Fitbit Sense Review
The Fitbit Sense is a sleek, stylish smartwatch, packed with tech, which offers a holistic approach to fitness. If you want a calm mind as well as a healthy body, then this is the smartwatch for you.
Fitbit Sense Review
Design:
First impressions of the Fitbit Sense are excellent - it’s an attractive smartwatch with a unisex fit and a squircular screen (that’s square with circular edges, in case an explanation is necessary!). It boasts swappable Fitbit Sense Straps, so it’s easy to customise your look to suit your mood or the occasion; perhaps a plain black, or block colour strap for the office, interchanged with a fun, fresh, patterned strap for the weekend, but I’ll leave the fashion choices up to you! It has a large display which is crisp, clear and colourful, making it easy to read, even outdoors. Made of stainless steel, it’s light and extremely comfortable to wear…Especially when paired with one of our lovely straps!
Functionality:
In terms of performance, this is Fitbit’s most ambitious model yet. It’s an upgrade on the Fitbit Versa, with a comprehensive range of techy tools available, including a touch screen for useful, quick-access functionality, voice controls via Alexa and access to Google Assistant, Fitbit Pay and Strava. There’s a built -in microphone - useful for dictating text messages, call and SMS notifications, the ability to answer calls (when your phone is nearby) and the capability to select apps from which to receive notifications. All very handy touches in my opinion. Last but not least, the Fitbit Sense is water resistant, so it’s ideal for swimming and water sports fanatics.
Pros:
Undoubtedly, the best, most ground-breaking aspect of the Fitbit Sense is its focus on mindfulness and mental wellbeing. This is an innovative smartwatch, created to give equal emphasis to the mind and the body. A welcome offering for many in these stressful times. With this in mind, a wide range of meditation tools are available, including detailed mood logging, stress tracking / scoring and the ability to set mindfulness goals. These functions enable you to become more in tune with your thoughts and feelings and improve your mental health, setting the Fitbit Sense apart from its competitors.
This smartwatch is no slacker when it comes to aiding physical wellbeing either. It comes with a host of gadgetry, such as onboard GPS with Strava support, an ECG sensor (FDA approved) to track heart activity, an Electrodermal Activity Sensor to measure electrical changes in the skin, and an SpO2 sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels, to name but a few. I was also impressed that the Fitbit Sense enabled me to train using heart rate zones, with a prominent heart rate display for easy tracking. As an added bonus, it vibrates when moving between heart rate zones, making it extremely useful for training. There is a wide range of activity tracking options for pretty much every type of workout; from walking, to yoga, to running and everything in between.
Cons:
All that said, nothing in life is perfect and the Fitbit Sense is no exception to this rule. I found there to be room for improvement in some areas, perhaps most notably with regards to the software. Quite a few of the available tools (e.g. for stress monitoring and menstruation tracking) require a subscription to Fitbit Premium and whilst the Fitbit Sense comes with a 6 month free trial, if you decide not to take up the subscription on an ongoing basis, access to these tools is lost. I also encountered a few issues regarding accuracy when it came to my step counts and sleep tracking, with a tendency for it to be overly generous when it came to the former and overly harsh when scoring on the latter. Although the PurePulse 2.0 sensors are accurate at low to medium heart rate load, I noticed a poorer and more temperamental performance during high intensity workouts, when it seemed to struggle to cope with bursts of energy. Another slight frustration is the app store, which is relatively sparce compared to Apple’s offering. There are however some decent apps available, with hopefully more to follow, so it’s not all bad.
Verdict:
There are a few little niggles to be ironed out, but on the whole, this is a fab smartwatch with a lot to offer to anybody seeking to get the best out of body and mind. For that reason and for the wide range of techy offerings, I would give the Fitbit Sense two big thumbs up!
Written By Laura