Design
The FitBit Charge HR is very similar to its brother Charge, which has been available since the end of 2014. The electronics of both trackers are in a simple rubber housing, which with its sporty look fits better with jogging pants than with a suit. There is a small OLED display on the front, which in addition to the time can also display various daily statistics – and thanks to the Bluetooth Smart connection also caller IDs.
The FitBit Charge HR unfortunately shares one problem with its brother Charge without HR: a plastic disc sits above the display that scratches miserably quickly. This has – at least with our degree of scratching – no influence on the readability, but it doesn’t look particularly nice.
In contrast to the Charge, the Charge HR bracelet has one Pin buckle like you find in many wristwatches. The Charge, on the other hand, uses a simple pressure lock, just like its predecessor Flex. The Charge HR is available in two different sizes – interested parties should measure their wrist circumference before buying and then decide on the correct size. “Small” ranges from 140 to 165 millimeters, “Large” from 160 to 193 millimeters.
Dived in the net since the start of the batch several reports from users who complain of skin irritation. I personally cannot confirm this from the batch or the batch HR – and I tend to have very sensitive and notoriously dry skin. If you order the tracker online, you have at least a 14-day return policy here, should complications arise. Anyone who buys offline must hope for goodwill from the retailer.
However, you shouldn’t hope for goodwill from a dealer if you take a bath with the FitBit Flex – or just take a shower. According to the manufacturer, the tracker is not really waterproof. However, sweat and rain are not a problem, says the FAQ.
Operation and app
There is actually not that much to use on the FitBit Charge HR itself: the tracker has only one button on the left side of the case. With short operations, the user jumps through the various daily statistics or sees his current pulse. A long press on the other hand starts a workout session. The user can then specify the sport in the app or in the web interface.
Alternatively, the user can also start the training in the app – and then has a few more options to choose from. For example, the smartphone can then regularly output information on the distance covered, elapsed time, average speed or calories burned via the loudspeaker. And if the smartphone is there while jogging or trekking, the app also records the distance covered by GPS. Unfortunately, there is no bicycle option at this point.
For additional motivation, the FitBit app also offers a friend list. If desired, the app can find additional users in the smartphone contacts who also use FitBit – and with whom you can then fight for most of the daily steps. And in competitions you can push each other, for example, who takes the most steps on a weekend.
It is not yet possible to link the FitBit app to Google Fit or Apple HealthKit, but it is possible to link it with Microsoft’s HealthVault. A complete list of all supported applications is available on the FitBit website.
Last but not least, the app offers the option of setting a silent alarm for the Charge HR, which is only noticeable through vibration. Snooze junkies can set up to eight different alarms – and thus not even annoy their bed neighbor.
Pulse sensor
As already mentioned at the beginning, the FitBit Charge HR has a pulse sensor integrated on the back, which continuously measures the heart rate of the wearer throughout the day. But what does it do for me – apart from being able to check whether my heart is still beating?
The resting pulse is listed most prominently in the app. This is the frequency at which the heart beats when the body is not under any stress – both physically and mentally. Those who exercise and train their circulation should be able to see how their resting heart rate drops over a period of several weeks. And to put it bluntly: a low pulse ensures that the heart lasts longer in life.
With my resting heart rate I could not find any great fluctuations over the comparatively short Review period. If you are untrained and start exercising, you should notice a noticeable drop in your heart rate at rest over the months.
Another application scenario for pulse measurement is during sporting activity. If you want to lose weight, you train in different heart rate zones than someone who wants to improve your endurance. At least as far as the theory goes: Because while the FitBit Charge HR is calmly spitting out pulse measurements that largely correspond to chest straps and ear sensors, the results in sport sometimes deviate significantly.
With a fully wired MMA workout, the Sigma RC Move (measurement via the chest strap) and the Jabra Pulse (measurement in the ear) are practically never more than one or two heartbeats apart, while the Charge HR may show 20 or even 30 heartbeats too little . We found the same problem with a second batch of HR. The reason for this are the strong arm movements and the Burpees often be angled wrists, for example. And yes, we made sure that the tracker was secure.
The Charge HR, on the other hand, provides usable results when jogging and cycling. On the bike, however, you have to make sure that your wrist is extended, otherwise there will always be deviations. It is also noticeable that the Charge HR does not react particularly quickly to pulse changes. During interval training, the measured pulse in the chest strap system jumps up immediately, while the wristband gladly takes 20 seconds to react. The Charge HR is therefore of limited use for training with rapidly changing intensities.
It should also be said that I actually have the ideal conditions for the pulse sensor on the wrist to work well: my skin is fairly light and my arms are not particularly hairy.
In the associated app, however, it becomes clear once again that the Charge HR is not necessarily aimed at ambitious athletes. For example, there is no way to set that a notification is sent via the smartphone when the user leaves a certain pulse range. So you have to activate the display at regular intervals during the training, jump to the pulse area and look there yourself. As mentioned above, there are unfortunately only voice prompts for the distance traveled, time, average speed, etc.
