– Added an always-on display mode (both for daily use and workout only use)

– New display is 2X brighter than Charge 4 display

Here’s the simplified round-up of new features or changes coming to the Fitbit Charge 5: If you found this review useful, you can use the links at the bottom, or consider becoming a DCR Supporter which makes the site ad-free, while also getting access to a mostly weekly video series behind the scenes of the DCR Cave.

I’ll go out and pick up my own to continue testing the new features once they arrive. Along with the second device they dropped off, after problems arose with the first device. As usual, I’ll get that back to them here shortly. For some folks, these tradeoffs might not matter – though I’d argue at this price point they absolutely should.įinally, note that Fitbit sent over a media loaner Charge 5 to test. The Charge 5 makes some painful tradeoffs I’ve not seen in over a decade of testing wearable devices. And while I’ll probably spoil this review somewhat, I’d very strongly encourage you to read the sport accuracy sections. Within this review I cover all the newness first, followed by basic usage – then athletic usage in sports. So we’ll set those features aside for later testing – as they’re arguably the most important new feature on not just the Charge 5, but across Fitbit’s lineup, once released. It’s not clear when they will be, other than “coming soon”. Though, some of the most widely anticipated features from Fitbit – the Daily Readiness Score & Workout/Recovery Suggestions – aren’t live yet.

In using the Charge 5 for almost two weeks now, I’ve got a pretty strong grasp on where it works well, and where it (really) struggles. All while at the same time pulling in the majority of the Fitbit Versa 3 and Fitbit Sense advanced health metrics from those units released a year ago.Īnd in many ways, the company actually succeeds here. Fitbit’s new Charge 5 aims to take their most well-known wearable series and catapult it forward with a revamped AMOLED display that doesn’t feel like a TI-82 graphing calculator that previous Fitbit Charge units have had, while still trying to maintain the comparatively long battery life that Fitbit units are well known for.

Fitbit charge 5 release date