Fitbit Charge 2 Heart Rate + Fitness Wristband, Black, Large (US Version), 1 Count

First time ever to purchase a FitBit of any kind. I decided after researching I wanted a larger screen and switchable straps and easy to use. BEWARE THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT SIZES STRAP (SMALL WRIST TO LARGE WRIST) I have smaller wrist so I have the smaller size. Doesn't matter which smartphone or PC uses. I used my Android and Laptop to view, adjust and do whatever I want. You can chose which wrist you want it on on the setting. Your Dominant arm I chose the right arm. Some chose the left. I bought a screen protector due to easy to scratch (Illumishield 2ct) (There are much more varieties of screen protectors and lot more than 2 ct go with what customer are saying positive reviews). Once you get it you have to charge it first than first time I use it I had to turn the watch to the bottom of my wrist due to the size of it & can be uncomfortable first time wearer. Only have it to 6 notch on my strap. On my Android I can change whatever I want. I did try to wear it while I slept and it was tight therefore I got a swelling on the bottom of my wrist just because I had it too tight. 6 notch so I took it off a the whole day break from using it and the next day my wrist was back to normal. I now just wear it to 5th notch and I do not care to monitor my sleeping pattern ( If you plan on monitoring your sleep pattern lighten notches from the strap Its pretty cool features tells u how many times I am restless and wakeup ). It is now much more comfortable wearing it on the top of my wrist and no longer get the swelling. So don't freak out that just allergic reaction to having it too tight . Some people have gotten rashes of because of the plastic strap I haven't had that yet because I am not allergic to plastic. They do say to take care of it clean it and give your wrist a break and not wear it all day long also if you feel your not going to be active one day just don't wear it at all (mostly due to bad weather or too sick). There a charger that charge to your Laptop or some sort of plug in you. need to buy separate in order for it to charge. The screen protector that sometime you see when you first get this you don't need to get that one I got one that was low affordable(Illumishield 2ct) had a lot of positive reviews and only two surface protection screen and very easy to put on by watching youtube video. I enjoy the GPS feature in which you can setup walking, Running or hiking and Just click go and the exercise I don't watch it just put it in my pocket and when I come back from my walk I stop it and tells me how long and mapped out where and also maps your pace and how many calories burn it's a cool feature. You can manual put in your walking strides or if you are like me just let the Fitbit Charge 2 do it for you because my walking changes especially if you are in the winter season and the roads/ woods aren't too great. I love the different cardio but I wish they had the Stairmaster selection so I put that under workout because basically it does your heart. I also timed myself at weights and any other cardio workout at the gym it tells me everything from heart rate to how much I burn and so much more. You can chose how many days you want to workout and how many steps and water intake ( water couldn't figure that one out had to check other site to find out how much water I was to take in) and food intake and heart rate, weigh in and how much you want to weigh and so much more. I get plenty of fun badges that tells me I succeeded in making it to 10,000 steps and other successful achievement. They offered Friends challenge and FB other social Platform to show off your success I don't participate that. They offered workout video on your smartphone I have yet to use that feature. There a relax mode you can chose to do 5 or 2 mins breathing inhale and exhale for those who are stress out. Also notification for your texting on your phone. Your fitbit charge 2 will let u see incoming text you can shut it off. Touch screen is very easy to use I watched Youtube and witness a lot of people showing how to use and what you can get out of it. Very interesting and I do not regret my purchase. Another thing on Prime its cheaper than in the local store and if you have Amazon Reward card and rack up a lot of points you can use that and gets lower price than ever. Of course gift-cards you get works too.. I didn't bother with warranty I read other people's comments about it and found the warranty not worth it there already a one year on it and I can just go on to the fitbit site and extend it a little longer. It arrive on time came in a box and protective. I chose black because it matches everything. I can switch it down the road to whatever I want and they offered leather for those who want to take it classier or just causal and many other different colors. This watch isn't water proof but that fine I don't wear watches in the water anyways & protective by my sleeves of my jacket. U can adjust to making u move all the time I don't let it control me yet so I decided when I want to move take it off and I do try to get 10,000 steps ( adjust the steps to less or more) even though it winter time and like 19 or low digit degree out there I just walk inside go to the gym and go up my many different stairs.. Good luck to those who are interested in buying first time wearer or upgrading to something different you will not regret it!! So far I only had it beginning of this year Jan 2nd 2017 and now this is my 9th 2nd week of use. I am so far very happy with the progress. I am still learning everyday about what my fitbit charge 2 can do for me.