Pedometer
The FitBit Charge HR specifies 10,000 steps as the standard goal – and they are actually surprisingly easy to achieve. With a bit of pounding around at health home and in the office, twice around 200 meters from the apartment to the car, twice 100 meters from the car to the office and twice a kilometer walk to and from sport in the evening – without the sport itself – over 7000 steps have already been taken.
This is not because I have a stride length of 17 centimeters – the Charge HR counts rather optimistically. Movements while cooking, for example, are counted just as generously as the office stuff. Incidentally, the Runtastic Orbit counts very similarly to the FitBit Charge HR – with both trackers on the same arm, one is at the front and the other is at the front.
The Activité Pop by Withings, on the other hand, is much more conservative and only rewards steps that are actually taken and no movements. The bottom line is that I only get around half of the steps as with Charge HR.
The bottom line, however, is somewhat irrelevant – because ultimately the user should be motivated to run more than before. And it doesn’t matter whether it doubles from 1500 or 3000 steps. After all, twice as much movement is twice as much movement. In direct comparison, I always preferred to look into the FitBit app because the numbers here simply look like more.
At this point, however, I find the function that the Charge HR also counts the climbed floors very successful. That personally made me take the elevator only once in the past three weeks – and only because I had a lot of luggage. Because with the three floors in the morning and in the evening, I was pretty close to my goal of ten floors a day.
Calorie needs
In addition to the steps, the distance covered and the number of floors climbed, the FitBit application also shows the calorie requirement. I do sports every day – but in completely different disciplines, from jogging to strength training and martial arts to yoga. With purely pedometers, this has a very changing influence on my daily results: While the batch ignores a 90-minute yoga session as largely as push-ups, pull-ups or barbell training, the Charge HR estimates the calorie consumption via the heart rate sensor and calculates this Daily balance.
However, the prerequisite for this is that you actually started a workout by pressing the side button for a long time – and that the Charge HR also finds good conditions during the workout. Kinked wrists and explosive arm movements are, as already mentioned above, poison for the accuracy of the pulse measurement. If you pedal on the ergometer, you get accurate results.
Sleep tracker
Last but not least, the FitBit Charge HR also has a function for monitoring sleep. In contrast to the predecessor Flex, you no longer have to tell the tracker when you go to sleep. The gadget automatically registers this based on the user’s movement profile and their heart rate.
In practice, this works fairly precisely – and more precisely than with the Activité Pop, for example, which likes to include sleep when you stay in bed for a while and read messages, for example. Even short naps on Sunday afternoon are not missed by the Charge HR.
As interesting as monitoring your own sleep is, I am still somewhat unsure what to do with the data at the end of the day. The next day I can look back at the fact that I ran to the toilet at night because I drank a liter of water before sleeping. Or I can see that my night was restless because I was eating too much too late. But actually I know it that way – the app only reminds me “black on white”.
Web interface
FitBit also offers a detailed web interface for its trackers. Here the user can once again view the data recorded with the Charge HR in detailed diagrams. There are also options for manually tracking nutrition, weight (optionally via the FitBit Aria scale), blood pressure and blood sugar, and keeping a diary.
There are also options to add friends to the profile, to interact with them and to encourage each other to perform better. If you have no friends with FitBit devices, you can also join open groups and measure yourself with the members and exchange ideas in the forum.
FitBit Premium
FitBit also offers a premium membership for 44.99 euros per year, which allows the user on FitBit.com, among other things, a more detailed evaluation of the data collected, brings along a virtual fitness trainer and offers an export of the data. A seven-day Review phase is fortunately free of charge, but it does not include the trainer function.
In the data comparison tab in the premium area, the user sees, for example, his own performance in comparison and can display which percentile he is in the total population or in a certain population group. Under Nutrition Report FitBit shows a distribution of the macronutrients and gives tips for better nutrition – the prerequisite here, however, is that the user logs the food consumed in the app or on the website. Analog overviews are also available for sleep or workouts.
Last but not least, FitBit Premium users still have access to a digital fitness trainer who is supposed to use the activity profile to create a plan for the user to improve their fitness. Unfortunately, we currently have no access to this feature. As soon as that changes, we will update the report at this point.
Conclusion
The bottom line is the FitBit Charge HR is an excellent pedometer that effectively motivates you to move more in everyday life with extras such as climbed floors. The integrated heart rate sensor, however prominently it appears in the name, does not deliver reliable results under all conditions.
The resting heart rate can thus be reliably determined. When exercising, however, the athlete must make sure that the wrist is extended and many explosive arm movements are also detrimental to accuracy. On the other hand, the FitBit App Stand still lacks a few options here today. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether you can live with these restrictions.
And to come back to the question from the beginning: No, the days of the chest straps have not yet been counted – at least not by the Charge HR.
