Replaced my Apple Watch with Charge 6, happy
Bought January 2024. So, I have had an Apple Watch since 2017. I LOVED it. But I didn’t love the battery time. The things I was interested in, like sleep tracking, I couldn’t do because it needed to charge or I couldn’t use it the next day. My mom has a Fitbit and for years was telling me to get one. After some health issues, I needed to start being more cognizant of my health. I didn’t want to spend another $5-600 on an Apple Watch that at most gets 2 days of battery now. I was interested in the Oura ring, but I have 60 lbs. to lose and those can’t be sized as you lose weight. So I researched and found the Fitbit Charge 6 was my best choice. Mostly pro’s. It is really comfortable. When I fell asleep accidentally with the Apple Watch my wrist was sore after. So far, I’m getting 6-7 days of charge out of it, which is a game changer. I now don’t miss days of tracking because I forgot to charge it. I feel like the screen size is appropriate and it’s well made. I’m not sure about the accuracy, but reviews I’ve watched where people test them they seem close enough. And that’s good enough for me, I want a baseline. You can adjust the haptics for notifications, I have it on the hardest vibration and it’s awesome. It’s easy to read the screen, just 2 taps. It says you can water lock it for swimming/shower but I haven’t utilized that yet. The app… okay so when I purchased this (January 2024) they offered the premium app for 6 months free, then $80 a year. I will be keeping the premium. It still can be used without, but I want ALL the metrics you can get as well as meditations and workouts. It has replaced MyFitnessPal because I can track everything in this app. It also links with my Bluetooth scale. You can track steps, miles, calories, exercise, activity minutes (150 minutes a week as recommended), standing activity by getting up every hour for 250 steps, (it reminds you). SpO2, HRV, skin temp., HR, sleep (including stages). I’m sure I’m forgetting something. I haven’t used the GPS function which I heard drains the battery significantly. Somewhat cons, or things I would appreciate it having. This device is logged in through Google. I do see messages and notifications from my iPhone 13, but are unable to respond which is fine. You can control YouTube music, but not your Apple Music. It’s Just an adjustment from my Apple Watch. I’m also not able to sync it with Apple Maps because I hate Google maps. And I haven’t figured out how to use that between my phone and the Fitbit yet even after watching tutorials. I wish they had more watch faces to choose from, I think there was about 12?. I just felt like the one I picked was as close to what I wanted, but it wasn’t. The time takes up a large portion of the screen which I feel like is unnecessary. What I feel the app is lacking is something to track when you’ve taken your meds. If they did, this app would literally be a one stop shop for my health/fitness tracking. Note: a comment someone made about med tracking was just set an alarm. The problem is that if you are someone like me that is never at the same place everyday, you could turn the alarm off and then forget later whether or not you took them. It’s a really quick fix they could do. I HIGHLY recommend the Charge 6, I wish I had listened to my mom and got it a while ago. The few things I gave up by switching from my Apple Watch is minor. I’m not missing them other than Apple Maps and Music. Read more
