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Fitbit Sense Review: Specs, Price, Pros & Cons

Fitbit Sense

Fitbit Sense Review: Specs, Price, Pros & Cons

Key Points

  • The Fitbit Sense is a fitness tracker watch.
  • Not only does it track your steps, but it tracks your other work outs plus your heart rate. It also has other features such as music control.
  • You can pick up a Fitbit Sense for around $170 USD.

The Fitbit Sense is a fitness tracker watch that does more than track your steps. It has a heart rate monitor and GPS and can even track your stress levels. 

It has many features that are great for people looking to get in shape or who want to track their fitness progress. Without a doubt, there is room for improvement, especially on the software side, but Sense is a great health tracker overall.

This guide will go over the Fitbit Sense, its features, and what you should know before you buy one.

Best Deal Today

The Fitbit Sense is considered one of the most expensive fitness trackers on the market, so it is essential to find the best deal before purchasing. Here’s where you’ll find the best deals:

Sense Overview

When deciding to buy such an expensive watch, knowing all the features offered on the device is essential. The following is an overview of what the Fitbit Sense has to offer.

Release Date and Price

The Fitbit Sense was released on August 25th, 2020, and retails for $299.95 in the US and £299.99 in the UK. However, there are some discounts and deals available that can bring the price down.

Different Models

Till now, there are no different models of the Fitbit Sense. Nevertheless, the device is available in three different colors: Carbon/GraphiteSage Grey/Silver, and White/Gold.

Features

  • The ability to track heart rate, steps taken, and calories burned. 
  • EDA sensor that can track stress levels.
  • A skin temperature sensor can help people understand their body’s response to heat and cold. 
  • Waterproof so that you can wear it while showering or swimming.
  • A Sleep tracking feature helps people understand their sleep patterns and get a better night’s sleep. 
  • A built-in GPS to track map routes and distance traveled.  
  • It can last up to 6 days on a single charge, with a fast charge feature that gives the device a full day’s worth of battery life in just 12 minutes.
  • Mic and speaker to take calls.
  • It has a premium design, stainless steel ring, and gorilla glass 3.
  • A speech-to-text feature enables you to respond to WhatsApp or other messages using your voice.
  • Find my phone feature that can help you locate your phone if lost.

Specifications

Display1.58-inch touchscreen AMOLED
336 x 336 resolution
1,000 nits
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Case size 40.5mm
Weight45.9g
ColorsCarbon/Graphite, Sage Grey/Silver, and White/Gold.
BatterySmartwatch mode: 6+ days
Lithium-polymer battery
Charge time: (10-80%): ~40 minutes
Sensors and componentsElectrical sensors compatible with ECG & EDA app
Skin temperature sensor
Optical heart rate sensor
Built-in GPS + GLONASS
Gyroscope
Altimeter
3-axis accelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz)
NFC
Vibration motor
Speaker
Microphone
Memory4GB (2.5GB available for music storage)
MaterialsAluminum case, stainless steel ring for ECG
Water resistance5ATM
NotificationsCall, text, calendar, email, music control, and much more
CompatibilityAndroid, iOS
Fitbit Sense specifications table
Fitbit Sense
The Fitbit Sense is considered one of the most expensive trackers with lots of cool features.

©A. Aleksandravicius/Shutterstock.com

Fitbit Sense Review

Depending on our usage over the past few months, I put my hands on Fitbit Sense to see if it was worth the money. In this thorough review, I will evaluate all the features of the Fitbit Sense and show you how it can help you in your fitness journey. 

EDA Scan App

The built-in electrodermal activity (EDA) Scan app uses the sensor to measure your skin conductance and detect your emotional state. You can use this app to track your mood over time or to see how your emotions change in response to different activities.

It works by measuring the electrical properties of your skin. When you sweat, your skin’s conductivity changes. The EDA sensor can detect these changes and translate them into an emotional state.

However, the app is not perfect. Since the EDA can also be affected by physical activity, the app may not be able to accurately detect your emotional state if you are sweating from exercise.

