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Fitbit Charge 4
82
Engadget Review
The Fitbit Charge 4 is a modest yet important update to the Charge 3, the company’s most capable fitness band. The addition of built-in GPS makes the Charge 4 an even better fitness device for serious athletes and active zone minutes gives all users a new motivational tool by quantifying time spent in elevated heart rate zones. The Charge 4 also adds Fitbit Pay as a standard feature, so users won’t have to shell out more money for NFC tech anymore. The device has some small problems, namely music controls that only work for Spotify and fewer smart capabilities than the Fitbit’s smartwatches, but it’s otherwise an excellent fitness tracker with an approachable $150 price tag.
Anyone who wants a Fitbit band with GPS can finally get one now for $150.
Valentina PalladinoApril 22, 2020
Pros
- Accurate GPS
- Active zone minutes is a good motivator
- Fitbit Pay as a standard feature
- Multi-day battery life
- Finally has Sleep Mode
- Good price
Cons
- Dated design
- Can only control Spotify music playback
- Limited on-device apps
- Not compatible with Apple Health or Google Fit
View All Critic & User Reviews
Fitbit Charge 4
- Critic Reviews (10)
- User Reviews (5)
- 85AVERAGE CRITIC SCORE10 ReviewsCNET90GPS is a game changer for runnersIt mirrors every notification you can get on your phone whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone, but only Android users will be able to reply to messages with preprogrammed quick replies. You still can't store music onboard to take with you on a run, but if you're a Spotify Premium subscriber, you will be able to use the Charge 4 as a basic wrist remote to pause and skip tracks. There's no volume control though.Macworld90Small and steady wins the raceAs a fitness tracker, the Charge 4 is absolute tops in its field, however shrinking it may be. Not only is it loaded with sensors that track steps, heart rate, and elevation, it’s also the only Fitbit device other than the aging Ionic to measure distance, thanks to a new GPS sensor on board.Tom's Guide80The Fitbit Charge 4 is the best fitness tracker yetWith the addition of GPS, the Fitbit Charge 4 represents a big improvement over the Charge 3. Now, you can track your running, biking and swimming as accurately as you can with a bona fide GPS watch. Plus, the Charge 4 has some other excellent features, including wireless payment support and better health tracking.Gizmodo80Fitbit's Charge 4 Is a Great Tracker That's Come at a Weird TimeFor $150, you’re getting a solid range of features -- it just sort of feels like with the Charge series, Fitbit’s philosophy is not to mess with a winning formula. The Charge 4 does almost everything right, but it’s just not the breath of fresh air the original Versa was.PC Mag80Fitbit updates its most advanced tracker with GPS and Spotify supportIf you’re looking to level up your health and fitness, the Fitbit Charge 4 and its excellent companion app offer a wealth of insights that can help encourage you to get moving and improve your sleep. Its display could be better, but the Charge 4 has a sleek design, good battery life, and is water-friendly.ZDNet90GPS, Fitbit Pay, and Active Zone Minutes make this Fitbit's best band everThe Fitbit Charge 4 does a decent job of tracking your outdoor activities with GPS but excels at sleep tracking and step counting. The heart rate monitor matches other wrist-based monitors and has proven useful for managing stress. There are some wonderful programs available in Fitbit Premium and I highly encourage everyone to take advantage of the 90-day trial.Mashable90One step closer to the ideal fitness trackerFor most people investing in a fitness tracker, built-in GPS is a crucial feature. Fitbit finally added it without sacrificing size or battery life. But when I learned there was GPS inside the device, my first thought was that I could leave my phone at home. Until I realized I'd still have to take it with me to listen to music. However, for those of you who track distance and don't care as much about music, it's a great choice.Android Authority90No contestThe Fitbit Charge 4 is the best fitness tracker you can buy, period. Fitbit didn't need to do much to achieve this title again, but it managed to fix all our gripes with the Charge 3 and keep it at the same price point. The built-in GPS is welcome, as is Fitbit Pay being standard across all models. The only reason you should consider buying another wearable at this price point is if you want a more smartwatch-y experience.Wareable80A powerful fitness device in a dated caseIt’s still the best fitness tracking band around, because Fitbit’s ecosystem and analysis, plus the brilliant range of features make it so. But Fitbit’s decision not to improve the battery life, screen, interface, notification support or design probably means this is as good as it gets for this form factor. It could have been incredible -- but it’s got enough to be the best.Android Central80The best fitness tracker just got betterAs a fitness tracker, the Charge 4 logs your workouts, sleep, and overall health with flying colors -- and it does so while only needing to be charged once per week. It's essentially identical to the Charge 3, except that it now has Fitbit Pay as a default feature and built-in GPS is included. Even better, Fitbit hasn't increased the price.
