accuracy too.Ĭnet found the Fitbit Charge 5’s heart rate accuracy solid, apart from shaky results in the first few minutes of tracking, common among wrist-worn trackers. Otherwise a wearable can turn from something that motivates you to get out for a run, to a hindrance. You want your run metrics to be right there on the screen, at the moment you want to see them.

I’ve had similar reactions to wearables at review, though. These kinds of irritation do tend to dull as a watch’s interface works its way into your muscle memory. Many times during my four-hour run, I would tap on the Charge 5’s screen a couple times to wake it, only to accidentally tap past the last metric I had up, forcing me to keep tapping just to return to where I was before.”Ī lack of physical buttons means there might be a bit of a learning curve as you get used to the rhythm of the Fitbit Charge 5. “Also annoying is the fact that the Charge 5 has no physical buttons, meaning you have to wake up the screen by raising your wrist or by tapping on the screen. This is a touchscreen-only tracker, and The Verge’s Jay Peters found it frustrating.

The Verge’s review is critical of Fitbit’s decision to remove all physical buttons, though. It feels more flexible, fits better, and the material isn’t as stiff. “The band is so much better than the Charge 4.

DC Rainmaker also says the new band is more comfortable than the Fitbit Charge 4, mostly thanks to a revised strap material.

Charge 5 review