I've had a long history with Fitbit. I think it started around 2012 or 2013. I've been them a while. And a lot of it hasn't been that pleasant. It all began with the Fitbit Flex. Luckily I took out a extended warranty on it when I purchased it through Amazon because it suddenly died when it was just over a year old. In addition, even before that flex died, I had problems. They touted back then that you could shower with the Flex yet the band disintegrated after a few months. My extended warranty hadn't kicked in yet and fitbit's customer service wasn't exactly that friendly about it. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get them to replace that band. Then, when the Fkex completely died, I was able to get a new flex. I figured that it would last a while especially if I didn't get it near any water . But it was just under a year old when it died. I never showered with it or got it around water either. It just didn't hold up. Then, after that I bought the Charge HR. It didn't have a removable band and once again the band begin to disintegrate and it was only around 6 months old when that started happening. I tried to put it back together with Gorilla Glue and it looked so tacky that I was ashamed to wear it - especially at work. Why do have I stayed with Fitbit so long? I'm not really sure. I know that there are a lot of great trackers out there now but I guess because Fitbit was the first tracker I've owned and loved, I stayed with them. They were among the first to introduce technology that really motivated you to get up and move. Whole social networking Community spring up around the Fitbit. And for me personally, it motivated me for the first time in years! When I first got it I was quite overweight and I began getting 10000 plus steps everyday. Even on days when I worked late and I wasn't able to hit the walking trail or the treadmill, if I was close to that step goal I would jog around in my house and go up and down my stairs to hit that goal! I was so stoked when that buzzer would go off on my wrist indicating that I had reached my step goal for the day! And even motivated me to stop looking for the closest parking spot at the grocery store just so that I could get in more steps! It definitely wasn't your mother's old fashioned pedometer. Also, I've been with them since 2012/2013 and I have a history on their app of Lifetime miles and I didn't want to lose that. I guess it's just blind loyalty. That's not my typical style and for all that I've been through with them, it's kind of undeserved. But fast forward to today and I'm kind of glad that I hung in there with them. I love the Charge 2! I love the replaceable bands. I love that you can buy quality bands at a reasonable price that look like jewelry without having to go through the Fitbit company. (Remember back when the Fitbit Flex was new and you could only buy replacement bands from Fitbit that were ridiculously priced and in order to get the basic black, you always had to buy some extra colors that you didn't want in a 3-pack because the price of the black band alone was almost as much as the three pack. Then, other companies started making them and selling them on Amazon in all kinds of cool colors and designs at cheap prices. Unfortunately, as soon as I bought a whole slew of them, the second Fitbit Flex died and I was stuck with them.) I love the new charger style as well. With the Charge hr, sometimes the Fitbit would just fall right off of the charger. I would put it on to charge overnight and wake up thinking my Fitbit was charged and ready to go only to find out that it was dead. With this little clamp, it stays right in place. I love the extended battery life that the Charge 2 has and all of the reminders about getting up to walk. I'm really enjoying it and I'm hoping and praying that this investment holds up. I hope it lasts longer than a year. If it doesn't I will update my review!) So far, I think this is the best version yet!

Update 10/23/2016 after having worn it daily for a month ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've worn the Fitbit Charge 2 daily for about a month now. Below are my observations and some more tips: Heart rate monitor: The device seems to lose my heart rate every now and then. I have to reposition it on my wrist and/or wait and then it comes back after a bit. This is true both when I'm exercising and when I'm not, but it occurs more frequently when I'm exercising and perspiring. I still like the fact that it is constantly monitoring my heat rate (every 5 seconds) as opposed to every 10 minutes on the Apple Watch, so this is not a deal breaker for me. Calorie tracking: My primary reason for getting the Fitbit Charge 2 was that I wanted a more accurate picture of how many calories I am burning each day. I figured a device that constantly measures my heart rate (even with it losing my heart rate every so often) would give me a fairly accurate enough number that I can rely on it to manage my weight. The proof is in the pudding, so I have been very strict about counting my calories each day to see if I can trust the number-of-calores-burnt that the Fitbit is giving me. And I can say that it's accurate enough for my use case as I have lost 6 pounds since I started wearing it. Weight loss plan (TIP): My plan was to lose 1 pound a week, but when the Fitbit asked me how aggressive I wanted to be with my weight loss plan, I chose 1.5 pounds per week. My rationale was that I wanted some margin of error in case I over ate or happened to underestimate the calories because there are many instances when I cannot readily obtain the nutritional data. I must have done a pretty good job estimating my calories because I have lost 6 pounds in a month, which is exactly 1.5 pounds per week. I just count calories and do not limit what I eat. I eat ice cream, pizza, chicken wings, drink beer, whatever, but I am strict about entering all the calories which stops me from over eating. Before I had the Fitbit, I always assumed I needed around 2,000 calories a day, but I was surprised to see that I was burning around 2,800 calories a day. Which means I am eating more now with the Fitbit than previously when I