- 64AVERAGE USER SCORE5 ReviewsEdgar20August 5, 2020Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I do not usually write reviews but this case is so absurd that I felt I had to. For a while now I've been searching for a fitness tracker for me and my wife. We are both quite active but not high-performance athletes. She just wanted a good tracker for her runs, at best with GPS, so that she does not have to carry her phone while jogging. My requirements are a little bit higher since I am looking not only for a tracker but also for a smartwatch. We both have Android phones. Long story short, after long research I decided to go for a Samsung Galaxy Active 2. For her, the candidates were the Samsung Gear Fit Pro 2, the Garmin Vivosport, and the Fitbit Charge 4 (all with built-in GPS). We went to a local consumer electronics store to take a look at them (we live in Germany). To be honest, she did not like any watch design on her wrist but I made a case for the Fitbit. It's definitely not the most beautiful watch but for me, it looked just fine on her and I thought she would have fun with it. I've read many reviews and most of them indicated that Fitbits are almost unbeatable as trackers. On the other hand, I've also read some recent user reviews that were somewhat concerning. They indicated many issues with the app. I decided to take a risk, hoping that we would not face the same issues. So, we bought the Fitbit Charge 4 yesterday. And today we are returning it. After we've got home, I started setting up the device. Until it is connected with a smartphone, it does not work even as a normal watch. Basically, it is completely useless. So, to set it up, I downloaded the app, created an account for my wife, and followed the instructions in the app to connect the watch. Then the headaches began. The app would always show that the watch was not charging, which makes it impossible to continue with the process. If it is so important, why not show on the watch if it is properly charging or not?! No, before setting it up it just shows either a smiley or the Fitbit logo, nothing more. Anyway, after many attempts, I was able to connect the watch to my wife's phone. Then finally, I was able to see the real functionality of the tracker. I wanted to see the tracker in action but since my wife could not go jogging yesterday, I decided to try it myself. In order not to mess up with her data, I decided to create an account for me and to connect the device with my phone. For that, I cleared the user data in the tracker and we went back to the smiley/Fitbit logo screens. Again, the same headaches when trying to connect my phone to it. And again, after some attempts, I could somehow get through it. Everything was working fine. I went for a run and it worked just as expected. I was finally having fun with it. Well, that was as much fun as I had. Later in the day, my wife said she wanted to go for a walk and try the device herself. So I again erased the data on the tracker to connect it to her phone. This time, I had no success at all. I tried everything. I followed all the suggestions on the web, including from official Fitbit sources. I restarted the device multiple times. I restarted her phone multiple times. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. I tried again with my phone. I've waited for a few hours and tried again. Nothing worked. I thought it might be an issue with the server connection, so I decided to try again this morning. Again, nothing. And that was it, my patience is gone. Back to the online reviews, I've seen that many people are facing the same problems. There are massive synchronization problems for many days now. For example, in the Play Store (Android) there are countless new 1-Star reviews mentioning these issues. Fitbit does care to answer the reviews, but only with a standard message. Go to the Fitbit community website, more people complaining about it. Remember, without being able to synchronize with the app, the tracker is USELESS. From other comments about Fitbit's customer support, I did not even bother to try contacting them. Apparently there are numerous people everywhere in the world with useless devices at home because Fitbit cannot get it right already for a while now. What is going on with the company?! How is the tech media not talking about it?! They should be forbidden to sell devices until fixing this! I am glad I can just return it to the store but what about others that cannot? And what about the many people that will buy the devices in the following days/weeks/months? Like I said, for me this whole thing is absurd and I felt I had to share it, hoping that serious measures will be taken or at least that as many people as possible are aware of these issues.Nicholas90July 25, 2020Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The best in its category. We highly recommend it. - EngadgetK70July 25, 2020Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!Bottom line: Good form factor, but challenging user interface and problems with workout tracking.I used to have a Fitbit a few years back until I cracked it in a sports accident. I recently purchased a Fitbit again - this time a Charge 4, attracted