To run a scan, select the EDA Scan tile from the app menu. The app will prompt you to place your palm over the watch’s sensor for two minutes. Once you’re all done, it asks you how you feel and gives you a graph of your current emotional state, which can be very calm, calm, neutral, stressed, or very stressed.

The app stores all this information so you can track your mood over time or observe how your emotions alter in response to certain activities.

You can find your stress monitoring falls under the ‘Mindfulness’ category in the app. This is where you can see how well you’ve been managing your stress and get some tips and advice on improving your stress levels.

The app gives you a stress score out of 100 based on your heart rate and skin conductance levels. The higher your score, the more stressed you are.

Honestly, there are several tools to manage your stress in the Fitbit app; however, most of these features require a subscription to Fitbit Premium, so you have to pay a monthly subscription after the free six months end.

Fitbit Sense vs Fitbit Luxe

A Fitbit Sense smartwatch, isolated on yellow background.

©A. Aleksandravicius/Shutterstock.com

ECG Scan App

One of the best features of this watch is its ability to take an ECG scan. This helps you stay on top of your health and alert users if they have atrial fibrillation, which needs professional attention soon enough! 

Built-in Skin Temperature Sensor

The Fitbit Sense has a built-in skin temperature sensor that can track your temperature. The sensor is located on the back of the watch, and it can track your temperature at night while you sleep. This helps track fever or understand how your body temperature changes throughout the day.

After three nights, the app will give you a graph of your average skin temperature and how it fluctuates throughout the day. The graph only shows the variation of your skin temperature, not the actual temperature.

If you think about it, this is more useful since the temperature on your wrist might not represent your entire body temperature. Therefore, tracking the variation of your temperature is more accurate than the actual temperature. 

Blood Oxygen Saturation Tracking

The Fitbit Sense has a built-in SpO2 sensor that can track how much oxygen your blood carries at night while you sleep. This helps understand how well your lungs are functioning and can also be used to track sleep apnea, a condition where your breathing is interrupted during sleep. This condition can cause you to wake up multiple times throughout the night and lead to daytime fatigue.

If you want to use this feature, you need to activate it manually in the settings. Doing so will affect your battery life since the sensor is always on and tracking your blood oxygen saturation.

Sleep Tracking

One of my unique features so far is sleep tracking. I am very particular about my sleep and like to track how many hours I am in deep versus light sleep. The watch will automatically track your sleep, giving you a detailed sleep report in the app.

The report includes how long you slept, how many times you woke up, and what stages of sleep you were in. The watch can also track your REM sleep, the stage of sleep where you dream, and this helps you understand how well you are sleeping.

Menstrual Tracking

The Fitbit app has a menstrual tracking feature that ladies can use to track their period, ovulation, and fertility. This could potentially help women prepare for their period or track their fertility.

Workout tracking

The Sense can track over 20 activities, including running, swimming, and yoga. However, several aspects of the exercise widget experience could be improved.

Unlike other watches that give you an option to set a pace alarm, the Sense just uses GPS to track your pace and doesn’t give you any alerts if you’re falling behind your goal.

Additionally, the activity mode takes up the whole screen while working out, which means there’s barely any room leftover where our favorite widgets would normally go; like heart rate monitor display, etc.

Up to Six Days Battery Life

The Fitbit Sense has a battery life of up to six days. This is impressive for a smartwatch, especially one with all of the Fitbit Sense features. However, features like the SpO2 sensor or the skin temperature sensor can reduce your battery life.

Like the versa 3, the Fitbit Sense comes with a quick charge cable that can give you a day’s worth of battery life in just 12 minutes.

In my opinion, Fitbit has made a considerable improvement when it comes to the charging cradle. The charging cradle is magnetic, so it quickly attaches to the back of the watch and is so simple to remove.

Built-in GPS

Another feature that the Fitbit Sense has is built-in GPS. This feature tracks your runs, walks, and bike rides without carrying your phone with you.

Once you have completed your exercise and open the exercise tab, you will see the exact route you took and a bunch of other information like the pace, distance, and time it took you to complete that route.