was counting calories without the Fitbit. Like right now, it says I can eat 500 more calories so I'm going upstairs to grab some chocolate cookies packed with calories! My original review below stands, and this is still a solid 4 star product. I doubt that I can purchase a better device for the money that can do what the Fitbit Charge 2 does. As an Apple fanboy and an Apple Watch owner since its launch in 2015, I think the key question you need to ask yourself is, "Do I want a smart watch or a fitness tracker?" If your answer is that you are looking for a fitness tracker, then I can, without hesitation, recommend the Fitbit Charge 2 over the Apple Watch. Reason 1: Frequency of the heart rate monitor The Apple Watch measures the heart rate too infrequently (every 10 mins). Unless you specifically tell it to measure your heart rate or you start a workout activity. However, this drains the battery pretty quickly. I just to want raise my wrist and see my heart rate, which I can do with the Fitbit. The Fitbit also constantly monitors your heart rate every 5 seconds while maintaining great battery life compared to the Apple Watch. Reason 2: Battery life The Fitbit lasts me 4-5 days before I have to charge it. I have to charge the Apple Watch daily. This is with raise-wrist-to-turn-on feature enabled, and All-Day Sync disabled (which I would recommend you do, too). Both devices charge pretty fast plugged into the computer's USB port. Reason 3: Sleep tracking I could not find a full featured app for the Apple Watch to track my sleep. A big part of this limitation is because of the battery life. If you wear the Apple Watch to bed, your battery will be drained by the time you wake up. Which means you will have to charge it to continue wearing it for the rest of the day. The Fitbit wins hands down here. On the Fitbit, you don't have to press a button or tell the app that you are going to bed. Just go to bed wearing the Fitbit and it will automatically track when you go to bed and when you wake up. And from my experience, it's pretty accurate. Reason 4: Weight lifting tracking The Workout app on the Apple Watch does not even have weight lifting as an activity. The Fitbit Charge 2 has a dedicated weight lifting activity. The calories burned while weight lifting seems reasonably accurate enough to be useful (it is in line with what various sites on the net say). Reason 5: Comfort level The Apple Watch was pretty comfortable, but it was fairly heavy (at least the 42mm Stainless Steel one that I had) and bulky as an "always on my wrist" fitness tracker. The Fitbit Charge 2 is more unassuming, much more comfortable and much lighter. As a Fitness tracker, I would definitely recommend the Fitbit Charge 2 over the Apple Watch. That is, unless you are an avid runner or a swimmer, then the built in GPS and the 50m water proof rating on the new Apple Watch 2 may tip the scale in Apple's favor. However, you also need to consider the price. WISH LIST ---------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some improvements on my wish list. 1. The screen is not a touch screen. To interact with it, you tap on the screen and it uses the accelerometer to sense that it has been tapped. This is fine except I have noticed the screen inadvertently changing views (you tap the screen to change to a different view) when it is jolted while lift weights (I was dumbbell pressing and the two dumbbells collided, which changed the view). I would have preferred the touch screen to avoid this issue. 2. The raise to wake the screen works well, but it would be awesome if the screen could be constantly on. I realize the battery life considerations. 3. When running, lift wrist to wake screen does not work well. This gets annoying because you have to modify your stride or stop completely to quickly check the screen. This was never a problem on the Apple Watch. If Amazon would let me, I would deduct half a star for this problem. 4. I noticed that the Fitbit Charge 2 loses my heart rate when I perspire. When I wipe the sweat away and reposition the Fitbit, it picks it up again. The issues above aren't show stoppers though, and I feel that this is a solid 4.5 star product and that it is the best Fitness tracker on the market right now in its price range. After I purchased one for myself, I liked it so much that I purchased two more for my in-laws. They were both Jawbone UP24 user and loves being able to easily check their heart rate and step count on the device. We've all added each other as friends, so we can do challenges together as well as competing with each other (pretty fun!). SOME USEFUL TIPS ----------------------------------------------------------------- TIP 1 (reboot it every time you charge): You may discover issues like sync taking longer than usual, not receiving notifications, etc. One of the first things you should try is to reboot your Fitbit. Rebooting it doesn't delete any data -- it just turns it off and back on again. It only takes a few seconds and is easy to do, so I do it whenever I charge. To reboot your Fitbit, attach the charger and wait for the battery icon to appear. While still attached to the charger, press the side button to wake it up, and then hold the side button down (approximately 4 seconds) until you see the Fitbit logo and it vibrates (may not vibrate if you have vibrate turned off). TIP 2 (how to avoid fingerprints on the screen): The screen is not a touch screen. So you do not have to tap the screen itself to change the views. If you hate getting fingerprints all over the screen, you can just tap the band right below the screen. In fact, I find that it works better than tapping the screen itself. TIP 3 (sizing): If you go to Fitbit's site, there is a document that you can print out to measure your wrist size. If you are fall between a small and a large, buy the small. My wrist size is 6.75 inches and the small is plenty big (there are still 5 notches remaining on the band if I want to make it bigger). TIP 4 (Sedentary vs Personalized Daily Calorie Estimate Setting): The Fitbit app shows you how much calories you are allowed to consume per day under the "Food" module. You will see that one of the things it