Hands-on review: Updated: Fitbit Charge 2
If you're wearing a Fitbit right now there's a very good chance it's a Charge or a Charge HR on your wrist – but there's now a new Fitbit in town, and you'll want to take a serious look at it.
The Fitbit Charge 2 is the first upgrade to the popular Charge range since 2013, and brings with it a couple of new features that may well tempt Fitbit fans to take the plunge.
Fitbit Charge 2 price and release date
In terms of pricing, the Fitbit Charge 2 costs $150 (£129.99, AU$250) with a plastic band and $179.95 (£149.99, AU$289.95) for the Special Edition versions with more premium feel straps.
You can still buy the Charge HR for $129.95 (£119.99, AU$229.95) but there's no reason to. The Charge 2 is certainly a better tracker than the HR so it's worth spending the little extra and picking up the new version.
The Charge 2 is more expensive than the new Fitbit Flex 2 though, so it may be worth your while checking that out too.
Fitbit has already released the Fitbit Charge 2 so you can buy it right now - plus there's free delivery on the official Fitbit website.
Design
Design-wise, it's much the same as other Fitbit devices, and feels a bit like the lovechild of the Charge HR and the Fitbit Surge. There's a much larger screen here than on the Charge HR, but the device is a fair bit thicker too, so you may not be a fan if you liked the compactness of the last version.
There's a button on the left-hand side of the tracker that you use to skip through the menu options, such as steps, time, heart rate, and calories.
And with a larger screen there's even more room to see that data, limited as it might be.
You have the choice of four colored plastic bands – light blue, dark blue, black and purple – along with two leather options as well, which cost extra. These can be swapped out quickly and easily by pulling at the edges of the band around the tracker.
The actual device itself is reasonably small, but you may find it a little bit too thick on your wrist if you're looking for something that doesn't stick out.
Fitbit has improved the materials used on its straps in recent years too, and the plastic version felt comfortable during our short time wearing it.
You won't be able to wear the Charge 2 when swimming, but it is water-resistant, so you'll be able to sweat on it or run with it in the rain without having to worry about water damage.
Spec and performance
You'll be able to get calls, SMS and calendar notifications on your wrist, but they will only be notifications – you won't be able to reply without taking your phone out.
In terms of tracking tech, this is a very similar affair to other Fitbit wearables. It will monitor your step count throughout the day, but it also features a lot of the recent innovations seen on the Blaze and Alta.
When you're working out there's no GPS to track your running – but you can connect the Fitbit Charge 2 to your phone's GPS feature to allow it to track distance traveled.
The big addition here for the Charge range is Multi-Sport tracking. This was a feature introduced on the Fitbit Blaze last year, and allows you to track seven individual sports including running, walking and yoga.
For the sporty-minded, this is the big reason to go for the Charge 2 over one of the older devices.
There's also a new Guided Breathing feature, which will monitor your heart rate for 30 seconds and then set you a breathing challenge to help it improve. Upon first testing this we found that it worked in slowing our heart rate, although whether you'd use this feature often is open to question.
If you wear the Fitbit Charge 2 in bed it'll monitor your sleeping patterns. There's also a silent alarm mode, which vibrates the tracker on your wrist to gently wake you up without disturbing anyone else close by.
It's a nice idea, although it may not prove all that useful if you're a heavy sleeper.
Battery-wise, the Fitbit Charge 2 is claimed to last up to five days on a single charge – although if you tend to work out a lot then battery life is likely to be a little shorter.
If that battery claim stands up, though, it's not too much of a chore to put your fitness tracker on charge twice a week.
Early verdict
The Fitbit Charge 2 isn't a massive advance on the Fitbit Charge HR – the heart rate tracking tech was already there, and the design has improved a bit.
The larger display is useful for running through your stats as well as phone notifications, but ultimately that was something the Fitbit Blaze already offered, albeit for a higher price.
If you're looking for a fitness tracker to take your heart rate throughout the day, and want to use the Multi Sport tracking features, then you'll want to consider upgrading to the Fitbit Charge 2.
But if you don't need the heart rate monitor, we'd probably recommend going with the Fitbit Alta.
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