Built-in Mic and Speaker

Regarding features, the Fitbit Sense has everything you could want in a smartwatch. It has a built-in microphone and speaker so you can take calls, send texts, and use voice commands. This is helpful if you’re working out and don’t want to carry your phone with you, or maybe you are charging your phone and want to be able to take a call.

Music Apps Compatibility

The Fitbit Sense is compatible with popular music apps like Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer. This doesn’t mean you can play music directly from the watch, but you can control music playback from your phone.

Smartphone Notifications

While I always put my phone in silent mode when I am working, there are times when I need to be able to see who is calling or texting me. With the Fitbit Sense, you can see smartphone notifications on your wrist, including calls, texts, and app notifications. You can also customize which notifications you see on your watch, which is great if you only want to see the important notifications.

Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

The Fitbit Sense also has Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built in. This means you can ask your watch questions, set alarms, and control your smart home devices with just your voice.

Water Resistant

If you’re looking for a smartwatch that you can take swimming, the Fitbit Sense is a great option. It’s water resistant to 50 meters, the same as the Apple Watch Series 5.

Fitbit Sense
The Fitbit Sense will help you keep track of your health very effectively.

©A. Aleksandravicius/Shutterstock.com

Sense Pros and Cons

ProsCons
Detailed sleep trackingHigh price
Battery life of up to six daysThe Buttonless design requires practice
Quick charge featureIf you enable the display to be always on, battery life is halved
Built-in GPS and NFCThe free version of the app doesn’t include much. You need a premium account to get detailed data from the Fitbit Sense
Water-resistantBand release latch can be accidentally triggered
Google Assistant and Amazon AlexaThe Fitbit app has some bugs
Sharp display
Measures blood oxygen level
6-day battery life
Various granular measurements, such as SpO2, heart rate variability, breath rate, skin temperature, and EDA, are included.
Fitbit Sense Pros and Cons

Buy It If…

If you’re seeking a watch to assist you in keeping track of your health and are prepared to pay a high price and a monthly subscription for extra information, the Sense is an excellent gadget with lots of data.

Don’t Buy It If…

You’re not interested in a watch to monitor your health and would prefer one just for exercise, or if you want a budget-friendly watch, then the Fitbit Sense isn’t for you.

Next Up…

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Fitbit Sense accurate?

The sense’s sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and step counting are about as good as you’ll find in other Fitbit trackers. Also, the heart rate measurements from the Fitbit sense appear to be quite accurate, and as I observed with the Fitbit charge 2 and charge 3, Fitbit does tend to overcount the number of steps you take every day.

Is Fitbit Sense better than Garmin?

These two manufacturers will have something to interest you. Fitbit is a fantastic health gadget, while Garmin offers advanced fitness capabilities. Garmin trackers have a conventional watch appearance, whereas Fitbit trackers are more sleek and inconspicuous. Consider the price, simplicity of use, and functionality of each product before deciding which company to purchase from.

Does Fitbit Sense have a monthly fee?

Fitbit Sense comes with six months of Fitbit Premium, which is a $9.99 per month subscription service. After the six months are up, you’ll have to pay for the service if you want to continue using it.

Is Fitbit Sense comfortable to wear?

The Fitbit sense is comfortable to wear and one of the most comfortable smartwatches to sleep while wearing. I have no problems wearing it 24/7, and it doesn’t irritate my skin as some fitness trackers do.

What are the pros and cons of a Fitbit?

There are many pros to owning a Fitbit. They’re great for tracking your fitness goals and monitoring your sleep, and they’re fashionable too. However, it is expensive, and the monthly subscription service can be costly.

How long do Fitbits last?

If cared for properly, a Fitbit can typically survive one to two years. However, they last around 16-18 months when used on a daily basis.

What can Fitbit Sense do?

The Fitbit sense can track your heart rate, steps, and sleep. It also has a built-in GPS so you can map your runs, and it’s waterproof so you can wear it in the shower. Additionally, the Fitbit sense has a number of sensors that can track your stress levels, and it can even take your temperature.

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