back by some of the newer features on the device (Wallet, GPS etc.)While I am excited to own a Fitbit device again, I have to say I am certainly disappointed in the software execution in the device. Here's my list of pet peeves in the short time I have had the device so far:- Screen timeout is annoyingly short even on the long setting. - The device randomly stops tracking my GPS during workouts. Sometimes it happens 2 miles in and sometimes it just records a few data points altogether. The workout Map shows just straight lines instead of a detailed map of the run- Password unlock is a pain to use. With a touch screen, come on.. this has GOT to be an easier experience- Poor native syncing with other fitness portals like Google Fit, Strava etc. In this day and age.... why?What I like:- The design is simple and the device is lightweight- Charges quickly; - Wallet NFC/Pay works like a charm. Didn't have to retry tapping and waving like I used to at times with my Wear OS device- Sleep tracking and smart wake up works well- Waterproof / sweat proofAt the end of the day it feels like a quality product hat is sadly undermined by it's own software. The good news though is that the software could be easily refined to be better. If the Fitbit product managers are listening.Dan100July 24, 2020Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I upgraded from a Fitbit Alta HR which I wore for almost 2 years. It was important to me to keep the 7+ day battery life, plus I wanted to be able to see more info on the screen, and one that was easier to read in direct sunlight. I've been going on walks with my wife since Corona Virus took over the world, and I wanted a tracker with GPS tracking. I'm quite happy with it, it really hits on all these marks for me. Easy to read in daylight, I'm currently just a couple of hours short of 7 days since my last charge and I still have 28% of the battery remaining. I can see steps, heart rate, calories and distance walked on the screen at once. I used to have to swipe several times to do that on the Alta HR. It is much easier to read in the sun. The only 2 gripes I had was when I turned over at night sometimes the screen would light up and it was blindingly bright. I discovered you could prevent this from happening by setting a sleep time where you have to use the button on the side to turn the screen on. The other thing was the built in PS takes like 20% of the battery on a 1 hour walk. I already said that the 7 day battery life was important to me, so this was disappointing. Then Fitbit released an update that lets me use the GPS on my phone instead of the built in GPS. Problem solved.mark40July 24, 2020Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!(I've used the Charge4 every day for 2 weeks upon writing this) Hey there! Reader beware, salty and disappointed customer here. As everyone else, I've read the stellar reviews about the Charge4, and since I've already had the Charge HR from years ago, I got convinced that it's time to embrace the Fitbit ecosystem once again. On paper, the Charge4 is everything -and more- you could wish for in a fitness wearable: small form factor, good looks, water resistance, HR sensor, GPS( more about that later), NFC, 7days battery, SPO2 sensor. The list is long, and is enough to dazzle any self respecting fitness/gadget lover..and tech reviewer. Because I'm sure that none of the reviewers actually tried running a forest trail, maybe on uneven terrain, god-forbid in cloudy weather. The SALT: Let's say you want to run a 10k. You want to know your HR, your pace, everything Fitbit's promised you. So you start an 'Exercise', scroll to 'Run' and tap 'Go'. Easy, right? No. It just started scanning for signal. If you're lucky, it will find a signal within minutes(could take up to 5). If not, it simply wont find ANY signal. So let's say you are connected, you tap it again, finally you can run. Just hope that nothing blocks signal visibility, like a forest, a 2 story building, or a light cloud cover. It can, and will lose signal should any of the aforementioned 'obstacles' occur(and finding the signal again requires you to restart your activity). Why? Because the GPS antenna in the Fitbit Charge4 is woefully weak and inadequate for the task at hand. (Just ask the users on the official Fitbit forum/ 'GPS won't connect') Three months after its release Fitbit issued an update that lets users connect to the GPS of their mobile phones. This works, hooray! It also renders your Charge4 to a Charge3. The SPO2 sensor is nice, but not accurate enough to rely on it as medical advice. The Spotify integration is cumbersome, changing track on your phone is easier. NFC is another nice addition, provided it works with your bank/card. Your sleeping heart rate is locked behind a paywall called Premium that's 10€ a month. The Charge4 could've been the best wearable to date from Fitbit. With its built-in GPS being so unreliable, it's just a Charge3 with a few additional gimmicks.
Key Specs
TYPE
Watch-style
TRACKING METRICS
Motion, Distance, Gps, Heart rate, Calories, Sleep
DISPLAY
Yes
BATTERY LIFE
Up to 7day
MEDIA PLAYBACK CONTROLS
Yes
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