tells you is the amount of calories you can consume that day. It will say something like, "300 calories left for the day." What was confusing was that the calories left for the day continued to decrease throughout the day even as my calories expenditure increased, and I thought, "How come even though I am burning more calories each minute, it keeps telling me that I should eat less when I haven't eaten anything all day?!" The answer was because my Daily Calorie Estimate Setting was set to Personalized. When set to Personalized, Fitbit uses your past activity history to estimate your calorie burn for the day and increases or decreases if you're more or less active than usual. This means Fitbit may initially tell you that you can consume 2000 calories based on your past activities on previous days, but if you are not consistent with your activities on a day to day basis, this number will continue to slowly decrease throughout the day as Fitbit realizes that you are not being active on average as the previous days. This is a good setting if you know that you will be consistent with your activities on a day to day basis. This is the default setting. When set to Sedentary, you have to "earn" your calories. So the calories left remaining will start out low each day, but it will increase throughout the day depending on how much calories you burn. This setting may make more sense and is probably less dangerous if you are worried about going over your daily allowed calories. What makes it even more confusing was that I could not find the place to change this setting on the Fitbit mobile app. You had to change it on the Fitbit web site where it was well hidden. On the Fitbit web site, the option to change this is under "Log" (one of the links across top), then under the "Food Plan" section you should see a little settings icon (image of a gear) on the upper right corner. THE FITBIT MOBILE APP (Update 10/2/2016) -------------------------------------------------------------------- I really like the Fitbit mobile app. I have lost 3 pounds since I've been wearing the Fitbit. A big part of this is due to the convenience of being able to track my calories directly in the Fitbit app. It has a large food database as well a feature to add your own custom food. The Fitbit considers the calories from the food when it calculates whether you are within your daily caloric goal for your target weight. I've used calorie tracking apps before, but it being directly integrated into the Fitbit app makes it so much more convenient. And as a result, I use it more. Another thing I like is that when you leave the app running in the foreground, you can see the number of steps and heart rate changing in real time. I suspect this will drain the battery faster on both your phone and the Fitbit, but I like watching it when I'm running or walking on my treadmill.

3/31/19 I have had this thing less than a week so I am still on my honeymoon. Here are my first impressions: It appears to work as intended. If one wants to just scamper around the neighbourhood it is perfect. It dutifully counts “every breath you take / every move you make / every bond you break / every step you take”. The heart rate reading matches that of other gadgets I own. I noticed right away that it seems to count not steps but arm movements and converts these into steps by means of a complicated algorithm. First, I spent two days spreading mulch from my truck and hit 14,000 steps each day! Well, it counted each forkful as four steps: into the mulch, out of the mulch, into the barrow, put the fork down. Actually pushing the wheelbarrow to and from the site counted as zero, no matter how far I travelled, as my arms were not swinging. Then a few more ‘step counts’ to unload the wheelbarrow and spread the mulch. The next day I went to the gym (as if my poor old body hadn’t suffered enough). Here I realized that ten “flights” on the stair machine counted for zero as my arms were not swinging and my altitude did not change. I guess the rowing machine and the elliptical trainer will add ‘steps’, but the treadmill and the stationary bike will not. I scored more steps loading and unloading the weights on the barbells than I did actually doing squats or bench presses. A wee bit of research on the interwebs showed me that remarkably few calories are expended in weight training. Something to do with kilograms and meters and joules, oh my. The free Android app gives me some cool charts and graphs but seems to have no way of entering all this sterling work into my daily totals other than just calories. It displays my VO2 score (shampoo?) and tells me I am in pretty good shape for an old man. The free Fitbit Coach app seems stuck in the isometric era and similarly does not enable input of weight training results. It nagged me to enter food intake but provided no way to convert cookies to calories, in a manner of speaking. I checked the Amazon reviews and found that the third-party app MyFitnessPal linked to Fitbit and facilitated the entry of food calories. • I like the way the Fitbit tells me the time when I look at it although I sometimes have to whack it a couple of times to get its attention. • It is cool-looking on my wrist. • I can set my pace length or let it detect it automatically. • The stopwatch function works well and is easier to use than the app in my smart phone. • The sleep monitor also works as expected; giving me information I already knew and didn’t really care about. It could be handy if one has sleep problems • I have not tried all the notification features, such as email, and probably won’t. • Neither have I tried scampering around the neighbourhood as that is not a part of my exercise regimen – yet. • It connects seamlessly with its own Android phone app and the MyFitnessPal app. I purchased the Charge 2 Fitbit as some Amazon reviewers said it was better than the Charge 3. I also bought the three year protection plan, something I rarely do, as reviewers said the device sometimes fails after sixteen months. We shall wait and see how this pans out. I give it five stars because of the reasonable price and that it performs as expected. Time will tell of its reliability.

