Fitbit Charge HR Wireless Activity Wristband, Plum, Small

Full disclosure, I ordered the Fitbit Charge HR only after I gave up on Jawbone fulfilling my preorder for the Up3 and once I realized the Fitbit Surge was like having a VCR strapped to your wrist. Further complicating my decision was the reviews that were all over the place on Amazon. Either people loved it or they thought it was the biggest piece of crap ever. I am writing this review to try and offer a realistic perspective for those looking to buy the Fitbit Charge HR.First, disregard the reviews from all the "personal trainers" and "hardcore" gym goers out there. It's amazing how everyone becomes a trainer or gym rat when reviewing a piece of workout equipment. Wrist based heart rate monitoring is still in its infancy and if, and I stress if, you are so hardcore that a possible 5-10 beat variation is so critical then you need to stay with chest based HR monitoring for awhile. The Charge HR isn't for that. Not to mention, I haven't seen that it is off like others have said. I was skeptical and I have a Garmin Running GPS watch with a chest HR strap and I see the two being pretty consistent.Second, I cannot stress enough the quality of the Fitbit app and web based dashboard. They are motivational and intuitive and they give you goals to shoot for. I have yet to see any sync issues or any of the other nonsense I have seen in other reviews.Finally, $150 is a lot of money but it less than other comparable products out there. To me this is the perfect entry level device. If you like the concept and are disciplined, then you can upgrade to another device. if you are trying to get a snapshot of what you are doing on a daily basis and how you can make some life and fitness improvements, this device is a perfect way in. If you are a "personal trainer" or just "crushing it" beyond what the Charge can handle, you should probably do another set of burpees, stick with chest strap HR monitors and save your "insightful" reviews for Flex magazine.Bottom line; the Charge HR is well worth the money. No product is perfect but this one does perform as promised. Amazon has the best customer relations of any company out there so if you don't like it you can send it back anyway. I hope this review helps. I know when I was looking, these reviews can be ridiculous, contradict and misleading. Give it a shot! You won't be sorry!

I bought my first Fit Bit Charge HR through Amazon (Prime) in September 2015. My first HR arrived and would not track my heart rate at all. I contacted Fit Bit and spoke to a great customer service rep. He went through multiple steps and was able to see my tracker on the dashboard and we tried everything he suggested to no avail. He advised me to recycle the tracker at a local electronics store and they would be sending me a new Charge HR the next business day. The second tracker arrived within days and it worked great until I realized that this one was not holding a charge for more than about a day to a day and a half. I called Fit Bit again and they went through similar steps with me and then advised that the version of tracker I then had, had a known battery issue and that I should again, recycle it at a local electronics store, and they were sending me yet another, and my now current Charge HR.That being said, since my third tracker arrived it has worked like a champ. I love it and it has been a huge part of my fitness goal. I don’t think the charge holds as long as Fit Bit states but it’s a good 3.5-4.5 days usually. I wear it 24/7 and am exercising 3-5 days a week. I’ve had no trouble with it recording my steps at all. It seems the only thing it doesn’t really track well is Yoga or other rather stationary activities and almost never gets the flights of stairs correct-I wouldn’t bother even really tracking the stairs unless that was your main form of exercise. Then it could be a problem. Even on the rowing machine it’s giving me steps credit which is great because number of steps is a big part of my daily exercise goal.I do not wear mine in the shower or in the water, but my son has a Charge HR as well and wears it in the shower all the time with no issues. I especially like that Fit Bit links with Myfitnesspal.com and the two apps “speak” to each other. I will also say that the small really should fit most women. I was very worried when I first ordered the tracker that the small would be too small due to my weight at the time. It arrived and was plenty big. My wrist with a tape measure now is 6” exactly and I wear the tracker on the 7th hole loosely. When I first received it, I wore it on the 4th hole loosely. The holes are ¼” apart.I don’t think it is a particularly attractive or cool looking accessory but that’s not why I’m wearing it. The newer bands you can purchase for the newer models look OK but again, I’m not wearing for fashion. I understand people with a sporty lifestyle, or who are much younger than my 46 years, may like the different color bands and may switch out colors to match their outfits but I wear it to track my steps and help me reach my goals. It would be great if it looked more like a “real” watch but it is what it is… a fancy pedometer.I highly recommend the Charge HR over the Flex if you’re planning on using it as a watch like I do because the Flex doesn’t show the date or time on the face. The heart rate monitor is spot on but I’m also not really using that to its fullest benefit I don’t think, whereas serious athletes or those that are training or trying to get their heart rate into a specific zone can really benefit from the heart rate monitor. For me it is cool to see but I don’t track that as much as I could.Another thing I think you’ll find is generally people with Fit Bits are friendly to other people who use Fit Bits. It’s almost like the universal wave when you’re boating that you waive to other boaters as you pass by. People tap their Fit Bit and smile or walk over to you in a social situation and say “Don’t you just love your Fit Bit?”Overall, Fit Bit customer service has been great to work with and I definitely feel like they stand behind their product. Just realize that there are some buggy Fit Bit trackers out there and if you’re having a problem call Fit Bit directly. I am buying another Fit Bit product for other family members and would definitely buy another Charge HR if I needed one.