I’ve been using the Fitbit Charge 4 for about 6 months now and I thought of giving it a short review as per how I normally use it. If you need a more detailed review, there are lots of videos and other blogs for that purpose.
For context, for the past 1 year I was using the Huawei Watch GT2 (46mm). It has excellent tracking hardware and battery life (up to 10 days), but the software looks a bit rough around the edges. Integration to other apps (like Strava) is possible recently but it can be tricky/messy.
In migrating to Fitbit, I didn’t want to get another smartwatch as I wanted to try a simpler fitness tracker. The Fitbit Charge 4 is not a smartwatch. It’s a fitness band. It has a narrow look (as per photo above) with a simple watch face (with multiple other faces to choose from). For a small device, it’s packed with fitness tracking features.
The sleep analysis provides more information, the integration with Strava is seamless, and it has the necessary workout tracking options (for me, it’s climbing stairs, jumping rope). The battery life is reasonable (5-7 days), and I love the detailed breakdown of Fitbit’s analysis, especially if you subscribe to Premium. I know that most users are not happy with the subscription model (for Premium), but I understand that is Fitbit’s plan to build a sustainable business model and constantly give us awesome software features. Not everything is free guys!
All in all I like Fitbit’s software and their detailed analysis. I hope in the future they can come up with a more sportier looking smartwatch that could be used for normal daily use (like going to work, hanging out with friends etc) with reasonable battery life. I did look at the Fitbit Sense, but the 2 day battery life didn’t convince me enough. Also, I thought the physical shape of the Fitbit Sense wasn’t attractive enough.
Imran Jaafar 