Great battery life. I used it after sitting around for a large number of years. Solid, good quality.

Ok, so at first I was really, REALLY hesitant about buying the Charge 2 because you never know what problems can arise with new, hot off the press tech. However, I've had wonderful experiences with Fitbit customer service in the past (as in "Hey, my thing stopped working" and they were all like "Sorry about that, here's a new thing- no charge!"), so I feel confident that if anything does go awry, Fitbit will take care of their customers. So, I took the plunge and ordered it. It came today in the mail and I scurried off with it like Gollum and his ring... My precioussssssss! Oh where to begin! Let's see- well it came in lovely, easy to open packaging. Opening up the box felt like I was arousing my Charge 2 from his slumber in his comfy, plastic bed. I immediately noticed that the teal color was more vibrant than its predecessor, and the larger screen gave it an all around sleeker look. The band is now longer, so if the large size from the old Charge was a bit big for you- go for the small with the Charge 2; I have tiny wrists myself, and I'm two notches away from the last ring on the inside! EDIT: I just realized my review was placed under the large size...my Charge 2 is a small. But large or small, only the band is different in length, NOT the screen! The charger was completely redesigned; the days of not having your Charge, well, CHARGE due to it slipping out are dead and gone. The new, blissfully longer charger clips onto the Charge itself, and as long as you align the hole in the charger with the button on the side of the Charge, you're good to go (see picture for reference)! Just make sure you clip it from underneath, and not over the screen or else it won't charge...not that I uh, made a silly mistake like that or anything. *cough* Setup could not have been easier. The entire process from taking it out of the box to having it fully synced and functional was less than ten minutes. Whoa. I was setting it up using the app on my Android phone, and I was expecting that it would need to be charged first but nope! It sprung to life and was ready to go! After it was all synced I checked the battery and saw it was at medium power- right out of the freaking box! Onto features...do you like lots of features? I like lots of features and the Charge 2 has ALL the flipping features you could possibly want. I feel like Fitbit has been personally keeping tabs on me and my current interests. I just recently got into breathing meditation and interval training, and when I heard that the Charge 2 was going to include both these features I was pretty much like, "Shut up and take my money!" After playing with the Charge 2 for about 30 seconds, I came to realize that when you want to choose a feature, for example the breathing exercise, after pushing the button on the side to get to that function, you then hold the button for a second to choose to start it. With the breathing exercise, it allows you to choose between a 2 or 5 minute breathing session. It works by having you breath in rhythm with a ring that expands and contracts on the screen, and it shows your breathing in and out at the bottom with a continuous little graph (see picture to clarify if this sounds wonky to you.) If it comes across as confusing don't worry- Charge 2 guides you through it...it's much more talkative (err, textative?) than the old Charge, and I like it! So for once I was actually excited to hit the hall of pain- uh, I mean the gym, so I could test out my new buddy here. First thing I did was the elliptical; in the past I avoided it because my old charge wouldn't count it as steps. Now all you have to do is select the elliptical option from the workout menu on your charge 2, hold the button on the side and voila! Elliptical steps are now counted! Next I tried out the interval workout option! What's extra awesome about this feature is that it's customizable; the folks of Fitbit really outdid themselves with this one in my opinion. By going onto the app on my phone, I was able to set the intervals to one minute of workout, and two minutes of rest for a total of five sets. Then while I was on the treadmill, I went to the workout menu, chose interval training, and it started right away. Once the minute was up, Charge 2 gave me two little buzzes to let me know to switch to rest mode, and after two minutes gave me another two buzzes to pick it up again. The buzzes aren't very strong, but I still felt them just fine. Then I went onto strength training, and selected weights from the menu (this is all via the charge 2, not the app on the phone). Now the way I strength train is 3 sets of 12 reps, and then a minute of rest in-between. I'm honestly not sure if that minute of rest affects the readings or not, but my guess is no- that Charge 2 calculates everything based on pulse readings. And speaking of pulse readings, it feels like they've improved the technology in that department as well! FYI- I have pretty low blood pressure due to hypothyroidism, so the readings below may seem off, but they're accurate in my case. My resting heart rate is usually between 61 and 66 bpm (beats per minute) So that concluded my gym session. Upon looking at my readings later on, it was kind of neat to compare them. Now the weight training session showed that in 27 minutes I burned 99 calories and had 110 average of bpm. Now with the elliptical, I only did it for 10 minutes, burned 62 calories, and had a 130 average bpm going at a fast pace continuously. With the interval training on the treadmill (here's where it gets interesting folks) for 15 minutes I burned 122 calories with a 148 average bpm. Despite having two minute rest periods several times, I still burned more calories and had a higher heart rate than the continuous workout on the elliptical. Interval training all the way! Although...I wonder if you could do interval training on the elliptical and still have the steps count. I'll have to experiment with that... *EDIT* Yes you can in fact do interval training on the eliptical and have steps count! There's still so much to try! The connected GPS looks like a pretty neat feature, and it's a nice extra to include! I'm not much of a runner myself being bite sized, but you can still track location for other things like walking, biking and hiking. Then there's call, text, and calendar notifications (adding the calendar was a great idea). You can also change bands now, so if you wear out your current band (like I did with my old Charge- bubbling issues anyone?) or just want a different look, you can switch them whenever your little heart so desires. Oh! And there's lots of screen options that you can choose from like a dial watch, extra bold print, and having time/date/steps/heart rate all together (which is what I ended up choosing)- and that's just to name a few! *EDIT* So they added a feature which shows your fitness level by going into the heart rate section of the app and then swiping left to get to that screen. I originally thought it was fitness test type thing, but I misunderstood. The app already calculates your fitness level for you based on several factors (resting heart rate, your bpm during exercises, and other information collected from your profile). So sorry for any confusion! No tests for you. Alas, there is but one problem I have encountered so far. I was walking while holding my phone in the hand that my charge 2 was on, and noticed that it didn't count my steps. So after experimenting for a bit (holding up my hands like I was pushing an invisible grocery cart, though it probably looked more like I was pretending to be A zombie) I came to the conclusion that if your hand is held up flat (palm up or palm down) in midair, like when holding a phone...the charge 2 doesn't register steps. However, it should be noted that when I put the charge 2 in workout mode, it DID count some of the steps, even when holding my phone, but it didn't seem to accurately count them all. I guess the solution is don't play on your phone while you walk? Or at least leave the hand with the Charge 2 on it by your side when playing Pokemon Go- you can play with one hand, right? Everything considered, this is truly an amazing piece of technology that is priced extremely fairly for all that it offers, including the best fitness app that is included at no extra charge. Thanks good guy Fitbit! In conclusion... This is the one fitness tracker...TO RULE THEM ALL! UPDATE: 9/20 Yes yes, I know what you're all thinking- how could I possibly make this exceedingly long review even better? MAKE IT LONGER! Battery lasted from Wednesday afternoon (after fully charging it) to Monday night. It should be called Fitbit doesn't need to Charge all that often, amiright? Eh? Motivation Man! Every hour (just day hours, or you can customize which hours and days you want in the app) you don't move (or hardly move), Charge 2 gives you a friendly little buzz, and the animated little Motivation Man (as I like to call him) says something cute on the screen like "Take me for a stroll?" or "97 more steps!" (to reach 250). Do it. Don't let Motivation Man down. With the Fitness level tracker, my original score was placed in the good category and I was all happy that I was fitter than I thought. Well, the app suggests that if you want a more accurate reading, that you should go for a ten minute run outside with your Charge 2 synced to your phone for GPS tracking. So although I hate running more than kids who kick your seat continuously on a long flight, I did it. Upon looking at my fitness level thinking that my score was going to shoot up, it dropped down to fair, which is right after poor. Ouch. I mean in all fairness it's accurate but still...ouch. Went from feeling fitter to bitter. What's not accurate, however, is if you're at the gym and your Charge 2 syncs with your phone app for gps tracking. A few times while I was on the treadmill or elliptical, the GPS kicked in and gave me crazy readings. Now don' get me wrong- my step count wasn't affected in any way, the app just showed me a map of the wacky, non-existent trail that went though multiple buildings and over a river. You can just delete it of course, orrrrrr you could show it off to your friends and make stuff up...like I always teleport over rivers when I work out, doesn't everyone? The Fitbit app added a seriously impressive fitness game called Adventure challenge (it's in the challenges section) where your step count is shown on an actual map, like Yosemite Vernal falls to start off with, and the more you walk, the more you travel along the trail. Along the way you come across markers, and when you reach them, it shows you where you are on the trail with gorgeous panoramic pictures (hold up your phone, slowly turn left and right, and the picture pans out either way). There are also random "gems" on the map, and when you click them they either have a fun fact, a health multiple choice quiz, or a health challenge (like do tricep dips on a chair for a minute). You can collect them and earn a badge...or not-completely optional. However, I personally am having a blast with it, and I'm sort of stunned that they're including it in the app for free! It's like having an expensive dinner with Fitbit and when the check comes, Fitbit is all like, "Hey, it's cool. I got this,"...you sure do Fitbit. You sure do.

My first Charge 2 was wonderful until it stopped reading my HR correctly after 5 months. My Charge 2 would tell me that my HR was 130+ when I was sitting or not even wearing it. On top of that, the wristband broke around the same time. I contacted support and they tried to fix the problem by having me restart my Fitbit however it did not work. Customer support was nice enough to offer me a replacement after going back and forth a few times. Unfortunately the replacement Fitbit sent me was defective. I put the Fitbit on and tighten the wristband and position the Fitbit to the correct spot on my wrist but the Fitbit would not pickup my HR. After a few hours it started to read my HR however the reading was completely off. I took the Fitbit off and it continued to give me an outrageously high HR. It said my HR was 150 when I was just sitting or not wearing it. That's riduculous! I tried resetting the Fitbit many times but it did not solve the problem. I ended up wearing the Fitbit for a few months to see if it was just a one time fluke (I was also too lazy and feeling too frustrated to contact customer support AGAIN). Unfortunately the Charge 2 continued to read my heart rate incorrectly. To add onto the problem, this new Fitbit would think I'm walking when I'm just driving. I understand that most Fitbit will do this sometimes but mines was doing it all the time! No way I walked closed to 10000 steps each day. I've been lazy as F and I've been doing a lot of sitting these past few months LOL. I finally found some free time today and hollered at customer service. They asked me to reset my Fitbit, so I did, but as I was doing so, my Fitbit battery suddenly drained and my Fitbit died. WHAT? After waiting for my Fitbit to come back to life the rep asked me to fire up the app and sync my Fitbit to the app. We tried 5 times and even reset the app but it didn't work. UGH this is now the FOUTH issue I'm having with this Charge 2. What a nightmare. The rep quickly offered me a 50% discount for a new device or get my Fitbit Charge 2 replaced. NO WAY was I willing to get a THIRD Charge 2 and risk having to go through the headache of contacting customer service again if my THIRD Fitbit turns out to be defective too. I pestered the rep to see if she could give me a better discount, refund me, or give me credit to upgrade to a better model. Sadly, the rep and the supervisor did not have the power to offer me a better deal. *When I asked for a refund or credit for a better model, the rep responded with this: "I really understand your frustration Kimberly, however please be assured that our product team is constantly working to ensure that our products go through rigorous testing so that they can last and endure as expected." LIES! Obviously Fitbit doesn't tell well enough if I've received two defective Charge 2. *I asked if my warranty will be extended if I obtain a THIRD Charge 2: Rep - If the device is out of warranty we will be unable to replace it and we may offer a discount to purchase a new device. Rep - I understand your concern Kimberly, but if you decide to use the 50% discount to make a upgrade the new device will have a new warranty. Rep - When you receive a replacement device, the replacement device has 30 days of warranty or the remaining of the original warranty. Rep - So if the device fails which is not something that we expect to happen you have 30 days from the moment that the device is received in order to contact us again and get a replacement if necessary. Sigh, this offer is not good enough. I wonder if I can sue for giving me a headache if my THIRD Fitbit also turns out to be defective... *I then inquired about what happens if I have to claim a FOURTH Fitbit? Me: would I qualify for a different model at that point Me: or just another 50 % off discount Rep: That would be a very unusual situation Kimberly and to answer your question, the amount of replacement devices that you receive does not makes you applicable for a free upgrade since that is a program that we don't have at the moment. Me: Is it unusual that I received two fit bits that do not work Me: Or is this fairly common Rep: The reason is that the two devices that you have received failed in different areas Kimberly. Even this is not an expected situation. Uh huh.... *Lastly, I asked if I will be sent a refurbished Charge 2 if I choose the replacement option: Rep: Depending on available inventory, we sometimes issue factory-certified refurbished products as warranty replacements. These are typically products that were returned to Fitbit unused for reasons like wrong size and wrong color. Me: Well that's not good Rep: In most cases however, warranty replacements are brand new products that we package without accessories for easier shipping. Me: how Do I guarantee that I get a NEW one Rep: Since that depends on the warehouse Kimberly we have no control about if a new or factory-certified refurbished device will be sent. I really wished Fitbit had a better buyer protection plan for unfortunate people like me. If you're reading this Fitbit, I would really like my money back or an upgrade to the Blaze or Ionic.

Why I bought and love the Fitbit Charge 2 instead of the Apple Watch. So about 7 months ago I bought the Fitbit Charge HR for my birthday gift to myself and saying I was a religious user of this new gagit would be an understatement. The Fitbit has changed my life and made me so much more aware of my body and health. It becomes a fun, interactive game about one-upping yourself everyday towards a healthier, fitter life! Because of my love for Fitbit, I recently decided to upgrade to the Charge 2. But before I put my money down for Charge 2, I was on the fence about switch to the Apple Watch, which does all the same heart rate, calorie, step tracker features. After doing research on both, I decided to stay a Fitbit girl. As much as I would have liked to be able to answer a call, shoot out a text or check the weather from my wrist, there were a fundamental features the Fitbit had that made my decition not to switch. (Besides, don't we all have too much technology bugging us throughout the day as it is???) Here are my reasons for sticking with Fitbit: PROS: 1) Battery Life The Apple Watch needs to be charged every night after being used throughout the day. The Apple Watch takes 2.5 hours to charge back to 100% from zero. This didn't work for me. I love that I can keep my Fitbit on all day and all night. Its imparitive that I track my sleep for health reasons and I also want my daily calorie burn to be accurate. With my old Fitbit Charge HR, I only needed to charge it for about 30 mins while I showered every 2-3 days. And now with the Fitbit Charge 2, I'm down to charging it for just 30 mins every 5 days. It's amazing! 2) Calender Reminders: I am a planner! There is not one hour of my day that goes unscheduled in my iPhone calendar. I love that the Charge 2 is Bluetooth compatible to receive calendar notifications that pop up on the screen. [Ex: Meeting in 15mins at 4:00pm] I find this really helpful to keep me on track with my day without having to look at my phone. This feature also allows texts to pop up on your Fitbit screen but I keep this disabled to diminish distraction. 3) Exchangeable Bands I love how the Charge 2 allows you to switch out the band with its exchangeable different colored and styled bands. It's pretty easy to do, but (warning) I bought bands from an 'off brand' company on Amazon and they are a bit tougher to pop out. I have to use a tool to push down on the release buttons to get them off. The 'off brand' bands are also longer so there is always extra band that I have to tack down even tho I ordered a small. I would spend the extra money and buy Fitbit's bands. (I took a photo of this.. the purple band is the generic brand.. you can see its quality and length is different) 4) Look & Flexibility I love the Charge 2's large screen with fun grafics and it's less bulky and more flexible than my first Fitbit Charge HR. I felt the Apple Watch was not as sleek, more masculine and less flexiblilty for workouts. Just kind of boxy. I liked the idea of being able to Bluetooth my music from the watch or track a run with it's GPS, but it wasn't as comfortable. (Also being able to do more things with it is why I think I'd battery life is so poor) 5) Silent Alarm My old Fitbit Charge HR has this feature as well, but it's worth mentioning because it's changed the tone to my every morning now! You may set waking alarms or alarm reminders throughout the day that gently vibrate on wrist. No more noisy alarms and scrambling to turn it off. Just soft vibration pulses that don't jult you awake. I - love - this. 6) Simple & User-Friendly The Apple Watch's processing is just too slow. I become frustrated very easily when my iPhone takes too slow... I didn't want to have to deal with that on my wrist as well. I love the simplicity of the Fitbit Charge 2 in that you can just pull up your wrist to see the time and your heart rate and tap through to see steps, calories, miles etc. (You can customize your home screen and stat order in the app) 7) Extra (New) Features The stopwatch is super helpful and I love the assisted assisted breathing trainer. You can select either 2 or 5 min meditation / breathing sessions that visually cue you to slow your breathing and help to calm and center you throughout the day. These can be put on a schedule and you will be reminded. Added bonus** The feature where you put up your arm and the screen turns on automatically to show your home screen is much quicker and more consistent in this model.. I used to be frustrated with the HR when I would have my hands full and the screen wouldn't come up to show me the time. FITBIT CONS The only con I experienced with both the Fitbit Charge HR & Charge 2 is that while I'm working out, the heart rate senso isn't always able to read your pulse. I think it is due to the slight sweat that builds up under the band where the sensor is. I hope for future models they are able to fix this and make it able to read heart rate no mater what as long as it's on your wrist. And if I had a wishlist: I'd love to see the weather/temperature on my Fitbit. Thanks:))) p.s. Please like this if you found this helpful. I never wrote reviews let alone reviews this long but I hope it helped! 6 MONTH UPDATE!!!! The screen cracked straight down the middle and I don't even know how, I just looked down one day and it was like this.... not too happy. Also I wish the band was skinnier. I am starting to get a tan line from wearing the thicker band. I want a high quality Fitbit that is water proof, slim, and has wearable clip options rather than just a band.